Does anyone sell truly SMALL trucks anymore? (F150, plugs, fuel)

[SD4020]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Hold on - just saw an article that Smart is coming out with a pickup. Definitely truly SMALL

Smart unveils pint-sized pickup - Boston.com (http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2012/01/09/smart_unveils_pint_sized_pickup/ - broken link)

Holy crap. I think the cushman truckster I used to use was bigger. More like a John Deere Gator.

I had a pair of S10s that were ok. There is still the Nissan Frontier and the Toyota Tacoma.

[Lije Baley]

That Colorado is listed as a mid-sized truck , though just looking at the photo I already could tell it was that size.

I think I need to clarify what I mean by "small". For photos, check out this Wikipedia page for Toyota's trucks but only up to the sixth generation. I really did mean two adults and maybe one small adult, or a child, would be as much as could be fit into the cab. A V-6 could be crammed into the engine bay, but it would have a very small displacement, under 3.0L.

Americas have upsized themselves so their trucks need to be upsized too.

I thought about that too, but we're not ALL flabby and out of shape. Btw I'm 5'10"/180lbs and have no problem fitting in one of those small trucks, so my physical size is not a motivation for this discussion.

Mid-sized trucks also bother me because (and I have lots of personal experience with this - arrgh) of their not-quite-big-enough size: for example the ubiquitous 4x8 sheet of plywood or large pieces of furniture end up hanging out the back or sides of the bed - crap now I have to get out the bungee cords and red flag AGAIN , so I might as well have asked my buddy to borrow his full-sized Chevy. And at the same time I have that stuff hanging off the side/end of the bed, I'm using more gas to do all this.

Sure, relatively speaking that mid-size allows you to carry more stuff than a truly small truck, but for me anyway, it's not enough more to justify the larger size when you consider the increased cost of the vehicle + more fuel used.

Btw on a pure style note, many of those little trucks from Japan in the 60s and early 70s looked pretty cool to me, looking sort of like a kid's toy truck but you could actually drive them. Here's a Datsun from that era. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8490341@N04/5057269401/ - broken link)

[southernnaturelover]

My Mom had a '04 Tacoma, and though it had a V6, it still seemed like a small truck IMO. The new ones do look a little bigger, but I still like them.

[Chango]

you can get a Jeep JK8; a Wrangler unlimited with a dealer installed mopar kit...

[PokerMunkee]

4 banger trucks are worthless. Can't tow, can't haul (people and stuff), and don't get enough MPG to offset the difference from a 1/2 ton.

[mofford]

Hang in there, pretty sure I read somewhere that Ford is bringing back the Ranger in a year or so. I'm big and tall, the Ranger has served me well for a long time. I have the short cab with a 7 foot long box, it hauls a dozen sheets of plywood or sheetrock just fine, I use the slots in the bedliner (TUFFLINER brand) made with 2 x 4 inserts so the wheel wells do not reduce the 4 foot width you need to lay plywood flat. I have double 2 x 4's connected together in the back slot, so it rests on the bottom of the bed, keeps the bottom of liner from bowing up under excessive weight, and leaves a nice space near the tailgate for sandbags, keeps them in place far to the back where they do you the most good in winter driving.

The Ranger gets good gas milage for a truck, in the 20's. It is the first car or truck I have had in the longest time, where I can roll the window down and rest my arm on the top of the door and be comfortable doing that. The top of the door is flat and it feels good to get that arm breeze going on warm summer days. Granted I'm a tall guy, but I think my 69 caprice was the last car I could do that arm rest thing out the window and be comfortable.

I have nothing but nice things to say about my "TUFFLINER" plastic bedliner with 2 x 4 inserts. It is 15 years old, no cracks, the metal bed of my truck stays bone dry and not a speck of rust under that liner. Do not take this thing out of your truck on a hot summer day and lay it on your lawn for more than 5 minutes, you will have a big brown spot there for a month, as the thing gets hot under direct sunlight. Oh, and one more thing, cut your 2 x 4's about a half inch longer than what the tape measure tells you, as you want them nice and snug and the sides will pop in a tad.

[Lije Baley]

Originally Posted by PokerMunkee

4 banger trucks are worthless. Can't tow, can't haul (people and stuff), and don't get enough MPG to offset the difference from a 1/2 ton.

Depends on how much you want to haul. And many 4 cylinder trucks from all the major brands were sold here literally for decades - heck Chevy, Dodge and Ford all imported small trucks built by other manufacturers so they could be part of that market - and are still sold elsewhere, until for whatever reason here in the States they were pulled from the market in the mid 90s. "Stuff" is still the same size, so something else has changed. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out it has something to do with the "Gotta Be Big For No Good Reason" syndrome that exists here, which also includes flatscreen TVs, bloated houses i.e. "McMansions", giant servings of food at restaurants, etc.

Small trucks can also be good vehicles for first-time vehicle buyers even if they aren't "truck people", since they are relatively inexpensive, usually look pretty cool and are easy and not too expensive to modify/personalize. And their smaller hauling capacity is good for the younger demographic who are many times into hobbies that only require smallish capacity, hobbies like surfing, hiiking/camping, yada yada.

[jazzlover]

I've owned and driven compact pickups in the past and, back when, they served a useful purpose. Full-size pickups were getting 12-15 mpg, tops, and the 4-cylinder mini-pickups could manage near double that, though they were so underpowered that they would often flounder at anything above the then 55 mph national maximum speed limit.

Fast forward to today--most small 4-cylinder pickups sold in the US get little better fuel economy than they did 25 years ago, though they will at least get out their own way at 65 and 75 mph speed limits. Meanwhile, most full-size half-ton pickups get fuel economy not much less than those small pickups and are far more comfortable and versatile. Spend big bucks and get one of the current crop of 3/4-ton diesel pickups, and those can get fuel economy approaching that of a V6 compact pickup in a truck that will haul up to 4 times the weight. What is needed in the US market is an economical compact 4-cylinder turbodiesel or direct-injection gasoline pickup that will surpass 30 mpg highway and 22-25 mpg city fuel economy. It will probably take sustained $5/gallon fuel prices (and I do think we are going to get those prices soon) before we will see them here, though.

[Merc63]

Originally Posted by PokerMunkee

4 banger trucks are worthless. Can't tow, can't haul (people and stuff), and don't get enough MPG to offset the difference from a 1/2 ton.

Most places that did light delivery, like auto parts stores, had no problem carrying "Stuff" around in a mini-truck. We just hauled my replacment BMW V8 engine home in the back of my buddy's '92 Toyota mini-truck, and I've hauled ATVs and dirt bikes in the back of my own older mini-trucks.

Trucks like this were VERY useful:



I hauled all sorts of stuff in it, from an ATV to building supplies to parts chasing for the custom car projects and race car projects. WAY more practical for day to day hauling duties than my full size pickup (which is really best only for the trailer towing and the only reason I have a full size now).

[ctwhitechin]

I don't know, my friend had a small Toyota pickup truck in the late 80s, I felt like I was in a can of sardines sitting in it. Especially now, you can get an f 150 that gets upward of 22-23 mpg, with towing capability, etc, why get the little rice burner???