[KozmoNau7]

> "For example, I've been looking at appliances, and occasionally see nice appliances on sale on craigslist or the like... these would be dead simple to pick up if I had a truck, but I'm a small car kind of person."

A good way to solve this issue is a small car with a trailer. Even the smallest trailers available here (750kg gross weight) are plenty to haul home any appliance or piece of furniture.

And the trailer doesn't impact your fuel budget when you're not using it.

[InitialLastName]

I'd never considered that, so thanks. Looking into that now (have to put a hitch on my car first).

More important for city living, the trailer doesn't make the vehicle fundamentally more difficult to parallel park in a tight spot.

[205guy]

Yup, I have seen on forums that you can even hook a trailer up to a Nissan Leaf. That would get you light and local towing (no big loads, no big hills).