The midsize truck segment, now known as “lifestyle” pickups, is growing due to its smaller size and affordability compared to larger trucks. These pickups are more agile for off-roading and are smaller and cheaper than body-on-frame pickups. They typically drive like cars with smaller engines and better handling.
The Ford Ranger is a popular choice for its broad engine range, accurate and composed handling, and competitive pricing. However, the Toyota Tacoma is a lifestyle pickup catering to average American off-roading and overlanding enthusiasts. The 2024 Tacoma is brimming with features that cater to the average American off-roading and overlanding enthusiast.
A “lifestyle” pickup is not trucks in any way, shape, or form, as they are impractical for hauling, towing, off-road use, or any other truck activities. Instead, they are smaller and cheaper than body-on-frame pickups, and are more agile for off-roading.
When choosing the best pickup truck, consider factors such as horsepower, engine configuration, towing capacity, and drivetrain type. For personal-use pickup trucks, the Isuzu V Cross and Tata Xenon are popular choices. Modern pickup trucks have become more capable and versatile, hauling heavy work equipment and raw materials to the job site.
The Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain offers all the comfort and style of SUVs, with a quiet cabin with ample legroom and headroom to accommodate the entire family. In summary, “lifestyle” pickups are becoming the next big thing in the truck industry, offering smaller, cheaper, and more versatile options for adventurous owners.
📹 Haulin’ All-rounder: The History of the Pickup Truck
A classic car connaisseur dives into the history of the versatile vehicular jack-of-all-trades: the pickup truck! What was the first …
What is a lifestyle example?
A lifestyle can reflect an individual’s attitude or personal values. A conservative lifestyle is focused on avoiding unnecessary expenses and engaging in trivial activities, while a glamorous lifestyle involves upscale pursuits and luxury. If a person has bad habits, their doctor may recommend adopting a healthier lifestyle, including more exercise and careful eating. A hectic lifestyle, often characterized by recklessness or dissipation, is a more stressful option.
What is a lifestyle item?
Lifestyle brands create products, services, and stories based on the lifestyle consumers desire to live. They influence emotions, aspirations, and ideologies, embedding their brand into personal identity and creating a sense of belonging. They convince consumers that they can be high-flying business women and that their brand can support them. These brands are often followed on Instagram because they represent something about the consumer and the people they want to associate with.
A lifestyle brand has a deep understanding of their target consumers’ way of life, including demographics and psychographics. They understand the experiences they crave, the people, places, and things that motivate and inspire them, and tailor their brand accordingly. This knowledge is crucial for evoking emotional connections, creating desire, and inspiring their audience.
What is a lifestyle truck?
A “lifestyle” pickup is a vehicle designed for leisure rather than work, offering a softer ride and a warm interior. It is essentially a crossover with a cargo bed. The term “lifestyle pickup” goes beyond its practicality, making it a distinct choice for those with good taste and practicality. It is often associated with harvest time and the construction of a new house, providing the optimum value for money. The pickup’s character and appearance make it a popular choice for those seeking a practical and stylish vehicle.
What is a lifestyle shopper?
Personal lifestyle shoppers are skilled artisan stylists who offer a unique approach to creating fun, functional spaces. They focus on finishing touches, color, and energy, ensuring that less is more. Cindy and her team of lifestyle shoppers are experts in decor styling for every room in your home, ensuring that you have the perfect balance of simplicity and functionality. They believe that less is more and that clutter can be a quick emotional fix, making them the ultimate decor stylists for your home.
What is a pickup in slang?
Informal is a casual, unintroduced acquaintance often made in hopes of a sexual relationship. It refers to an instance of stopping for or taking aboard passengers or freight, such as by a train, ship, or taxicab. It is often used to express an improvement in health, business conditions, work, or production. In summary, informal is a term used to describe casual interactions and opportunities for improvement in various aspects of life.
What is a lifestyle package?
Lifestyle benefits are essential for employees to support their personal growth and personal development. They can range from flexible working to financial stability support. Research shows that three in five employees prioritize benefits when choosing a role, with four in five preferring new benefits over pay increases. Additionally, three in ten employees would trade higher salaries for better benefits. A good work-life balance is preferred by 37 percent of employees.
A well-designed benefits package not only attracts talent but also retains and boosts employee engagement. A study by the University of Warwick found that increasing employee happiness can boost productivity by 12 percent. Therefore, understanding employees’ needs is crucial before implementing new strategies to ensure their well-being.
What is considered a pickup?
A pickup truck is defined as a light truck with an enclosed cab and an open body with low sides and a tailgate. It is employed for amorous purposes and is frequently utilized as a means of establishing connections with previously unknown individuals. Rebecca Turco proposes that the gathering should be adjourned with a call for pickup after the retrieval of luggage.
What is a lifestyle van?
Lifestyle vans are vehicles designed for big families, requiring space for luggage, equipment, and sleeping. They come in various forms, including pick-up trucks, van-based MPVs, campervans, and fully-fledged motorhomes. The main difference between these types is their size. The smallest van-based MPVs may be smaller than a family car but can grow quickly. Campervans are similar in size to large vans, while fully-fledged motorhomes are larger. The largest American-style motorhomes are almost on par with local buses in terms of size.
Space and practicality are prioritized in lifestyle vans. When purchasing a vehicle, ensure it has enough space for you, your family, and any additional passengers. Consider whether the vehicle has a kitchen area for meal preparation and a large washing or shower area. For more information on the best lifestyle vans, refer to our campervan comparison test.
What is a lifestyle courier?
Yodel offers a self-employed Lifestyle Delivery Driver position, offering flexibility, financial rewards, and support for those looking to deliver up to five days per week or add extra delivery work. The driver can plan their own route and use their mobile to scan parcels at each delivery or doorstep, ensuring safe customer reception. The driver doesn’t need any experience and the more they deliver, the more they earn.
Competitive rates for each parcel delivered or collected typically range from £18 to £20p/h, with rates being enhanced considering business mileage and operational costs. All self-employed suppliers are paid weekly once they have provided four weeks of services, starting with the first payment in week 5. This method allows the supplier to receive more regular payments for their delivery services. Yodel is committed to delivering promises and enhancing the overall experience for its customers.
Is van life legal in the UK?
