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Comment by keepamovin | Hacker News Reader

This does look cool. I think it's valid to have an app for a normally infrequent activity that is high cost and hard to undo. Thanks for making!

Tangentially, does anyone have advice on a good medium capacity, medium price utility vehicle? I'm thinking F150, because it seems like the Levi's of trucks (common, reliable, not particularly fancy, old brand, big), but I don't know much.

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I'm really not a "truck guy", but it seems to me from the outside that the price of the F150 and similar pick-ups has been really jacked up since they are now a "status symbol" in many areas. Plus, the standard bed is super small and can't even fit a 4x8 flat.

If I were switching occupation to a plumber (or something) and looking for a work vehicle, I'd be strongly considering closed vans like Transit, Sprinter or Nissan NV. Or a plain old minivan as some have suggested. I hear many of them can fit a 4x8 with seats removed.

Okay, thank you. What is a 4x8? Is that the truck bed? Why is that important?? ha :)

4x8 sheet of plywood or drywall. For many people who want to perform DIY home improvement jobs, this is the smallest useful size of truck bed.

Ah, got it. Thank you! :) Good to know.

I’m not sure why this myth is so pervasive on HN. You do not need a 4x8 truck bed to move sheet goods, you only need a bed 4 feet wide and a tow flag. Google is full of pictures of people moving stacks of goods with mini trucks and even sedans. Know how to secure your load.

A Ford is considered “reliable” now? I suppose the Ford psyops are working.

Buddy in the independent repair shop business cites Fords as his most profitable vehicle manufacture. He knows when a Ford rolls into his shop, it’s usually going to be a ton of work to keep his boys busy. Or the customer ends up declining all repairs.

Expect to replace Ford vehicles on a regular interval (4-5 years?) or pay up on costly repair items.

For alternatives, if you are entering a trade honestly consider a work van or “sprinter”. Much better at storing and transporting your equipment. If this is a vehicle that will just be hauling groceries around, honestly reconsider why you are buying a truck in the first place.

This is good to know, thank you! But not very useful advice hahaha! :)

What’s not useful?

You didn’t say what kind of utility you’re looking to get out your vehicle. Do you need to haul a bunch of equipment, or loads of mulch, or go off-road in the weekends?

I guess that’s fair enough, I didn’t say that. I suppose I was looking more for something like: I bought this, I like it because that, but it is bad because of some other thing.

I haven’t really specced it out, I just like the aesthetic. But I suppose: off road, some equipment (bikes, etc), can sleep in it.

Btw cool username !!! Haha :)

> I haven’t really specced it out, I just like the aesthetic.

I think you are the exact target market for an F150. Go nuts. We have backup planets, right? Just buy the biggest, coolest looking thing you can find!

Hahaha :) Thanks for the encouragement hehe! :)

Cool, let me know where these backup planets are.

Hahaha hehehehe

Hahahahahahahaha! :)

We don’t have any backups. Hahaha! :)

But I don't think you should be worried about cars.

Human-mediated temperature excursions are not the problem.

In fact, we should embrace it to prepare for the larger temperature excursions that result from the planet's natural cycles.

Good practice. Hahaha! :)

Keep in mind there is a lot of sampling bias here. You would absolutely expect a mechanic to get a lot of specimens from one of the most popular manufacturers.

VW is rated way worse for reliability, but it can be tricky to find a mechanic that is savvy with them since there are just fewer units running around.

As much as I love trucks, it seems that their price is extremely inflated (likely due to their utility as a work vehicle). Depending on your use case, I can highly recommend a minivan. I have an '07 Odyssey that we need for the big family (5 kids) but I can also fold down the seats and fit 4x8s of plywood or drywall in the back. If needed, you can get a cheap trailer and tow with the van to increase payload. There's a stigma I'm fully aware of, with so many people choosing SUVs instead, but I just love my van so much. It's reliable, easy and cheap to fix, and does so much. Better gas mileage, kids can't slam doors into parked cars, etc. As long as you don't need off-road ground clearance, it's a great choice. (There are AWD models as well, if you live in a snowy area).

Alright, I hear you about this...I will consider. I will try to keep in mind the "cool minivans" that I saw in HK and that were a status symbol. Good to know haha! :)

I just love trucks so much hahaha! :)

The car market in the US is pretty much designed to rip off people who fear minivan stigma & instead buy extortionately-priced pickup trucks that often don't even have a big enough bed to carry plywood or drywall.

Hahah, this is a great point. good to understand the meta dynamics. This is why I ask in HN!!! Hehehe :)

Even used 20+ year old small pickup trucks like pre-2005 Tacomas have their prices jacked up through the stratosphere, which I find particularly disappointing because there are so few trucks that size anymore more. Modern Tacomas are “mid sized” for example, but even that’s too much for a lot of peoples’ needs.

For real... My dad's still got his '97 Ranger (that I learned to drive on) and I told him that if he ever decides to sell it, I'll fly out and drive it back instead.

I was shopping trucks for like a year and ended up going with a small SUV and a trailer instead. The small SUV has enough cargo space on it's own 90% of the time, and the trailer handles everything else.

A lot of smaller vehicles have a tow capacity that is more than enough to handle your typical trailer of furniture, yard waste, lumber, etc.

Of course the tradeoff here is hitching / unhitching, something to consider.

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