For occasional use why not just buy a small car and rent (or buy) a trailer? Seems more versatile to me and probably an order of magnitude less expensive.
As someone who has had both, the truck is A LOT more convenient and versatile. Especially in cases where 4wd is an advantage such as collecting trash or firewood from a beach. Hauling a ton of sand off the beach using a trailer behind my heavy SUV was harder than doing the same with a ute.