I definitely feel your pain. I drive my Dakota all year round, it is my
primary transportation once the snow starts to fly. It's hard to justify
using a V-8 pickup truck as daily personal transport, but I can't really
get rid of it, I use the utility of the truck far too often, both for
personal use, working on the house and my hobbies, and also for my
business. I have a summer car that is a 4-cyl that I drive as much as
possible during the nice weather. I don't think I've put more than 5000km
on my Dakota since the spring.
Things are going to be rough this winter since I just lost my job (company
got bought out, I'm a "Surplus" employee, yay), but my Dak is paid for, so
I will be keeping it for the time being.
James
At 05:27 PM 10/1/2007 -0400, you wrote:
>On Sun, September 30, 2007 11:01 pm, Terrible Tom said:
> >
> > Hmm - well... I blame the guys who mutilated the dodge dakota design for
> > the 2005 and later models. I blame them for making a truck so ugly that
> > it killed off loyal dakota followers.
>
>I respectfully disagree. I don't think the design has anything to do with it.
>
>Here's the thing... all brands are having a difficult time selling trucks and
>SUVs. This is what's killing GM as a company, their model lineup is too
>dependent of larger vehicles and they're too slow to adapt to the new market.
>It's the price of fuel, plus the fact that trucks are no longer trendy or
>politically correct. I get snide remarks and dirty looks all the time in
>Toronto for driving a gas guzzler, and I'm constantly having to justify myself
>to some snide self-righteous envirodouchebag. No vandalism yet, but I've seen
>news reports of people destroying Hummers in the name of "saving the planet".
>
>The unfortunate truth is that the heyday of sport trucks is over. The 70's
>saw the demise of muscle cars, now we're seeing it happen to trucks as
>personal transportation. Not that trucks are ever going to go away, there are
>enough people around who need the carrying and/or towing capacity. But I
>don't think they'll ever regain the popularity they enjoyed in the 90's. For
>a lot of people out there, it's just too damned hard to afford the fuel for
>one unless they really need it.
>
>Personally, there's almost zero chance that whatever replaces my '95 will be
>another truck, no matter what it looks like or what features it has or how
>much I might want one. That makes me a bit sad, but I've accepted that I just
>can't afford fuel plus a loan payment. We need one truck because we have that
>RV, but there's no good reason to have two of them in the driveway. The only
>reason I still drive mine is that it's paid for, and I know it well enough by
>now that I figure I'd be better off keeping it for the time being rather than
>trading it for someone else's worn-out junk. Once the '01 is paid off, I
>haven't decided what I'll do. Largest I'll probably go would be a Journey if
>I figure I need the cargo room. If not, I actually kind of like the Mazda 3,
>or the new Lancer. I was even thinking of checking out the Mini until I
>realized it takes premium fuel (which defeats my purpose in going small).
>
>This is life at $4/gallon. Yes, it sucks, but it's pretty well here to stay.
>Granted that my perspective is probably different that what it would be if I
>were still living in the US. Taxes and fuel prices up here are much higher,
>but salaries aren't. It's just a much more expensive place to try to scratch
>out a living. But, I don't see any signs that things are going to get any
>better on either side of the border, at least not any time soon.
>
>Bah... maybe I'm just in a particularly pessimistic mood again. If only I
>could remember where I left my "Will code for gas" sign...
>
>--
>Jason Bleazard http://drazaelb.blogspot.com Burlington, Ontario
>his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white
>hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black
>
>
>
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