there is no use case where a pickup truck is better than something like a kei truck
I like the mini-trucks like the Kei, they are practical and useful for light loads around town. What they don’t do is heavy loads and / or long distances.
So here’s a “use case” where my full sized American pickup truck is required. Several times in the last 6 months I’ve pulled a triple axle trailer weighing 12,000lbs (5,440 kilograms) a distance of 200 miles (320 kilometers) at an elevation of 6,000 feet (1,828 meters) ). Assuming the weight didn’t collapse the rear axle or buckle the frame on a Kei then trying to actually pull the weight would certainly destroy the transmission and / or engine.
If you want to discuss “cargo space” then ALL pickups, including the Kei, suck. Holding cargo internally is what van bodies are for, not pickup bodies. This why city based tradesman the world over drive chassis with van bodies.
So called “Off Road” is a whole different can of worms, nearly no one really does it (even if they think they do) and I’d submit that NO pickup is truly suited for it. Real Off Roading is done with vehicles specialized for the terrain they are working in.
Mini-trucks are great at what they’re meant for but they aren’t meant for everything.
thoughtorgan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Are you seriously saying a fucking kei truck is more useful than a pickup?
You’ve never done a day of blue collar work and it shows. That chintzy little JDM truck can’t do half of what America’s work force needs.
limelight79@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Yeah, that’s an insane comment. I regularly tow an 8,500 lbs trailer with my pickup and regularly haul 2,000 lbs of pellets for our stove in it. Sometimes I tow the trailer with an additional 500 lbs of stuff in the bed of the pickup. I seriously doubt a kei truck - which aren’t even available here in the US - could handle either of those tasks.
thoughtorgan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah, the post reads like someone who’s never done any manual labor in their life.
I’m their mind pickup trucks were being used to haul paper and poster board to their office job. Hahahahaha
limelight79@lemm.ee 1 year ago
And let’s face it, there are quite a few pickups around that have never hauled anything. But to claim they can’t haul anything is just bizarre.
creditCrazy@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Unless you’re talking about towing other cars and carrying entire trees yea a kai probably wouldn’t make the cut but for furniture transportation fire wood mail delivery and mulch transportation are all things that take way less horsepower than you think hell even with car towing I’ve done with a dinky little 4 wheeler from the 80s if a atv can do all the things I mentioned a kai can absolutely accomplish them and you don’t take up soo much space when you take your haul through the city the reason everyone hates full size pickups is because soo many people just use them to get groceries and nothing more
thoughtorgan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s good as a shop truck sure. But most American CARS have double the payload weight of a kei.
They have a place, but what I was responding to was nonsense. Pickup trucks are a necessity for tons of work. A lot of crews doing different work haul trailers full of their tools and material.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
so what’s so magical about the US that people need pickups there but not in the rest of the world? If you need to haul tools you have a van, which can carry a vastly larger volume without getting things wet.