Pretty obvious you have never had to drive across the prairies in February, or take your family camping in the Rocky Mountains. That Suzuki truck is for microbrewery owning hipsters.
The Axios article referenced how much time or how often owners tow or haul vs how often they run errands or commute. Not surprisingly, people commute and run errands more frequently than they tow or haul. Since most people can’t afford to own a truck that is used exclusively for towing and hauling, trucks are being used for purposes other than their specialized capabilities.
Which brings me to your Suzuki truck - well designed for moving large items short distances around narrow paved Japanese streets in moderate weather conditions, but not well suited for towing a trailer over a mountain pass, or long distance drives on snow covered back roads. I get that trucks don’t make sense in downtown Toronto, but there are about 35 million Canadians outside the GTA who choose them for a reason.
Somehow we all survived in Canada when cars were the most common car. When did we switch to loving trucks? When the mfgs figured out the profit mrgin was far greater especilly when protected from compotition. For sure our expectations have changed. People can't go "camping" anymore unless we tow a home bigger than most of the apartments I lived in when I was younger.
I think consumer choice is a good thing. I think it’s good when car companies with operations in Canada are profitable and provide good paying union jobs. I’m glad people can travel this big country of ours in comfort.
There are always limits to consumer choice. You can't buy those little trucks new because choice is limited, even the trucks people are buying are restricted by volumes of regulations. We don't have to agree with everything just because it's profitable.
Long live the ginormouse truck, they aren't going anywhere as long as people can afford them.
I've seen them around for a few years and agree on several fronts of your argument but banning the truck as people know them now will cost you an election on the promise of overturning it. These trucks are cute and practical for many people but won't pass Canadian crash standards without a crumple zone. Of course if only used when a truck is needed the exposure to risk goes down.
Does insurance reflect their protential to harm others? It should.
When one blows by me doing 140 on the 401 with oversize tires humming away I wonder if gas isn't still too cheap? That will cost you an electio ntoo though.
I propose a better solution, the mini van. I have a Maza 5, a mini mini van by current standards and with the seats out fo the back it hauls just about anyting I need to carry and when I need a bit more room I have a trailer that it tows easily. More modern ones have hide away seats so you don't have to actually take them out.
My wife's friend (a lady) just bought a Mavric hybrid truck. Not great cargo space but it works for the little hauling she does and she can still fit her 3 almost adult children at the same time. The cost of trucks might steer more to these.
Full disclosure, I have a full size truck as well that pulls a trailer 10 weekends a year but otherwise sits in the driveway. It's a 2000 that cost me $3,500 in 2017. Before that I had to have a truck to drive daily to work and also pull the trailer. This is a much better solution for me.
I drive a 2002 Chevy 2500 Suburban, and before that a 1991 1500 Suburban, and I deal with the wonders a north-eastern Ontario climate provides on a daily basis. From blizzards and ice storms to torrential rains and heat waves, you name it.
My SUV’s bumper is lower than almost every pickup truck out there, and the blind spots, both front and back, less than a pickup.
The cargo area is always full of tools, the trailer hitch receiver regularly greased, and often enough 10 or 12 foot long lumber is stashed into the back when the trailer is parked off site somewhere.
Yet it is dwarfed in size when a new model pickup pulls up beside me.
Through my own non-scientific parking lot observations gathered over these past few years, my conclusion is these larger pickups are favoured by oversized drivers.
The hypothesis I’ve come up with is the oversized driver/passenger finds it easier to fall out or heave up into to the cab of a pickup than try to stand up and out of or bend down and slide into the seat of a sedan.
Plus, as for winter driving, the backend of a rear wheel drive pickup is so light as to make them useless, unless they are stuffed with several hundred pounds worth of 50/50 sand/ salt mix.
Which explains why most pickups have a 4x4 drivetrain, although they too get stuck or spin out like a top if care is not taken driving them in adverse winter conditions -again because of the light backend.
So I too am befuddled as to why the pickup is as favoured as it is. Mind you, the other day while driving from one job site to the next, I quipped to my fellow traveller, it would be great to have one of those smaller Japanese style trucks to bomb around in.
