What people online think I drive when I mention owning a pickup truck versus what I actually drive
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All absolutely valid points and my only counter argument here is that is why wagon sedans exist. Growing up in Poland a wagon was the family hauler bringing all the stuff you mentioned to pretty much anywhere you need. People even haul rvs with the wagons and you’re still smaller and relatively more pedestrian friendly. Hell they even make performance cars in wagon spec like the bmw m3. Not saying that to discredit your point just that there was another option before the suv craze came about
...wagons nearly don't exist anymore in the US market, but i concur: hatchbacks, wagons, and minivans are purpose-designed vehicles for the way people use them in the real world, whereas modern trucks and SUVs are overwhelmingly poseur props for families in denial of their suburban utility lifestyle...
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I just looked up the dimensions of that thing and it has 10cm (3inch) shorter bed than mine. How you even manage to pull that off with a truck that big is beyond me.
These brodozers aren't used for anything useful. I like having 4' between the wheelwells and a box long enough to get a full toolbox across the front of the box and still get a 1000L fertilizer tote in it. And low enough that I can climb in the box without a ladder.
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we have reached a time when the normal size vehicle is called a compact
There's a reason there are "full-size" pickups. The box is 49" wide at the narrowest point across the wheelwells so you can fit full sheets in it. There have been compact pickups for a long, long time (Toyota), but they're narrower than fullsize and you have to build a deck in them above the wheels to get full sheets in. Sometimes even then you have troubles.
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If I remember correctly; around 2% of the cars sold in the US were wagons and of that, like 1.5% were Subarus.
I've owned two of them!
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It's so stupid, if you actually need a small truck your options are to buy used basically.
We just need a couple small (easy to navigate in cities, good on gas) 4wd trucks on the market. You're basically stuck in Ford Transitsright now, which they've just stopped making, or buying 20yr old Mazdas and Rangers. Or being forced into the same F150s every other fleet operator has. I know the market for these vehicles exists (though demand is low) why does no manufacturer try to fill it?
...manufacturers cater to the compact + economy truck market overseas but protectionist tariffs pretty much give them a captive market for luxury yank tanks stateside; your best bet for something new is finding it in puerto rico and paying the premium to ship it across the gulf...
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I will never understand why truck owners love backing into stalls.
Ass end can hang over the grass behind the curb, and you can see when you pull out so you don't run over anyone's kid. Pretty obviously.
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They are starting to at least make some more reasonable vehicles. Not exactly small but not the oversized monsters.
Ford Maverick, Honda Ridgeline, Hyundai Santa Cruz, Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, etc.
Honestly if the towing capacity was more I would have gotten the Maverick instead of the F150 for work. Sadly it can only haul 7,000lbs and I haul around a 10,000 GVW trailer all the time. The F150 in got cancelled haul 13K.
...i'm not sure they're actually made any differently; everything in europe gets a dramatically greater tow rating...
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Ass end can hang over the grass behind the curb, and you can see when you pull out so you don't run over anyone's kid. Pretty obviously.
My experience is that their ass end ends up hanging over the sidewalk, and the tow hook takes an extra foot or so.
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Unpopular opinion: unless you regularly haul things, you don't need a truck of any size. Unless you regularly go off-road or are transporting 5+ people and a dog or more, you don't need an SUV. You can rent one of those for the rare times you need it! And in the meantime, you'll save gas money and pedestrian deaths will go down...
unless you regularly haul things, you don’t need a truck of any size. Unless you regularly go off-road or are transporting 5+ people and a dog or more, you don’t need an SUV. You can rent one of those for the rare times you need it!
Maybe... but why not go further?
Unless you regularly transport more than 1 person, you don't need a car. You can rent one of those for the rare times you need it!
Buy a motorcycle or bike instead?
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He didn't buy it for MPGs, he bought it to complain about $/gals
I don't understand I maxed out my credit to buy this thing, drive and look like a douchebag and girls STILL avoid me?!?
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I remember a time when that Frontier was considered a big truck, especially compared to Rangers and Tacomas.
Now the Rangers and Tacomas are almost as big as the Dodge in this...
My dad has a '93 ranger, the modern rangers are almost the size of the f150s of that era, and you can't even get them like a 7ft bed like he has.
The 4 cylinder manages almost 20mpg which isn't too shabby even by modern truck standards. If I could get pretty much the exact same truck with a modern engine, maybe a hybrid, it would be a no-brainer.
4wd would be nice too, his is RWD, and that thing doesn't like rain, snow, loose gravel, pretty much anything but dry asphalt when you don't have any weight in the bed.
We've gotten plenty of use out of that truck, we're not towing or hauling anything heavy, but we've moved a lot of furniture with it, picked up some small loads of bulky lumber and such from the hardware store, hauled camping gear for a bunch of kids back when I was in scouts, etc. I don't need anything bigger.
