Kayak.
get a van
Get a life, it’s a 6cyl and makes 28mpg. Go fuss at an Acura TL for all the emissions I create.
I just throw my kayak or canoe on the roof of my car. My fuel economy drops a bit with it on the roof, but overall its a way better option for me than constantly guzzling gas plus the upfront costs.
We aren’t just fussing over emissions, its also the bigger tires, the bumper height/pedestrian safety, the blind spots many trucks have, the increased space they take up in parking lots.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Because I need a vehicle. And I want one.
I saw a lifted truck the other day, and not only did it not have a trailer hitch, it didn’t even have a spot where one could be installed. I don’t know much, but it seems to me that if you’re not using your pickup truck for hauling, then you shouldn’t even have one.
“didn’t have a spot where one could be installed”
The hitch is bolted to the frame, if you don’t have one installed there’s no visual cue that you can’t install one
Some people need a truck without needing to tow a trailer, I had a client that had a lifted one to go fill up machinery out in the woods, his bed was a huge diesel tank with a pump, would you have expected him to do that with a Yaris?
He can do it on a fucking unicycle for all I care, that’s not at all what I’m saying.
and not only did it not have a trailer hitch, it didn’t even have a spot where one could be installed
Oh no?
The bit about you not knowing much was right though, I’ll give you that.
Not everyone needs a truck to tow is my point so judge all you want, you don’t know what that person is doing with the truck outside of the little glimpse you took at it.
Who the hell wants to load bricks into a lifted truck? Even if using a forklift, its often better and safer to keep the load as low as possible. It also safer while traveling to have the load lower to keep the center of gravity lower, hauling bricks in a lifted truck is more dangerous than stock height. Lifts can also impact stopping distance, which isn’t something you want when you’re also ruining your sightlines with the lift.
This man bricks!
I dunno, I was just thinking extra springs to not bottom out with heavy load, also easier to pick up heavy items if they are already hip-high.
(Like, I lift my husband from bed to chair, and vice versa, but I would really struggle to lift him from the floor.)
Stoopid me.
But not stoopid enough to buy a truck like that! A wheelchair-modified minivan hauls anything I need, and keeps it dry.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
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…
