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Owning a pickup truck is pretty awesome, and I don’t think I’ll ever buy a different type of vehicle again.
Mentioning it online gets hate, but in real life people keep coming up to me, complimenting how nice it looks, asking questions about it, and kids give me thumbs up when I drive by. All of that is just a bonus on top of the fact that I love driving it and the way it looks - and that’s all that really matters.
Pickup trucks in and of themselves as a concept is fine.
The issue I an many others have with them is that they have grown to large, even here in Sweden we have got infected by American pickup trucks that has their bonnet at the same height as my 2021 Seat Leon's roof.
That is insane.
Get back to the size of 80-90s pickups, and I doubt you'll get a many complaints
Exactly.
The crew cab with a laughable bedsize, hood as tall as the average person, and clearly unused off road tires is what is unreasonable.
A truck actually being used for work is totally fine.
This is especially silly. Even the 'F1s' of offroad racers are lower sprung than that.
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And they are very street illegal. But they don't need to be skyscrapers! Even the Ultra4 rock crawler (the last one) sits lower than lifted pickups.
There's basically no practical reason to do that, not even an offroading fantasy.
I agree 1000000% with this. Light duty pickups are amazing.
Nissan used to have a light duty pickup everywhere, even the US, called the NP300 Hardbody that slowly morphed into the bloated "Navara" - except for South Africa. Nissan used to have this very Africa-appropriate tiny light duty truck, the Champ. Stellar vehicle. They made the same exact model from 1971 to 2008, and then replaced it with the Nissan NP300 Hardbody. Both are solid metal deathtraps, can be fixed with wire and string, but they're donkeys as well. Modestly sized and will just go forward (not too fast!) forever. Nissan never stopped making a light duty pickup because the Africa market demands it - something cheap and simple that carries and goes. No frills, not even good for a drive more than 4 hours because the seats are terrible.
And don't get me started on the way Toyota ruined the Hilux. The only entity in the known universe that could destroy a Hilux was Toyota itself. Damn shame.
Everyone driving these giant monsters wouldn't know a good economical work vehicle if it drove up to them and dumped a cubic meter of sand on them.
I think those huge American trucks are cool too, but the size is more of an inconvenience than it’s worth, and they stand out and draw too much attention - which is a big reason I didn’t get one. I’m honestly surprised by how much attention even my ’07 mid-size Nissan gets, but luckily it’s all been positive.
What's cool about an energy slurping vehicle that's a danger to children and adults alike? It only serves to trick men into thinking their fragile tiny tick gets bigger with that car.
The bigger the car, the smaller the ego, generally. Better to just work on themselves and bicycle. That's truly good.
Maybe they just like how they look
yepppp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q_BE5KPp18
I have a 99 Tacoma and I love it, 283k miles. My aunt has a much newer Tacoma, 2016-2020, not sure which year but around there. When my truck is in the shop sometimes I borrow hers and when I do I can't park in my parking spot at my apartment because the truck is too big.
Trucks are fun, 100%. Id love a small truck with a tow package, i don't need a gigantic Ram child-flattener but having something versatile and tall enough to clear some obstacles is always nice. RIP that little Mazda i got circa 2007 for $500 with no working gauges and a fuel leak, when it felt like driving i loved it.
Honestly if those Slate (is that right? Im still half asleep) trucks take off I may get one
I love my 99 ram and I can't imagine having a bigger truck for every day use.
I love my Santa Cruz. I can get 40mpg highway if I drive it right.
How often do you haul stuff you need a truck for?
Crucially, that wouldn't be better carried in a van.
Huh? Vans typically get about the same shit gas mileage as trucks.
I use it for work so pretty much every single day but that's besides the point. It would be awesome even if I had no need for one.
I was just curious. You mentioned just liking the truck enough that I wondered if it was more fashion or function. Nothing wrong with fashion of course, who wants to drive a vehicle they don't like the look of? I have feelings about efficiency, but that's your wallet, not mine.
I want to get a small truck for my wife (she's always got a project going that would benefit from cargo space) but small trucks are tough to come by these days. I wish Rangers weren't as big as F150s used to be.
Asking the real questions.
The rise in pickups causes everyone’s insurance rates to go up because of the increased fatality of average crash now, they blow through our global carbon budget even faster, they make roads less safe for everyone, they drain your wealth away from your kids inheritance and directly into banks and oil companies. I know you love bankers more than transmitting generational wealth to your kids. Fuck them kids. The bankers need your money more.
Speaking as a Texan, I associate the worst of truck driving with “being an ass.” It’s not always true, but man, if someone’s gonna cut me off just to be a jerk, it’s usually a lifted abomination.
This though:
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This is fine.
No, it’s magnificent.
