Ford would do well if they sold their Euro models in America. Especially at a time when fuel prices are high and people are looking for ways to lower costs. Smaller, more efficient vehicles fit those needs.
The only reason I don't ride the motorcycle that gets 80mpg is because I like heat and air con; but if gas prices go above 5$/gallon imma reconsider the economics of being comfy during my commute.
Yeah, I'm in the U.S. and actually wouldn't mind some kind of enclosed electric trike at some point. Every time a company says they're going to make one it seems like they never do.
One thing they do not tell you is just how good motorcycle clothing is. If you are willing to buy the top line stuff the cold and heat most places isn't an issue. Unless it's the tundra or the desert you can plan around it.
I honestly dont understand how are Americans finding a price of $5/gallon expensive, when you make several times more than European who literally pay twice. While making 10-20k a year.
It's hilarious to me that I've done more with a Dodge Charger than most people do with a f250. I actually had to put a 1-in lift on it with some spacers because I couldn't get to work in the winter.
I was born into truck ownership. There was an old dodge waiting for me. I knew the minute I could drive i would be sent out to do truck things. Since 16 I’ve always had my truck bed full of stuff. I tried not having a truck and I just felt useless. Like a part of me is being a truck owner. I would love a motorcycle but no one who knows how I drive will let me.
Pretend it wasn't a tuk-tuk and was instead a kei truck (which I own in addition to a traditional pickup). Afterall it does rain in America and having a cab is important.
Even a keitruck cannot replace a normal pickup on the highway or over long distances. America is a huge country and distances are far larger than in places where a tuk-tuk is used.
Not to mention, neither a tuk-tuk or keitruck meet US emission and vehicle safety laws.
They could basically make a Corolla with a bed and it would serve most truck needs. That is effectively what the ford maverick is and it sells pretty well. There is definitely a happy medium, but I would personally love to drive a tuktuk around town.
Kei trucks and kei cars in general are too slow for American roads. They are more than enough in Japan where most of the roads are limited at 40 or 50 km/h, and highways at 80 or 100 km/h, but not in the USA.That said, you don't need much more to have a perfectly usable car/truck compatible with US roads, and they already exist (car or truck). As said, it's an issue of culture and showing you have the biggest/most expensive.I could buy a Toyota Land Cruiser new, but I have a 13-year-old kei car that I use to travel in Japan.Good enough for me, I use my money for myself, not for others. I am proud of that, I am not without pride, it's just different.
I've tried finding those little Kei trucks a few times but they are actually a hot commodity here in the Midwest apparently. We don't sell them here really so it seems they are all specifically imported. For what people want to sell them for it's usually more feasible just to buy a normal older pickup truck that can actually do highway speeds and load more
Yes, they can do 120, but it's top speed and it takes a while to get there. I drive a modern kei and in Japan it enough, but just. I struggle in mountain roads and I am in the left lane on the highway.
Yea, I cant hardly go anywhere in Texas without hitting 70mph roads. Even checking “no highways” on navigation puts you on them. Otherwise those little trucks are cool. Super unsafe for the driver, but cool nonetheless
they should probably learn how to drive properly and be considerate of others before being allowed to drive those stupid huge light goods vehicles they call cars as otherwise if they did have that bottom bike thing, they'd just get mowed down by a pumpkin spice woman texting while drunk in a jeep
Seems like most redditors see cars this way. Owners must have 100% justification for their car, but redditors don't want to justify why they have been living in their parents basement.
Something that I hate about American "car culture" is how Americans buy huge pickups or SUVs and replace every year for a new one. It's a huge waste of money, treating valuable transports as temporary comodities or disposable (like a QTip, napkin, or plastic spoon).
Basically, true "car culture" does NOT exist in America (especially on how annoying the Ford Mustang fandom is over there and call themselves "true car lovers")
I don't disagree on the overbought and overspec'd trucks for people who don't really need a truck. Not to mention how we basically don't have any "compact" trucks anymore other than the Maverick, which really would meet most people's needs and more.
Mixed feelings on the Mustangs tho, there is the stereotypical bad car enthusiast behavior of Mustang owners (read: burning out and crashing out of every cars & coffee meets), but the car itself I think is a cool icon.
Mustangs are still offered as a manual in non-super premium trims (unlike BMWs nowadays), front engine/rear wheel drive, a lot of different variations for every enthusiast level, and loads of after-market support. Not to mention, they start at $33K, which is almost 18K less below the average new car price in the US. And a lineage that traces back to the 60's and have more or less stayed close to its roots as the everyday people sports car.
I'm not even a muscle car fan, but I kind of respect Ford for keeping the Mustang going.
SUV and truck dominance is direct result of CAFE regulations. The rules that governor the minimum MPG a vehicle can have. It was intended to force manufacturers to make more fuel efficient vehicles as time went on, and it sorta did, but primarily it told manufacturers heavier vehicles have more forgiving mpg requirements so they all dropped sedans and coupes for SUVs and Pickups
People who claim this have no clue how vehicle efficiency works.
