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Compare american vs japanese craftsmen-cars (feddit.de)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Freeman@feddit.de to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
114 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Comparison left vs right for a craftsman who doesnt know which one he should buy:

  • l/r same bed size

  • r lower bed for way easier loading/unloading

  • r less likely to crash

  • r less fuel consumption and costs

  • r less expensive to repair

  • r easy to park

  • r easy to get around in narrow places like crowded construction sites or towns

  • r not participating in road arms race

  • l You get taken serious by your fellow carbrained americans because ""trucks"" are normalized and small handy cars are ridiculed.

So unless you are a fragile piece of human, choose the right one.

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[-] MiddleWeigh@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yep. I'm an American tradesman and the trucks that the guys drive are way too beefy for what they actually do.

I've gotten by with small Toyota trucks, and rav 4s..much to the chagrin of the good old boys. Should have seen their face when I rolled up in a prius...till I tell em I get 50 mpg easy.

I would love a small little truck like this one in the photo.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago

But the right one doesn't have enough room for a crate of piss-weak "beer", a gun rack, or a perch for your eagle.

[-] Legendsofanus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Fragile? But those American truck owners always try to look so tough and mean...

[-] Draconic_NEO@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

They try to act and look tough but they have some of the most fragile egos.

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[-] Robcia1220@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I get the point your trying to prove but i don’t think it’s fair to compare these 2 as they are meant for different things and also brings in the assumption that all American craftsman vehicles are 2500HD’s, which is not true.

Now I agree, people using the one on the left specifically as a daily driver is actually overkill and are not using it for what it’s supposed to be used for. The one on the left is a 2500HD. They are SUPPOSED to be used for hauling and carrying equipment. The crew cab is meant to also transport the crew that is for said equipment.

The one the right is specifically meant what appears to be lighter duty use and hauling. I agree that people should use the right tool for the job. I find the one on the right to be very practical. But for the sake of this post as a means to compare Japanese craftsman vehicles to American.

You should actually show something actually comparable. Like a ford ranger with a standard cab. Which might be about the same size and power. Maybe even the same bed size. Not something that has HD (Heavy duty) in its name.

[-] mayo@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Anyone drive one of these in Canada during the winter?

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[-] Quackdoc@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

this thing looks terrible to actually work with, hauling trailers or trucks, heavy loads in bed as well as off road? doubt

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[-] Beowulf@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is why I loved my Nissan d21 when I had it

This is a simillar truck compared to what I had truck

[-] kgbbot@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago

Why isn't that an option anymore‽ I'd absolutely love my 94 Ford ranger again, and I'm totes jelly of the old school Tacoma owners.

[-] variants@possumpat.io 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah everyone I know would love a nice small ranger or Tacoma but everything is giant now

[-] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 year ago

I had a '95 ranger for 15 years. Little 4-banger that I beat the shit out of, and moved half way across the country (and back, fuck Missouri!) in. Now I have a '12 Ranger. Similar in size, maybe a ltitle bigger. But they don't sell them anymore in this size. I'm not sure what I'll get next. I like the small pickups, but I wouldn't want to try to drive the little one in the picture on the local freeways.

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[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Japan is known for not having much on-street parking, you need the extra 10 feet of height to see over the SUVs parked on every street corner here.

They don't even sell like the tiny rangers anymore, the f150 trucks are so ridiculously oversized

[-] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I sort of need a truck. I routinely buy full size sheet goods (plywood, OSB, etc). So I bought my first ever truck. A Ford Maverick, got the hybrid engine. The amount of people who try to make fun of it and say it's not a truck is insane. I don't care, I bought it cuz it's not really an American truck and it does what I need out of a truck. The obsession with making trucks larger and larger in the US is wild.

[-] snausagesinablanket@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

f150 trucks are so ridiculously oversized All 1/2 ton pickups in the US are huge now and cost more than my first house.

[-] grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I live in a city in Western Canada and drive a pathetic vehicle smaller than a raised dually. I frequently pull up to intersections where you can't turn left until the light changes but I'm turning right (two lanes). It is virtually inevitable that I will need to pull out to see to the left past some giant truck a guy is driving to his office job.

Without fail they all pull forward. Why? They don't need to see past me.

It's either because they can't handle that I'm "winning" or they are deliberately blocking me from being able to see to right safely.

The next thing that happens is the giant truck behind my starts laying on the horn because they want me to go. When I first moved here I thought "it must be clear so they are letting me know". It isn't clear.

This is enough of an issue here that I avoid this situation at all costs. I'll often turn right, left, and right again to do this on a single lane side street (mostly a grid here) rather than turn right at an intersection like this.

[-] aidan@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

The most important thing for me in a car is safety, and clearly a car that small without a front engine will have much higher injury/mortality rate in a crash.

Agreed though that excessively boosted cars are dumb, and probably most people who drive a truck don't need one in the first place.

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[-] Abnorc@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago

Since it's become legal to import these Kei trucks and vans, I've been loving the pictures of them all over the place. I have no need to haul cargo around, but I'd definitely love one of these things if I did in the future. I just don't like that you're only allowed to buy 20-year-old vehicles like this due to import laws.

