2010 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Quad Cab

Some readers think we don't like trucks, but that isn't true. Others are convinced we don't like SUVs, and that isn't true, either. It is a fact that we've owned trucks but never owned an SUV. We've never needed one, though as an aside if we had ever bought an SUV, it would have most likely been a Toyota FJ 40 Land Cruiser, the original two-door Land Cruiser.

Why? Because it was a pure SUV, a pure off-road vehicle with no frills. The U. S. market even had trouble convincing Toyota that some sort of unlocking front wheel hub was a necessity in the U. S. because so many were driven on the streets and highways by lawyers, doctors and dentists.

The Japanese just could not wrap their minds around the idea of driving an off-road vehicle, one meant purely for ranching, construction sites and so on, on the street. Eventually, they put Warn hubs on the front wheels even though they didn't understand us. (We had the same problem with Audi and tilt steering wheels; the seat adjusted so you didn't need a tilt wheel, but the Americans demanded it.)

The major point here is that we do like trucks, like them a lot. They are very functional beasts, as are such things as minivans and station wagons. In all those cases, owning one such vehicle rather locks you in to buying another one when you ear that one out. Suppose you had to move Aunt Margaret's sofa in your truck again, or haul six kids to a soccer game in the minivan?

We like trucks, and we've owned trucks. But we have never actually owned a large truck, that is, anything larger than a minitruck. A Mazda B2000, say, or a Chevrolet S10. The whole idea is to buy as much truck as you actually need, and no more. Four-door trucks are good, particularly smaller four-door trucks like the Chevy Colorado. Haul the family and haul feed for the horses (or the garden).

That doesn't mean we've never driven a large truck, or used one for some period of time, or used one to work in or out of. It just means we've never had a day-to-day need for a big truck, so we didn't buy one. We know, downright un-American, isn't it?