I think those short bed trucks are the absolute worst. If you genuinely need a truck, get one with a proper bed so you can use it for it’s utilitarian purpose. If you’ve got a short ass bed, you don’t need a truck.
People who buy these things don’t really want “a truck”
They want a vehicle which aesthetically resembles a truck, so their super manly male man ego can be satisfied, but which is actually just an SUV with extra steps.
Short beds and unibody designs are the worst fucking things to happen to trucks
If you need a truck - and as a rural tradesperson, there are plenty of good reasons to need one - get something that’ll actually do the job.
Rural tradepeople in Europe rarely have trucks. Vans do the job in the vast majority of cases, a trailer can complement when needed.
Not to mention a van has the benefit of keeping the load dry
Which depending on what you do and where can be very important
I’ve got a work van (one of the smaller Ford Transits), but it’s just not capable of towing anything really. Trucks do a lot better on the muddy hillsides I find myself on frequently.
FWIW I’m not arguing against you, I’m just saying in my personal case, I would be able to put a reasonable truck to good use. I don’t need a King Ranch or anything stupid like that.
Yea, I want 90s single cab s10 like I had in college. Full bed, no electronic bullshit. normal size tires, didn’t have to climb into it. Everything I needed to haul lumber and tools around and nothing I didn’t. I could take the entire thing apart and put it back together. If someone would just make a truck like that again I’d be so happy.
I would love an electric version of that. Just an in town daily driver, capable of hauling lumber, projects, etc…
They don’t make hardly any 8’ beds on mid sized pickups. Pretty much everything is 5.5’ which makes a trailer a requirement.
Want to see something strange but interesting, check out the Telos Truck. Can fit an 8 foot by 4ft piece of plywood in the back, has 4 doors, and is the length of a mini Cooper lol. The look is strange, but at least it shows companies trying to shake up what people think of as utility
Holy shit, I have a new electric truck to keep an eye out for! That thing is perfect!
While my truck does have a short bed, it pulls my 24,000lbs/11,000Kg tandem axle tilt bed trailer just fine. Which is more important to me than hauling groceries or people with it.
Plus the 4-wheel drive matters a lot when the roads have 6+ in/15cm of snow and it’s only 2 miles/1.7 nautical miles to the nearest paved and perhaps plowed road or when I need to drive down a logging road.
***The metric and navel conversion of measurements was done for those people living in Lubbock Tx.
The one in ten that actually uses a truck for truck stuff and not a mallcruiser.
The nearest mall is a mere 50 miles away and I never go there. And yet I get painted with the same “fuck pickup trucks” brush right along with those that buy them as a mall cruiser.
Ok. Explain the Lubbock joke. I grew up in Odessa, but Lubbock had Orlandos with their delicious rum cake and the science museum. That was really the only reason for me to go over there and deal with driving through fucking Andrews County with all the drunks on the road. The only thing I miss from Texas is the food and sky.
Lubbock is considered one of the most conservative cities in Texas. And the unit conversions from US Freedom Units are an indirect poke at their conservative values. I often do the same for smug metric system using liberals-- see the US miles to nautical miles conversion rather than kilometers.
Remember kiddies: All measurement systems are made up scales by some random dude that thought it was a good idea at the time. No one of them is better than another.
If I need a truck I’ll rent one from U-Haul. They’re not that expensive.
Owning a truck? That’s pretty expensive for someone like me who just needs a small car to get around. Also avoids that problem.
I don’t want to scratch the paint in the bed!
In this case their cargo that they claim they constantly need a truck for, doesn’t even fit in the bed because the bed is half the size a bed should be.
It’s partially the manufacturers’ fault. Good luck finding an 8’ bed without an extended cab.
That’s their only option if they’re limited to the footprint of a smaller truck in their parking spot.
I’m dying for a return to 80s style trucks but with hybrid/electric engines
Please just let me have a functional, strong truck that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to drive
and won’t require bags of sand, gravel, or litter in the bed every winter
To load up deer I shot after a hunt.
Or I would if I hunted. Or had a truck.
Seriously though, farmers and heavy machinery contractors legit need trucks.
I don’t think anyone is arguing that people who need a truck shouldn’t get a truck. But regular people with trucks is every bit as stupid as driving around in a tractor.
Nobody who could use a truck uses a truck in Europe. Usually, a Van or something is the better choice. I don’t really understand the “american pick-up truck” form factor.
Here in Germany, I see pick-up trucks more and more, and they often have some company logo on them. They never transport anything either, and the only explanation I have is that they’re basically a “foreman’s car”, driven by people who no longer build things but want to feel like they do.
I see your point. If you need to regularly haul stuff, a van is usually a better choice for the average person but I’m skeptical that construction workers, farmers and small moving companies in Europe don’t use trucks.
Where I live, hunters use a Lada 4x4 or a Suzuki Jimny.
Farmers use tractors.
Tradesmen use vans.
Heavy machinery contractors use flatbed trucks.
A pickup truck just seems like the worst of all worlds.
