The guy that drives the land yacht once brought home a couple of two by fours in it from Home Depot, so he feels justified in owning it too. "Sometimes there's just mo substitute for a good truck." When his ac cannot handle the heat, he still won't experience any introspection.
But it's legal to manufacture today, unlike the old one. CAFE rules changed in 2012 to be based on footprint instead of vehicle class, so they essentially outlawed small trucks and gave auto manufacturers an easy way out of efficiency regulations by just making cars bigger every refresh cycle.
Meh. The Ranger, S-10, and Dakota were major sellers for the automakers and they've felt that hit . The Ranger has come back in name, but not in size.
The fact that a 2008 Ford Ranger with 150,000 miles can still sell for 12-15k tells you there's still a huge demand for this class of truck. The manufactures don't get another dime out of that S-10 that's changed hands 4 times - often to people who would have gladly bought new if it were an option.
Another vehicle class just died to increasingly-strict CAFE rules on vehicle footprint - the small cargo van. The Nissan NV200, Ford Transit Connect, and Ram ProMaster City were all discontinued in the last few years. These were all hugely popular.
When 5 different people have paid 15-20 grand for the same car that's approaching 20 years old, the manufacturers are absolutely losing sales. Most people buying them now would prefer to buy new small trucks, but since they're not avaialbe they buy used and put 3rd-party parts in them to keep them running.
Ford finally released a small, affordable truck with only a 4.5-foot bed and a hybrid motor (Maverick) , and they can't make enough of them to meet demand. It's been their most-successful new vehicle in decades, if not ever.
They're on pace to have more than 10x as many sold this year as when they launched in 2021 despite a price increase of over 35%, and it's still almost impossible to see one on the showroom floor because they're sold out before they reach the dealer. Ford is making mint on it despite it being too small to be useful as a truck for many users. A true successor to the old Rangers would be a money-printing machine.
Aren't some of these going to a 4.5 foot bed? I once had a bargain basement Isuzu pickup because it was the cheapest car you could buy new in the US (early 90's). I'm pretty sure that had an 8 ft bed or close to it.
I hate these bullshit oversized trucks too, but to be fair the big one has a much bigger cab for more passengers, a much bigger engine, and a much bigger towing capacity.
This is the wrong sub for such comments... but I agree with you. If you need a truck and you have a family you can buy the smaller truck, but then you also have to buy a car to carry the family. The larger truck will let you haul your family and give you the pickup truck that you need.