A huge pickup truck never makes any sense whether it’s lifted or not.
Huge semi-trucks or box trucks make sense to move lots of cargo.
Vans make sense if you want to move people/tools etc securely.
Smaller pickup trucks make sense for moving a few people and doing some dirty work.
A smaller lifted 4x4 pickup truck makes sense for driving off road. They are unstable at higher speeds and should stay off-road. All lifted vehicles should be banned on paved roads in my opinion.
A half-ton 4x4 truck makes sense if you move a moderate amount of cargo, drive on dirt roads/adverse conditions a lot, tow 90% of recreational vehicles/boats, up to 10K lbs. A van likely would also be a good choice.
What roll does an oversized pickup truck play that other formfactors don’t do better? An oversized pickup truck is always pure vanity.
I drive an S10. For those outside the United States, this is a compact pickup truck that ended production in 2004, smaller than any pickup on the market today.
I haul lumber around with it on a regular basis. It’s a perfectly usable pickup. Wouldn’t mind if the bed was another 2 feet longer to get full studs and/or sheets in it, but the wild thing is, a lot of modern trucks aren’t significantly more capable than mine, they’re just more voluminous.
I used to have an old truck just for hardware store runs but gave it up and decided to just pay delivery fees. You can get a lot of wood delivered for just the insurance premiums on the truck, and I have come to terms with the idea that it was always a safety blanket.
I started out with an Datsun pickup on the farm. Pulled a 40’ irrigation pipe trailer with aluminum hand lines on it. I also drove a little '86 Nissan during highschool/college. They were about perfect for most residential uses. I really liked how low the bed was. So much easier to get stuff in and out of.
Currently for work, I drive a 1/2 ton F150 and tow a 16’ 10K deck over trailer with it. It’s the maximum I can drive/tow without interstate DOT regulations kicking in. The 7,500lbs capacity is usually more than enough.
I got stuck with a 3/4 and 1 ton at a previous job and thosw damn things were horrible to drive, unstable on the road and beat the shit out of my back. Parking them sucked donkeys balls. It was just scary to drive in the snow/ice. Anyone who drives them for vanity sake is a fucking moron.
That’s the other thing about my S10, it’s heavier than a minivan because body-on-frame construction and a cast iron engine but it’s not much bigger and I think even has a smaller wheel base. Minivans tend to have their back wheels WAY at the back, a truck has wheels mid-bed. So my truck handles very well, it’s easy to maneuver at low speeds, it fits in a standard parking space without any problem…
It’s just recently hit its “everything needs replacement” age because it’s 20 years old, I’ve had to put a fuel injection system, a distributor and a temp sensor in it and I wonder what’s next. But it’s been a hell of a reliable vehicle.
A huge pickup truck never makes any sense whether it’s lifted or not.
Huge semi-trucks or box trucks make sense to move lots of cargo.
Vans make sense if you want to move people/tools etc securely.
Smaller pickup trucks make sense for moving a few people and doing some dirty work.
A smaller lifted 4x4 pickup truck makes sense for driving off road. They are unstable at higher speeds and should stay off-road. All lifted vehicles should be banned on paved roads in my opinion.
A half-ton 4x4 truck makes sense if you move a moderate amount of cargo, drive on dirt roads/adverse conditions a lot, tow 90% of recreational vehicles/boats, up to 10K lbs. A van likely would also be a good choice.
What roll does an oversized pickup truck play that other formfactors don’t do better? An oversized pickup truck is always pure vanity.
I drive an S10. For those outside the United States, this is a compact pickup truck that ended production in 2004, smaller than any pickup on the market today.
I haul lumber around with it on a regular basis. It’s a perfectly usable pickup. Wouldn’t mind if the bed was another 2 feet longer to get full studs and/or sheets in it, but the wild thing is, a lot of modern trucks aren’t significantly more capable than mine, they’re just more voluminous.
I mentioned in a comment somewhere a bit ago, growing up on a farm, our farm truck was an S10. It was great
It’s a truck. It does truck stuff. And it fits in a parking space with room to open the doors. I rate it S/10.
I used to have an old truck just for hardware store runs but gave it up and decided to just pay delivery fees. You can get a lot of wood delivered for just the insurance premiums on the truck, and I have come to terms with the idea that it was always a safety blanket.
I started out with an Datsun pickup on the farm. Pulled a 40’ irrigation pipe trailer with aluminum hand lines on it. I also drove a little '86 Nissan during highschool/college. They were about perfect for most residential uses. I really liked how low the bed was. So much easier to get stuff in and out of.
Currently for work, I drive a 1/2 ton F150 and tow a 16’ 10K deck over trailer with it. It’s the maximum I can drive/tow without interstate DOT regulations kicking in. The 7,500lbs capacity is usually more than enough.
I got stuck with a 3/4 and 1 ton at a previous job and thosw damn things were horrible to drive, unstable on the road and beat the shit out of my back. Parking them sucked donkeys balls. It was just scary to drive in the snow/ice. Anyone who drives them for vanity sake is a fucking moron.
That’s the other thing about my S10, it’s heavier than a minivan because body-on-frame construction and a cast iron engine but it’s not much bigger and I think even has a smaller wheel base. Minivans tend to have their back wheels WAY at the back, a truck has wheels mid-bed. So my truck handles very well, it’s easy to maneuver at low speeds, it fits in a standard parking space without any problem…
It’s just recently hit its “everything needs replacement” age because it’s 20 years old, I’ve had to put a fuel injection system, a distributor and a temp sensor in it and I wonder what’s next. But it’s been a hell of a reliable vehicle.