Truck

After last night's flood adventure, Nat wants a truck in stead of an SUV. The SUVs we have looked at are all the new minivan wannabe on-car-frame tall station wagons that are not any higher off the ground than our car is now. After watching those videos from yesterday about the Toyota truck, I'm kind of psyched myself. I've said many times that to be a homeowner means you need a truck. I like my father's new Toyota (4x2), but he gets 19 mpg or so. I want better than tat. Much better. I want 30 mpg 4x4 that will tow stuff and is tough as a Toyota is supposed to be.

Reality is, we will not be in a financial situation this year for a new vehicle. Not to mention that I just can't bring myself to like a vehicle that gets less than 24 miles per gallon. That number is going up, not down any time soon. After getting screwed on the house and the car like we were, I'm not going to just fall in to any new purchases. I intend to make it as slow and painful as possible before I pull the trigger on anything from now on. I may never buy a new TV.

I've griped that the answers to this problem exist, just not really in the U. S. right now. There are 4x4 pickups that get 30 mpg, but you have to get a four cylinder diesel stick that will not step out in front of traffic like the gas V-8 your father drove. Nat won't like me saying this, but I'm not the one driving so I don't care if it is slow as molasses. Nat understands what I mean. She needs an automatic, so that is one more count against mileage. It reminds me of the four door pickups I saw in pictures from Africa when I was a kid. I thought "Hey, that's cool. Why aren't they on the U. S. streets?" Then Nissan and Ford came out with them about the same year. Now it is hard to get a regular cab pickup any more. I heard there is a V-8 4x4 Land Rover hybrid in Europe. That makes sense. There are some videos of it on YouTube. That is as close as Americans can get to them apparently.