• Towing capacity, payload weight, carrying 3 more people, bed width, drivetrain? I think many trucks are way too big, and it’s silly to own a big work truck if you just use it to go to the grocery store but it’s really about so much more than bed size.

    • the larger one does do more:

      • Pick up 3 extra people
      • Can roll down the back window to let long planks of wood through

      These are the only extra advantages I can see, and they are seldom use cases at best.

      Fine, if you’re a contractor driving your workers to/from work whilst carrying all the equipment, on a daily basis, such a truck is very useful.

      But how many people who drive these do that?

  • I really like my 2003 Ford ranger. It’s small, but can still haul enough that it works perfectly fine for when I’m picking up dirt for my garden. But also it’s definitely not fuel efficient in the way that I’d want it to be. I wish they made something that size but newer.

    • I’d skip the Santa Cruz largely since Hyundai/Kia are experts at cost-cutting that blows up big in customer faces down the line. (anti-theft, engines, warranty work, wiring, etc.) but your options are already limited so I wouldn’t blame you for getting it. I’d get the base engine/transmission though if you anticipate stop/go traffic or off-road use since the dual-clutch in the upper engine option is better than dry clutch models but IMHO still suspect.

      I would lean towards the Maverick but neither are really “small” since they’re still pretty long.

      There’s the Transit Connect if you want a cargo van that’s compact.

    •  m0darn   ( @m0darn@lemmy.ca ) 
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      7 months ago

      Kinda, Not really.

      The Suzuki Carry has a bed width of 1585mm (62.4") the Silverado has a max bed width of 64.8" (1646mm) so 60mm/2.5" wider. But the Silverado’s bed isn’t rectangular, ie if you want to lay something flat, the widest it can be is 50" (1270mm). That’s a foot narrower than the Suzuki.

      The Silverado has higher walls which imo isn’t really a plus or minus. (More bulk materials, and less need to tie things down, but harder to access the things).

      There are a lot of other differences in available configurations. I think the reason a lot of people prefer Silverados boil down to esthetics, and the perceptions of others. I think that for a lot of men, pickup trucks are an expression of their masculinity. They want something big and powerful that they can take into the woods and be manlytm with.

      A Carry is very practical and if I owned a landscaping business I think that’s what I’d want my crews to be driving.

      But also, I’m not a business owner. I’m a man and I get it. Honestly I’d way rather own that enormous impractical pickup. I’m more likely to be hauling hockey gear than lumber and drywall. I’m tall and girthy, I appreciate a spacious cab. I have child seats in my car.

      Maybe men should stop pretending they don’t care a lot about fun.

      Edit to add: but I do agree we need society to be less car/truck centric.

        • That’s anecdotal evidence, I’ve never even seen a kei truck in real life but that doesn’t mean I think they aren’t out there, and sure you could fit a couple guys up front. But I’ve seen plenty of teams of 4 or sometimes even more come piling out of a work truck. I’m currently in one with four people right now! And just to be clear I agree there are far too many trucks and not every suburban dad needs one, but you blame the driver not the truck. There are absolutely instances where a full size truck is the best vehicle for the job, just like there are instances where a kei truck makes far more sense.

          • Of course, but that doesn’t mean one should get it. If you are gonna haul wood once a year, you are not BUYING a log trailer and just tow it behind you vehicle through the city all year - like a sensible person, you rent one for a day or two.

              • You did, but said I blame the driver not the truck. Who else to blame? The driver bought and is using the vehicle. I am not against using a vehicle for it’s job, but so many drivers just don’t do that.

                I am sure the F-150 has a legitimate use, but it’s seldom used to it’s full potential, and for some reason it’s MOSTLY used legitimately.

            • Again, those are nice vehicles but can’t replace a truck for certain things. A truck can haul much more weight and I wouldn’t want a van because a lot of the time the stuff we’re hauling is too big to fit inside or just straight up garbage and debris that I’d rather have in an outside bed.

              •  Obi   ( @Obi@sopuli.xyz ) 
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                7 months ago

                Ford F150 max payload: 1508kg

                Renault Master max payload: 1,610kg

                I mean the whole rest of the world seems to manage just fine without these, and we have tradesmen as well? The cabins can be as clean or dirty as you need, I’ve seen everything, loading trash or debris is also fine. If you’re really carrying mostly gravel or other type of stuff like that then you’d have something specialized for that with a much bigger box than on your pickups, or rent it for the job.

                But looking at your other comments in the thread I see that you’re just set in your ideas and just looking at finding justifications for niche cases where it might be a superior vehicle, which I don’t deny certainly exist, but that’s not the problem, the problem is these are a dime a dozen if not the majority on your roads, and they’re not at all good as normal vehicles whereas the vans are. Also they’re honestly just superior in pretty much every way, flat bottom, low load-in height, can accept pallets, stuff stays dry, locked, engines are efficient and not crazy oversize and gaz-guzzling, they have good viewing angles at the front (e.g. you would see a child in front of the vehicle), etc etc etc.

                • So you agree with me than? Idk how many times I have to say yes I agree most people don’t need trucks, I don’t personally like trucks nor have I ever had one and I don’t plan on ever getting one, but they should still exist for those niche cases (although there seems to be more than you think exist). I’ll admit I was wrong about a trucks payload when compared to a van but it still wouldn’t work for most of the work I do. If you wanna carry the four person team that I work with they’d have to sit in the back taking away from the space required to haul materials, not to mention even if we wanted to drop two guys and have the full cargo space we still wouldn’t be able to haul as much as we can in our truck bed.

                  Also I agree vans are superior in a lot of ways, if they work for you I would absolutely suggest getting one instead of a truck, and some of your points are great but I gotta ask. You think trucks can’t accept pallets?! I feel like it’s far easier to put a pallet in a truck than a van lol. Not to mention you can stack multiple pallets on a truck! Also the low flat bottom is certainly a plus for some cases but that’s negative for when we need to haul materials off road on some shitty lumpy mud trails. And as far as gas guzzling goes trucks have become a lot more efficient over the years, obviously they’re still about the worst personal vehicles you can get as far as gas mileage goes but vans aren’t that much better.

    • Tbh I was going to say that at least some of the new fangled pick ups have easy to remove wheels, most of that stuff is easy to check, replace tires etc, but besides that from what I’ve been told they’re as much a pain to drive as they are to giveaway to