Pick up trucks are really big

[u/odd_blues]

Trucks aren't supposed to be used in city...

[u/The_Frankanator]

Neither are most of the people who buy those kinds of trucks.

[u/AlarmedRange7258 → u/The_Frankanator]

You really think that most people that buy trucks don't haul mulch? Really? I can tell you're not a homeowner.

[u/The_Frankanator → u/AlarmedRange7258]

I've actually just bought my first home and even I know there are more versatile options than these emotional support trucks for hauling bulk material. Like, oh I don't know, a trailer?

That way I can buy a car that fits my everyday needs better than something that is only useful for my occasional needs or if I really need to run over children while being completely unaware.

[u/AlarmedRange7258 → u/The_Frankanator]

This kind of thinking is why fascism is still alive and well in the world. I don’t mean you in particular, but this whole thread full of people getting incited by the vehicle choices of people they will never meet. They have no clue as to the reasons people think and live differently than they do, and they don’t care. “If you’re different, then you’re wrong.”

[u/The_Frankanator → u/AlarmedRange7258]

I don't think you're wrong because you have a different opinion to me, I think you're wrong because these cars are unnecessary and dangerous in so many ways. I'd wager that most of the people getting incited in this thread hold this opinion due to one or several of my following arguments.

I will preface the following with the fact that I live in Australia. We have seen a recent influx of "yank tanks" to our country being bought up by rich knobs who think these cars make them big dog. Anyway, onto the actual points:

1. They're unnecessarily large. They don't fit well on our roads, they don't fit in our carparks, they don't fit in our home garages. We don't have the infrastructure to accommodate road cars being this big. And there's really no reason for them to be this big, many utes in Australia are much smaller with the same or larger bed sizes.

2. They're worse for the environment. The latest base model Chevy Silverado has a fuel consumption of 12.2 litres/100km. Whereas a moderate SUV like a Mazda CX-5 has 7.2 litres/100km.

3. They're heavy as fuck. The extra unnecessary weight of these vehicles does more damage to roads over time and means we'll all end up paying more in registration to maintain our roads. Big trucks like semi-trailers and B-doubles pay extra to help negate the extra wear they put on roads, but these things pay the same as any old Holden Commodore.

4. They're much more likely to kill others in a crash. The fucking stupid design choice to make a huge car with a big flat front means that if you hit a pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist, you impart more energy to their centre of mass, and they're more likely to be dragged under the car than to be thrown over the bonnet. In car vs car collisions, you're also imparting a shitload more force because of all the aforementioned unnecessary mass.

They only exist because American manufacturers could take advantage of loopholes in emissions laws by making their cars larger and heavier. It's simply corporate greed and the American people ate it up until it spread to the worldwide market.

I hate these cars (and the upward trend in the size of cars in general) because I care about others enough to make choices in my lifestyle to be better. Better for the environment, better for society and more compassionate toward others' comfort and safety. These cars are the antithesis of those values.

Here are some videos that shaped my point of view.

https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo?si=8wQBlg-z44oputpr

https://youtu.be/YpuX-5E7xoU?si=SPr-MZrT1LPZtmLU