Vanlife is generally legal in the UK, as long as the vehicle meets legal guidelines, including being road legal, taxed, and having an up-to-date MOT. The author, a UK-based individual, built their campervan outside a terraced home in 2017 and initially faced criticism for living in a van full-time. However, the concept of a tiny home was exciting, as it could save money in the long run, which could be used for travel. The author’s experience with van life in the UK highlights the potential benefits of living in a van.
What are the two types of trucks?
Heavy vehicles are divided into two main categories: straight trucks and tractor-trailers. Straight trucks are easily identifiable by their cab and loading volume above the chassis, while roadtractors consist of a tractor, semi-trailer, trailer, and at least two axles. Semi-trailers have a maximum load and weight limit of 44 tons. Heavy-duty vehicles can carry goods, animals, or heavy machinery. They are subject to additional regulations such as driver’s licenses, traffic law provisions, and driving hours restrictions.
📹 Why Americans Love Pickup Trucks
Americans are obsessed with pickup trucks. Find out why.
In the USA, manufacturers did a great job of marketing compact pickup trucks to young men (like me at the time) in the 1990s. For about the same price, I could buy an ugly, tiny little, boring compact car OR I could buy a fun, good looking, haul-stuff-around pickup truck and go off road, take it camping, the works. As a 25 year old guy buying my first new vehicle, of course I was going for the truck! Unfortunately these days the smaller trucks (and their much smaller prices) have disappeared and we’re left with gas guzzling behemoths that cost $80,0000. I had a lot of fun with that 4×4 Toyota SR5 I bought in the 90s!
I am Canadian and trucks are everywhere here as well. My Dad bought his 1969 Chevrolet pickup when ot was six months old and drove it to work every day for the next 25 years. I bought it from him and am still using it almost 30 years now. The same age as me and I have never known life without it. Pickups are great!
In Brazil we also had “utes”, but usually derived from compact cars. Some were worldwide products, like the Ford Courrier or the Peugeot trucks from the 90s, but VW had (and still has) a small pickup truck derived from our own home grown compact (Gol) called Saveiro. And we absolutely love them; people even go drag racing with some modified Saveiros, it’s insane.
Thanks for the retrospective! Being a truck owner for about the last 40+ years, this vid caught my interest. I find it sad that the Cyber-Truck represents the death of the utilitarian pick-up as we know it. I know change is inevitable, but I already miss the availability of a simple, spartan, 2-door pick-up with an 8′ bed. Not only are newer trucks becoming more of an over-sized grocery getter; the addition of all kinds of electronics and creature comforts is turning these models into some VERY expensive (and less useful) transportation! Switching to battery powered models is only going to drive the price up to the stratosphere. Already, basic pick-ups are $40K (and higher) with some well optioned trucks nearing the $100K level. I can’t begin to justify spending that kind of money on what is essentially a second vehicle for me. It also makes me wonder what business owners who depend on trucks as part of their everyday work are going to do?
I always appreciate your mentions of non-American and non-Western European cars, especially when you talk about my region, Latin America. There was a missed opportunity though here, as Sudamericana is so very niche at best and a punchline at worst. You could have mentioned the whole small pick-up segment, started by the VW Saveiro, which is a Gol-based, 1.0L alcohol engined or optional 1.6L gas 4-cylinder tiny little truck/personal car, born in the early 80’s and still so popular I can think of at least four competitors… Haven’t seen anything like them anywhere else.
Something that deserves a mention–At lest part of the reason US pickups (and SUVs) keep gettting bigger isn’t all truck bros. It is also that the US government-mandated MPG is strict on relatively small trucks but lax on ginormous ones. This is based on footprint, so laws that were meant to increase overall MPG instead reduce it.
It’s also important to note that Ford’s Model “TT” One-Ton Truck was designed more for commercial use, and, although it had the same engine, had a different running gear than the Model T. Many farmers had no need for such a big heavy piece of equipment, but the 5-Passenger Touring was enticing. The farmers soon realized they could cut the rear end off at the back doors, and install a bed to make a lightweight “pick-up” truck. It wasn’t until 1925 that Ford made the “pick-up” an available body style for the standard production Model T
For the quality of roads and streets around the US capital my full size crew cab Tundra is the perfect vehicle. I also have a European SUV and driving it on the same roads obliterated the suspension at both ends in 30k miles. (Just finished rebuilding it completely.) The moon crater landscapes wrought by the seemingly endless roadworks everywhere around us make driving a regular car near impossible. So yes, the crew cab pick-up truck is the Swiss army knife of vehicular offerings. I own other vehicles that do specific things much better than the Tundra but the pick-up does so many things with comfort for four!
Sitting here, in mid December, on the east coast of Canada, after a storm, that has cut off power to many people, including our family. We’re on our second day. We have an emergency generator, and as of 10 minutes ago, I have my furnace wired to run off of grid power, and/or emergency generator. It was fridged here this morning, after a full night without our heat pumps, or furnace. But after a sleepless night, and much frustrations, finding water to cook, and clean with (we live in the country, so there is an artesian well up the road, that many people source their water, because of it’s purity)…anyway…..needless to say, it’s been a rough couple days. I really appreciate this website, so much, for the much needed break. Thanks Ed! You’re awesome!!!!
Another banger, Ed. I am a truck owner in the US and have my own business. I use my truck to haul something almost everyday. Even if I didn’t have my own business, I think I would still have a truck. I’m always buying furniture or tools or something off marketplace that I have to go pick up. I can’t imagine not having a truck. However, I live in a rural part of the country. If I lived in San Francisco or London I could understand not having one. Also, my trucks are 20 years old and definitely not luxury vehicles.
Many of us in the US only use our pickups or cargo vans for hauling materials or other things. In my case it’s a 1978 E-150 cargo van due to our weather, which requires a pickup with a cap or cover or a van. Unless you consider power steering & brakes to be luxuries, it is a utilitarian vehicle… The SUV fad is already waning so expect a lot of second hand pickups on the used market soon….
Wanted to chime in with a unique one from Poland – FSR Tarpan. While not a good vehicle by many measures, it had a number of unique features, one of which I’m fairly sure appeared there and there only – the bulkhead between the bed and the cabin was movable (in most models), so that it could either seat 2 rows of people with a smaller bed, or one row with a larger bed, with the rear seat folding so as to make way for the bulkhead. FSR in general reminds me of some south american carmakers and coachbuilders in their level of creativity under austerity lol.
