Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

551–560 of 651 posts

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#551

Post by dageshi »

burnished wrote: post #485
ElFitz wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So American drivers are aggressive towards those they think to be poorer than them? Why do you think that is? (genuinely curious)

Theres this weird animosity, people in cars like to get outraged at people on bikes. I can't pinpoint why, but its almost like a xenophobic reaction? Some people see a bicyclist and launch into a tirade about how aggravating the 'bad ones' are. Real self righteous stuff. Conversely being on a bike there is a real sense that people in cars are out to do you harm. Theres the people who try to rattle you - honk their ho…

One of the unwritten rules of driving is to try and not hold up or inconvenience the drivers behind you. People get aggravated with large farm machinery holding people up but understand that machinery has a purpose and needs to get from A to B.

The same people think Bicyclists aren't trying to get from A to B but are just out for a ride and happily breaking the unwritten rule. That is where the outrage comes from, they think the cyclist doesn't care about the irritation they're causing the drivers so the drivers decide to take it out on the cyclists.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#553

Post by strken »

iancmceachern wrote: post #302
strken wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 13,000lb RV is doing a similar job to a 6lb tent, 1lb sleeping mat, 3lb sleeping bag, and 2lb stove. 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.

Do you live in a tent? Would you make the same comparison about your house? We live in our RV for 3-6 months a year, in weather from -10 in Colorado blizzards and 120 degree California summers. In rain snow and sleet. I work remotely from it. A tent is not a home. An RV It is for many of us. Before you throw more stones, it's far more eco friendly and lower carbon Footprint to own an rv and travel and stay in it in v…

Owning multiple properties and flying between them is something rich people do that wastes an astronomical amount of resources, and the fact that it wastes more than towing 13,000lbs of RV around doesn't make either of them any better.

Or any worse - you apparently didn't notice, but I wrote that there are good reasons to own an RV, and want to reiterate that. Probably in your heart of hearts you know whether your ownership is justified, and I don't need to tell you.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#554

Post by apendleton »

ShadowBanThis01 wrote: post #488
burnished wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How outrageous, they want to use the infrastructure like they're people?

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.

We all paid for the roads too ("we" includes cyclists), and we paid for them to accommodate any vehicles that are legal to operate on them, which in most jurisdictions includes bikes.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#555

Post by imp0cat »

sk0g wrote: post #507
imp0cat wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The old one was mk7 and the new one mk8? That would explain things.

This was at the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022, so the Mk8 wasn't out yet. Mk 8 models are also a bit more expensive, so the discrepancy would be a bit better in that case, I would imagine. Out of curiosity, are the Mk8s not too well received, or are Mk7s preferred? I don't mind the change, but my current car works and I might as well hold out for an EV like Cupra Born or Peugeot e-208 personally.

Mk8 is a great car IF you don't mind touch screens and touch controls for everything instead of traditional rotating knobs and buttons.

Unfortunately, a lot of people can't get over this change, so the Mk7 is considered a "peak GTI".

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#556

Post by mcv »

GiorgioG wrote: post #539
mcv wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My F150 pollutes much less than my wife’s car simply by virtue of me working from home while she commutes every day. Taking up more space is not an issue for people who don’t live in big cities. Trucks are not more inherently dangerous than any other vehicle just because of their size. If that were the case let’s outlaw semis, delivery trucks and anything larger than a VW Golf (a car I had & loved in my youth.) You f…

> My F150 pollutes much less than my wife’s car simply by virtue of me working from home while she commutes every day.

Awesome, but that's not about the car, it's about working from home.

> Taking up more space is not an issue for people who don’t live in big cities.

But it is for those who do. And still for a lot of people outside big cities.

> Trucks are not more inherently dangerous than any other vehicle just because of their size. If that were the case let’s outlaw semis, delivery trucks and anything larger than a VW Golf (a car I had & loved in my youth.)

It's not just the size, also other factors about the design, but there's a reason why commercial driving licenses exist. They should probably be required for all trucks.

> You folks need to get it out of your heads that one size fits all and everyone needs to have the same values and make the same choices as you.

It doesn't have to fit all, but it does have to fit the environment, or at least take it into consideration.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#557

Post by mcv »

khc wrote: post #532
mcv wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a weird cultural thing about the US. I once read about an experiment were people were sorted from rich to poor, and were then given an amount of money to give to a person next to them, either just a bit richer, or just a bit poorer. In practically every country in the world, this experiment resulted in people giving money to the poorer neighbour. Only in the US did they give it to the richer neighbour.

Reference?

I wish I still knew the source, but this was ages ago, and I don't keep notes.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#558

Post by sofixa »

venk12 wrote: post #426

I find European cities to be well designed. Especially in the Netherlands where I currently live (not Amsterdam). Every city has a city center where all the commercial activity happens surrounded by residential suburb. Everything in and around the city is reachable by bike.I think this is great for a healthy and eco-friendly life.

> I find European cities to be well designed. Especially in the Netherlands where I currently live (not Amsterdam)

Really depends on the city and country, but in general, yeah, urban planning for humans is taken seriously. E.g. the Netherlands' cities are just fantastic for pedestrians and bikes and public transit, and quite decent for cars too (because the alternatives are so good if you do need/want a car, there's not a lot of traffic in your way); meanwhile in Bulgaria, the capital Sofia with an official population at 1.3 million (and lots of people from surrounding cities commuting daily) clearly prioritises cars, with massive works around road works, new ringway, etc.. Even then, there's quite decent public transit (with 3 metro, tens of tram and trolley, close to a hundred bus lines), pedestrians can walk everywhere and there are even bike lanes showing up more and more.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#559

Post by bioemerl »

iambateman wrote: post #357
IIAOPSW wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's electric bikes in China that are more like a Vespa than anything. Commuting this way was pretty great when I owned one. The range is perfect for urban commuters, charging it at night is basically negligible in your power bill, it slips right past the cars so there's no such thing as traffic (whatever cars pass you, you pass them right back by the next red light), likewise parking is a non-issue as it takes a…

This is all true…and also American drivers are legitimately aggressive toward these kind of vehicles. They have a terrible reputation, primarily because they get used a lot by people who can’t afford a car. I wish it were different, but driving a moped/Vespa on American roads is a pretty big risk.

> primarily because they get used a lot by people who can’t afford a car.

Primarily because they are slow and constantly get in your way, building a train of cars and making many people late for work.

Re: Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks

#560

Post by sofixa »

aembleton wrote: post #537
sofixa wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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)…

I often see Fords and Teslas

Ah true, forgot about Ford, they're rare but present; also built in the EU though, even if Ford are a one-brand company (after the sale of Volvo/Jaguar/Land Rover). In Bulgaria there's a joke along the lines of "Do you know why Fords have such wide windshield/windscreens? So that everyone can see the idiots that bought them.", but I'm not actually aware of them having a bad reputation (unlike say old Opels that are known as very rust prone).

Teslas are a new phenomenon and indeed getting more and more prominent in some niches, but it seems it's mostly taxis and uber drivers, at least in France. I suppose the theatrics of Tesla's prominent CEO will significantly hamper their expansion, and pretty much most car manufacturers have caught up. Around where I live I see more Renault Zoe and VW ID.3s than Teslas for personal use.

Post reply on HN