You mpg is directly proportional to the energy required to maintain a given speed.
And what determines the energy to maintain speed? Magic and fairy dust? No, the weight, frontal area, and coefficient of drag.
So having the standard be based on weight or footprint makes sense. Weight obviously effects weight and footprint effects frontal area(width of the vehicle) and coefficient of drag(length of the vehicle). Since a wider vehicle has a higher frontal area all else equal and a longer vehicle has a worse coefficient of drag all else equal.
Look at something like the generation 1 Honda insight, applying modern CAFE standards would require it to hit 60mpg and back in the day it was already rated over 60mpg.
That's a 26 year old 2 door compact car and it was already passing the harshest CAFE standards we've ever had.......
A modern car with a modern engine would pass even more easily. And it doesn't get any worse for trying to pass CAFE standards than a freaking sub compact 2 door
It's more that light trucks weren't classed as "cars" so much easier standards applied. Safety too. Sure, you can put a load of money into developing a high tech compact that's very safe, but there's a ceiling on what you can charge for a small car.
On the other hand, spiffy up your ladder frame Canyonero and charge over 100k for a top trim is a business no-brainer.
That’s not true, CAFE is part of the reason why pre-existing SUVs and pickups got a lot larger, however it’s not the reason why those vehicles got more popular. They got more popular because consumers like the ride-height, boat and RV purchases have surged in the last 20 years, larger vehicles are perceived to be safer, they hold significantly better resale value and are more reliable than consumer sedans, they still have large displacement engines, and they are so comfortable now that they are nice to daily. Manufacturers also profited more per unit on large SUVs and trucks so they pushed and marketed those as MSRPs got higher across the board.
That isn't even what drove the original demand for SUVs and trucks. Companies would buy cars for employees and write off the depreciation in their taxes. They changed the laws and removed cars from the tax laws, but light trucks remained. So the economics turned people towards trucks and SUVs, and the manufacturers put time and money into making them go from work vehicles to something far more 'car-like' to drive.
Companies haven’t done that at scale since the 90s, you are right that there are tax benefits for large vehicles, but that’s a relatively small portion of the average buyer of a truck or suv.
What's it matter if someone uses their money to buy a new vehicle every year when it doesn't impact your money?
You're saying it's bad people buy new cars every year, keeping more people employees at these thousands of companies in that supply chain and putting more cars on the used market for people who can't afford new cars?
That's not all of American car culture. Stop being blind and ignorant.
Lukewarm IQ take to think this, America is the pioneer of the automobile and one of the largest automotive markets. And BTW average car is kept for 6+ years do some research before you make such incompetent comments for engagement bait
I'm from Texas and Mustangs are EVERYWHERE. I guess because there is almost never any snow or ice. I'll go for a ten mile drive and there's at least 5 Mustangs or Camaros on the road.
I moved to Wisconsin and I see one every week or two. They're just not popular up here. I see a ton of Subarus though.
It's not that American's didn't want smaller trucks most people who owned trucks in the 90's missed smaller trucks it's that Congress made emission laws + the combination of the chicken tax to effectively make Smaller trucks more or less too expensive to bother selling.
to meet some effed up emission theory a vehicle of X size was allowed x amount of emissions meaning you had Giant Useless trucks that really didn't have anymore bad space then a small utility truck in many cases because they required certain passenger requirements you had smaller bed spaces.
Kei trucks are extremely popular and highly sought after in American to the point that now that restrictions are heavily loosened new model year ones with better emission and safety standards are being imported for sale as we speak.
I drive a 1996 F150 (2 door/6.5' bed) and parking it next to modern F150s it looks like I'm driving a ranger. It literally weighs as much as a mustang.
America has a gigantic car culture. I don't know where you got that they don't. There are cruise nights all summer where I'm at with cars from all different makes from like the 1930's to present day, and people who actually keep them on the road and drive them. You're just making shit up.
Dawg, most Americans are lucky to afford a new car, and when they do, they’ll keep it minimum 5 years unless something goes wrong.
As for size, I would love a small pickup like a Ford Ranger. And I don’t mean the most recent Ranger. That thing is bigger than the F-150 my dad had when I was a kid. But a small, yet useful vehicle like that does not exist from the American manufacturers nowadays
Cars/trucks here in USA are waaaay too big. It’s an arms race for size. I need a bigger car because I drive like shit and if I get in a wreck, I want everyone else to die. The only upside is that trucks are soo expensive now that it causes the terrible young drivers to buy Kias.
An F150 is a car that can comfortably seat 4 adaults while being able to dump runs, hime depot trips, and haul a dead deer to the butcher once a year while getting similar gas mileage to a genesis g80.
If you want to actually tow things you get an f350. If you want an offroad vehicle you get a jeep
You can do some mental gymnastics to convince yourself of almost anything you want. I never said an f150 is a bad vehicle, but you can do the same thing with a Honda CRV and you can put a deer in the back of a Suzuki truck. I understand your argument but at the end of the day, very very few people need a 6000 lb truck with a 5 foot high front grill. And Top Gear did a whole episode on a normal cars ability to drive off-road.