I remember a particular episode of a vehicular history featured the Dodge Power Wagon. It talked about some of the factory options that could be ordered. Things like passenger side windshield wiper, electric wipers, roll down windows, brake/tail lights, turn signals, in cab heater. You know, optional things. Not withstanding PTO, belt drive rear pulley, rear spot light, lower gear ratios. A sub transmission, heavy duty springs, hydraulic brakes, extra spare tire and so on. It just struck me as novel in a funny way, that you could have optional brake lights. Apparently letting following traffic know you’re stopping without hand signals is just to be neighborly.
The pickup truck was originally invented by Ed Johnston at International Harvester Company (IHC) in 1904. This company also brought about the Farm all line of tractors from 1923 to 1972. They devised the Travelall in the 1950s as a station wagon built on a truck chassis, which GM copied and made into the Tahoe and Suburban. IHC invented the crew cab pickup in 1957 with the Travelette, styled after the Travelall.
I OWN A REAL TRUCK,,a 2020 ram 1500 regular cab,,manuel windows,manuel door locks,,no internet conmect,,my first car was a truck,,”real trucks only account for about five percent of the usa market,,most are now owned by idiots,think of a monkey with a hand gun,,new trucks are piling up like cord wood here,,because of prices,,fords electric truck is a total bomb,,nobody wants it
Fun fact! If you lived in the New York City metropolitan area, say Long Island, until somewhat recently, a pickup truck was automatically defined as a “commercial vehicle.” You had commercial license plates; and you were not allowed to drive on certain roads such as the Meadowbrook Parkway, Southern state Parkway, Northern state Parkway… and your mobility was limited. This explains why pickup trucks were not particularly common in Long Island, New York. To add insult to injury, if you drove into any of the 5 boroughs of New York City and had commercial license plates, it was the law that you needed to have your business posted on the door of your truck. If not, you will get a ticket. Of course, not everyone that owned a pickup truck would HAVE a business! Once again, this is the reason why pickup trucks were not particularly common on Long Island New York until recently. The only way around it was to have a camper cap permanently installed on the back of your truck and you needed to have the truck inspected. You could then get “regular” plates and drive on any road or freeway.
The little red express at 11:35 looks nice except for that ram hood ornament. Dodge trucks weren’t called Rams until a couple years later. My first car was a 1979 dodge power wagon and it had the stacked headlights. I think they were 1 year only. I think 1980 may be the first year of the “Ram.” The one at 11:50 is how its supposed to be.
My line of work is repossessed vehicle transport, I get the defaulted vehicles onto semis and transported to auction where the banks who hold the loans liquidate the defaulted vehicles. Here in the central US, there is an absolute plague of stupid consumers who are incapable of basic math, and they’ll buy a crew cab monstrosity that has payments flirting with $1k a month, and will be a perpetual resource hog for its entire existence- and the cost is unsustainable for many, so I see a ton of these ridiculous wastes of resources and space every single day. Frankly I’m sick of crew cab trucks, and there’s a stupid trend in this country where people think it’s a flex to waste as much resources as humanly possible by driving 3 and 4 ton abominations an hour each way to their office jobs. As I keep saying, apparently gas isn’t expensive enough yet, cuz every day out here there’s millions of morons pissing it right up a wall, wasting it with every possible horrible choice and habit you can imagine. I have a giant old Dodge army truck with a service bed, and its role in life is what a truck is made for- it’s a rolling garage that keeps my fleet on the road. It’s not a pleasure cruiser, a grocery getter, or any other nonsense- only time it moves is when there’s something that needs fixing. I have a car for the rest, it gets 26 highway instead of 9, it’s very quiet, comfortable, smooth, and easy to drive- and it actually saves some resources for future generations. The plague of wastefulness in the US is SUPER annoying to me.
Watching your historical automotive history is always educational. Finally I have an example for closing my professional letters that’s eye catching and accurately reflects the period, in case I write to an old friend from long past. Odd that I’m the first to comment and you didn’t draw attention to this one. ❤
The history of wartime production in Canada can be seen in the names of many pickup trucks. The Ford F150, Silverado 1500, and Dodge 1500 all refer to the British standard of 15 CWT (fifteen hundred pound weight capacity). Canadian auto manufacturers cooperated in designing a standard of trucks for the British Empire and Commonwealth during the Second World War. These CMP (Canadian Military Pattern) trucks were made from standard civilian automotive parts and to British specifications. All were made right hand drive, despite Canadians driving on the right. The surviving vehicles can be found from Europe, to India, and to Australia where they are called “Blitz Buggies”. You might see them during Liberation Day parades in the Netherlands. Most were left behind after the German surrender to help deliver critical supplies to the destitute population. The trucks were well worn by 1945 and not worth shipping home. The factories in Windsor and Oshawa went back to making pickup trucks for the Americas.
Great article. I reckon that the overwhelming popularity of pick up trucks (I have had various ones in my stable for 25+ years) is simply in the malaise era the cars that people liked were gradually legislated out of existance by various governments. So now people drive vehicles that are on average 500 – 1000 kg heavier than they were, with bigger, more powerful engines than ever (My Ram has 395 HP!), and fuel consumption is far greater than it would be if people were driving much lighter cars. This is an absolutely classic case of unintended consequences. I have been driving for 40+ years. For the first 15, I owned a car. I turned to trucks when I became unimpressed with what was on offer for cars, and as time has gone by, the trucks have evolved into the comfortable, spacious, and powerful vehicles that the midsize and fullsize cars used to be. Millions of others have agreed with me and voted with their wallets.
6:25 so… the 90s move from true offroaders to SUVs wasn’t anything new? ‘Here you have a thing that does the job’. ‘Yeah, but comfort and multi functional. We’re Disney princesses’. ‘Okay, here you have what you asked for. It won’t do the job and cost you a lot more’. ‘Great, thanks!’ And the thing that did the job is no longer available. Nice
Electric trucks can technically do truck things, but not well. At least so far. The f 150 lightning cuts it’s range in half when you hook up a car hauler with a model T on it. If you dent a Rivian bed it will cost you 40 grand to fix. All of them use batteries that are not fully developed yet, and occasionally go up in flames. Sometimes in the factory (Rivian), or die all together a year out of the factory (Lightning). I can’t wait to see what defects the cyber truck has to offer.