Pretty obvious you have never had to drive across the prairies in February, or take your family camping in the Rocky Mountains. That Suzuki truck is for microbrewery owning hipsters.
According to a survey of F-150 owners, it seems most of you don't do that either!
The Axios article referenced how much time or how often owners tow or haul vs how often they run errands or commute. Not surprisingly, people commute and run errands more frequently than they tow or haul. Since most people can’t afford to own a truck that is used exclusively for towing and hauling, trucks are being used for purposes other than their specialized capabilities.
Which brings me to your Suzuki truck - well designed for moving large items short distances around narrow paved Japanese streets in moderate weather conditions, but not well suited for towing a trailer over a mountain pass, or long distance drives on snow covered back roads. I get that trucks don’t make sense in downtown Toronto, but there are about 35 million Canadians outside the GTA who choose them for a reason.
Somehow we all survived in Canada when cars were the most common car. When did we switch to loving trucks? When the mfgs figured out the profit mrgin was far greater especilly when protected from compotition. For sure our expectations have changed. People can't go "camping" anymore unless we tow a home bigger than most of the apartments I lived in when I was younger.
I think consumer choice is a good thing. I think it’s good when car companies with operations in Canada are profitable and provide good paying union jobs. I’m glad people can travel this big country of ours in comfort.
There are always limits to consumer choice. You can't buy those little trucks new because choice is limited, even the trucks people are buying are restricted by volumes of regulations. We don't have to agree with everything just because it's profitable.
Long live the ginormouse truck, they aren't going anywhere as long as people can afford them.
I've seen them around for a few years and agree on several fronts of your argument but banning the truck as people know them now will cost you an election on the promise of overturning it. These trucks are cute and practical for many people but won't pass Canadian crash standards without a crumple zone. Of course if only used when a truck is needed the exposure to risk goes down.
Does insurance reflect their protential to harm others? It should.
When one blows by me doing 140 on the 401 with oversize tires humming away I wonder if gas isn't still too cheap? That will cost you an electio ntoo though.
I propose a better solution, the mini van. I have a Maza 5, a mini mini van by current standards and with the seats out fo the back it hauls just about anyting I need to carry and when I need a bit more room I have a trailer that it tows easily. More modern ones have hide away seats so you don't have to actually take them out.
My wife's friend (a lady) just bought a Mavric hybrid truck. Not great cargo space but it works for the little hauling she does and she can still fit her 3 almost adult children at the same time. The cost of trucks might steer more to these.
Full disclosure, I have a full size truck as well that pulls a trailer 10 weekends a year but otherwise sits in the driveway. It's a 2000 that cost me $3,500 in 2017. Before that I had to have a truck to drive daily to work and also pull the trailer. This is a much better solution for me.
I drive a 2002 Chevy 2500 Suburban, and before that a 1991 1500 Suburban, and I deal with the wonders a north-eastern Ontario climate provides on a daily basis. From blizzards and ice storms to torrential rains and heat waves, you name it.
My SUV’s bumper is lower than almost every pickup truck out there, and the blind spots, both front and back, less than a pickup.
The cargo area is always full of tools, the trailer hitch receiver regularly greased, and often enough 10 or 12 foot long lumber is stashed into the back when the trailer is parked off site somewhere.
Yet it is dwarfed in size when a new model pickup pulls up beside me.
Through my own non-scientific parking lot observations gathered over these past few years, my conclusion is these larger pickups are favoured by oversized drivers.
The hypothesis I’ve come up with is the oversized driver/passenger finds it easier to fall out or heave up into to the cab of a pickup than try to stand up and out of or bend down and slide into the seat of a sedan.
Plus, as for winter driving, the backend of a rear wheel drive pickup is so light as to make them useless, unless they are stuffed with several hundred pounds worth of 50/50 sand/ salt mix.
Which explains why most pickups have a 4x4 drivetrain, although they too get stuck or spin out like a top if care is not taken driving them in adverse winter conditions -again because of the light backend.
So I too am befuddled as to why the pickup is as favoured as it is. Mind you, the other day while driving from one job site to the next, I quipped to my fellow traveller, it would be great to have one of those smaller Japanese style trucks to bomb around in.