[ndonnellan]

I have been fitting a little under 1000lbs of sand / gravel in my hatchback (elantra gt) a few times this past week. It can also handle 10' 2x4s for short drives. Given than I only need that a few times a year, it's a no brainer. Also, Home Depot rents trucks/vans for $30 for 75 minutes; U-Haul is better if you need them for the whole day.

I sometimes wish I had a small dumpy pickup so I could put bulk stuff in (and full 4x8 sheets), but mostly it's fine without.

Related: my dad looked to replace his 92 Dodge Dakota, single cab, long bed (which was a great, functional truck) and could find absolutely zero similar size trucks out there (short cab, long bed, no ladder required to get to the front seat). You can probably design them on the manufacturer site, but no dealers will have them in stock.

[johnbrodie]

I needed some wood from HD and tried to rent a truck, it was a nightmare. At least at my local HD, they don't allow you to reserve. They only have 2 trucks, both of which are constantly busy. They won't even hold it while you grab the stuff you want to transport home, so you have to camp out or get there super early, rent it, and then let it sit while you do your shopping and check out.

Agree with using u-haul if needed, but that's also normally quite a pain. We bought a truck recently, and it's been super nice to just hop in and go. Full disclosure, we bought one only because it'll be towing a track car 2x/month, and at that rate renting stops becoming at all attractive.

[subhobroto]

> I needed some wood from HD and tried to rent a truck, it was a nightmare. At least at my local HD, they don't allow you to reserve. They only have 2 trucks, both of which are constantly busy. They won't even hold it while you grab the stuff you want to transport home

It's meant for customers who need a truck but don't have one.

You fit that exactly so there's something I'm missing - are you buying those really long 2x4 - 4x4 or the like?

If so, a lot of people do that, so you need to stand out with the staff.

So this is what I do - buy a $11 big drywall and then tell them to call me when the truck's available.

It works every time. I have no clue why. I even use it to rent trucks for towing cars on a trailer bed.

The drywall will sell on CL like hot cakes once you're done with the truck but see my previous post.

[tjr225]

> Also, Home Depot rents trucks/vans for $30 for 75 minutes; U-Haul is better if you need them for the whole day.

I had a good friend argue that this was too inconvenient. My response was that I believe the amount of effort put into affording a new truck far outweighs the inconvenience of filling out a form or two at home depot.

> I sometimes wish I had a small dumpy pickup so I could put bulk stuff in (and full 4x8 sheets), but mostly it's fine without.

Unfortunately even these are pretty sought after! I have a '94 Toyota Pickup(right before they rebranded them to the Tacoma) that I bought off of my father in law for pennies. In many places in the world these are cult trucks.

[myself248]

What caught me completely off-guard when I went to rent from the Depot was needing my insurance paperwork. Okay, that's out in my car's glovebox halfway across the parking lot, kindly serve another customer while I hike out there and get it...

It's doubly weird because I rent cars from Enterprise and Budget all the time and they've never asked me for it.

But anyway, once that was done with, yeah the 75-minute truck rental was just what the doctor ordered. I picked up a bunch of industrial auction items, dropped them at my friend's place and my place, and had the truck fueled and returned with several minutes to spare.

Everything I've ever bought from HD itself, including 10' pieces of conduit and Unistrut, 8' pipe and lumber, numerous bags of cement and aggregate and mulch, has fit just fine in my Prius.

I wouldn't mind owning a pickup for full sheets, but in practice everything I've made has tesselated just fine into 32x48 one-third-sheets so I just have 'em ripped on the panel saw in-store.

[tjr225]

> What caught me completely off-guard when I went to rent from the Depot was needing my insurance paperwork. Okay, that's out in my car's glovebox halfway across the parking lot, kindly serve another customer while I hike out there and get it...

That caught me off guard the one time I did this as well. However, it is a small lesson to learn compared to financing and insuring even a cheap truck such as an f-150 IMO.

[DrScump]

Your insurer doesn't give you online access to your proof of insurance?

[gamegoblin]

A few years ago I was in the market for a small beater pickup. I was looking for a late 90s Tacoma (before they started making larger models to compete with F150), but was surprised that those still regularly go for $12-14K in good condition. I wound up getting a Japanese kei truck (I describe in another comment in this thread).

[Kluny]

Depending where you are, carshare is a great way to go. I can book a pickup truck using an app and go get the vehicle, use it as long as needed, and return it without ever interacting with a person. The co-op charges my card automatically and gas is included in the hourly rate, which is $7 for a pickup.

[DrScump]

  I have a '94 Toyota Pickup(right before they rebranded them to the Tacoma) 

I have a '93 SR5 pickup with the single cam V6, bought brand new in '94 (only difference from the '94 is the third brake light, AFAIK). I still get people asking about buying it all the time.

[megablast]

>'94 Toyota Pickup

You think that is a small pickup? WOW.

[DrScump]

The compact pickup, yes. It's no wider than, say a Camry.

I have the '93 club cab, so it's a touch longer, but it's dwarfed by an F-150, let alone anything larger.

[tjr225]

I’m not sure what you mean- it’s probably one of the smallest pickups I have seen in the US in my 30 years on this planet.

[DrScump]

It had peers in the compact pickup category then, e.g. Datsun/Nissan, Isuzu, Chevy LUV. My 80s roommate's LUV was a rebadged Isuzu.

[jrs235]

>I sometimes wish I had a small dumpy pickup so I could put bulk stuff in (and full 4x8 sheets)

Minivans are so much more versatile and many can take full 4x8 sheets. You can carry more passengers and or have a fully covered cargo area. If utilizing for the versatile "pickup" needs try and find one with the stow and go seats (absolutely for the back seat, and preferably for the middle row).

