stux⚡️20 years of pickup truck design progress in one photo
Oh yeah…
Nafnlaus 🇮🇸 🇺🇦@stux Pickup trucks are great vehicles... for doing what they were actually designed to do (haul cargo, tools, etc for work, drive on rough terrain, etc).
Buying them as urban cruisers is beyond ridiculous. I mean, do these people hate having good visibility and love having difficulty parking?
Ton Chrysoprase@nafnlaus @stux Pickups weren't designed to do any of these things and they aren't good for any of them, except very narrow applications of hauling dirty bulk cargo on rough terrain for longer distances. A van is vastly superior for anything outside of farming use and a tractor beats a pickup truck for that, except for longer distances. They where a very niche vehicle before they became a way to avoid emissions standards.
@TonChryso @stux Um, yes, they were, and yes, they are.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_truck#History
Vans do not typically have the suspension needed for work in the countryside or at construction sites, only quite large vans are long enough for lumber, and you can't haul oversized loads in one or vertically load them
Vans are designed for moving goods on roads to and from stores, factories, etc.
Trust me, I used to own a pickup truck, used for *actual* countryside work. They're needed, & vans do NOT substitute
@TonChryso @stux Try donig this with a van (this was my truck, when I was developing a research garden). Don't forget to include driving said van across undeveloped terrain to the destination.
@TonChryso @stux Try this with a van (was hauling parts for my water system for my house)
@TonChryso @stux Try driving over this in a van.
I'm not sure how many different ways I could possibly point out how absurd your notion of "vans substitute for pickups" is. It's practically endless.
They're *entirely* different roles.
Kristoffer Lawson@nafnlaus @TonChryso @stux in most European countries vans are the number one vehicle even for construction and trade. Even on slightly rough terrain. Tools and equipment can be kept enclosed. On a quick road count, vans outnumber pickups here in Finland 30-1. Even in construction the need for higher ground clearance is relatively rare (unlike in Iceland where, yes, you need to cross rivers). Pickups have their uses, but as was pointed out, it’s niche.
@Setok @TonChryso @stux We may be somewhat of an exception in Europe because... well, we're roughly tied with Australia for #3 / #4 least densely populated countries on Earth ;)
But even still, we have no semblance of the US's "trucks just for driving around the city, as a style statement" culture that the US has. Trucks exist here to do truck things.
@nafnlaus @TonChryso @stux if I lived in Iceland (would love to btw), I would totally have a proper 4x4 for driving on mountain roads. But yeah, even there a pick-up for personal use wouldn’t be very practical. Just a pity there are absolute no utility EVs in Europe and only pickups vaguely on the horizon.