It’s no secret: Americans love their pickup trucks. We buy them in massive numbers; we trick them out with decals and custom wheels and other modifications to separate them from all the other rigs rolling around; we live in them, eat in them, sleep in them. They’re not just vehicles; they’re rolling extensions of our personalities.
And as it turns out, many of us would be willing to give up some of our vices if we had to choose between them and our beloved trucks.
According to a new study of pickup truck owners across America commissioned by Ford, 79 percent of owners surveyed said they would give up alcohol for a whole year before they would give up their pickup, while 71 percent said they would give up coffee for that same time span rather than be cut off from their rig.
47 percent said they would give up using a phone for 52 weeks before giving up their truck, while 44 percent said they’d stop eating meat rather than hand over their keys. Perhaps most shockingly, 38 percent of people said they’d give up sex for a year rather than give up their pickup…a fact that makes us wonder just how much sex those folks are having currently.
Before you jump to the assumption that Ford buyers are more likely to be boring Ned Flanders types, know that the survey wasn’t just restricted to people who drive Rangers and F-Series; only 38 percent of respondents owned Fords (presumably, not the same 38 percent that would give up sex). The study — an online survey of 2,000 U.S. pickup truck owners conducted by research firm Penn Schoen Berland between March 11th–23rd — was split 54 percent / 46 percent between men and women, respectively, and fairly evenly divided between people starting at age 18 and going all the way past 65.
As for why Ford would choose to commission this survey? Well, the fact that the heavily revised F-150 is set to debut this week in all its tech-packed glory might have a little something to do with it.
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