Weren't you restoring a boat? What's the latest on that?
Wilton
----- Original Message -----
From: "Randy Bennell" <rbenn...@bennell.ca>
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2014 6:21 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] Not the best
NEED is a term that requires defining.
I have made 5 trips to the lake so far since May.
It is about 175 miles each way.
We are always hauling something in one direction or the other.
The cottage is old and I am trying to renovate but it is a slow process.
My mother stays out there all summer but is 82 now so I don't want her to
worry about the boat if it is stormy or rains a lot.
Therefore we don't leave the boat in all the time. It gets launched and
retrieved every time. This year the water is so high that we don't even
leave it in over night when we are there. The dock is 2 feet under.
The current boats are a 16 footer with an outboard and a 20 footer with an
inboard outboard.
Most cars these days are not really built to tow things like the boats.
It might do it, but I would not want to use a car like my wife's Honda
Accord to retrieve either of the boats.
I also live in a winter climate. Last winter we had a lot of snow.
My good wife gets around with the Honda with good winter tires.
I truly prefer having the 4 wheel drive at my disposal.
So, do I NEED a truck?
Maybe not but it sure is nice.
AND the supercrew with the big back seat and 4 doors and the tonneau cover
on the box is really just a big car with a big trunk.
I have a friend who is trying to sell a 2010 Lincoln Town Car and if I had
a parking spot for it and some spare cash, I would be tempted.
I think 2011 was the last year for those big rear drive LIncolns. This one
is burgundy with a tan interior and has about 65K miles on it.
I could have it for about $14K.
I have also been tempted to buy one of the last Crown Victoria police
interceptors. The local police are moving on to the Taurus and there are
lots of the big police cars being auctioned off.
I don't suppose the mileage would be much better than my truck with either
the Lincoln or the Ford, but it should be able to pull a bigger trailer
than the Honda.
Although, I might look a bit odd hauling lumber down the highway behind a
Town Car.
I don't have a spare spot to park the trailer that I would need without
the truck either.
I could leave an old truck at the lake so that we could launch and
retrieve without driving a truck back and forth to the city but that would
mean another vehicle to maintain and insure.
We did that for a while. I had an old Chevy pickup for a long while and it
was out at the lake for its last few years with us. I also left the
4Runner out there for a summer.
Still an issue of what we haul with us to and from the lake.
A nice old MB diesel wagon with a small utility trailer might do but those
are getting harder to come by in usable condition.
I cannot say I want a mini-van.
So, I do think that so far, I can justify the truck but I did not need a
3/4 ton and I did not buy one. I drove the 02 Supercrew for the previous 8
years or so and I liked it so I got another one.
I did so partly because I wanted to offer the 02 to my younger son before
it was totally worn out.
If I had more parking spots and some spare cash, I could see myself with a
Honda Civic to get to and from the office. However, I could actually walk
in reasonable weather as I can almost see my house from here.
So, I may not NEED a vehicle at all. I could ride to the lake with my son
and send my good wife on errands with her car, and walk to and from work
and be free of all the mechanical headaches that come with ownership.
BUT what fun would that be?
I wouldn't be able to post questions about how to adjust the valves etc.
Randy
On 09/07/2014 12:39 PM, Curt Raymond wrote:
Is this not the pot calling the kettle black? You don't NEED a pickup at
all, a car with a trailer would do you fine. You WANTED a truck which is
something I can totally understand. The Dodge was way more truck than I
need and we probably could get away with a car or small SUV but
considering the mpg penalty of 4wd (not AWD, a softroader won't do)
anyway a pickup is really handy.
So the story ends that it was just out of fuel. The guy came with fuel
and then we had to purge it. He'd been through this before and the yard
monkey wasn't supposed to let me drive it in the first place. Apparently
the gauge is optimistic. Truck drives a lot better with fuel in, it felt
much more powerful and was easier to drive once I got used to it but it
still needed front end work. Just when I felt like I had everything under
control it would go all over the road...
I sat in a Dakota at the same place but it was blocked in and the guy was
already having a bad day so I decided to leave it. The tailgate doesn't
have any non-broken hold up straps and wouldn't stay latched. The engine
makes a funny little noise which might be just the belt, but the AC blows
ICE COLD (which the diesel Ram didn't). It appears to be AWD with 4wd as
an option which I thought was odd. Instant fuel mileage reads 12mpg which
if its really AWD considering it has a 360ci is probably right.
All in all I think this is probably pushing me back toward a new truck.
-Curt
Probably not the best idea to buy it if you don't really need it.
I really wanted to try a diesel truck but I really do not need a 3/4 ton
and so I stayed away.
I am hopeful that the new 1/2 ton Dodge with the smaller diesel will
prove to be a good truck and that the other manufacturers will get on
board and start producing something similar.
Although, it is hard to complain about the gas engines these days. My 02
F150 had no real issues with the engine and so far I like the engine in
the 2013 F150. Not sure the diesel would be any cheaper to run these
days with diesel costing more than gasoline.
Randy
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