They need to be taxed more and held to a higher efficiency requirement.
Yes, this. The only reason they even became a thing in the US is loopholes in regulation. They’re completely impractical too, they have as much bed capacity as a Kei truck, sometimes less. People only think they “like” them because car companies marketed them as big strong men’s cars.
I’m glad this is being talked about, I’ve noticed them everywhere and it’s getting really concerning, especially as a parent with children who could hide under those massive hoods.
Kei truck won’t tow 🤷♂️
A real truck would, and it would have better carrying capacity.
What?
I think they mean professional hauling trucks, like an F650. Vehicles used for commercial transport/utilities (i.e. US DOT, Uhaul, construction firms) are typically equipped with high-torque engines specifically engineered for towing.
This is where the issue arises: for one reason or another, some people want what they call the “best of both worlds”. They want a smaller-sized truck with the same amount of power. To them, this sounds reasonable.
However to anyone into engineering, this is clearly creating a product for profit rather than practicality. It’s a jack of all trades, master of none situation. A car is a tool, and a tool is created with a specific use in mind.
Sometimes I get desperate while working on my carpentry: I have to hammer one more nail in to finish my bookcase, but I don’t have a hammer. I have a wrench, which will do terrible work but it’ll get the job done. Yet my neighbor next door has a good hammer, I could borrow it from them for a bit. Now, what if I had to build a house? I’m not wanting a wrench then, I want my own really good hammer.
Same analogy could be made for Trucks and SUVs. I don’t tow often, but when I do I can rent a capable vehicle. I don’t need to own anything more than a Subaru Legacy at that point. Hell, maybe all I need is an electric bike if my workplace is close enough.
TL;DR there is no net-positive use-case for the average consumer to need a vehicle with over 400lb•ft of torque. It’s just excessive.
(F 350s are far better at towing than an F650. F650s are specifically designed, sprung and geared to haul, not tow, and usually have a weaker motor than the f350s)
What? You can get a 1/4, 1/2, and full ton and they’ll cover 99% of all non professional towing and be 5 mpg down on a car for the 1/4 tons.
What is being towed so often in your scenario?
no net-positive use-case for the average consumer
I’m not talking about professionals, or people who take their boat out four times a week. That is a specific need for a specific tool, or vehicle. I’m talking about people who daily drive these things to the grocery store and work. So, the average consumer.
I believe the new term is “Wankpanzer”
What is a ute?
that looks… surprisingly acceptable in size compared to those american style bullshit vehicles appearing on the sidewalks here in europe?
well they have these as well and they are more and more popular
This is too small for me
Aussies created the category of vehicles with trays. Ute = UTILITY VEHICLE. Yanks fucked it up and morphed it into “trucks” - the monstrosities of emotional support vehicles you see today.
Uterus
Driving a smaller SUV and the number of vehicles whos headlight are at my eye level really sucks. There’s also some study out there about the unnecessary raised hood that does nothing but increase fatalities and lowers visibility of the 10 meters directly in front of the vehicle.
If y’all figure out how, please let us know back here in America. A lot of us hate these goddamn things too.
Always boils down to the “If I buy a bigger car I’ll be safer!” fallacy. If I buy even bigger shoes I’ll be safer from injury in running! If I buy bigger and better trousers I will get less injured at work! If I buy a bigger phone I will get scammed less!
I hope people in all the countries facing their initial “Yank Tank” fevers will vote someone in that is responsible enough to reverse this process. I recently sold my 2003 “Combi”-style car because it was simply too big, looking for something smaller has me left wanting but I’ll make do without a car for the time being.
deleted by creator
You’re right it’s a wankpanzer
Edit: deleted comment was on the lines of: "This isn’t a yank tank’ or something like that.
Is your objection that it is too small? Cause there are some stupidly massive pickups in IB
deleted by creator
I love how 4mpg and safety is the hill you all choose to die on, rather than sane enforcement of laws.
Miles per gallon means nothing here, we use neither. You want kilometres per litre, litres per 100 km or some other sane world unit of measurement.
Not my problem you can’t do math troll.
I can do math, I just don’t like wasting my time dealing with archaic units of measurement.
Personal problem.
Looking at the downvotes, it seems to be your personal problem.
Removed by mod
The one fuck you apparently give made you write an awful lot about it though.
Though to be fair to Australia, there is no way to make an efficient public transit system for the whole country.
Yes there is?
Basically half of us live in 2 cities as it is and we’re more urbanised than the US, UK, France, or South Korea.
Very few people live in the vast expanses of land, and rural towns are shrinking. We all live in very few cities overall. It’s easy to cater to that if we bothered to.
If you can build a road you can build a railway
Not Just Bikes covers this same misconception about the US thoroughly in a great video.