Ive had a few pickup trucks, including my current 2018 F150 with a supercab. I won’t lie, I love it. I’ve got bench seats in the front and back, so i can actually fit 6 people in the cab. I have a full bed, so i can (and do!) haul lots of things in the bed. That said, it does cost a lot for gas. It gets 18 mpg, which is great for a V8 5.0, but overall, not great for any vehicle. And because it does have 4×4, it sits very tall. As long as you know what you’re getting into with a truck now, you’ll be good. If you’re expecting an easy vehicle all the time, it might be better to just get an SUV.
“Fleetside” is a term unique to Chevrolet, not a generic term across brands as you suggest in this article. Even sister brand GMC did not use it but instead had their own term: “Wideside”. International called their smooth outside beds “Bonus Load” beds. I don’t know what terms Ford and Dodge used, but I’m sure they had their own. I think you are correct about the term “step side” being generic, though.
I think you missed one note in truck development: Macho styling. Before the mid-1990s, most trucks had a similar design idea to commercial vans. They were boxy and basic, with the biggest defining feature usually being the badge. However, the folks at Dodge had a fun idea, and decided that for the second generation Dodge pickup truck, the Dodge Ram, they’d go back to the 50s for some inspiration, as was the craze at the time. They took inspiration from old semi trucks and pickups, and thus, the macho-style was born. Ford and GM were forced to play catchup, leading to the early-00s designs of the Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado and Avalanche, with Ford taking their New Edge design language and giving it a bigger grille for that macho snout, and Chevrolet opting to take their 90s design and make it angrier. Seriously, look at the first gen Chevy Avalanche! It’s angry! You can definitely see the shift in truck design after the second generation Dodge Ram, and I’m actually a little sad you didn’t mention it here. Now, every truck has to have a massive grille with the headlights shoved to the sides, and we’re worse off for it.
My question is, will they ever stop growing? Don’t get me wrong, I’m a lifelong and current pickup owner, but I recently walked past a GM AT4, and at 6-feet tall, I’m not sure I’d be able to check the oil or reach over the bedside without a step-stool. To me, this is stepping away from the whole point of a truck: function and practicality. (BTW, I recently downsized from an F150 to a Tacoma)
Why Europe doesn’t fancy pickups? Easy: europeans on average are more sensible buyers. Smaller streets, fewer offroad areas. Those who need more space buy minivans. Those who need less space and more comfort buy estate cars. Large car does not equal expensive car in most cases, but when it does it’s about comfortable CUVs instead since no poser would actually carry anything in a pickup bed — and everyone understands it. The only place with a lot of dirt roads and offroad is Russia, but over there everything actually large and heavy is carried on GAZelles: cheap, simple, big clearance, big often enclosed bed.
Great article. One note: Fleetside was a GM term, while Styleside was Ford’s name for the non-stepside bed. Fun fact: internally at Ford, the term Styleside is still used to describe the non-step side bed, in some service and engineering info, even tho Ford hasn’t produced a stepside in several years. 🇺🇸 Also, full disclosure. I’m an American and absolutely love pickups and large SUVs. I’ve lived with them all my life and can’t live without em.
the brazilian coachbuilders were very keen on their customization options for pickup trucks back in the day when imports were forbidden and the luxury segment lacked many options. So the wealth used to purchase new Ford or GM trucks, bring to a coachbuilder that usually added more space in the cab (sometimes ditching the bed) and making a whole new fiberglass body, with all the added luxury, extra plush velvet upholstery, fridge, air conditioning, whilst keeping those old diesel engines that suffered to bring the trucks to 100kph. Oddily enough, those customized pickups today still hold good value, given how well they were built and how mechanically reliable they are
Great article Ed, as usual. As an Aussie, I’m of course more familiar and interested in our Aussie made utes, though do see the appeal of the dual cab utes/pick ups – particularly Hilux, Ranger and Isuzu D-Max. I don’t own one, and not looking to get one at the moment, as frankly, I don’t need one. They also seem like great vehicles, biggest problem I have with them is that they’re way over-engineered for what most people use them for on a day to day basis. Surprised you also didn’t mention the South African “Bakkies”?
If you’re familiar with American TV you may have heard of Bob Vila. He started of on the TV series This Old House where they renovate old houses. He moved on to start his own show with a similar concept, but he also talked tools, home repair and espoused his ideas about what works and what doesn’t. He once said something to the effect of: “if a pickup truck bed can’t hold a full size sheet of plywood, it’s not really a pickup truck.” A full size sheet of plywood is 4 feet wide and 8 feet long! That’s not going to fit in most modern pickups! (Even the Cybertruck bed is only 4 feet by 6 feet.)
12:54 I have to disagree, in Europe pickups are not common, registration numbers may be in the low one digit percentage. Yes, you will see them on the roads occasionally, but even parking at the grocery store will be a problem. Not to mention that in Europe throughout the standard driving license is limited to 3500 kg / ~7000 lb GVWR. Nobody want’s to upgrade the drivers licence (to class C1 or C) for such a pickup and spend therefore some 1000+ Euro/US-Dollar for a licence with restrictions like health check every 5 years (or 2 years after the age of 60).
As an American who has always had several friends with pickups I had no need for one. I was totally a car guy until… I moved to a house that needed lots of work (trips to buy lumber etc.) plus picking up wood to burn in a wood stove and bought a boat so I needed to tow and haul. Suddenly in my 50s I actually kinda “needed” a pickup and it’s been very useful.
From humble haulers for ruralites to egowagons for rich businessmen… I am American and always owned a light truck + car and always old trucks for the simplicity and ease of maintaining it. However, once I leave America, I plan on never looking twice at pickup trucks. The new ones are just straight-up ego-wagons to make the driver feel dangerous, which they are due to their dangerous size
I loved the Brazilian mention, but you missed the compact pickups that were and still are very famous in Latin America. The first one was the Fiat Fiorino, based on the 147/Uno, followed by the Chevrolet Chevy 500, based on the Chevette, the VW Saveiro, based on the Gol, Ford Pampa based on the Corcel (which itself was based on the Renault 12, the 80’s were crazy). Today we have the modern Fiat Strada, Chevrolet Montana (formerly Tornado in Mexico), the Saveiro still exists and now we have two bigger unibody sisters: The Fiat Toro and RAM Rampage. They kinda fight with the Montana and the Renault Oroch, based on the Renault/Dacia Duster
CAFE regulations in the U.S. are the reason why trucks here have become behemoths. Lower fuel economy for a larger footprint (width, length and height). Personally, I still drive pick-ups from the 1970s and 1980s. It is good to keep the old iron on the road and at least it isn’t a damned impractical “EV”.
