In the South pickup trucks are a status symbol. Especially if you have a job that is at all related to blue collar work. Even if you don’t do any yourself. If you have money you drive a $70k pickup not a BMW or Mercedes.
Most are leased/on a line of credit so these people don't really have money money, it's just the image they're trying to project. Powerful trucks that run good are great to have though. I've only had a new F150 truck, wasnt really interested in getting the oversized vehicles because they're a bit too big. Better vehicles equates to more and better women riding inside.
...but heck how often do you see a passenger car with even two people riding? Pretty rare for the most part.
That's a crazy disingenuous example. America thinks public transit and bike infrastructure is communist so driving the only practical method of transportation in most places.
I work in construction. My company work trucks are mostly F-250s. We also had a couple econoline vans and a little Ranger. They are great for hauling materials to job sites. I’ve got a f-150 with a crew cab and a topper for personal use. Bought it a dozen years ago for $10k when the kids were little. It was either that or a minivan. It hauls the boat, carries kayaks, paddle boards, has room for all kinds of stuff and the dog on camping trips. Just finished installing a gazebo out back. Was able to haul a bunch of bags of sakrete for the deck, a concrete mixer and the gazebo materials in two hauls. I kind of get your point. My brother-in-law is a teacher, has no kids and drives a Dodge 3500.
The UK is also full of old, narrow streets. The sprinter vans your contractors tend to use out there are more suited to getting around that infrastructure. A dualy wouldn’t fit on most roads out there and would be impossible to park. Just means you have to make multiple trips instead of a single trip when you have to move materials.
Me thinks ye exaggerate. Ford sells 5x more F150s than F250s and F350s which are generally used for work. When you're on the dole you don't need a work truck. Please adjust your perspective.
Yeah, in an earlier post I said F250s and I meant F150s.
I can’t even remember the last time I saw an F350 on the road. Most of those that are in use are probably for commercial use.
Brit in The States wrote: I went to The States; everyone had "F350" trucks we don't have in the UK
Weird thing is they weren't all trim, honed builders/ agricultural workers, burly, but cut, engineers/welders/fabricators..
They were all really heavy. Most were at least 20/25 stone, but had a vehicle for someone who works a hard, physical day.
Why are they popular? I don't understand as surely they are a poor choice if you don't do a physical job?
I believe that the popularity of large trucks proliferated because trucks are not subject to the same fuel efficiency standards as passenger cars. So rather than develop smaller cars that got better mileage, the auto manufacturers shifted production to larger trucks, and marketed them heavily as a lifestyle/image luxury good.
Your post is really kind of a dig at the obesity epidemic in the United States, but logically wouldn't bigger people be looking for bigger vehicles? From that perspective, it makes sense.
But the premise is also skewed that 'big trucks' are only used for commercial purposes. Where I live, EVERYBODY has at least one super-large truck, which they used to pull campers or boats, or for taking grandkids, and/or extended family.
There is sort of an 'arms race' mentality in that bigger vehicles are perceived as safer in collisions. So everybody buys bigger. I tend to prefer a truck because being higher up provides better visibility beyond the vehicle in front of you.
I have a 1998 Toyota Tacoma (that I intend to be buried in), which is a small 2-passenger utility truck. Great for me and a wet dog, good for transporting a bicycle, a kayak, a lawn mower, or a truck load of mulch. I don't believe that there is a single car manufacturer who even makes a vehicle this size any more. Everything has gone super big. And for what it's worth, I constantly have people offering to buy my Tacoma.
Yeah, very few F350s on the road for personal use. A lot of F150s and a good amount of F250s. The diesel F250s last a long time and hold their value. We also have the roads to support them.
Most households do have some sort of large SUV. Even my wifes X5 which is midsized here would be considered large in Europe.
The 3 other cars in my household would be considered midsize at best.
Trucks are bit of status symbol - mainly middle America and leaning conservative. Much like Subarus are status symbols to a particular outdoorsy crowd.
The car makers purposely tie to cars to human identity to help sell cars. Being car independent and using public transportation is a foreign concept here.
The F150 popularity is part of American culture. I thought $5/gal gas would curtail it some, but it did not. Personally, I prefer a smaller car because it gets better gas mileage and is easier to park and is less expensive overall. But each to his own.
I like your 25 year old Tacoma story. I have a similar aged Subaru wagon and could say almost all the same things. It is small, but can haul almost anything including a load of construction materials or mulch rivaling a small pickup truck. I just put a tarp in the back up to the windows. Surfboards, bikes, whatever. I don't care if it gets a ding in parking lot (it might be an improvement depending on the placement). It still gets 23/28mpg, low registration cost, low maintenance cost.
I have a sports car, too. Sadly, I drove it to a group run once and a woman in the group who had previously ignored me suddenly took an interest in me so I guess the opposite sex attraction argument has some validity. In my book, her attractiveness went way down due to that interaction.
Despite growing up in Texas I thought I'd never drive a truck. Then I got an F150.
I now understand why it's the best selling vehicle for 42 years in the US.
LOVED the thing. It was the smoothest ride ever. Sure parking can be a pain in the ass and that's why I gave it up in NYC and then when I moved to a beach town in Ct same issue. But otherwise it was the best ride I've ever had. It just cruises.
Amazingly spacious interior. Used the space in the bed like twice a year.
Our affinity with large vehicles, whether trucks or SUVs, is strange. They make it impossible to see what's in front of them, are less nimble, make parking harder for everyone, and are more dangerous despite people's perception of them being safer.
I wish we did something similar to handicapped parking for monster-sized vehicles but where they are only allowed to park in the most distant, undesirable parking spots.
I have a 2023 F250 Lariat, Super Crew cab and 8' bed. As long as it can be. I'm a work from home software engineer.
Why? Because WFH has allowed me to move somewhat rural, it allows me to pull an RV, it allows me to put full size sheet material in my bed with the tail gate up. (4x8 drywall, plywood, etc). I renovated the house I'm in, so trucks are handy.
Each spring I go to the local outdoor store and they drop a pallet of mulch right in the bed.
Don't usually need the full truck functionality, but when I do, I love it. I justify the inefficency (I get about 12 mpg) by the fact that I put less than 5k miles on in a year. I just don't need to drive much. My house also runs on solar (about 87% grid independence). It balances out enough.
Several years ago Oprah was extolling the virtues of European socialism with a video broacast. She was shadowing a Dutch couple around Amsterdam as they toured the public parks and pedestrian friendly paths. She then went to their childless walk-up apartment. She remarked how cozy the apartment was. "Where do you keep all your stuff?", she asked. The response was, "we don't have stuff".
Let me tell you, in the USA, we have stuff. Lots of stuff. Probably more stuff than we need but mostly our stuff makes us happy. That's why we have pickup trucks. The end.
Early in the COVID pandemic the Trump stimulus package sent one Ford-F350 to every American citizen 18 and over. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people who abused the system and came away with 4, 5 or more trucks, which is why we now have a surplus.
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