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Monster pickup trucks accelerate into Europe as sales rise despite safety fears
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
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As an American I find the thumbnail hilarious. Not that’s it’s not a “monster” pickup truck but that it is the tiniest little truck you’ll find on much of our roadways.
I don't know why you're getting downvoted. It is hilarious in a black humor way. For us Europeans that's a giant monster, because it is, while a lot of Americans would consider it a little baby truck because they are so brainwashed.
In my area there are tons of bigger trucks. Delivery box vans, dump trucks hauling dirt or gravel, garbage trucks, school buses, fire trucks, ambulances, tow trucks, box trucks with 8 meter boxes (don't need special license to drive). Not to mention full 18 wheel semi trucks that are everywhere and especially our highways. Almost none of our trucks, are cabovers, they have huge hoods on them.
Those pickup trucks really are usually the smallest trucks we see, and when you're in one you still feel like you're in a smaller vehicle compared to a lot of the other vehicles on our roads. It's not brainwashed when it's observable. I've lived in Europe the US and the roads are very different experiences.
It's perfectly ok that some vehicles are bigger than yours. You aren't small and weak just because your car is a practical size. I have a "right sized" car and it saves a ton of money on gas, truck nuts, "I did that" stickers and bud light.
I drive a Subaru Crosstrek. It isn't the most fuel efficient vehicle on the earth but it's pretty good among vehicles that can handle the terrible dirt/gravel/unimproved roads I'm often on. I've owned a couple of big trucks, but I used them hard every week. I don't need one now. If that changes, I'll buy another one. Some of those big trucks are actually pretty efficient these days, although speed affects that a lot. "I can't drive 55" but it would save a lot of fuel if you could.
Agreed lol.
Its not literally the smallest pickup truck on American roads, a few people still have older, smaller models from the 80s or whatever...
...but far larger trucks than in this image are absolutely everywhere.
And I say this as someone who used to drive a hatchback and routinely laugh at all the moron truck drivers who spend an hour trying to figure out where to park their F350 duallies in a dense downtown part of American city, baffled by the idea that the urban core doesn't have Walmart sized parking lots every block.
These literal tank sized trucks are the smallest modern variants of American trucks. The larger ones are incredibly common and even larger than these.
Here's a quick example:
The white truck in this image is roughly the same size as the trucks in the tank/truck comparison and the article's image, the black truck behind it is closer to what more and more Americans drive, and many drive ones that are even larger than that.
It's pretty big in Europes tight streets, they have tiny cars for a reason. I have no idea why someone would try to drive that truck over there.
Our cars are not tiny though. They're car sized.