• wabafee@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    What is the point of that truck if ain’t even able to use it for it’s intended purpose?

    • Letstakealook@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      I was never into trucks, but a cascade of circumstances put me in one. I hate to admit it, but I love that damn thing. I’m always throwing shit in the back, taking more camping trips, more wilderness trips, fishing low pressure spots, hauling trailers of shit, it does everything. The only thing that could come close utility wise would be a minivan, though I’d lose the offroad capability. I don’t love the gas mileage, but I’m looking at a possible ethanol conversion.

      All that to say, if you have a truck, use it like a truck.

      • SuiXi3D@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        If you use the truck as a truck, it’s fine. I’ve got a cousin that has a giant truck… to haul his camping trailer that fits him, his wife, and their FIVE kids. The daily driver is a hybrid SUV, again, for five kids.

        My wife and I, just the two of us, have a little Ford Fiesta. It’s perfect for us, and honestly we could deal with something smaller if we had the money for it, but the Fiesta was the right price at the right time.

        • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          That’s the thing, it’s not the trucks themselves that are the problem. It’s the size of them these days and their perception as a do-it-all vehicle. Theres just no reason the average truck user needs to sit 5 feet off the ground unless they’re hauling something in the ballpark of a 75-foot luxury camper on a regular basis. Not to mention the height of the hood and headlights, the ubiquitous extended cabs which kinda defeat the purpose by shortening the bed (Hauling the family and their stuff is what mini vans and station wagons always were for), those trucks with permanent covered beds parading as SUVs… Regular consumer vehicles and work vehicles alike seemed to get by without those things before the 2010s and not much has changed since then, unless you count the need to compete with the size of what everyone else is driving.

          But good luck finding a light duty low-to-normal-rise truck with a full size bed that does just what you need for occasional use without the compromise on efficiency for daily driving if that’s what you so choose. I’m beginning to think that all this marketing around trucks isn’t actually about selling them to people who need trucks to use them as trucks 🤔

          Last thing is there aren’t any real incentives to reach better fuel efficiency on truck platforms. It doesn’t cost nearly as much more to develop and manufacture them as customers are willing to pay for them- trucks make up to 90% of profit for a company like Ford. Plus they’re a loophole in US emissions policy. So more thought and funding could be put into making them more efficient, but that’s not what the buyers are buying them for and that’s not what the government is incentivising for, so the industry just goes “meh, just make 'em bigger, add some tech gimmies, and then go heavy on the marketing so we can squeeze more out of the customers this year than we did last year”.

          Whew sorry that was a bit of a rant… I just have a permanent bug on my shoulder when it comes to what capitalism has done to transportation in the US.

      • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        Amen. I grew up in rural Ontario where everyone and their kid has either a pickup truck or a beat up old Cutlass. I yearn to have a pickup because of how awesome they are. Challenge is I live in suburbia. It doesn’t make sense and I can’t justify it. People really need to think critically more about their purchases.

      • HurlingDurling@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        Same here, and the added benefit that you can throw whatever shit on the back without a real care of damaging it, and then just hosing it down. On an SUV or Minivan I would be making sure that everything was clean or carefully covered so not to spill on the carpet and shit.

  • I_Comment_On_EVERYTHING@lemmings.world
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    10 months ago

    I have been in that exact position before. The hard cover was locked and the keys for it disappeared somewhere on the job site. We needed the piece of crown moulding to finish a job we were working on so we did exactly what you see in the photo.

      • I_Comment_On_EVERYTHING@lemmings.world
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        10 months ago

        Aftermarket hard top that locked into the top of the tailgate. You could unlock the tailgate but wouldn’t be able to pull it down.

        If memory serves me the hardtop keys were given to someone to get a tool and never returned to the driver.

          • rooster_butt@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            Unless you are carrying chemicals constantly and don’t want to be smelling the fumes all day.

            • Agent641@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              My renault came with a solid steel cargo barrier and small glass window. You could carry a lion in the back and probably be fine.

              • 1847953620@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                You would trust your lungs to vehicle manufacturers getting every van air-tight with seals to last for many years?

          • ilost7489@lemmy.ca
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            10 months ago

            Both have their use cases. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other

            • Mr_Blott@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Millions upon millions of contractors in every country except the US would disagree

              • ilost7489@lemmy.ca
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                10 months ago

                Of course they would because they don’t need one for what they do. But I also imagine another few million around the world do. What you choose depends on what you need

            • Trollception@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Vans can tow too. Many full sized Vans are a truck chassis and drivetrain with the body of a Van.

              • 1847953620@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                vans always have a much lower tow rating, the chassis and drivetrain are almost always different in some critical way

              • 1847953620@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                Apples to apples, those vans are more expensive and larger. At what point does it become ok to have an open bed? There are valid pros and cons in every choice being talked about, here.

                • Eufalconimorph@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  10 months ago

                  At what point does it become ok to have an open bed?

                  When the distance from the back of the truck to the front of the bed is longer than the distance from the back of the cab to the front of the truck, it turns from a Sport Utility Truck into a Pickup Truck. Typically that’s around when the bed gets big enough to haul a sheet of plywood or drywall safely.

                  Of course it’s OK to have an SUT instead of a pickup truck, just not as useful for construction work.