Calgary Life Blog  RSS News Feed  What's This? Select a topic from the list below. Topics are ordered by date with the eight most recent at the top. Show All Articles July 12th 2010
Calgary Stampede
The Calgary Stampede is on again. It's an old, tired show that badly needs some new ideas and new attractions to bring more visitors to this great city of ours. July 2nd 2009
Tsuu T'ina Vote Down Ring Road Proposal
The Tsuu T'ina nation have decisively voted down the very generous proposal from the city to acquire land to build the western end of the Calgary ring road. Good! Let's now get on and make a more sensible proposal. June 29th 2009
Newspapers Are Dying
Newspapers will die out unless they stop complaining and face the new reality that is the internet. December 16th 2007
Canada Helps Wreck Climate Deal
Canada sided with the US and a few other countries in order to ensure that the Bali climate conference ended with a toothless agreement and a commitment to do nothing significant. Why are Canadians so complacent in the face of a problem that isn't that hard to solve. October 8th 2007
Alberta's Oil Revenues
It has been proposed that Alberta needs to increase the royalties it charges on oil extracted from the tar sands. This proposal has been widely condemned as being short sighted and heavy handed. Alberta needs to reconsider its proposals and come up with a bolder suggestion. October 6th 2007
More On Pollution
After a recent visit to China, I am becoming increasingly concerned about air pollution and the Canadian government's head-in-the-sand attitude to it. It is past time to take some serious and significant action. June 3rd 2007
Calgary's Property Boom
The price of housing in Calgary continues its inexorable rise, although not at quite the hectic pace of the past couple of years. The economics of the situation are proceeding along well understood lines so now is the time you should consider cashing in and moving away. May 10th 2007
More On Affordable Housing
Alberta's legislature is discussing the imposition of rent controls to try and regulate a booming rental market. Is this really the answer to the problem of the lack of affordable housing? |
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WHAT IS IT ABOUT TRUCKS? |
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Ask an Italian what his dream vehicle is and he’ll probably say a Ferrari. Ask an Englishman the same question and he’ll probably say an Aston Martin. Ask a German and he might say a Porsche, BMW or Mercedes. What all these answers have in common is that the dream vehicle is exotic, powerful and fast. But if you ask the same question of a Canadian he’ll probably reply “A truck”!
I guess I just don’t understand this love affair between Canadians and their trucks. Whilst trucks are cheap to buy and are occasionally useful for hauling stuff around, their advantages end there. Compared to a modern car, they are horrible to drive and use lots of expensive gas. Even for hauling stuff around, they are not particularly useful, compared with pulling a utility trailer behind a car. Have you ever tried to put drywall in the back of a truck? The wheel wells get in the way so it won’t lie flat, the bed isn’t long enough and you can’t get access to the sides to drop the drywall in from a fork lift truck. A typical utility trailer on the other hand is expressly designed for 8’ x 4’ sheets and the sides can be removed for loading/unloading. On the rare occasions you need to haul stuff, why wouldn’t you use a trailer instead of a truck? I’m not against all trucks by any means. If your job is in construction for example, you need a truck to haul tools and gear. What I am surprised at is why you would choose to use it after work to take your wife out to dinner!
The reason why trucks are cheap to buy (and horrible to drive) is because their designs are old. When I came to Canada eight years ago, I was amazed to see leaf springs and solid rear axles on new vehicles. In Europe, new vehicles haven’t had those since the 1970’s. Why? Because their performance is poor compared to independent suspension, chassis mounted differentials, etc. And why can’t you buy a truck powered by a modern diesel engine? Diesels are better for load pulling because of their higher torque and have far better gas mileage.
So, I guess I just don’t get it. Despite being involved in building renovation, I’ll never buy a truck because I simply don’t have a use for it. Perhaps someone can explain the attractions to me.
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