Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks • Hacker News Board

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#511

Post by burnished » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:16 AM UTC

robertlagrant wrote: post #509

foldr wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of roads in the US where there’s no sidewalk and you have to walk along the edge of the road if you’re a pedestrian. What’s silly about this? In general, it is perfectly legal to use roads for cycling and walking (though I'm sure there is some variation between jurisdictions).

It's silly that you think that this is anything to do with being a person. Why can't I walk in the middle of the road, you know, like a person? It's just such a bad faith argument.

Yeah, like in a suburban neighborhood? Or a variety of urban spaces, based on context?

In your rush to accuse others of making bad faith arguments you're making just plain thoughtless ones.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#512

Post by mise_en_place » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:17 AM UTC

alpaca128 wrote: post #460

HPsquared wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cyclists are perceived as the opposite: hobbyists who go too slowly and hold everyone up. By the simple act of riding down a busy street, a well-placed cyclist can necessitate hundreds of questionable overtaking maneuvers as each car has to pass them. "Trail of chaos" in other words.

And most of those cyclists would love to be on a bike lane instead, but those often just don't exist. From personal experience it's also annoying when I get hate from car drivers who assume I deliberately use the road instead of the "bike lane" which is in fact only meant for pedestrians, but try to explain that in half a second while passing and when the official road markings are only visible with forensic tools.

I think that may be from people who are in a rush. As a novice driver it may be difficult to deal with cyclists, but anyone with sufficient driving experience should be able to easily handle that.

The only time I've ever been annoyed at cyclists is when there was some kind of a parade procession in front of me, with cyclists fanning out across the entire road. It happened suddenly as well, which startled me moreso than making me angry.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#513

Post by mcv » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:18 AM UTC

echelon wrote: post #187

porphyra wrote: post #37

One of the most highly upvoted Reddit posts on /r/fuckcars mocks large pickups compared to the utility of a kei truck. https://reddit.com/r/fuckcars/comments/sdrgv3/japanese_truck... A kei truck has about 90% the bed length of a pickup while being a lot more nimble. The lower bed is more ergonomic to load and unload too.

The /r/fuckcars folks are being a little dishonest here. As another commenter mentioned, this is like asking a vegan for steak recommendations at a restaurant. Subaru Sambar (kei truck) towing capacity: 1,300 lbs Ford F-150 towing capacity: 5,000 to 11,300 lbs Ford F-250 Shelby edition towing capacity: 24,200 pounds And that's just one additional dimension where these vehicles significantly differ. These vehicles are…

A 24,000 pound barbecue? What does that look like?

I'm pretty sure most people who own these oversized pickup trucks never use that towing capacity. Maybe some do, and if they were the only ones using them, nobody would have a problem with it.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#514

Post by mcv » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:22 AM UTC

GiorgioG wrote: post #503

porphyra wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't that the smaller truck is an equally capable vehicle. The point is to make fun of people who don't need a truck but are getting an overkill vehicle as a status symbol, all the while people who actually need to transport goods can still get a lot done with a tiny kei truck.

When did “need” become a requirement for having things? Who gave you or anyone else the authority to decide what other people “need”? I don’t think people “need” motorcycles, private planes, vacation homes, more than a few million dollars in the bank, etc. But who am I to tell people what they should have? Live and let live.

The problem is that they're not letting others live. Those oversized cars are a lot more dangerous, and they pollute more, they take up more space.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#515

Post by sofixa » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:22 AM UTC

woooooo wrote: post #206

seizethecheese wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out US history during WWII. Auto manufacturing was even pivoted to airplanes. Things must be more specialized now but I assume it could still happen quickly. My personal belief is this also explains American bias towards planes over rail.

Every country's history in WW2. Even Italy had tanks made by Fiat.

It's not really the same. Fiat were an industrial concern that made planes, tanks, cars, trucks, etc. from before the war, and did so during the war too. Afterwards they split up, with today Iveco (a merger with a bunch of others) being the successor for buses and trucks, Fiat remaining the car brand, CNH Industrial for industrual (tractors and co) stuff, the aviation business being split between GE Aviation and Leonardo, etc.

Meanwhile in the US, Ford had a small aviation division that made one plane, closed their aviation business in 1936, but during the war converted their factories to mass produce bombers (most notably the B-24).

