> In the rare occasions that I do want a car, a truck is really helpful. I don't really see another solution other than cheap and convenient pickup truck rentals.

As someone on HN, I would think you would be familiar with the saying "optimize for the common case". If most of the time you simply need personal transport, paying for the gas to operate a truck the occasional use seems sub-optimal.

I say this as someone who owns a VW Golf and who borrows or rents larger vehicles once or twice a year.