I have one of the last step-side Chevys, they made less than 5,000 for the 2005 model year. It’s a weird juxtaposition between extremely good parts availability, and next to nothing for the box like taillights and so on. It’ll be a bad day if something happens to it 😅 As for usability of the actual steps themselves, well they’re not much lower than the tailgate and are tiny, if I didn’t have bed rails they’d be extremely dangerous in the wet. I can imagine at least one person has died because of the tiny steps of the 2000s 😅
If I had the money (and shop space, and toys/tools to do the job), I would spend the rest of my life building custom/restorod vintage pickup trucks. Yeah, I guess you could throw in Suburbans, deliveries, and utes in there too. For myself, I’d build an extended cab Power Wagon (late 40s/early 50s vintage), or an early 50s Chevy.
In Saudi Arabia we have the same debate, why buy a pickup if you don’t need it? Many people in Saudi Arabia of all ages buy a pickup, even if they live in the city. I think the main reason for that is that it provides everything at a good price. A two-door Toyota Hilux, for example, is a car with a single-row seat, rear-wheel drive, 4 cylinders, and a manual transmission. It’s like buying a Mazda Miata but you can take it to the desert!
Ford Ranger is an American Pickup Truck! Even though I’m born and raised in NYC, I finally became an American In the year 2000 when NYState finally legalized pickup trucks on parkways and I bought a brand new & beautiful Gold Ford Ranger XLT! Sadly, NYS still prohibits you from driving commercial pickup trucks on parkways and parkways are the only way to get around NYC, Long Island and Westchester!
That Syclone was a fun truck, I drove one around a track once. Another reason the extended cab got going was because the gas tank was moved from inside the cab behind the seat to outside the cab under the bed, due to a federal law. The truck makers advertised all the space behind the seat at first, but it was simple to extend the cab. Of course nowadays, as Ed said, the truck is so popular that they’re family cars so crew cabs are pretty much the norm now. I have one myself, and I actually do haul stuff and take of off-roading and camping.
Interesting article until their hard pitch for coal powered trucks at the end. The process of mining and developing lithium and cobalt is far from green, and far from humane. These knuckleheads who are trying to force EV’s on the world are selling everyone a bill of goods! Technology which has to be forced on the public is technology which isn’t ready! When time comes to move to a more efficient power source I think the future has better options in the works. So save the batteries for the energizer bunny, give me a gasoline powered engine!
Here in Australia, damn near EVERYONE seems to be driving crew cabs, including the wife. It’s because of a tax advantage. They’re “commercial vehicles” so you buy them under a business name and avoid LOTS of taxes. Because you can use your commercial vehicle for personal use, just can’t claim the fuel used during personal use. My brother-in-law had one and my sister had another one 6 months newer but identical except for the transmission. They sold hers earlier and recently sold his after they sold their business. Actually UTES only died here when local car manufacturing stopped.
Also, over the last two years, they’ve now integrated pick up trucks based off of compact SUVs Such as the Ford maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz Those are based off the bronco, sport and Tucson. They don’t even offer a regular cab like older, Rangers S-10, Sonoma, Tacoma, Dakotas, and frontiers did Also, for the mid size pick up truck, there is also a convertible pick up truck based off the Jeep wrangler called the gladiator The new Colorado in Tacoma are nice, but they’re bigger then they used to be
As an American, I have owned five vehicles. Three of them have been trucks. Two of them have been SUVs. I like cars especially ones of manual transmissions. But I find the activities I like to partake in are better suited if I have a SUV or truck. I like mountain biking camping hunting and fishing among other outdoors activities. I have three jeeps my latest vehicle is a jeep gladiator pick up. I used to have a giant diesel pick up. It was great on the dirt roads but once he got on the trails in the mountains, it was way too big. My wrangler on the other hand was small, nimble, fairly comfortable, but had no room for my family and my camping gear . The gladiator is big enough for my family yet small enough for the trails has enough storage for my camping gear if it’s all the niches that I need. Plus it’s a convertible. I would like to own a car one day like a WRX. But I think I’ll always have a truck in the driveway too . Because of those activities I mentioned and the driving experience. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of my gladiator, solid front and rear axles, great articulation, off-road, small and nimble, yet spacious . I really think it 10 years you won’t be able to get a vehicle like this anymore. I think I’ll be the 70-year-old dude at the end of the street. The last one holding out without an electric truck driving his old old beat up jeep. 😂
What isn’t to like is no parking space. At least over here in Europe. They are dangerous. At least for other traffic people. And a EV is shit as hell! In my sight, you might have a tiny dick, to have such kind of crap. Cars use to be more tiny, as it use to be now. More Economic. Or the cars, there are already on the road. What is better, as we save resources of stuff we don’t nead in future, because they are already there. That isn’t good for the industry, but saves the planet imidiately. It never can be good, for building more and more items, for shit we already have.
Or in the US – “hey, can you help me move this weekend?!” Haha! My dad and brothers all utilized pickups for construction work all of my life so I was always familiar with the latest! I enjoy seeing the older ones that used to have two chains with hooks on them that would hold the tailgate upright! Good memories!
2:51 there was a truck build by Citroen that used the cabin of a traction avant but turned it into RWD. These where called type 23 or U23. The only thing very truck like about them was the top speed… It ended at a very much of it’s time 60kph. Edit: Unlike the production of the commercial the U23 wasn’t available in ’34 because the first U23s became a thing one year later. This means that the true pickup version of the Citroen predates the Peugeot pickup that you’ ve found by at least 3 years.
The best selling vehicles in Australia are the Toyota Hilux and the Ford Ranger. Where I live in the Philippines the best sellers are Ford Ranger and Ford Everest. In the Philippines, a large percentage of the vehicles on the road are motorcycles and scooters, but for those who can afford a car, a pickup or SUV is a likely choice. If you have a dual cab pickup you might be able to carry more than a dozen people, because hey, just put as many as possible in the tray.
Trucks are popular because the days of having a car to drive to work all week and a seperate car to take out on the weekends or to church are long gone. Most families only have one vehicle per driver if theyre lucky. And the trucks have become so close to cars driving characteristic wise it just makes sense. I “only” have a midsize but its 4 door and 4 wheel drive. I can take it to work all week and do whatever i need to do on the weekends. It handles bad roads way better than my super low sedan. It handles the hills and highways better with the v8 than the v6 in my sedan. It gets about the same mpgs.
