281–290 of 651 posts
I don’t know if those little tires can handle muddy, unpaved country roads like a tractor can.
I’ve looked into one of these and they’re completely illegal in my state, no way to register them without gaming different dmv stations and getting a clueless dmv rep who doesn’t know what they’re looking at, to register it. This is Oregon. Really unfortunate situation as these fit a lot of use cases that would previously require something as big as a gas guzzling Ford F150 otherwise.
I think most people register them out of state for this reason - Minnesota and Arkansas being the two go-to (also for bypassing vehicle road-readiness inspections...).
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That rule ain't changing unfortunately. Regulatory capture is STRONG with automotive and the US sees it as a matter of national security (car makers would be pivoted to other ares in times of war).
This isn't necessarily regulatory capture or protectionism. Half of all cars sold in the US are imported. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the most popular brand of car sold in the US. So, yes, you can import cars all you want, they just need to follow US safety and emissions standards. These cars do not meet those requirements, so you can't import them. If you didn't block them as imports, we'd have lots of people jus…
With the current regulations, it makes the most sense to sell trucks with the longest wheelbase and largest width.
I really do like the Kei Class of cars. Some people talking about the 25 year rule that does not apply if they imported as an off-road vhehicle and some things like governor installed. However, in some states you can't use off-road vehicles on any roadways, and you would only be able to register such an import as off-road vheicle. Where as you could register 25+ year old on in quite a few states as a low speed vheicl…
Man, I wish I could get a car like that in the USA.. I guess I'd probably want something with better crash safety, though, considering how many complete morons in the Bay Area are constantly speeding, weaving aggressively through traffic, running/pushing red lights, etc People's poor dumb monkey brains just can't handle the speeds/weights involved in driving cars IMO
Also don't get me started on how it's pretty hard to find a regular cab pickup. Like the ford maverick only comes in a 4 door configuration. Good luck carrying any standard length items like 4x8 sheet of ply wood or 8 ft lumber without the thing comically hanging out past the tail gate. What I found funny is on fords website you can see just that https://www.ford.com/trucks/maverick/. This is something you even see on larger trucks, and I am like wtf... It's a truck not a people hauler. You might be able to find some manufactures in their commercial/fleet line of vehicles that is at least sane when it comes to bed length.
Honestly, these days it's just better to get a cargo/work van unless you needing to haul dirt or other dirty things when looking for something new. It just seems like a small truck with a bed that make any sense are not made =(
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This isn't necessarily regulatory capture or protectionism. Half of all cars sold in the US are imported. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the most popular brand of car sold in the US. So, yes, you can import cars all you want, they just need to follow US safety and emissions standards. These cars do not meet those requirements, so you can't import them. If you didn't block them as imports, we'd have lots of people jus…
Toyota can't import trucks with such a small footprint. That would screw up their fuel efficiency metric. That could lead to fines from the US government. That is the primary issue here that prevents the sale of small trucks in the US. With the current regulations, it makes the most sense to sell trucks with the longest wheelbase and largest width.
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Must be somewhere in the flatlands then. The small(er) truck market is dominated by Toyota, Nissan and Chevrolets and Ford Rangers. Mavericks are mostly city-dweller mom-mobiles at best.
The new Ranger and its competition are not actually small trucks. They're the size of what the F150 used to be.
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In that case you have a dropside van, based on the same cab and chassis but with sides that fold down for easier loading and unloading. In use: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bairon-FR-08-chantie... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercedes-Benz_Sprint... (Can an American tell me what these vehicles are called in the USA?)
I think in America we'd just call that a "flat bed truck" or something, which is a catch all for those that do indeed have flat beds as well as these with short sides around the bed.
Here they are very common on construction sites for the messier work (building roads, railways, walls, roofs, forestry etc) but normal vans with a roof are more common for the cleaner work (plumbing, electrics, painting, carpentry etc).
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Missing the point. Many people buying inefficient oversized pickup trucks don't care that there's smaller and more efficient options out there, but they do it for the status simbol and ego lifting, not to be utilitarian and efficient. I see these monster pick-up trucks more and more in European cities nowadays too, F-150s, Dodge Rams, with some fancy paintjob and big wheels but who's bed hasn't seen any actual use ca…
Not me. I bought a F250 diesel to tow my 13,000 lb rv. Smaller vehicles can't do that.
There are obviously some good reasons to buy a huge RV instead of using a tent, but the RV itself is an expensive and heavy status symbol.