this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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Fuck Cars

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Honestly this is absurd. These death machines shouldn't be legal in europe. That thing doesn't even fit in the parking space, even though the parking lot has the biggest spaces in the whole city. The ~~Golf~~ Polo is so small in comparison, it could even hide in front of the engine hood of the truck.

EDIT: It's a Polo and not a Golf, I don't know my cars, sorry for that!

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[–] Tavarin@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can get smaller pick-ups with the same size bed that can easily haul the machines he needs. These giant monstrosities are just useless overkill.

[–] MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Can you link a smaller one that supports 1,500lbs in the bed and 10,000lbs towing?

[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

I can count to the number of urban residents who need a vehicle that meets those requirements on one hand.

Businesses that need to move stuff around for work typically use actual work vehicles that don’t have a five person cab attached to the front.

[–] Tavarin@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ford Ranger is pretty close to that.

Also 90's F150s were way smaller than a modern one, and were rated for 8,000 pounds towing. So you don't need a monster of a truck to tow a lot, manufacturers are making them way bigger than they need to be.

[–] PsychedSy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not particularly small. The EPA has us fucked on that count.

[–] Tavarin@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, should be smaller for sure.

[–] yetAnotherUser@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where this photo was taken:

  • you need a special license to tow more than 750kg (1,650lbs), unless the total weight of car + trailer is lower than 3,500kg (7,700 lbs). This includes the weight of fuel, driver and passengers.
  • even the special license doesn't allow you to tow anything more than 3,500kg (7,700 lbs again).
  • if you want to tow even more, you need a truck license (truck as in lorry, not pick-up truck) which has to be renewed every 5 years with an accompanying medical report

How many people do you think are willing to spend this much time, effort and money to do any of that, unless it's for a job?

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@SwedishFool@lemmy.world literally said the relative uses their truck for work, so...

[–] yetAnotherUser@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And they're from Sweden, this picture is from Germany. Ya know, a country with significantly less rural terrain. In addition, this car has no company markings and one of those covers over the bed no one needing to haul large machinery needs.

No one person needs a truck and 99% of campanies needing to haul large machinery just use a Mercedes Sprinter or similar.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm from the US, living in a major city, and regularly use both Pickup Trucks and Trailers, so ...

Also, congrats on saying "dude in Sweden's friend may need a truck, but really no-one needs a truck". These things don't exist because no-one needs them, and crew-cabs can allow for car-pooling, but I get it; Blindly hating that they exist at all is super important.

Would you believe they got so big because of EPA mpg requirements(also, airbags & crunch zones)? I can link you an article if so. Otherwise I'm not wasting my time.

[–] yetAnotherUser@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Firstly, this comment is 3 weeks old - how did you even find it?

Secondly, approximately 99% of what a pickup is able to do can be achieved by a van, with better fuel economy, significantly better views and therefore a reduced child-killing rate and more capacity than a bed mounted way too high in the air. Nobody living in a city needs a truck. And car pooling? Yeah, I'm sure this happens all the time. How often are you participating in it?

And about the EPA requirements: I'm sure you're campaigning to have them adjusted, right? Clearly trucks don't need to be thrice as large as cars from the 60's. Also: Why should cars protect the inside more than the outside? Pedestrian impacts happen all the time due to bad drivers and large, heavy cars significantly worsen injuries. Don't they deserve protections too?

Yours was a reply to my own comment in the first place and I am regularly without good internet for a month at a time, so...

Anyways, yes, I agree that trucks should be smaller, and I donate to others who think like so, but in the meanwhile, people do have a need for trucks and cannot be blamed for buying what is available to them to purchase.

How often do I participate in car-pooling? At least daily when I'm not stringing barges together - I have a large family, my kids' friends know I'm good for a ride to group events, and I drive for Uber and Lyft ... All that said, I personally don't own a truck, but an SUV, since I've found the towing capacity(and MPG! WTF is up with that!?) of vans in my price-range to be absolutely pathetic. In trucks, when the occassion arrises, I am usually a passenger or renting.

That said, even the most rural farmers in the US now know how to import Kei Trucks, and how useful they are, so things are changing, if not quite in a "No one needs trucks" way.