Drewtam, Ben's math was done for a super high performance truck versus an economy car. For me to get a car with the same interior options and reasonable interior space, the cost difference would not be so much. I would also think most high performance sports cars would be more than a truck.
Additionally, look at it this way.
A New F150 and a new taurus, with nearly identical options, will be within a few thousand dollars of each other. Even the SHO and the raptor are nearly the same price when you get down to it. So when truly comparing apples to apples, (f150 4x4 and taurus with identical options), i.e "pickup" vs "car" the price difference is minimal, and the operating cost difference isn't -that- much (20mpg ecoboost vs 30mpg Taurus), so it seems that, doing the math, if you need the pickup capabilities AT ALL, it's a good idea, as the economics aren't that much different (30,000 miles @ $4/gal gas is $2k/yr and that's A LOT of driving).
So since when making a REAL comparison, between NEW vehicles with comparable convenience/comfort options, you could make your same argument for renting THE CAR for long trips, and buying the truck.
So go compare prices:
Similarly equipped F150 4x4 ecoboost and Taurus (non SHO)
Raptor and Taurus SHO
Used 10yr old pickup vs used 10yr old Honda accord.
I would bet the price differences are minimal, and even the long run cost of operation is a wash if you make the rental argument for long trips as I did above.
Additionally, since one can rent sportscars, and there are even track-day schools that rent, your same logic could be used to:
Buy truck, and 5-10x per year, rent a vette for a day and had fun
Buy truck, and 1-2x per year, take a driving school for $1k/day
Buy sportscar (let's say, same price as truck) and rent truck, thereby allowing track days for 1/2 as much
All virtually identical price.
So your same argument can be totally turned around once apples to apples comparisons are made, and thus it boils down to, which choice do you prefer, because your economic model doesn't quite work, even in non one-in-a-million cases where a person would need a truck maybe 5-10x per year, but also only go on long trips or want to drive fast/have fun maye 5-10x per year.