Great article. Even though I don’t ‘need’ a pickup half of the time, they’re all I drive except for my old Buick. My dad taught me how to drive in his ’99 C/K 3500 (love that truck), drove a ’01 Ram 1500 throughout high school and a couple years past until it got totaled. I then got a very similar ’02 Ram 2500 and it’s been my daily driver since; it’s already a pretty large vehicle but it still amazes me how new half-ton 1500 trucks seemingly dwarf it, how new rangers/colorados are about the same size now. I do like big trucks but I’m getting to the point of thinking they’re getting too big now. On the part about EV trucks, I don’t think EV pickups will be popular except for people commuting to the office and grocery store. For people who work their trucks like contractors and hot shot drivers, even people who just tow their boat or camper, there are still too many downsides to current full EVs such as range, charging time, even just trying to find a charging station on your route. Diesel will still remain king for a while longer, and if anything, ‘hybridization’ of trucks will be the next big step. Think of what Edison Motors is doing with trucks: a diesel generator with electric drivetrain and small battery pack; best of both worlds combined.
I mean, honestly, as an American who does not himself own a pickup, but has a brother who does (for his personal ride), it kind of makes sense. I get it. As long as the manufactures can put those three basic features together reliably at the right price point, the pickup is a fundamental winner. As long as you have zero regard for aesthetic sensibilities and no interest in considering the nuances of the importance of choosing a vehicle efficient to its task. As long as you’re an American from central casting. Which, just being real, is most of us. Somehow we’re at the vanguard of fashion, while being utterly uninterested in the future of transportation. We are notably passive, as consumers.
This has nothing to do with transportation anymore. More with overcompensating for a severe lack of self-esteem. They are unsafe for pedestrians, especially little children (you can’t see them if they’re right in front of the car) and, well, people in smaller cars. So these people are then also more likely to have to get a bigger car. Of course bigger is heavier, so whatever its energy source is – petrol, diesel or a battery – it takes more energy to move around. All this in a time where climate change is an issue and sacrifices are asked to be made. It’s ridiculous, and the USA should adopt new law to change things around.
Oww… just that bottle neck acoustic guitar at the start. I am a sucker for nostalgia, yes I am. Give me the simpler life of long ago. No, it wasn’t better, I know that. Hell no. But it was easier, more do or don’t. And not as frantic as today. I’m just a guy who can’t keep up with the times anymore, I lost it
In my opinion the best pickups have vinyl seats and rubber floor mats. You can get them filthy then clean them with a whisk broom and damp cloth. Yes, the new fancy pickups are nice. I’ve driven them all over the east half of the US. But I’d rather have the smooth ride of a car as a personal vehicle.
History Polish pickup truck: Warszawa 203P, 204P, 223P i 224P – 500kg payload. Żuk A03 – 900kg payload. Polski Fiat 125p Pickup – 500kg payload. Syrena R20 – 400kg payload. Tarpan 233 – 750kg payload. Tarpan 235 – 1000kg payload. Tarpan 239D – 1000kg payload, engine Perkins diesel 49 hp. Polonez Truck – 1000kg payload. Polonez Truck Roy – 4 door, 670kg payload.
Why a Pick·Up Truck ? Because it’s the only vehicle I can find with a V·8 that will last. My first car 1970 Pontiac Firebird with a 400 CUI (6.6L) & then 1979 Cameo with a 305. Even my 1985 Trans Am has that small 305, nothing matched my Thunder Chicken…. I had the privilege in my second career to have a Demo from a Honda Dealership. ( late 1990’s) the Del Sol & Prelude VETC and Prelude SH. Then in 2001 I follow my boss to a Toyota Store and when I retired from the car business, I bought 2 Toyota Tundras. 20 years later I still have both those Pick Ups SR·5 TRD (lifted) and a Limmited . My TRD is my daily driver and is the closest thing to my Thunder Chicken.. My First Generation Tundra 4.7 L, I run Denson Iridium Plugs and a K&N Cold Air·Intake. Living in a Texas now everyone drives a truck, just like Arizona. FYI the Middle East is not the only place they use Pick Up truck as fighting vehicle’s. The Mexican cartels use them. The built prof ones are unreal monsters. As always, another great show. Thanks
Something that needs to be put into perspective… In 2018, the best selling car was the Corolla at 1,180,000 cars *worldwide*. In 2018, Ford sold over 900,000 F-series trucks (F-150, 250, etc.) *in the US alone*! In 2018, there were 7.66 billion people worldwide, so per capita, Toyota sold 0.00015 Corollas per person. In 2018, there were 331.9 million people in the US, so per capita, Ford sold 0.0027 F-series trucks per person. That’s 18 times more vehicles per person! True, not everyone in the world can afford a new Corolla, but not everyone in the US can afford a new F-series truck, either (although the percentage of those in the US who can afford a new F-series is likely much higher than the percentage of those in the world who can afford a new Corolla). Regardless, the sheer number of trucks sold in the US is staggering.
>>EU and other Countries of “Old World” – uses Cargovans for some strange reason Reason was actually justified, in all Americana/New World (From North America to South America) – there was always sunny 24/7, so Cargovans was NOT needed so much. But in the Old World – bro, here, there almost all kinds of weather can be 24/7 from snow to rain, and extreme sun compared to New World, so that’s why Cargovans was more needed here in Old World – the most. For better protection from powerful winds, and strong rainfalls/snowfalls and etc. So, again – there was a reason and it was justified. And it was also more compact – compare to Pickup Trucks, which now is hunk/giants compared to compact cargovans which can take more cargo in same size, compare to pickup (Same with the Heavy Trucks – which in EU/Old World are mostly compact Cabovers, compared to American Trucks. All because of compact city streets in Old World). So that’s why – Cargovans are more popular in Old World, compare to New World.
My first brand new vehicle I purchased in my life, was when I was in the army and it was an Izusu PUP, in a beautiful light metallic blue, dealer dolled up with mags, fat tires, stripes and a wonderful affordable price. Drove that truck into the ground and it held up like a champ. We need small cheap pickups like that again.
