The shift to these ridiculously large trucks is partially consequent of the poorly-implemented Obama fuel economy regulations. The regulations were determined by wheelbase and tread width, which disincentivized manufacturers from making mid- or small-sized trucks. The bigger they made them, the less restricted they were by fuel economy. Larger vehicles also ease constraints on engineers; they don’t have to struggle fitting a lot into a small body. Once large trucks became the default offering, they morphed into the annoying cultural “status” symbol we know today.
Anyway I have a Miata MX-5 and I love my tiny car.
The CAFE act caused most of these changes and was signed by Clinton in the early '90s. Obama may have made things worse, but the roots of the problem go back much further
CAFE standards date to 1975
Ahh, didn’t realize that. I guess Clinton expanded them?
Long before that though, back when SUVs became popular because they were trucks and didn’t have to obey sedan fuel economy. This was back in the late 90s
I also love your tiny car, even when I see one from behind the wheel of my slightly less tiny Civic, which I adore.
Here in Alberta, young men hatch out of their eggs with a mullet on their head and the keys to a Ram in their hand. It’s basically a social pressure at this point.
🎵 12 yards long, 2 lanes wide 🎵
65 tonnes of American pride!
Top of the line in utility sports
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts
Baby, I may have micropenis, but my monster truck will vibrate enough to make you orgasm!!!
Some time later, the woman breaks up with the dude and starts a relationship with the truckDon’t forget the spousal abuse
I’ll just leave this here. Took this shot of my car a few years ago.
I’ll add to this too, taken a while ago of my old car in an Australian shopping mall, and Nissan Patrols aren’t even the most egregious here.
Before I read your comment, my stoned, dumb ass was wondering what the arrow was supposed to be pointing at.
Ugh, that reminds me - just a few weeks ago, I ended up next to this monstrosity:
With it being that high up off the ground, using the truck bed for any actual purpose is going to be difficult, unless you have an actual semitruck loading bay in your back yard.
That truck has not, and will not, experience a single second of actual work.
Nor will it ever leave pavement.
perfect working height for unscrewing part of the diff
Why does it remind me of this two
these*
Who am I to disagree?
I like your car
Thanks!
It literally looks like you could just drive under that fucking monstrosity lmao
the upsetting part is that the body would fit under and the windscreen and above - the fragile parts - would get hit by the bulk of the truck… cars are made to crumple on their noses etc - nasty gore scenes ensue
It’s a temptation every Miata owner faces.
just wait for the cars to get even bigger and you can just cut through traffic by driving under them
Thanks Obama
But I need my insanely large blacked out, lifted, with black rims, f-250. I have to get 3 bags of groceries.
Of course off-road capabilities are required. How else would I drive on nicely paved suburban roads?
Guess what destroys offroad performance though?
An insanely long wheelbase coupled with a top heavy design…
Well, it’s marketed to the same people who think that a Cybertruck is an offroad vehicle.
Just always gotta be prepared for the one day a year snow stays on the ground. Even in June.
I was in Rome last week and pleasantly surprised to see how many tiny cars they use.
There were plenty of Smart cars, but also many other ultra minis like Citroën AMI, XEV Yo-Yo and Renault Twizy.
They’re not just concept cars or used as gimmicks like elsewhere. People actually use them for their daily business.
The traffic in Rome is insane though. The reason they use tiny cars isn’t that the roads are small, but due to congestion and parking. It makes very little sense to own a car there at all.
For those that haven’t seen a Citroën AMI:
https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/citroen-ami-2020-2-door-coupe-vs-mazda-mx-5-1989-roadster/
Yep my uncle’s work van in the UK was as small as my Honda Fit. Just two barebones front seats and an empty cargo space.
It makes sense for Rome though, these cars are expensive and appeal to the fashion sensibilities of the population there, rather than just using the good public transport there. It’s a signal of wealth, rather than an actual functional commodity.
I found this out the hard way the last time I expressed my love of the AMI
i live in malta and got an xev yoyo amonths ago today. It’s my daily driver.
I mean why would that not be so? I no longer own a car but when I did, it was usually oversized for what I needed to transport (me and my backpack).
I have a small 3-door Corsa and it is oversized for my cargo :D (me and you guessed it, my backpack lol)
I mean these are also two different types of cars. But it is actually so weird to see even two cars of the same type made in different times next to each other. It’s like somebody messed with the scale slider in the level editor. It’s uncanny.
I don’t want to defend the overly supersized truck too much, but I do want to point out that even these are two different class of vehicles. Sure, you can cram 4 smallish people into that old Ford Ranger, but nobody is going to be comfortable or happy about it. Also, that small ranger has far less cargo and towing capacity.
Of course, a good chunk of truck owners do not need that much capacity and big trucks are just a toy/status symbol to them. Which is stupid. But there are use cases where those trucks are actually needed, and a small Ford Ranger won’t cut it.
That said, I do wish we could get more small pickup trucks again. The maverick is a good start.