That small red truck is a truck of a man who truly is masculine. Doesn't give a shit what other people think, needs it to carry supplies, and didn't want to waste any money.
Giant lifted trucks are the opposite of masculine. They're for showing off, desperately trying to get people to notice them, they arely if ever haul anything (if they even can anymore with the lift), and they wasted huge amounts of money.
If it were a nice person inside and they just liked the 'lifted' style though, that's one thing. I think there's something to be said for auto personalization culture, like people do with jeeps and the Slate is trying to start up. I actually knew a really short girl who drove a lifted truck and simply thought it was neat, heh.
But usually, I wince in anticipation of what flavor of 'macho' is going to step out. Like you said perfectly, it's usually not Hank Hill.
That's neat you found a girl like that, but it is not the norm from my experience, as it looks like it's yours too. I usually see a lot of angry men who are too eager to swerve lanes and show off how cool their truck (and by extension they) are.
Funny that everyone agrees with this take when it comes to trucks, but if you apply it to clothing it is "toxic masculinity".
I’m not even sure what you mean precisely, but men’s expressiveness through fashion is a bit squelched, yeah.
My point is that the same people who bemoan the lack of expressiveness in men's clothing are at the same time defining masculine coding as being utilitarian in the context of trucks.
This incongruity is frustrating to me.
Agreed.
I think cars should be more individualistic, which is part of Slate's pitch. So should men's fashion expectations.
That being said, a lot of truck lifting is very similar and more "I'm signicaling I'm part of this culture," than doing it for the sake of being cool. Some people do it as a form of expression, but that's the exception in my experience.
I'm confused. Most self expression in fashion is about identifying with some kind of culture. Hence why a conservative will wear cowboy boots, a punk will wear a band t shirt, and a gay man will wear a neon pink mesh tank top. Sure, runway fashion designers and people for whom fashion is a hobby will look at a piece with a discerning eye and try to unravel its intrinsic appeal based purely on immediate understanding of the impact of the piece on the human eye. But most people, male or female, intuitively use fashion in the most utilitarian of senses - they want to look good, and tell others who they are in a way that others will understand. And the most important thing that most strangers will want to know about us is what communities we are part of.
I dunno, chief. That "small" red truck is big as well. And the stuff in there will still get wet. Much more practical to have a van.
Oh completely agree - but if forced to choose between those two types of trucks I know which one I'd say is more reasonable.
I mean, sure, but I were forced to pick I'd rather bring both to the scrapyard and get a bike instead. Or a van, but yeah. Choosing the lesser evil over time will lead to the actually good options getting eliminated.
I agree with 95% of FuckCars. Cars should not be the default in our society. Cars are at the root of why our cities suck so bad. We need to do as much as we can towards walkability, bikability, and public transportation. Cars won't go away completely, but they don't have to be so prevalent.
The 5% where FuckCars goes wrong is people who don't know anything about cars talking about cars. Their treatment of trucks vs vans is one of those. Vans are useful for trades, and so are trucks. Let the workers decide which one they prefer for their job.
Those workers usually don't need an F150 the size of a small house. They don't even want an F150 the size of a small house. That doesn't mean a van is necessarily what they want.
Well, I've atleast got the two seater with a long bed so it's barely adequate for what I need it for at work. It's undeniable that a similar size Vivaro or Transporter would be more practical but I'm willing to trade some of that for a fun truck.
I actually want to get a pick-up truck for furniture, not like one of these road monsters, but something reasonable, like a 2 seater with lots a bed space. Like an old Chevy or something.
Why not a van? Can typically carry more and keeps it dry.
Not a truck guy, but I've had enough vans to know that not having an open top REALLY reduces the potential of what you can put in the back.
The number one reason I went with a pickup over a van is that it just looks way better. Vans are boring. But also that my pickup has a 4WD, low-range gear box and a diff lock which vans don't. It also has a camper shell on it so stuff on the bed stays dry too.
Hah, you took the one part that makes a truck stand out from a van, and put a box over it making it a bad van!
My apologies for not consulting your opinion when building out my truck.
Get a van instead. Don't start becoming part of the problem.
I like these answers that are actually divisive
I agree. I don't need the truck part very often, but when I do, it is so nice. I got a BEV truck and it's also stupid fast, especially for a truck. And it has outlets everywhere, 4x 110V 20A in the back plus a 220v 30A, and more 110V in the cab and the frunk! 130kWh of mobile power.
The suspension is sloppy, the tires are squishy. But I don't mind that most of the time (I do wish the dampers were a just bit more aggressive).
Out of curiosity, why did you buy it? It's so big and seems like a safety hazard for people, wasteful as well.
What would've convinced you to switch back to something else? Or what would convince others to do so?