| ▲ | everdrive 4 hours ago |
| Heartbreaking but true. The most popular pickups today are not the most useful pickups. There are no more basic utilitarian pickups any longer, at least in the US. Pickups are a little bit interesting in this regard. For any given model (eg: Tacoma, Frontier, etc.) the more premium the truck, the worse it is at being a truck. Each feature you add reduces its payload, and in the case of the Frontier, you could drop from a 6' bed with ~1,600 lbs of payload on the base model all the way down to a 5' bed with ~900 lbs of payload for the most premium offroad model. |
|
| ▲ | vablings 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| I would be willing to say that a small Japanese kei truck is more than the average American would ever need for hauling furnishings, appliances and lumber. If you really need something bigger renting a trailer or truck is dirt cheap |
| |
| ▲ | Ostrogoth an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | >If you really need something bigger renting a trailer or truck is dirt cheap It’s neither convenient nor cheap to rent a trailer in much of the US. Major cities have options, rural areas less so. Full disclosure I have a mid-sized pickup, but I recently looked into renting a trailer for a landscaping project that was above the weight limit for my truck. First issue I ran into was that there were not any trailers available for rent anywhere near my location. Second issue was that after factoring in driving distance + rental cost + dump fees, it was ~ the same price just to pay a junk company to haul the materials…and it was not cheap. Anecdotally, my pickup was cheaper than most other vehicle options at the time I bought it, my commute is short (so fuel economy is less an issue), and as a homeowner I use the bed to haul something at least once/month (Unfortunately kei trucks weren’t available at the time). So the cost/benefit/convenience factor of owning a truck over renting a trailer works for me. YMMV. | |
| ▲ | PaulDavisThe1st 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I found out a couple of years ago that you cannot rent a vehicle and use it to tow. This is a major barrier to the argument "when you need to tow <X> just rent a vehicle that can do that" (an argument I would like to support). | | | |
| ▲ | jeff_skj 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Except most people also use trucks as daily driver vehicles. You can't exactly fit the wife and kids in a kei. Sure you could also own a car for that but now I need to own/store 2 vehicles instead of one. | | |
| ▲ | olyjohn 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Yeah let's not pretend every family with a truck only owns one vehicle. Most families already have a second car anyways. Especially people spending $60k+ on a truck. | | |
| ▲ | bluGill 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | That is my argument for EVs as well. One truck with an ICE for take the whole family on long trips, or towing. Then an EV for everyone else - whoever is making the long trip that day gets the truck. Truck works well for those role because it can do so much. It isn't the best for most of those, but it can do them. |
|
|
|
|
| ▲ | rjrjrjrj 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The Ford Maverick is pretty utilitarian, inasmuch as any new US vehicle is. The Slate is utilitarian, but remains to be seen if it actually ships.
https://www.slate.auto/en |
| |
| ▲ | throwaway173738 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | I decide if a truck is utilitarian by whether I have to flag a 2x4x8 in the bed or not. | | |
| ▲ | olyjohn 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I decide if you need to have a step on your bumper because the truck is too high to get anything in and out of it. Lowering my truck made it way easier to load and unload. | |
| ▲ | foobarian 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | I can fit one of those into my Ford Fiesta with the hatch closed. :smh: | | |
| ▲ | PaulDavisThe1st 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Closed and latched? I find that hard to believe (used to own an 80s Honda Civic which would allow "closed but not latched" for 4x8 sheet goods) ... | | |
| ▲ | foobarian 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Yes, with room to spare. I assume the grandparent was referring to a stud, i.e. the nominal "2x4" that is 1.5x3.5inches in cross section and 8 feet long :-) Sadly I cannot fit 4x8 sheet goods though I haven't tried very hard. I can definitely fit them if I ask nicely for a lengthwise cut, so I end up with 2' wide 8' strips. Those I can fit and close the hatch. |
|
|
|
|
|
| ▲ | red-iron-pine 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| these trucks are still a thing; Toyota sells a 10k stripped down work truck for places like Thailand https://www.roadandtrack.com/reviews/a45752401/toyotas-10000... wouldn't fly due to chicken tax + other safety and emissions. they plan on selling em in Mexico tho, so maybe we'll see some float up... |
|
| ▲ | shortstuffsushi 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > There are no more basic utilitarian pickups any longer, at least in the US. What makes you say this? The F-150 series has a pretty serviceable option in their XL trim. 8ft bed, 4x4, "dumb" interior (maybe not, looking at their site looks like the most recent is iPad screen, sigh) - but what else would you look for to call it utilitarian? You're right that each feature is further limiting, but I would argue premium and utilitarian are reaching for opposite goals. |
| |
| ▲ | bryanlarsen 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | A F-150 from the previous century is much utilitarian than today's F-150's. The bed height and rail height are much more reasonable heights -- you can reach into the bed from the side. | |
| ▲ | sejje 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Manual gearbox, triangle vent windows, engine bay room, repairability, bench seats. | |
| ▲ | everdrive 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | I wish it had even fewer features, but I take your point. |
|
|
| ▲ | enaaem 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| The most utilitarian truck is probably the Hilux champ and it’s not even sold in the US. |
