Comparison left vs right for a craftsman who doesnt know which one he should buy:

  • l/r same bed size

  • r lower bed for way easier loading/unloading

  • r less likely to crash

  • r less fuel consumption and costs

  • r less expensive to repair

  • r easy to park

  • r easy to get around in narrow places like crowded construction sites or towns

  • r not participating in road arms race

  • l You get taken serious by your fellow carbrained americans because ““trucks”” are normalized and small handy cars are ridiculed.

So unless you are a fragile piece of human, choose the right one.

    • AlphaOmega@lemmy.worldEnglish
      223·
      1 year ago

      We only have large trucks in the USA due to CAFE restrictions. Basically in order to sell a small truck in the USA , it has to have phenomenal gas mileage or the manufacturer has to pay the government fees.
      The government is the cause for these stupid large trucks.

      • FireRetardant@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        1 year ago

        There was also a lot of targeted ads that destroyed masculinity if you owned a car. Truck companies were claiming a truck made you more handsome, resourceful, trustworthy and all sorts of other claims that somehow made you a better person for owning a truck.

      • Calavera@lemm.eeEnglish
        8·
        1 year ago

        It’s easy to fix, just apply CAFE also to those pickup trucks. Today it’s just applied to regular cars

        • FireRetardant@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          It sounds easy to fix, but reality is the automotive and oil industries have lobbied (bribed) politicians to never do that.

      • OopsOverbombing@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        1 year ago

        Which is funny because the opposite law in Japan is what resulted in the tiny truck on the right. They have a class of cars, Kei cars, that are small and very economical. So if a car was too big and wasn’t efficient enough they’d have to pay fees… so they went tiny.

        • Enekk@lemmy.worldEnglish
          13·
          1 year ago

          This was the actual purpose of CAFE laws, but lobbying from the auto industry carved out exceptions for “light trucks” (meaning not-semi trucks). This exception is also why SUVs, classified as light trucks, have largely replaced wagons.

      • CapitalismsRefugee@lemmy.worldEnglish
        7·
        1 year ago

        I’d never heard of CAFE fees before;

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy?wprov=sfla1

        I think this is the specific bit that you are referencing;

        CAFE has separate standards for “passenger cars” and “light trucks” even if the majority of “light trucks” are being used as passenger vehicles. The market share of “light trucks” grew steadily from 9.7% in 1979 to 47% in 2001, remained in 50% numbers up to 2011.

        Interesting also;

        In addition, a Gas Guzzler Tax is levied on individual passenger car models (but not trucks, vans, minivans, or SUVs) that get less than 22.5 miles per US gallon (10.5 L/100 km).

      • ButteredMonkey@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        Thanks so much for pointing out the CAFE restrictions. I never knew they existed, and it explains much about the growth of autos in general since 2011.

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
      31·
      1 year ago

      The kei trucks are also illegal to import in to the U.S., if they’re less than 25 years old. “Land of the free,” folks.