I believe in educating a driver to a competent level for the vehicle they choose to drive. So, no matter what vehicle you have, be competent enough to drive it safely and obey the road.

For work, I regularly look at hundreds, sometimes thousands, of acres of raw, untouched land for purpose of conservation or future development. In my job, 4×4 is a requirement. I do this year round and canvas tops aren’t very warm in the winter, much less quiet. Try carrying on a conversation with a passenger at 70 miles an hour. A four door ford sedan didn’t work for me…I tried it (I got back thanks to Verizon’s awesome rural coverage). For yard work, I know for a fact that my vehicle can carry 35, 2 cu ft bags of mulch, or 28 cinder blocks, or nearly 1/3 chord of wood. For off road driving, trucks do not have adequate weigh distribution for rear wheel traction sometimes. An SUV typically offers better weight distribution, and a secure storage area.

Sure, you could look in my vehicle and say I have “wasted space”, but I can look in your vehicle and say you wasted seats. (unless you have a SMART car, then it’s a wasted seat.)