I'm kind of crossing my fingers that the maverick adds a mid gate to extend that tiny bed a bit. That would basically check all of the boxes I'm looking for. Ideally that would still be my 2nd vehicle in addition to a small EV for most of my daily commuting but I'd get enough use out of a truck like that to be worth it if I could afford and had parking space for a second car.
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unless you regularly haul things, you don’t need a truck of any size. Unless you regularly go off-road or are transporting 5+ people and a dog or more, you don’t need an SUV. You can rent one of those for the rare times you need it!
Maybe... but why not go further?
Unless you regularly transport more than 1 person, you don't need a car. You can rent one of those for the rare times you need it!
Buy a motorcycle or bike instead?
This is a shitty reductio ad absurdum because most people live in a place that rain exists and renting a car every time it rained would definitely cost you more than you would save from not paying for car gas even if it only rained once a month.
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I will somewhat disagree with the SUV comment, as my escape counts as an SUV, and I regularly fill it far past a sedan's capacity when I go grocery shopping (the savings from driving 3+hours each way to the nearest Costco far outstrips the cost in gas) and when I go camping.
And, as I camp in a tent, and have kayaks I can strap to the roof, I don't need a truck at all, because my car can get me to every campsite that a truck can get to, often easier than someone dragging a camper can.
Plus, since its a plug-in hybrid, and Canada doesn't burn fossil fuels for power, my fuel efficiency is significantly better than the average sedan in drives under 100km, and breaks even above that.
On a 60km drive, I average 2L/100km, a 100km drive I average 4.6L/100km, and on a 300km drive I average 6.6L/100km (100km/h), 7.5L/100km (110km/h), or 8.8L/100km (120km/h), which is well within what sedans average.
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I wish Canada didn't burn fossil fuels for power but as an Albertan I can promise you that we do.
Sorry, the parts of Canada that don't idolize Texas don't burn fossil fuels.
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Put a Ford Focus behind it to show what people actually need.
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Modern pickups are bad. Old pickups were fantastic for "I need to pile a bunch of (insert thing here) in the back."
But now every pickup is a massive motor for a tiny truckbed that my ford focus wagon has better hauling capacity.
My friend has a dodge ram. When his girlfriend left him, he moved out and i helped him move. I asked if i should bring my bus that i use for work. He said nah, DODgE RAM. We drove 4 times just to move his sofa and his side table. Piece by piece. All of his stuff would've fit in my bus and maybe something on his pickup. And my bus was still a bit shorter, because he couldn't fit on his new parking spot, but i did.
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This is a shitty reductio ad absurdum because most people live in a place that rain exists and renting a car every time it rained would definitely cost you more than you would save from not paying for car gas even if it only rained once a month.
Just throwing it out there that rain gear exists and you can 100 percent ride a motorcycle or a bicycle when it's raining. I think everyone would be a better driver if they had to experience getting somewhere on two wheels.
Hell, a motorcycle can generate enough electricity to power heated clothing to keep you warm even during New England winters. If there's no ice on the road I'm riding my motorcycle to work!
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Just throwing it out there that rain gear exists and you can 100 percent ride a motorcycle or a bicycle when it's raining. I think everyone would be a better driver if they had to experience getting somewhere on two wheels.
Hell, a motorcycle can generate enough electricity to power heated clothing to keep you warm even during New England winters. If there's no ice on the road I'm riding my motorcycle to work!
Hi I own only a moped and when it rains/snows:
- if it's not too severe I just wear a poncho and be a bit miserable
- if it's too severe I take a cab
the occasional cab fare is peanuts compared to what I'd be paying in gas and insurance
I rent a car/van sometimes when I need to haul stuff. Same deal
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This is a shitty reductio ad absurdum because most people live in a place that rain exists and renting a car every time it rained would definitely cost you more than you would save from not paying for car gas even if it only rained once a month.
You're a shitty reductio ad absurdum, my kid and I live in England where rain was invented and I do fine without a car.
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This is a shitty reductio ad absurdum because most people live in a place that rain exists and renting a car every time it rained would definitely cost you more than you would save from not paying for car gas even if it only rained once a month.
For more than a decade I only rode a motorcycle in Florida. I even made trips - with a passenger - to Costco. It required plenty of straps and saddlebags and a big backpack, but it was doable to get groceries in it for two people.
This was on a Triumph Scrambler, and I had added a luggage rack etc, so not something you could do easily on a stock sport bike, but you don't need a big touring bike for this kind of living, either.
The times I needed to haul something big, I rented a truck from a big box hardware store. Saved a ton of money over the years, and only now have a Prius (with a roof rack to haul stuff) because I live in a place with harsh winters. No sidecar yet, but thinking hard about it...
