this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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Fuck Cars

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[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I have a buddy that owns a big truck. It exists for one reason - to haul his trailer RV thing when he, his wife, and their FIVE kids go camping. Otherwise it sits there and looks pretty. He hates driving it, but the trailer is freakin’ yuge so yeah. It’s never, ever used as a commuter vehicle. The trailer has solar for power in addition to using an external generator that can use like, two or three different fuels.

He works from home, she doesn’t work and takes care of the kids/house. Their ‘commuter’ vehicle is a small hybrid SUV, again, to carry the five kids to and from school.

Their house is decked out in solar panels and they normally pay next to nothing for electricity, which they get from the grid via wind power because Texas.

EDIT: I need to stress the size of the trailer. The thing in it’s towable state is every bit as big as a semi trailer. If it was smaller, yeah, I’d agree (and so would he) that a smaller truck would be required. But he did his research and got a truck that can actually tow the thing properly. And again, he uses the thing maybe twice a year.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you know what people in Denmark, the Netherlands, and similar RV-heavy countries in Europe use to haul an RV with a family of four to six? Anything from a hatchback to a minivan depending on the amount of people. A truck is wildly inefficient for anything (except for the modest sized ones which hardly gets made anymore).

[–] jaye 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not to dissuade your point or anything, but from reading their comment I'm picturing one of those large campers that you really only see in NA, like a tour bus that you have to tow. I'm no expert on towing capacity but I think one would actually have a use case for a large truck in that situation. Totally agree that they're utterly overkill for just about any other situation though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You nailed it. The thing is basically a tractor trailer. The truck isn’t far off from being a semi.

[–] Nouveau_Burnswick 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel at that point they should just get a large motorhome, instead of owning a car to uniquely tow the trailer?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

He looked into that, but apparently it wasn’t the best option for his family.