Toyota Tacoma

Tacoma 005, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Welcome to my first post made from Flickr! Although I'm still composing the message in my Blogger dashboard, hopefully the links in the caption will help guests to view more photos of the same subject. Please give me feedback on how it works for you.

Now on the the meat of the post. Since my readership is probably mostly British, I guess I'm going to spend most of my words justifying my choice to buy a pickup truck (or simply 'truck' as they are known here). While defensiveness will probably be seen as an admission of guilt, I think it's best that I address the principle concerns.

Size

Richmond, Virginia is not Chelsea, London. Space is not at a premium. I don't have to negotiate narrow, crowded streets near schools, so there is no reason to limit myself to a small car.

Fuel Economy

Since it's a brand new vehicle, it actually make pretty good miles. The EPA estimates 29mpg Highway (that almost 35 miles to an Imperial gallon). Plus, I still have the motorbike, which regularly gets 40-50mpg, so don't worry, I haven't become a Global Climate Change Denialist yet!

Ride Quality

Yes, the suspension is as stiff the proverbial Englishman's upper lip. But since Virginia's roads are in such as state that the Governor tripled speeding fines to pay for repairs, it's nice to be in something with good ground clearance.

I look like a Redneck

I know. And I love it. I've already started dressing accordingly.