Pickup Trucks

Wanting A Bigger Truck

Notes on the Re-Run for Monday, August 22nd.

I do like my Ford Ranger. It’s big enough and powerful enough for me needs right now, but I would love to have a little bit more space for camping, and in a year or so I think it will reach it’s end of cost-effective life at 13 years of age. Maybe not, but I’ve been saving for three years and the reality is full-size trucks now have fuel economy in the range of compact trucks of a decade ago.

— Andy

It’s probably no secret to anybody who reads my blog that I’ve been coveting a bigger pickup truck, with an extended cab, bigger bed, and a better off-road capacity. As I’ve also noted, I’ve been saving a big chunk of every paycheck to have enough money next year or the year after to buy that truck.

Yet, I realize it’s kind of silly. I still have a decent 1998 Ford Ranger regular cab short-bed, with only 95,000 miles on it. Driving only for pleasure, I probably will have less then 5,000 miles on it before the year’s end. It might be a bit old and rusty, but it still runs well with minimal problems. But I still want a bigger truck.

 My Truck

It’s not totally rational. I know I am buying into the consumerist mindset that I one level I supposedly reject as being vapid. But it would be so much more fun then my current Ford Ranger. Who wants to put money to upkeep a truck that I don’t really like that much, when I could be putting towards getting a new one?

It’s probably not a good attitude to have. I probably will drive more carelessly with my Ford Ranger and not maintain it as well as I should, secretly hoping that it will die, so I have to buy a new pickup. I need to avoid that attitude, as the truck is something I want to keep working,I also want to avoid financing as much as possible.

Are You in 4×4 Low?

  1. You start to go, but all you hear is click-click while the transfer case is changing gears.
  2. You try to upshift, but it won’t let you as your in overdrive
  3. You get passed on the right by a guy driving a Ford Farmall Tractor
  4. You forget to push the clutch before coming to a stop, but the engine keeps running
  5. You try to start out gently, but you lurch ahead as you take your foot slowly off the clutch in first gear
  6. As you drive around, your going at 4,000 RPM but the speedometer refuses to move in 2nd gear
  7. Look at the idiot light on your dashboard or the control next to it
  8. Somebody walks past you driving your truck

 My Truck