this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
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Fuck Cars

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 months ago (2 children)

A tax on vehicle axle weight proportional to the damage done to roads (which goes up exponentially with weight).

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Vehicle fee based on some combination of size, weight, and miles driven would be the fairest.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Miles driven is just taken care of in fuel taxes. Sales tax on size, yearly tax based on weightwould be perfect I think.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

Happens many places in Europe already.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (5 children)

The worst part with all these big trucks is the bed is significantly higher requiring much more effort to actually put anything in.

You're not only looking like a dumbass you actually are one.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Honestly this. I had one of these that replaced my old Dodge van at work, and I hated it because all my equipment was much more of a pain in the ass to get in and out.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's something i often wonder--how do they manage to load stuff in/out? I'll always remember a woodshop class i took and someone asked me to help lift a chicken coop they built into their truck. It was heavy af to begin with but the extra height to put it into his big/tall truck made it a much more difficult task. It's just stupid, really--no benefit i can see and further drawbacks seem inevitable ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (3 children)

A lot of people who buy trucks these days just need something that can tow a travel trailer or a boat to their favorite camp site a few times a year. It's not that they need a truck on a day to day basis, but they might need the towing capability on occasion. That's why these trucks are a weird combination of luxury sedan (with their leather seats and high end interiors) and pickup truck. Most of the time they use it like a regular car, but sometimes they might need the towing capability.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 months ago (3 children)

If it’s a “few times a year” situation that really seems better suited to renting.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Rental companies, at least in America, have policies against using their vehicles to tow things.

In addition the truck in front has to be imported to the US and there's weird regulations about purchasing them so you can only buy used. As far as I know you can't import a new model. If a car is newer than 25 years old it can not be imported unless it meets the requirements of US Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle/importation-and-certification-faqs

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago

Part of the issue there is that for a large number of people the 'few times a year' are major holidays when everybody else wants to tow their house-sized RV and boat to the lake for a day or two. The rental fleet just isn't big enough to service the surge demand.

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[–] Taleya 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Pff my fckn subi can do that and fit in a standard car park

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Your Subi wouldn't be able to pull some of these American travel trailers. Many of them are absolutely massive, they're like a luxury condo on wheels.

We have no sense of reasonable proportion here in the US. Everything must be unnecessarily large and unwieldy, gaudy and exorbitant. Bigger is always better here in the good 'ol US of A.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago (2 children)

One is a work tool and for men, the other one a toy and for little boys.

[–] Sternhammer 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The one on the right is an “Emotional support vehicle”.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 months ago (2 children)

One of them is a tool, another one is driven by a tool.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 months ago (2 children)

That's a real man's truck. Air conditioned, soft suspension, big boi so scary big truck don't scare, brightest lights because corners scary, 4 seats cos wife is scary, big tyres because tools are scary, big tank because human interaction is scary.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The thought of someone getting a 4 seater truck purely because they are so terrified of their own wife that he only feels safe when she is in the back seat of a car

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

That's what it's like to drive a Ford F150

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (45 children)

If you're worried about making the cab bigger and comfier, you don't need a truck.

There are no arguments to this and no one has a point against me here. If cab space is the concern, you need a minivan or SUV.

Blanket statement with impunity incoming. Combining these vehicles is a bad idea. For safety and efficiency. If you think this is a good idea in any possible way, you're simply incorrect.

You're just buying an SUV with a truck bed attached because your little balls say you want a "manly" vehicle.

You wouldn't put a hitch on a moped. Don't put a bed on a SUV.

Extending the length of a vehicle past the point where a hitch makes it longer than a parking space should be a "first offense your company is due down immediately" kind of offense first of all. The amount of these hitches blocking sidewalks and handicap accessibility spaces is absolutely bonkers.

Why don't we have a president type of office that doesn't mess with politics or international affairs, they just have nationwide power for common sense stuff like banning pickups simply being used as passenger vehicles, curbing attempts to overgrow parking spaces, and probably a bunch of other stuff too.

Also, I have a great idea for a whole new tax. :)

Let's make an industry out of dining these people to the point where only businesses use trucks. Regular people can rent them easily enough to move between apartments or what have you, but these should never have been general use daily drivers.

Let's just crush and compact the entire pickup truck industry to an incredibly tiny fraction of what it is now.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You wouldn’t put a hitch on a moped

My dude, I put a hitch on a scooter. My little trailer kicks ass. Well, it did before it was stolen, but that's besides the point.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Trailers are great! You can tow with minivans, cars, suvs and trucks. Trailers typically are easier to load, have more capacity and can be a lot longer than a truck bed.