[-] DharmaCurious@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

My mom is disabled and uses a power chair (that does not fold. Medicare won't pay for sensible things like that). Our choices were saving up to buy a wheelchair van, which is so far outside of our means that it may as well cost a million dollars, or buy a pick up truck and a set of ramps. We searched for months and months for anything small, and could not find it. Eventually went with a Nissan frontier, a 2012, so the larger model. I'd kill for one of these little things. Would be perfect for us.

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[-] weariedfae@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I miss mini-trucks badly and wish there was an American market for them.

Or even what used to be regular size would be fine. My work just got a behemoth and it's technically a "small". I have to literally climb in by jumping to catch the roof (no handle on the basic model) and doing part of a pull-up. I'm short but not a little person.

[-] killa44@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

It's not about consumer markets really. The CAFE emissions regulations essentially allow vehicles with larger dimensions to get lower mileage. So instead of the regulations ostensibly intended to lower emissions forcing better mileage, manufacturers just make bigger cars with the same or worse mileage than before. I used to have an S10 that got almost 20mpg, could park anywhere, could haul full sheets of plywood, and was surprisingly capable of road (came with the ZR2 package).

People still want this, they just aren't built because of asinine laws that get created through massive amounts of lobbying.

Neat!

[-] diablexical@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Probably one of the reasons SUVs are so popular, fold back seats down and tons of unobstructed space.

[-] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

R can't tow for shit.

[-] mrpants@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

R has a 2,200 lb carrying capacity. It can haul or tow almost anything a regular person needs to 99% of the time.

These little trucks also build and supply massive countries across the world. It's preposterous to think you need 4,000lbs of carrying capacity day in and day out. You absolutely do not.

[-] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Great, but carry capacity and towing capacity aren't the same thing. And it doesn't matter if I don't need to tow something everyday, even if I need to tow something monthly or even yearly the one on the right just can't do it. Also from my very brief searching it seems like a KEI truck absolutely does not have a capacity of 2200lbs, more like 800-1500lbs. I will agree though, if you just need a work vehicle and a truck bed then the KEI truck is probably fine. If you need to tow, it absolutely is not.

[-] inge@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 year ago

If you need to tow something that heavy once a year, you are not buying a car for that.

[-] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I mean, I wouldn't but that thing still has to get moved somehow. That truck still has to be available somehow.

[-] inge@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 1 year ago

Yes, you can always rent one when you need it.

[-] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I don't think the big family that is going on their once or maybe twice a year camping trip with their large trailer is going to rent a truck for their vacation. But, yes that's a possibility.

[-] ratboy@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago

I mean if our culture wasn't so car centric and centered around instant gratification that wouldn't be an issue, it's not too hard to rent a car at all, especially if you've been planning a year long trip. Not trying to soapbox here, though, I'm very reliant on my car too and see doing all that as an inconvenience, but I realize how absurd it is to feel that way.

[-] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

You're right, but I would add that we need more vacation days. People want to squeeze out as much vacation time as possible. And of course there are always exceptions. For instance my grandparents owned a trailer that they would only use during the summer. They owned a truck to be able to tow it, but legitimately moved it only a couple of times a year but also for months at a time. The bill to rent a truck for months would be outrageous. The other option I guess would be to rent a truck for the drive to move it around and then swap for a car when they get there. Or rent a truck and have the other person follow along in a smaller car that they own. It's all a lot of hassle for people that rarely drive and rarely tow.

Personally I'm a huge fan of these small trucks coming out. The Hyundai Santa Cruz and the Ford Maverick are nice balances imo. Yet they still can't tow a large camper.

[-] ratboy@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago

You are definitely right about vacation days; I guess I never really consider that people would be in their trailer for months at a time, so that's a good point. But it's not like people in other countries don't ever go on vacation, so I wonder what their planning looks like? Pointing to cars is just one thing but I think the frustrating thing is just the extreme excessive consumption habits we have in the US.

As an aside I'd be really curious to see breakdowns of like, all of the big truck owners and how often they use their trucks for towing, work, etc.

[-] chocoladisco@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

The solution in other countries:

Carry a lighter trailer, you don't need to tow a whole house with you.

Here in Germany your usual driver's licence (costing around 3k nowadays, btw) only allows you to drive vehicles rated to max 3500kg and towing up to 750kg. Anything else requires another (also expensive) licence.

Want to tow up to 3500kg? That will be mandatory drivers classes and a driving exam. Total cost about 1k. Want to drive a vehicle rated over 3500kg? That requires a truck licence, so more drivers classes, a medical, a theory and a practical exam. Total cost would be around 5k I guess, also you get to renew it every 5 years.

[-] ratboy@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Hey sorry it took ancouple of days to respond, your reply got lost in my inbox. That's wild how expensive it is to drive! Kinda sucks that it seems like it may be reserved for more well off people but at least there is usable, robust public transport.

Sotry if this sounds really stupid, but can I ask what a normal vacation might entail/what kinds of transit do you use? For example I like to camp and there would be no way for me to get to camp sites and such without my own vehicle. And if a drivers license is so expensive it sounds like it would be really prohibitive to rent a car for something like that

[-] n0cturnali@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I fvcking love kei trucks but one counter point - a lot of US is shitty rural roads at 50-60 mph (80-95kmh) plus freeways at even higher speeds. Kei trucks are more of a city thing and just wouldn't fare well here. They are however very popular on university campuses.

[-] chocoladisco@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

100km/h isn't that fast...

[-] n0cturnali@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

You haven't been in a kei truck then

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this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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