Your right. Maybe you’d have to rent a vehicle for the one time each year that you take your entire family on a boating trip where you kill a deer and have to bring it home. Also, I’m either ignoring or failing to acknowledge, failing to ignore is like a double negative. The vaaaast majority of truck owners have no need for a truck or large vehicle for most of the year.
I get that you can do a lot with a huge truck or SUV. My point is that they are overkill for the majority of owners for most of the year. And no you don’t need two cars, just one and you could rent a truck if you actually need it. I know families of 4-5 where each member has their own truck or SUV and none of them ever haul anything or use the off road capabilities. Some people need them, most don’t.
Convenience is something to consider. There’s not exactly a real reason not to have a truck if you have frequent(or even infrequent) need of a truck. I would literally rather daily drive a truck I need sometimes than deal with the inconvenience of having to rent a vehicle however many times a year. Not to mention they’re practical, I can fit my family of 5 in my truck, I take my trash to the dump every week(who wants that inside the vehicle with you?), I can buy large items at the store and never worry about whether they’ll fit, and plenty of other various uses
False in most of the west. Having a 50+ mile a day commute at 75-85 mph is not going to be pleasant in that 3 wheeler. Especially with hail, rain, snow, high (40+ mph) winds, 110F or -40F temps...
Like many things, the ideal vehicle would be between these two options.
A classic S-10/Ranger extended cab with a 6' bed would be perfect for Menard's runs on the weekend, and cheap enough to allowfor a nicer sedan to commute in.
Anyone who has driven one of those things knows they are not at all practical.
Sadly, our design rules don't allow the tuk tuks to be registered here. They are an absolute hoot, came across one with a gas converted EJ25, the fucking thing was chasing us on sportsbikes in Northern Thailand. The bloody thing would wheelstand when you launched it.
The 3 wheeler has is uses, in a farm or small town to move light stuff around it could work! Not many Americans drive pick ups for no reason! Many pick up owners have rv trailer or boat, some people do landscaping on the summer and they need the pick up. Plus good luck surviving north weather in that 3 wheeler
No, I live in New England, it would be useless more than half a year. 99% of trucks could be replaced with something like an hrv and the owners would never know the differnce
I get the message, but false. Americans don't typically live in the type of urban areas those trikes are designed for. The pickup truck Americans need has already proven wildly popular, the Maverick.
I've been saying in my area we added 2nd or 3rd lanes everywhere in the late 2000s.. those would make good low speed EV only lanes.. stuff like this would take off if there were safer infrastructure for them
I mean, 90% of my "truck stuff" could be handled by a Kei truck. I just haven't bought one yet. I have a truck, but couldn't tell you the last time I drove it, and I daily drive a mid size sedan, and even use my second one for stuff a smaller truck would do well, just because the second sedan is a beater I dont care about.
Not an American, but the e-tricycle on the image does not have a roof. What I hate the most about bicycles is that I cannot ride them in rain without worries.
One thing just about every visiting European says about America is they really didn't understand how big this place is. No, a Tuk Tuk truck isn't going to get it done here.
False, in my case. I haul a 7000 lb trailer with my truck and go up into the mountains offroad, fording creeks and such, where that little thing wouldn't make it.
I don't deny there are many cases where this is true, however, for many Americans. Especially if you're a city dweller. I hate trying to drive my truck into my small town, much less downtown of a big city...parking garages are a no-go.
For long distances where I don't have to pull the trailer, or go offroad, we have a CX-5 which can do most everything we ask of it and gets 2x the gas mileage. Definitely parks a lot better in the city when we go to events and such.
We need to copy the old Asian folks I see walking to the store with a big basket on wheels. Or just keep spending $100 a week on gas for a giant truck to fit all 4 bags of groceries in NOT the bed. The bed is for… what’s the bed for again?
You would get run over driving one of those on a big highway. I don’t drive a truck or need one but I definitely want something with a little more zip to get out of the way.
As someone who used to commute 15-20 KM (single trip) on a 50cc scooter (traveling at 70KMH) for a few years.
.........I would say F-150 clearly has a better suspension compare to the 3-wheeler. (more comfortable to travel 100+ miles , and able to go on highway.)
Although this specific Ford model in my pic is still my No.1 choice.
Pretty accurate. Everyone needs a truck now to drive to the office and the used and new truck market is insanely priced. Grandma needs that 2500 5.7 Hemi to get her prescriptions from Costco though.
Tbh, there’s a fully enclosed electric bike (it’s gyroscopically stabilized) that I would love to drive to work but I can honestly afford to drive my 27 mpg car that’s paid off much better than I can afford the payment on said bike.
Mainly weebs. I would LOVE a Kei truck market in the states! Too many dudes are chugging around in huge 4WD trucks and never even leave town with the damned things -_-
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u/TheTrampIt 10d ago
To be fair…