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Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

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Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

#81

Post by kube-system »

bwv848 wrote: post #63
pavel_lishin wrote: post #3

> It is also a very robust vehicle capable of withstanding elemental and physical extremities, as shown on the British TV show “Top Gear.”[6] If you haven't ever watched Top Gear, this is definitely one of the standout bits they did - putting that truck through absolute hell, and watching it continue to start up. I highly recommend it, even if you don't think of yourself as a Car Guy. It's basically a comedy show tha…

I don’t doubt how tough the Hilux can be, but Top Gear tended to stage a lot of things. Like they intentionally killed Hammond’s Land Cruiser at the end of the Bolivia special. Plus, they had some pretty damn good mechanics, while Clarkson pretended to fix his cars with a hammer in front of the camera.

Also the Hilux in that video hasn't been made this millennia, so the "shiny new ones" the article references likely isn't those.

Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

#82

Post by tinfoilhatter »

Because ISIS was a rebranded Al Quaeda which emerged from the Mujahideen terrorist group which was funded by the US through Operation Cyclone headed by the Polish Jesuit Zbigniew Brzezinski. They've always had funding from the Jesuits / US war industry. It's no surprise they have access to these vehicles if one understands that all modern wars are orchestrated.

Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

#83

Post by cosmic_cheese »

Amezarak wrote: post #77
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine how much nicer driving around in the suburbs would be if the majority of vehicles were town cars like Honda Fits, mini-mini-vans like Honda Freed, pre-2003 Tacomas, and kei trucks/vans instead of the usual mix of unreasonably tall and boxy crossovers/SUVs and brodozer trucks.

I think you probably know this because you used the US name for the car (internationally known as the Jazz), but for those who don’t, Honda discontinued the Fit in the US market due to poor sales. For every internet comment bemoaning the lack of these vehicles there’s the actual fact of revealed consumer preference in the US market.

Much of consumer preference doesn't originate from the consumers' own minds, though. It's shaped largely by marketing, and in the US car companies have been pushing bigger, boxier, more plush, and more expensive with its ad spend and incentives for decades now. It's way easier to find a dealership offering 0%-2% financing on some aircraft carrier of a vehicle than it is on a small car.

Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

#84

Post by kube-system »

HNisCIS wrote: post #72
rootusrootus wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toyota has factories in the US where they produce pickups. They could build the Hilux here if they thought it would do well in the market.

That's the thing though, they can't, at least until the very recent advent of EVs. We used to have similar vehicles (the old 80s/90s ford ranger, tacoma, etc) but they were regulated out of existence by CAFE standards. Even if you repealed CAFE today, the automakers have all built their entire business strategy around selling enormous expensive vehicles and generally despise producing lower cost options. We are start…

The current Hilux is extremely close in size to the US Tacoma... It has also grown over the years. Although if you look at the footprint size (e.g. what CAFE measures), the Tacoma has the wheels a little more advantageously placed.

I am sure they could consolidate the models to work in both the US and abroad, but my guess is they do enough US volume that it is not yet advantageous to do so. There's already a number of major parts that have been shared recently between the Tacoma and Hilux... e.g. the 2TR-FE engine and AC60 transmission. But usually Toyota chooses to spec the Tacoma as a more up-market vehicle, which makes sense given the US market.

Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

#85

Post by AnthonyMouse »

HNisCIS wrote: post #68
avidiax wrote: post #7

While I don't think it would prevent our troops from having foreign-produced trucks in theater, we can't affordably procure such trucks thanks to the Chicken Tax. I would also guess that giving a DoD contract to Toyota for a truck that may not be registrable in the US would also face institutional resistance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

Also, because of CAFE standards, the US can't even attempt to create its own competing light trucks as everything needs to be fucking massive to maintain the emission exemptions. The thinking was it would make cars more efficient but instead everyone just built obscenely large vehicles that were classified as trucks instead of passenger vehicles.

There are two ways to improve fuel economy. The first is technology (fuel injection, aerodynamics, hybrids, etc.). The second is to make the vehicle smaller.

The first one is a trade off against cost, but the market is already pretty good at handling that one on its own. Fuel injection and aerodynamics don't add much to the cost of a car, so pretty much everything has that now. Hybrid batteries are more expensive, but the price is coming down, and as it does the percentage of hybrid cars is going up. You don't really need a law for this; people buy it when the fuel savings exceeds the cost of the technology.

The second one is a trade off against things like cargo capacity. If you say that "cars" have to get >35 MPG at the point before hybrids are cost effective, or keep raising the number as the technology improves, it's essentially just a ban on station wagons. And then what do the people who used to buy station wagons do instead? They buy SUVs.

The entire premise is dumb. If you want more efficient vehicles then do a carbon tax which gets refunded to the population as checks, and then let people buy whatever they want, but now the break even point for hybrids and electric cars makes it worth it for more people.

Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

#87

Post by AndrewKemendo »

downut wrote: post #41
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #13

Glad to see my alma mater represented here doing good research. I served in Iraq as an AF commander. My 2001 Tundra is still going strong ;)

So is mine (2001TRD bought new). Searched all over AZ looking for manual everything and I got it, except for the trans. It replaced an fj60 Landcruiser. Beautiful machine I worked on a lot (5spd trans, lift, exhaust, gas tank) but it needed more power. The FJ-60 replaced an absolutely bottom basic 4cyl 4wd 5spd manual Toy "Pickup", better than a jeep 'cause you could carry shit off road, that the child outgrew sittin…

Hell Yeah V8 TRD rep

I am thinking of upgrading to a Toyota Land Cruiser 200 but the full cab Hilux just can’t be beat

Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

#89

Post by kube-system »

HNisCIS wrote: post #75
mywittyname wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Hilux isn't "banned" from the USA. Toyota can federalize it and sell it here at any time. Toyota doesn't bring it here because we have the Tacoma - a truck designed to be more inline with American consumer tastes. If Toyota wanted to, they could readily start manufacturing Hiluxes in Mexico and importing them into the USA. Presumably, the reason they don't do this is because Americans hate small pickup trucks. Ev…

They can't produce them here because of CAFE.

CAFE doesn't prevent them from producing or selling it here, plenty of automakers just pay CAFE fines. The Tacoma and Hilux are very similar in overall size, but the Tacoma does have the wheels pushed slightly closer to the corners, likely for this reason.

However, current CAFE fines are capped to a whopping $0.00

The Hilux is also pretty tall and narrow, which I am guessing is very advantageous in markets where most buyers drive them on unpaved roads, and not very advantageous in countries where highway rollover tests are performed and they are primarily operated on highways with 12' wide lanes.

Re: Toyotas and Terrorists: "Why are ISIS's trucks better than ours?" (2023)

#90

Post by [deleted] »

zdragnar wrote: post #78
HNisCIS wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the thing though, they can't, at least until the very recent advent of EVs. We used to have similar vehicles (the old 80s/90s ford ranger, tacoma, etc) but they were regulated out of existence by CAFE standards. Even if you repealed CAFE today, the automakers have all built their entire business strategy around selling enormous expensive vehicles and generally despise producing lower cost options. We are start…

They are massive because of the cafe standards. There's plenty enough of a market for smaller trucks, even the Ford Maverick which is closer to a car with a bed sold out immediately. I like my big truck but when it dies, if there's a small truck available that lets me plow snow and tow logs in the forest, I'll get it.

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