Contractors get most of their building supplies delivered by flat bed trucks anyways.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's not like the beds are the same size. Length sure, but don't you know that girth is what mattera for your dick replacements?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Not including the wheel well the Isuzu should be about 47 in. The F-150 is about 42. Including the wheel well it's like 50 on the Isuzu and 52 on the F-150. The Isuzu will have more usable bed space and the wheel wells don't go up very far so they're pretty usable going like 2 inches up.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (11 children)

The comparison is kinda unfair. The big truck has a wider bed, bigger tires and more power. It also seats more people. So it is able to get more load through more difficult terrain. However we can be quite sure it won't be used in that way.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (10 children)

I've never seen one with wear and tear and/or dirt that would indicate difficult terrain. Those only leave the city in advertisements.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The only thing I can say in favor of the one on the right is carrying capacity (weight). I associate with equestrians, and hauling a horse (1000-1500 lbs each) in a trailer (4-13k lbs, depending) (I know the truck isn't holding it all, but it has to pull and stop it). The truck needs the engine power and torque to do that, while at the same time have enough weight and tire contact to stop with all that extra weight.

Working construction type things, and picking up builder materials? Hands down the one on the left. Hauling anything beyond the bed of the truck? Absolutely the one on the right.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (4 children)

In Europe we just haul trailers (even horse trailers) with normal cars, of course with a stronger engine for special uses like horses but even a VW Golf is allowed to pull up to 1800 kg (= can pull a bit more than that).

I bet most US-americans with a truck aren't even using their truck bed often - likely rarely enough for a normal car + trailer to be way more practical - and also much more efficient, but ig efficiency barely matters with your fuel prices. To stick with the VW Golf example: a modern VW Golf needs 4/4.5/5 l per 100 km (city/combined/highway), a ford F-150 needs 10.7/12.4/14.7 l per 100 km.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

Yeah 100% most people with trucks are for vanity. It makes them feel cool. It's also a status symbol, because right now the price of trucks like that start at $70k. We have an O2 model Ford f350, and if we wanted to replace it with an "equivalent" model of this year we'd be out $95k.

We use our truck almost 100% for hauling horses. I occasionally have to drive it just to the doctor or something because my wife usually has the car at work. (I work from home).

Honestly, the price and overall size of these trucks is insane, and it bugs us to no end. The only reason the price is this high is because the manufacturers know these idiots need to show their "status".

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (55 children)

The one on the left is used by people who need to carry things. The one of the right is used by losers.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (8 children)

I drove pickup trucks for years. Most people probably don't realize is how much higher the operating cost is comparer to smaller vehicles, even if they know that it's generally higher. The first hybrid I bought was a Prius about a decade ago and when I finally looked at the difference in the cost of fuel and maintenance, it was not insignificant.

There's plenty of legit reasons to need a pickup but outside of that, you're just throwing your money away. Nowadays our Sienna Hybrid minivan has a hitch receiver on it so I can hook the trailer up to it if I need to haul something big. I haven't needed a truck in a long time.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

No no, OP, you see, how will I transport four fully grown corn-fed american patriots around?

A normal car?

No, I need to transport these four fully grown corn-fed american patriots while also transporting a bunch of material that I can't have in the cab of my car.

A trailer?

Don't be ridiculous, it's too heavy, a normal car couldn't tow that.

A slightly better car?

No, that's insane, it's much too heavy, and besides, I need to transport three metric tons of stuff, all outside of my vehicle, which means I need a trailer and I can't keep any of it in the back of my normal car.

A beefy cargo van, with a covered cabin, and a divider?

No, see, you simply don't understand, all my loads need to be uncovered. I'm transporting, uhh, loose gasoline? Not in a barrel, just loose in the bed, and 400 2x4s, and, uhh, gravel. I don't want a semi, because you need to be licensed for that and I would rather pay more to have a personal vehicle which is capable of all of this at once rather than pay for a delivery. I also need good ground clearance, because I'm going into the unpaved american wilderness with these large uncovered loads. I'm not antisocial, I just need to transport this to my off grid homesteading compound in the middle of nowhere, with my four platonic corn-fed american patriot roommates, or my fifteen sons and daughters which I've already pledged to my friends' other fifteen sons and daughters. How do I pay for all this? It's all super cheap, I swear, I'm just an honest normal rural farmer, and I work a normal job as a military defense contractor, or running IT for some wing of some megacorporation, or maybe I just have inherited money. Everyone wants to be me, but I'm the only person who's allowed to use this truck and say it's totally acceptable because this is a totally legitimate use and I'm just exercising my normal freedoms.

This is all normal, and fine.

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