For these kinds of comparisons people have to cherry pick and cannot compare similar class trucks because similar class trucks haven’t really changed in 30 years
If you compare the size of a base 1990 F150 https://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150/1990/features-specs/
To a base 2025 F150 https://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150/2025/features-specs/
The 2025 is 6 inches shorter, barely an inch taller, and barely an inch wider. Or in terms of percentages: -3.1%, +1.1%, +1.2% respectively
What has changed in 30 years is it was common back then for an average consumer to buy a “regular” cab two door truck with a 6 foot box, four door behemoths were rare. If you wanted a 4 door truck you had to get the F350
Today it’s the other way around, it’s rare to see a single cab F150 and now you can get a 4 door F150
Yeah, the problem isn’t that the big trucks exist. There is a place for them, always will be. But they shouldn’t be a commuter vehicle, the majority of owners never use them for their intended purpose, and even those that do need a truck rarely need one of the size they get.
Most definitely. The fact that the four door 5 foot box exists is hilarious to me in a sad kind of way.
I occasionally get made fun of for owning a 22 two door Ranger, that I bought a “tiny” truck. Honestly I hate how big it is, but I wanted a truck that would be my single vehicle, something I can use for DIY house projects, commute in, go camping/off roading, and take on cross country road trips. Custom ordered it with the specific features I wanted all for ~40k, meanwhile the guys giving me shit for it are paying just as much for a truck with less features, it never leaves the city, and waaaaay more expensive at the pump.
Morons
I tried to compare to a '90s F-150, but that site doesn’t have one.
Also FWIW, anecdotally around here small trucks seem more likely to be used as work trucks than [now greater than] full-size ones. My '90s single-cab Ranger was pretty clearly a former work truck (given how beat up the bed was and the fact that it came with a toolbox), for example, and I use it mainly for hauling and towing. Small trucks can, in fact, “cut it” in a lot more situations than people give them credit for.
Yeah my Uncle owned a irrigation company so he need to haul not uiat lots of pipes but pumps and even a ford truck could hold pipes that long so he need a trailer. Then for several years i lived out in the country and we needed a truck to haul teash to the dump. Nothing big just the smallest Toyota truck will do. But it also had to haul a family around so we needed a back seat that hold a 6 ft teenager
in australia, i make sure to kick and dent every yank tank i see. its not often - we have more of the smaller pickups (though we call them utes)
I miss mini-trucks. Compact size cab with full size bed, engine from a sedan and 4wd. Good economy, much cheaper, great utility, better handling, less dead children, and a lot more fun out on the trails.
Caustic masculinityfear of smol pp ruins everything.I strongly agree. One thing to add to your list: easily being able to lift things in and out of the bed, even from the side.
I used to work with a guy who had a Tachoma that he loved and he only used it for offroading. He kept a pair of spare axles in the bed to swap out on the trail if he snapped one.
It’s just marketing. Australia shares a lot of American culture and we still have car based utes, though larger vehicles are also becoming popular here
The amount of times I’ve looked at the Aussie and Japanese markets and just sat jealous…
Sometimes it’s not good here. We only have 25 million people and we drive on the left, so we miss out on quite a few vehicles
Never knew we were body-shaming people & yet here we are.
Speaking of Mini-Trucks, I actually see them in use in my area a lot (usually the 3-wheeled variety)
Pp size matters not, big truck people are still afraid.
Are red & blue lines under the pic are the calibrated references, whilst the car pics are not?
If you need to explain to Trump why many american cars do not sell well in Europe just show him this image. Chances that he’ll get it is higher than zero at least.
I cannot imaging driving around this hulk of a car all day. How would I even find parking space?
I think looking for a parking space in what is, effectively, a lorry - is a bit of a waste of energy. It will only fit into >=4 spots anyway, might as well just stop wherever you need. You’ll be a hated by everyone anyway.
Not taking a piss - are they legal in EU to drive on a B cat license?
I’d much rather drive the Miata. There’s a reason that when I was forced to purchase a car after almost 20 years without one, I opted for a Miini Cooper. Sure, they’re cute, but I was ecstatic to look it up and find it was only about an inch larger than my first car, a 1983 Renault Alliance MT.
Small cars rule.
Smart car here :-D
I miss my mini. With the rear seats folded down, it had a surprising amount of cargo capacity.
Emotional support truck vs. Sports car
I mean, a Miata is a good car, but a hatchback seats a family and gets the groceries.
I traded my minivan in for a civic hatchback. It easily does 99.99% of what I need a vehicle to do. For that last 0.01% of the time I rent a truck for $50. I save money and my car fits in the garage.
Exactly! I live in the suburbs, where every driveway seems to have a massive full size truck (because they barely fit in the garage)–and also, where I am 15 minutes away from at least 3 places where you can rent a pickup for like 5% of the monthly payment on one of those beasts.
Hatchback gang rise up
(2019 Bolt EV)
i just want a 97 Tacoma again