I just turned 65. I grew up on a farm. There were pickup trucks everywhere. I’ve owned several. All 2 door standard cab 2 wheel drives. I don’t consider these 4 door abominations with 4 foot beds to be pickup trucks. They have 4 bucket seats and can only carry 4 people. My Ford Crown Vic has 2 bench seats and can carry 6 people. And the trunk is about as big as one of those 4 foot beds. My 2 door ’68 Ford F-250 with a bench seat can carry four people, and it has an 8 foot bed.
“Because they’re electric you can use them to charge your power tools” Could you make any less sense than that? The DC battery in an EV is NOT useful for charging power tools, of course. The extra inefficiency of all those stages (AC power grid » DC EV battery » AC inverter » DC charger » DC tool battery » tool) is mind-numbing. In your ICE it’s bad enough, but to pretend that EV’s skip stages is just plain ludicrous.
(7:35) About the brazilian crew cab origin is wrong and at (9:38) there’s the model. International Harvester kickstared the trend in USA back 1957, when they released the Travelette A-100. Yep, it sounds european as possible and it looked like a mix between Italian and French design (americans flirted a lot with the concept of being europeans at daily level). Among pickup fans, they are very obscure and probably the first successful 6-seat crew cab on the market, prompting Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge to release similar models based on stretched pickups or SUVs a few years later. So… the credit doesn’t go to Brazil this time.
I’m American. But I’m not into the whole pickup truck thing. I do really like older trucks. When they were purely built for purpose. But modern trucks are too big and have way too much unnecessary technology. Just like modern cars and garbage crossovers. I like trucks from the 50’s to 80’s. After that they became too soft. I’ve only owned one truck. It was a 1977 Dodge Adventurer pick-up. Rusty, dented, like a truck should be.
7:58 – There is a context to this: at that time, we Brazilians did not have many car factories that had a large number of vehicle options that served all customers. Therefore, large companies already installed in Brazil (Ford and Chevrolet, for example) allowed several smaller companies and even some dealerships to customize production vehicles to meet the demands of customers who needed a specific model. Not to mention that between 1976 and 1990 the import of vehicles in Brazil was prohibited. After the opening of imports in 1990, most of these customization companies went bankrupt.
The death of the true small truck due to bureaucracy is all the more frustrating when you see people daily drive huge pickups and SUVs as grocery getters. I’d at least be happy that crossovers largely replaced SUVs, but I still can’t get over how bland and ugly most crossovers are. Actually, it might be cool to see a article on the blurry line between classic small or large SUVs like the Bronco, Jeep, Land Cruiser, Land Rover, Samurai, ect modern luxury SUVs. And “The Crossover”.
I have always owned a pickup, my first car was a 1959 Chevy pickup. I don’t disagree that most pickup owners barely ever if ever use their trucks capability. However plenty of us do, though not all the time. I have a Toyota Tundra with the 5.7 v8, and I’ve actually been thinking about getting a 1 ton truck as I have come up short on payload and towing capacity. This is where I anger the green crowd, my new 1 ton will be an old one with a transplant 12 valve Cummins turbo diesel. You might be wondering why I would choose an old truck over a plush new truck, well because a 1984 Chevy truck is in every important way superior to anything built today. Nobody builds a good truck anymore, gas diesel or electric they are all crap that is designed to last about 7-10 years. That’s a short life for a truck running around $100,000 . You’re rivian or brand new f series may be more plush and have all kinds of fancy electronic gizmos but when you are taking it to the repair shop twice a year for those fancy things failing I won’t.
i´m from europe and in my country pick up´s were/are popular among companies like the Isuzu TF here called opel campo,,toyota dina,nissa D21,toyota hillux,Mitsubishi L200 ect but we still call them vans, what americans imagine as a pick up truck arent popular here but theres a few and im starting to see some ford rangers (the sizes still don´t compare to north america),
You have a 60-year ongoing ‘loophole’ which ignores emissions and lowers tax on a business vehicle, without requiring buyers to own any business,.. plus fuel at 1/4 the price of most of the world, plus literally no weight limit,…what do you expect🙄 The only thing that can save us from pickups is appropriate legislation; weight and size-based taxation and licences.
The Lil Red Express truck became the fastest courtesy of a little Corporate slight of hand and enthusiastic auto dealerships, for regulatory assessment they built it with a Police Interceptor 360 V-8 but mated it to an anemic intake and miniscule 2Bbl down draft carb for great CAFE numbers. Having satisfied the government watchdogs, when the dealership received their Express trucks from the factory they swapped in the remaining performance pieces, Everything was done off the books…more or less.
EV productions are being halted left and right. The electric pickup truck is NOWHERE NEAR ready or viable or cost effective enough to justify the use of one. Justify it anyway you wish, it still DOES NOT operate on hopes and dreams. Old pickup trucks are outlasting new ones and the vast owners of those units are not going to drop theirs just to be taking on sub-six-figure/six-figure debt for the newest failures, energy source does not matter. Innovations in the combustion engine will still occur; check out the omega engine for example.
I really don’t get the obsession with trucks. They generally handle terribly and are ugly. Parking in city car parks is horrendous. Basically just rubbish at being a car. Sure, if you need to tow something they could be useful but most people don’t do that with them. I’m in Australia and we have heaps of the ugly, cumbersome things lumbering around but the US is just nuts. Why anyone would want to commute in a duelly is beyond me. Even sillier, I was dropping a rental back in at the airport in Dallas a few years ago and a guy in a suit pulled in with nothing but a briefcase. He had rented a RAM 2500… WTF? In our car we just looked and laughed – and 2 of my colleagues were Americans. They also had no words.
Problem with todays electric trucks is we don’t use our full size ram as a “real truck”. But an electric would not be able to do the last 10 times we actually needed it as a truck. Haul a rented enclosed trailer 1.5 hours away and back same day no stops. 3.5 hour drive then tow a 3600lb vehicle back home same day no stops other than P. Or an 17 hour straight drive down the coast 1300miles. Oh yah it’s only a V6 and gets 20 mpg. 400+ mile range. The calculations of people towing with a rivian it was more expensive by quite a bit using mobile charging every 120miles plus that makes for a very long day trying to do a 500mile trip.