Today manufacturing is vastly more specialised, and today's planes are drastically more complex than their predecessors. Nonetheless, even basic trucks are a very important component of modern wars(for logistics), so in case of war any automotive factory could be useful.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#516

Post by robertlagrant » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:24 AM UTC

burnished wrote: post #511

robertlagrant wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's silly that you think that this is anything to do with being a person. Why can't I walk in the middle of the road, you know, like a person? It's just such a bad faith argument.

Yeah, like in a suburban neighborhood? Or a variety of urban spaces, based on context? In your rush to accuse others of making bad faith arguments you're making just plain thoughtless ones.

The context was rush hour Washington Boulevard. I'm not rushing to accuse anyone, and I'm not the one thoughtlessly ignoring the context.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#517

Post by hinata08 » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:26 AM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #438

yosito wrote: post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an American who grew up feeling annoyed and aggressive toward people driving motorcycles, but now drives a motorcycle regularly for the past 10 years, it never had anything to do with how poor someone was. Motorcycles aren't the most practical vehicles on American roads, so I always perceived them as a sport, not a necessity. And motorcycle drivers has a reputation for pulling stupid stunts and causing accidents o…

Cyclists (of both kinds) are also rare enough that people are usually “surprised” by them because they can be in a blind spot much smaller than a car. Anything that is “surprising” while driving cause stress and anger reactions.

imagine having a car suitable for driving on a road

I have a small city car, and cyclists aren't in a blind spot

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#518

Post by mcv » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:27 AM UTC

elboru wrote: post #184

voisin wrote: post #92

I wish the actual story was “US manufacturers announce line of small, Japanese style pickup trucks” Importing adds friction both up front and for ongoing sourcing of parts and maintenance. Just give us some options for local pickup trucks utilizing existing repair facilities! Instead everyone bitches about truck drivers having such large vehicles, when that’s all that’s on offer here!

RAM sells a small truck in Mexico called RAM 700 and it’s getting popular for work purposes (specially in urban areas). I have no idea why it’s not being sold in the US market. https://www.motor1.com/news/447996/2021-ram-700-debut/

> I have no idea why it’s not being sold in the US market.

Because they know they can sell bigger trucks for more money.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#519

Post by ShadowBanThis01 » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:29 AM UTC

burnished wrote: post #492

ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NO. They're leaving the infrastructure we ALL paid to build for them vacant, and blocking that which we paid for to accommodate motorized vehicles.

So, your assumption is that they are all just a bunch of uppity jackasses instead of semi rational human beings? Go give those routes a ride chum, you'll probably figure out whats going on in a hurry.

No need for strawmen. This comment was specifically in regard to bikers riding outside of provided bike lanes, which I've seen happen in L.A.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#520

Post by sofixa » Fri, Apr 21, 2023, 9:30 AM UTC

deaddodo wrote: post #470

stevev wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 25-year import rule serves as evidence of how the United States has struggled in competition and developing vehicles over the past several decades. Toyota and Subaru are present in the United States because there is an incentive to manufacture them locally, which serves as a valuable learning experience for the US. Thus the United States' car manufacturers are either perceived as being of low quality or lagging b…

There are a couple issues with your assessment. A) most cars manufactured by European and Japanese brands are built in Mexico and direct imported via NAFTA/USMCA. The fact that Toyota and Honda choose to continue to do manufacturing in the United States is probably seen as a boon to those local communities. B) the "low quality" image of American brands is pretty limited to the United States, like a lot of American pr…

> In Europe, they're not generally perceived as low-quality; instead, the perception is that they're too large and fuel inefficient for most European roads/cities.

The only American brands I see in Europe are either old Chevrolets (manufactured in Germany by Opel when they were part of GM) or Jeep/Dodge/RAM trucks and similar which are owned by Stellantis (the merger of PSA (Peugeot, Citroen) and FCA (Fiat, Chrysler)) and manufactured in Italy. So they aren't know for their poor quality because they're made in the EU, in the same factories that make other known models, on the same bases (e.g. an Opel Ampera and a Chevrolet Volt are the same car, from the same factory, different badge, slightly different interior, slightly different exterior), but they are known as shit inefficient cars that mostly assholes buy.

The only American American cars (not built in the EU with an American badge slapped on the front, but produced in Mexico) that I can think of that I have seen in Europe are Chrysler PT Cruisers which are universally known as shit.