61–70 of 143 posts
I have heard that VW suffers in the USA because of extremely poor and predatory dealership experiences
I try to avoid VW brands because of dieselgate - don't want to support them after that.
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I would wager it is only the retail market where the non-crew-cab is nearly extinct. A two seat pickup is a niche vehicle, about as useful for carrying a family around as a two seat sports car.
> A two seat pickup is a niche vehicle, about as useful for carrying a family around as a two seat sports car. Not to country folk—kids ride in the bed. Or crammed in the middle if there aren't too many of them and they're still fairly small and you're lucky enough to still have a bench seat.
I would absolutely love a pickup truck that I can use in SF. All the modern ones are absolutely humongous. I had a Titan and that thing was enormous . Cost me absolute bags of money to offset the carbon. Ultimately, I just want something with a bed that I can strap my bike down and take somewhere to ride. You can't really do that with the Forester I have now.
Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick are two recent models moving in the right direction for those of us who would like to see true mini-pickups return to the US.
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Ah, yes, I tend to forget there’s a world outside the U.S. I think the electric Wrangler will arrive in time to save the 2-door in the U.S.
The problem is that Stellantis is pushing their hybrid system, and that won't fit in the 2-door platform. They've shown an electric 2-door prototype, but are not shipping it. Jeep had a huge hit with the mommymobile version of the Wrangler. Before the 4-door, the Jeep Wrangler was mostly a basic vehicle. Now they come with rear seat entertainment systems, far higher prices, and huge markups.
(I may be biased because I own two vehicles, both 2-door Wranglers.)
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The giant king cab luxury seating is the only thing available on the larger and more expensive models unless you have access to fleet purchasing. They definitely have a market and they've tuned product lines for it. There are even supersport models. Personally, I hate the short-beds cuz you can't easily transport lumber or plywood sheets.
Both the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Ranger have tail gates that will partially lower to the same level as the tops of the wheel wells, providing a perfect platform for 4x8 sheets of plywood. I have a friend with a Ranger and we have hauled plywood and other larger objects with no issues. Would I want to do it routinely? Probably not - but for casual hauling they work well enough. I would expect the Scout to be desig…
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> And a full 35 percent of truck owners use their truck for hauling—putting something in the bed, its ostensible raison d’être—once a year or less. Reads to me like 2/3 of truck owners use their bed at least twice a year. From the same paragraph: > 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less (meaning, never). Over 25% of trucks are used for towing. > Nearly 70 percent of truck owners…
> 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less (meaning, never). Even once is not never, because nothing else will do that job. Note too that there people who use their bed but never tow, the fact that a truck could serve either purpose but for some only does one doesn't mean that those people don't use a truck.
I've owned an International Harvester 73 Scout II 4x4 345/torqueflite since 1999. We've had Ford, the company that managed to kill off the lightline range in 1979 by colluding with their big three partners to crush IH, bringing out their flimsy '60's "Bronco' scout copy which they recently resurrected as a blatant Scout 800 body styling clone. My point - why are the big auto makers so terrible at innovation and namin…