I drive a tiny Honda Fit. But have driven trucks before. There is something so satisfying about a big ol truck. I dont really need something like a F-150 or Silverado. I would be happy with a Tacoma sized truck but those mid size trucks despite being so large have terrible back seats. I think that in itself is the reason people buy larger trucks. I actually would prefer a body on frame SUV to a truck. They really are just fun to drive. Ive grown up witb both and passenger cars just feel unsafe and dainty. So unnecessarily low to the ground and impractical. I know the Fit is probably my last passenger car and Ill be buying crossovers or trucks and SUVs from now on. Just significantly more practical and able bodied. If I was rich I would get a sedan or such as a second car again.
The F-series has been in production for nearly 80 years and been the best selling truck for 47 of them since 1977 and vehicle over all for 42 of them since 1982 and in that time has averaged 643,000 units sold in the US per year while the top selling sedan in the US since 1997 has been the Toyota Camry which debuted in the US for the 1983 model year and has gone on to sell almost 14 million units in the US and 23 million units worldwide making it the second best selling Toyota Sedan model ever only behind its compact older brother the Corolla which has sold 13 million in the US and 52 million worldwide since its debut in the mid-late 1960s the only Vehicle nameplate in the US to have a longer production run than the F-series is the Chevrolet Suburban which debuted for 1935 and has only had one 3.5 year production stoppage in that time for world war II outside of shorter worker strikes
Electric trucks aren’t fit for purpose, as actual work trucks or for towing. Who has time for trying to “refuel” a truck that’s needed, without the hassles and wasted time? EV cars are cumbersome to own, they are electrically complex, and getting repairs is also costly, hit or miss. Nahh. They require different types of Chinesium materials, funding the world’s biggest polluter and untrustworthy government. Nahh. I’d rather try a steam car.
I think most pickups are not really that great. You can do the same, if not more, with a van like Mercedes Sprinter and/or a good station wagon like VW Passat and use way less fuel doing so. They’ve just become way to big, anytime I see a Dodge Ram on the road in Europe I just think “man that guy must have a small pp”
It should never be forgotten that during the 1950’s British Utes like the Austin A40, Morris Minnor Vanguard, Vauxhall Consul Zephyr, Prefect dominated the Australian Ute Market In 1948-50, before the 48-215 Holden became popular, the A40 Austin was Australia’s biggest selling ute Another Popular ute was the Morris Minor Its size and price suited many farmers, small business owners, and tradies The most popular was the Larke Hoskins’ A40 ute progressively changed shape between 1949 and 1955 and pioneered the wrapped rear window. In 1957 Ford announced the six-cylinder Zephyr and four-cylinder Consul utes as competitors to the FE Holden. These were built on the production line at Geelong. The continuing problem for Ford was that its duo could not be priced low enough to compete with Holden. They were replaced by the Falcon ute in 1961.
Oh yeah the dumbest car type, the only justification I can think of for getting a pickup it a tax relief… like why would anyone want a work vehicle without the roof with the rain and snow falling on your tools, cement or whatnot and any tools getting stolen easily… That’s way as soon as they have made European pickups based on common cars, they have almost right away started putting a roof over the bed and then integrated the roof with the bed creating cars like kangoo or berlingo in the end
Battery powered trucks? Well, if the current occupant of the White House and globalist billionaires say it’s “ecological” it must be, right? Better run out and get one fast before the climate kills us all! Wonder how Ford is doing with this big brained rush for rare earth minerals? Oh, nevermind…..
An Australian here. When my father was a young man, he bought a “ute” as they have always been known as here. It was made by Essex in Detroit in 1926, in right hand drive form for the Australian market. Which is further proof that that old nonsense about Ford Australia inventing the ute in response to some farmer’s letter is just that – nonsense. A farmer did write a letter. He just wanted a cheap alternative to the imported American utes. Many of my father’s farmer contemporaries here bought the Ford T or later Ford A in a version sold by Ford under the description coupe/utility. Those old pre-war Ford Australia utes were built from Ford Popular kits sent out from England. My uncle had one. It was an utterly hopeless vehicle due to having a tiny side valve motor that could only reach about 40 MPH unladen. This motor was, by British standards, barely adequate for the Popular sedan, but way too small for a load carrying vehicle on Australia’s long roads, where time was money. And it had English made Lucas electrics, which meant that it broke down a lot. My uncle gave up on the starter motor’s high failure rate. He just crank-handle started it – as the motor was so tiny with a low compression ratio it was real easy to crank.
My Father wound up with THAT TRUCK In the Ford commercial where they dropped it. It has over $2000 worth of damage with 10 miles on the odometer. That truck became the reason for the Automotive Lemon Law in Kentucky. It got traded off. Actually, a judge made FORD buy it back. Dad went for a Datsun/Nissan Model 720 King Cab with a diesel engine. I still have the motor and transmission, now installed in a 2003 Ford Ranger. Over 800,000 miles on that engine with 1 overhaul at 609,000 miles
European governments are doing their best to starve us of our truck love and get us into public transport (socialists with their taxes, drive a clio they say). I bought my first truck 5 years ago and absolutely love it, a ranger. Us size pickups though, are borderline unusable in places in Europe. See the Ram blocking the tram in the article. Anyway, great article.
Truck Gang The electric truck is failing due to three issues. Trucks are expensive now, and electric are 30% more than a Diesel. They can’t pull 1000lbs without draining their batteries 4 times as fast. The third reason is they’re Electric; they damage the environment and we don’t have the electrical infrastructure to produce enough power to supply them with power.
Ed, your closing statements make me wonder, “then what’s the point of you liking giant American sedans?” They’re just as useless as an office worker with a Ford F350. I must be the one car guy on the Internet that doesn’t give a shit about what car someone owns or how the use it. Yeah yeah, I know you meant it in jest. I’ve just heard it so many fucking times I can feel my soul leaving my body whenever I hear it again.
I met Lewis (“Lew”) Bandt in passing at a church anniversary in 1986, knowing that he’d worked for Ford Australia in Geelong – but didn’t discover until the following year that he’d designed the original integrated body Utility (“Ute”). Henry Ford invited him for a personal meeting in USA – from which the now-famous “pick-up” truck resulted. Lew had a restored example of the first model Ute, but died in 1987 when he crashed it.
My first vehicle was a used 1964 International C900 farm pickup. I’ve owned several more full-sized trucks throughout my life and currently own a midsized one. I have had to move 3 times in the last 23 years and every time all my stuff was moved in the bed of my truck. And if I ever have to replace my current one, it will be with another pickup (I love exploring the desert).