4Rescue
Expedition Leader
SO my dad and I were talkign the other day as we were driving around one weekend. We had just nearly been squashed by some Jack-A** in a giant Ford F350 who's wallet and credit card limit FAR exceeded both is intelect and taste... Of course he was a "contractor" who was undoutably writing off the giant waste of energy and fuel as a business expence 
To clarify, I grew up working as a "helper/grunt" for my uncles contracting company and personaly the guys who ACTUALLY work and use their truck for work DO NOT have 12" of lift and giant tires cause you can't load things into them...)
Anyway... Having lived in Australia for quite some time and, while living there, worked on a cattle ranch using 70-series Utes (in some of THE gnarliest conditions on the planet further proving the point of my querry that I'm getting to) something occured to me while looking at the stupidity that was this particular F350: In the "Rest of the World" (or ROW) as it were) the typical "contractor's" or general "work truck" is a ute the size of a 70-series or Patrol or G-wagen or whatever... Barring this, it's an OLD American domestic truck in some places that is of the size of the above mentioned "Utes" in most ways. AND, for the last however many years since the introduction of said "utes", they haven't cahnged the overall SIZE of said trucks a whole lot... like a few inches here and there MAYBE. Up untill a few years ago, the 70-series has looked nearly identical to the day it was introduced. The G-Wagen is the same. So what confuses me is WHY in N.America do we have this obsession with making everything BIGGER and BIGGER??? Every time a vehicle get's re-designed it get bigger. For example the Current Toyota Tacoma is the size of the T-100 and the firsrt gen Tundra... And all the while, they never seem to replace the trucks they've bloated up with anything small and usefull (not that the new Tacoma isn't usefull, it's just... is there some reason we seem to now assume that nobody needs a small pick-up anymore and that the "new bigger truck" is better???) I can tell you, while folks in America certainly work hard... they don't work anyharder then people in other countries. Certainly not to the point of automaticly, as a point of fact, needing a vehicle that is SO MUCH BIGGER in every dimension and capacity. I can certainly see use in a good old 3500 Dodge Cummins, but in reality I think that probbly 85% of thosr trucks on the road (and 99% of those trucks that are lifteed 12" with giant wide tires, dual shocks, chrome everywhere and a "such and such construction") are being driven by people who really don't need them (and alot of who can't afford them but that's another matter entirely aye). I can't fathom WHY we need to be able to tow 8500lbs at 100mph (frankly I wish we COULDN'T do that cause the results of 1 idiot behind the wheel of said vehicle can be catastrophic) but it seems to be all the rage to have "the most powerfull" truck... Funny how those "poor fools in the ROW" can only have a Toyota 75-ute with a "mere" 4.5L Twin Turbo V8 Turbo diesel... Well, I for one would LOVE to be one of "those poor fools" personaly... I for one can say that while every so often, I could see it being nice to HAVE a 3500 Ram, I really could NEVER justify driving one so I will never own one. Doesn't mean they are stupid or useless, they're just not a vehicle that fiyts my needs. I guess that's part of my quandry. I'm wondering, were it possible to get an honest answer from people, if they're really a truck MOST people outside of comercial grade users truly need either... Honestly, you could easily tow most any "personal use" trailer like a camper (there's another thing Americans have bloated into oblivion and to a highway cloging level) or even a car trailer to tow your crawler to the trails. My dad currently tows a rather large dump traler with his Kubota in the bed behind his 98 Jeep XJ... it's not fast, but then speed isn't the point aye.
Anyway, I guess what I'm wondering to myself and intersed to see people's thoughts on is: Where does this drive COME FROM in the US auto market??? Is it overcompensation for our failing economy (or in the case of the poser contractor something else - like male patern baldness ??? Is it something that the auto industry has pushed on us as a way of justifying making new vehicles all the time??? Where do you all think this trend comes from and do you think this is just the "way it will always be" or will people come to their sences and start demading more practical utility out of their vehicles and by extension more compact trucks with good load capacity??? Have we bocome addicted to "choice" in our vehicles in this country (I mnean lets face it, if car companies sold 5 modles and they were esentialy the same from year to year do you really think people WOULDN'T BUY THEM???) Is the answer simply "because" or "they just do" or somethign like that??? What is it??? And it really is JUST an American thing.