[tonyarkles]

I have a 95 Dodge Caravan for exactly that: it’ll move full sheets of plywood no problem. It has about 350,000 km on it and is slowly dying, but man is it great for hauling stuff around.

[zwayhowder]

I grew up with our family 'car' being a Toyota Hiace van (Australia, no idea what it was called in the US). We lived in the country and needed something that could carry us two kids plus a small animal or 5 (dogs, sheep, a shetland pony once), or bales of hay, or bags of feed. It could take 4x8 sheets at an angle and when we road tripped to family it could fit a king single mattress in the back to sleep on.

[mywittyname]

Also, since regular vans the vehicles actually driven by people who use vehicles for work, they've largely remained the same size as they've always been.

Plus, they are cheap used because they are the anti-status symbol: nobody is going to daily drive a "___-van" unless absolutely necessary.

[dacohenii]

Yep, small cars can do more than you give 'em credit for.

I considered getting a truck for some time, but ended up buying a 5x8 utility trailer. Sure, it's a little less convenient (and more bouncy) than a truck, and my 2009 Chevy Cobalt doesn't have a very high towing capacity, but for my purposes, the trailer gets the job done just fine.

I will happily continue to avoid car payments until the wheels fall off (which should be awhile, because I just replaced the bearings).

[alamortsubite]

> I sometimes wish I had a small dumpy pickup so I could put bulk stuff in (and full 4x8 sheets), but mostly it's fine without.

Utility trailers are cheap and require hardly any maintenance. The model I have is really cool in that it stands up on end, so it takes up very little space in the garage.

[blaser-waffle]

> my dad looked to replace his 92 Dodge Dakota, single cab, long bed (which was a great, functional truck) and could find absolutely zero similar size trucks out there (short cab, long bed, no ladder required to get to the front seat). You can probably design them on the manufacturer site, but no dealers will have them in stock.

I used to have a ford ranger, and that was my feeling after it finally died. The US truck market is essentially big commercial vehicles meets luxury SUV.

There is a 2019 Ford Ranger out there somewhere, though I've heard mixed things.

[d1zzy]

It's important to note that this is true for _hatchbacks_. Sedans are much more limited in cargo carrying capacity compared to hatchbacks.

[Kluny]

I don't know why anyone would buy a sedan, it's such a pointless format. Even for autocross or rally I'd rather have a hatch.

[perl4ever]

If I'm not mistaken the Subaru WRX/STI has been a sedan rather than hatchback since ~2015. Wonder why.

[mywittyname]

Subaru could only afford to do a single body style since that generation WRX was a pretty serious departure from the Impreza chassis. Everyone else in the market was offering a hot hatch, so Subaru, being Subaru, decided to do things a differently.

I prefer the sedan. It's much less boomy and noisy than the old WRX hatch. I never got much use out of the hatch anyway.

[nlfwhulsdhouv]

I've moved 5x5 sheets of plywood and 10' 2x4s in my '04 G35 without too much trouble. The back seats don't even fold down, I just stuff everything through the ski hole or tie it on the roof :).

I would probably rather have a hatch if I didn't love this car though, fair point.

[m463]

Just saying, but you are most likely exceeding the specifications of your vehicle.

The tires, brakes and accident safety systems are designed to protect you and others. Look at the door sticker and be clear what your car is designed for.

That said, I liked having a small toyota pickup (the one named "pickup").

[thedance]

They don't make useful trucks any more, that's why a dilapidated toyota with a standard cab, long bed, and half a million miles still costs $10k. Like you I can put a quarter ton of gravel in a Honda Fit. 500 lbs of gravel only takes up 4 cubic feet. It's not like you can fill the bed of an F-150 with sand and drive off; the truck would break in half.

[jefurii]

Honda Fit FTW! So much space for cargo when you put the back seats down. Engine is like a go-kart tho.

[perl4ever]

I actually thought about buying one and I looked on the internet and was disappointed I couldn't find aftermarket shocks for recent models. My first car was a 92 Civic, and when I got Koni adjustable shocks for it, it totally transformed it. For all of Honda's engineering skills, the stock suspension tuning on their cars always seemed too jittery/bouncy. I drove a rental Chevy Sonic once, which I think many people would describe as a "shitbox" but the suspension tuning really stood out as significantly better than I'm used to from Hondas.

...actually Wikipedia says: "For Chevrolet Sonic models built in the United States, the Sonic features suspension tuning by Corvette Racing engineer John Buttermore."

[kps]

It's fine with a standard. Doors and 8′ 2×4s go inside, but I had to leave the hatch open on a 44U rack.

[thedance]

The engine is on the same platform as the engine in the Honda NC700 motorcycle, and it shows.

[captainredbeard]

The numbers don’t support your argument.

An F-150 can hold 2500lbs in the bed saving a driver four trips relative to the aforementioned Honda Fit. Granted, that’s often a rare activity that doesn’t necessarily solely justify truck ownership (as if it’s needed).

[pengaru]

Nice, ~1000lbs of sand in the back of an elantra gt must put it on the bump stops, no?

I made a roof rack for my miata which attaches to the roll bar and windshield frame like the convertible top, it enables moving 4x8 sheets of plywood/drywall. I even moved a 305 gallon cistern using the setup without trouble, and a dozen 4x6x12' beams of douglas fir.

[ndonnellan]

I try to put 3 bags in the passenger footwell, and then distribute the rest as evenly as possible with the seats down. But yes, it's pretty close :-)

I have to unload a few before I have clearance to back up our long driveway.

[ADent]

My Volvo wagons can take a few 4x8 sheets diagonally from the store.

[uptown]

What's the sand and gravel being used for?