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.
Fuck Cars
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
Rules
1. Be Civil
You may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.
2. No hate speech
Don't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.
3. Don't harass people
Don't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.
4. Stay on topic
This community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.
5. No reposts
Do not repost content that has already been posted in this community.
Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.
Posting Guidelines
In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
- [meta] for discussions/suggestions about this community itself
- [article] for news articles
- [blog] for any blog-style content
- [video] for video resources
- [academic] for academic studies and sources
- [discussion] for text post questions, rants, and/or discussions
- [meme] for memes
- [image] for any non-meme images
- [misc] for anything that doesn’t fall cleanly into any of the other categories
Recommended communities:
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
They also keep dirt and road dust off your tools and materials. Vans also conceal your cargo better than a bed which can prevent theft. Most vans are more fuel efficient than similar sized trucks. Vans are usually easier to drive and have better visibility. A big enough van can fit a small workshop in the back, that you can stand in and assemble parts.
Vans are the better work/trade vehicles compared to trucks for most applications and that is a hill I will die on.
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.
I always have to laugh when I see a pickup with a trailer. The empty bed is always a nice extra touch. Like imagine paying an absolute shit ton on an expensive ass truck that eats gass like there's no tomorrow, just to end up using a trailer anyways!
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
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.
Renting them from Home Depot is also pretty cheap
I find if I'm going far distances, home Depot is actually better. Around town U-Haul is usually better.
Which is kinda ironic, as it's inverse to what they advertise for.
I didn’t know I could do that! I live next to a Home Depot. I’ll try that sometime.
They also usually rent out equipment, like carpet cleaners, post-hole diggers, large drain snakes, etc. And relatively cheap for the one time possibly in your lifetime you need to use it.
Yeah, that's definitely the cheapest option if you only need the truck for an hour or two to carry something home. Actually I think it's free if you are fast enough, just have to pay for gas.
Yeah, but you know what your problem is? You're way too reasonable!
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.
One of the main reasons I probably won't buy a truck. Most beds are only 5 feet in the Tacoma world. My van has more storage space.
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.
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 would hate lifting a moose into a modern truck, the bed is 3-4 feet off the ground. I'd sooner put a tarp in a minivan and use that.
I'm still seeing a few Fiat Panda 4x4 being used too.
If you hadn't written what you wrote, I would have been sure that was (amazingly) a Yugo.
Mine is a smaller truck so it also has a little baby bed on the back, but it has allowed me to pickup a load of gravel and mulch. As well as haul garbage to the dump.
But I'm not 10 feet off the ground with huge tires or blinding headlights, and nobody can hear me driving down the road.
Just a little old Nissan to do the occasional dirty work
Nissan hard body pickups were awesome. I had a 96 model, one of the last years they were made. If you're going to own a truck, this would be one of the more responsible ones to own.
at least he's hauling something unlike 99% of emotional support vehicle owners
"warlock" LOL i can't believe the shit people look at and say oOoOoOhHhH i want that!
i feel this way about the ford trucks that have SUPER DUTY banged into the back... embarassing...
To haul one gallon of cat litter and a La Croix /s
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.
Maybe they haul a bedful of bricks daily but never need to tow anything?
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.
Generally if it doesn't have a hitch receiver you can put a ball hitch on the bumper in front of the license plate, but those are rated for less weight and are useless if the truck is lifted sooo
Shoulda bought a bigger truck.