I for one HOPE that eventualy the N.American auto market pulls it's head out of it's nether regions cause personaly, while I happen to LIKE old trucks, I think it says something about the mindset and the intelegence of our country that I personaly don't like... Maybe it's just me, but I equate things like this to the understanding of the job at had and the concept of function of fashion... I see the auto industry to be alot like the clothing industry... there are those things that can be worn/used every day for a number of different occasions and uses and then there are those things that people sell you that really are only good at doing one thing and even then not that well. My old 89 4Runner may not be simmilar to my living room inside like modern trucks are (that something else I don't get... I DON'T WANT people watching TV and "tweeting" while driving... they seem to have a hard enough time DRIVING as it is so...) and it may be slow as all get out... you know what though??? It's built to last and it still get's there just like the truck that's 3x the size and power and it's alot easier to get around in. This isn't meant to be a "bash on big trucks" post... I think that we may be in a bit of a unique situation here on the Portal as I think in my experience that most of the users here are in that 15 or 1% of users who HAVE evauated their needs and use their full-size trucks appropriately. But sadly, we here on "the Portal" are a small number compared to the "to busy to pay attention" masses out there with drivers lisences.... I only wish people on the road were even HALF as intelegent as the average user of the Portal. Yes, driving is somethign that I love and hate all at the same time. It's great, except for all those other people ruining it
Cheers
Dave
To clarify, I grew up working as a "helper/grunt" for my uncles contracting company and personaly the guys who ACTUALLY work and use their truck for work DO NOT have 12" of lift and giant tires cause you can't load things into them...)Anyway... Having lived in Australia for quite some time and, while living there, worked on a cattle ranch using 70-series Utes (in some of THE gnarliest conditions on the planet further proving the point of my querry that I'm getting to) something occured to me while looking at the stupidity that was this particular F350: In the "Rest of the World" (or ROW) as it were) the typical "contractor's" or general "work truck" is a ute the size of a 70-series or Patrol or G-wagen or whatever... Barring this, it's an OLD American domestic truck in some places that is of the size of the above mentioned "Utes" in most ways. AND, for the last however many years since the introduction of said "utes", they haven't cahnged the overall SIZE of said trucks a whole lot... like a few inches here and there MAYBE. Up untill a few years ago, the 70-series has looked nearly identical to the day it was introduced. The G-Wagen is the same. So what confuses me is WHY in N.America do we have this obsession with making everything BIGGER and BIGGER??? Every time a vehicle get's re-designed it get bigger. For example the Current Toyota Tacoma is the size of the T-100 and the firsrt gen Tundra... And all the while, they never seem to replace the trucks they've bloated up with anything small and usefull (not that the new Tacoma isn't usefull, it's just... is there some reason we seem to now assume that nobody needs a small pick-up anymore and that the "new bigger truck" is better???) I can tell you, while folks in America certainly work hard... they don't work anyharder then people in other countries. Certainly not to the point of automaticly, as a point of fact, needing a vehicle that is SO MUCH BIGGER in every dimension and capacity. I can certainly see use in a good old 3500 Dodge Cummins, but in reality I think that probbly 85% of thosr trucks on the road (and 99% of those trucks that are lifteed 12" with giant wide tires, dual shocks, chrome everywhere and a "such and such construction") are being driven by people who really don't need them (and alot of who can't afford them but that's another matter entirely aye). I can't fathom WHY we need to be able to tow 8500lbs at 100mph (frankly I wish we COULDN'T do that cause the results of 1 idiot behind the wheel of said vehicle can be catastrophic) but it seems to be all the rage to have "the most powerfull" truck... Funny how those "poor fools in the ROW" can only have a Toyota 75-ute with a "mere" 4.5L Twin Turbo V8 Turbo diesel... Well, I for one would LOVE to be one of "those poor fools" personaly... I for one can say that while every so often, I could see it being nice to HAVE a 3500 Ram, I really could NEVER justify driving one so I will never own one. Doesn't mean they are stupid or useless, they're just not a vehicle that fiyts my needs. I guess that's part of my quandry. I'm wondering, were it possible to get an honest answer from people, if they're really a truck MOST people outside of comercial grade users truly need either... Honestly, you could easily tow most any "personal use" trailer like a camper (there's another thing Americans have bloated into oblivion and to a highway cloging level) or even a car trailer to tow your crawler to the trails. My dad currently tows a rather large dump traler with his Kubota in the bed behind his 98 Jeep XJ... it's not fast, but then speed isn't the point aye.
Anyway, I guess what I'm wondering to myself and intersed to see people's thoughts on is: Where does this drive COME FROM in the US auto market??? Is it overcompensation for our failing economy (or in the case of the poser contractor something else - like male patern baldness
??? Is it something that the auto industry has pushed on us as a way of justifying making new vehicles all the time??? Where do you all think this trend comes from and do you think this is just the "way it will always be" or will people come to their sences and start demading more practical utility out of their vehicles and by extension more compact trucks with good load capacity??? Have we bocome addicted to "choice" in our vehicles in this country (I mnean lets face it, if car companies sold 5 modles and they were esentialy the same from year to year do you really think people WOULDN'T BUY THEM???) Is the answer simply "because" or "they just do" or somethign like that??? What is it??? And it really is JUST an American thing. I for one HOPE that eventualy the N.American auto market pulls it's head out of it's nether regions cause personaly, while I happen to LIKE old trucks, I think it says something about the mindset and the intelegence of our country that I personaly don't like... Maybe it's just me, but I equate things like this to the understanding of the job at had and the concept of function of fashion... I see the auto industry to be alot like the clothing industry... there are those things that can be worn/used every day for a number of different occasions and uses and then there are those things that people sell you that really are only good at doing one thing and even then not that well. My old 89 4Runner may not be simmilar to my living room inside like modern trucks are (that something else I don't get... I DON'T WANT people watching TV and "tweeting" while driving... they seem to have a hard enough time DRIVING as it is so...) and it may be slow as all get out... you know what though??? It's built to last and it still get's there just like the truck that's 3x the size and power and it's alot easier to get around in. This isn't meant to be a "bash on big trucks" post... I think that we may be in a bit of a unique situation here on the Portal as I think in my experience that most of the users here are in that 15 or 1% of users who HAVE evauated their needs and use their full-size trucks appropriately. But sadly, we here on "the Portal" are a small number compared to the "to busy to pay attention" masses out there with drivers lisences.... I only wish people on the road were even HALF as intelegent as the average user of the Portal. Yes, driving is somethign that I love and hate all at the same time. It's great, except for all those other people ruining it
Cheers
Dave
Last edited:
