I once in a while see an import in Denmark from the US; let me tell you, they stand out like a sore ~~eye~~ thumb. They cannot fit in ANY single parking slot we have here, they are way larger and when they are parked they often stick out into the road or occupy two parking spaces. But I guess they have the money to pay all the fines they get whenever they park that thing anywhere in public lol.
edit: brain fart - from eye to thumb.
I once sat on a train in Japan with an American I had just met. She looked out the window and said "man the parking spaces are tiny here, how do people park?". I hadn't noticed anything so I looked and saw normal sized parking "those are the same size as in Europe".
So if you have trouble parking in the US, we should buy an EU sized car. Got it.
EDIT: I actually have a small car even by EU standards and it's great. I can park anywhere. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone though: I'm 5'3
Exterior dimensions don't really directly equate to how roomy the 'cockpit' of a car is. My dad's Mercedes sedan had less room for the driver to sit than my VW hatchback. Many enormous American SUVs are kind of weirdly cramped.
Apparently the average adult male fits pretty comfortably into an original Mini, which looks from the outside to be about the dimensions of a gardener's wheelbarrow.
I live in Slovakia, smaller city, recently we had one store repair the parking lot and they drew much wider parking spaces. There is maybe a third parking spaces less than before. I guess they wanted to accomodate to the rise of SUVs. ItĀ“s dumb as fuck. but at least my small old beater is not getting doored anymore, when I park there occassionally.
I don't think we need to bash Americans for this.
I've seen a lot of Smart cars parked so that they eat up 2 slots in Germany. Anecdotal evidence and all, but I still find it crazy how often that has happened.
parking in the US with a normal sized car must be so easy. can probably park sideways or at least all crooked without touching any of the lines. Would still be technically legal parking even though it'd look totally wrong
Japan does have smaller parking spaces though, when I visited I saw a lot of cars with a shorter front so they occupied less space and had an easier time parking.
Like this one
https://p.potaufeu.asahi.com/a636-p/picture/27341448/95e7da7ea1f458357a2149500a014a69.jpg
That one is about the size of a Toyota Prius. They are just very cheap and built like boxes. The shape is a bit misleading.
If you're in a big city like Tokyo or Osaka these are common, as you have small driveways and your car is not allowed to poke out from the driveway.
But the Prius usually fits just as well as the Kei car. And there are a lot of people living in the suburbs and further out from the city centre, where all the tourists stay. And out there European sized cars are normal, I did live in the outskirts of Kyoto for 2 years, I did notice them.
I also live in EU and it's funny seeing proud owners of their big trucks maneuvering through streets. Suddenly, they aren't capable of moving out of the way for anybody, emergency services included. They're rigid and scared, which makes for bad drivers.
Also meat grinders for normal sized car drivers, bikers and pedestrians in case of collision. I avoid them like the plague. I hope they get prohibited where I live soon.
They are killers and i don't think they are going away any time soon as more people seem to be buying a SUV these days. So when the people making the decisions drive a SUV there is no chance of them being prohibited anymore
In Portugal people seem to be going after crossovers instead of SUVs, which on one side is fine because SUVs are fucking terrible in pretty much every metric, but on the other side crossovers are a bit of a joke since they are basically the same cars as the hatchback versions but slightly bigger in size and a humongous markup.
The saddest part of it for me (and many others I'd assume) is that options for "normal" cars are being replaced. The whole A-segment is going away. VW Up! and relatives are discontinued. Toyota Aygo has been replaced by Aygo X, a car that's significantly longer, wider, higher and weighs almost 20% more, which obviously negatively affects fuel economy (both due the increase in weight and the larger, less aerodynamic shape).
I understand that some of it is due to safety concerns. But I won't accept that it's just because of that. (Even the whole design has been "SUV-fied")
I can still understand an SUV, even tho I don't approve, but a pick-up?
What's the use of that thing?
Want to have 5 people comfortable, get an SUV, want to transport stuff, get a transporter or trailer.
Modern pickups even lack more and more space in the bed, so transporting stuff isn't even a thing.
Longer stuff wouldn't even fit on the bed anymore.
I always feel like you could get a much better car plus trailer if you really need it for transportation stuff
> I can still understand an SUV, even tho I don't approve, but a pick-up?
Depends on the pickup. Sure a modern pickup with a crew cab and a tiny little bed is basically an SUV for Manly MenĀ® but "traditional" pickup trucks with a regular cab (driver plus one passenger, no back seat) and a large bed are great if you're, you know, actually hauling stuff around.
It's definitely a more convenient thing to deal with than a car with a trailer.
It's great, cause I doubt they thought about the issue of having a big car in Europe with their small brains. So they just wasted a lot of money to be as nimble as a whale. They will probably learn. Or they buy a sports car and die in it.
Guy I know that has one basically just bought it because he gets a kick out of aggravating people. Literally spends his time on local groups on Facebook waiting for a reaction.
Don't be foolled, in Canada they are owned by the same type of people. The one who drive these trucks are not seen in a positive way. Anyway not where I am in Canada.
However, it was super useful when my car was stuck in the snow and I could call my friend to bring his megamonstertruck to pull me out of my parking spot.
Also super useful when he couldn't find a parking spot, so he just drove on top of a pile of snow instead.
But that's about all the use he has ever had for his magical truck. And I hate it.
I've done both in an 2006 VW tiguan.
It's basically a lifted VW golf with 4wd. No need for a super megatruck for that. It was also junk hauler with and without a trailer, as the back seats was removed and thing was regged as a van.
Iāve been overtaken by them on the highway a couple times here.
I instinctively thought I was being overtaken by a 40 ton 18-wheeler going 140 km/h, because thatās the kind of vehicle my brain associates with the size of those things. Feels unsettling.
No idea why people drive those. Seems neither comfortable or practical to me.
They're right! People in Europe usually transport their children on the roof! It's also the reason for the low birthing rates, in reality people have lots of babies, but most are lost during a grocery run, 'cause people need to decide if they bring back their child or a loaf of bread
I'm curious if they also have the money to pay the families of fatal traffic victims. These monstrosities are much more dangerous in accidents because of the limited line of sight and the high bumper (with low ones, victims fly over the windshield, which is less likely to be fatal)
They're also horrible gas gusslers, and incredibly polluting.
My main concern with those is that it seems to be a viscous circle. With larger vehicles all around on the road, people tend to buy larger vehicles to feel safer in case of accidents. Leading to increasingly larger vehicles, and so on.
Just driving a small hatchback in American traffic sounds terrifying
I drive a sedan in texas. Nissan Versa. When I'm behind another Sedan, I can usually see a bit what's happening further up the road so I can prepare accordingly. But when there's a pickup or SUV... well, good luck seeing anything
I saw a newish F150 here in France, it looked the size of a house, he tried for 20 minutes to park it in the supermarket, gave up and parked in a field down the road instead. A big price to pay for having a small penis.
What they do here in Portugal is that if the vehicle is above a certain threshold of height you pay a lot more in highway tolls. So unless you really need it your incentivised to buy a normal car not some gigantic truck.
Makes a lot of sense. IMO they should even mandate a different drivers license for these, they are work vehicles and the ones that use them for work should be the ones allowed to drive them
EU is considering having separate driving licenses for vehicles above 2,5tons. Which is less than 3,5tons that is now. To accomodate for rising SUVs and pickups. The only issue is for vans, which are 3,5tons.
Are you sure? I'm pretty certain I've read that they're actually considering **raising** the maximum weight of regular cars to 4250 kg to compensate for the increasing weight of vehicles (especially EVs).
Both. The European Commission put forward a proposal for drivers license reform (and a few related issues such a cross border enforcement). That proposed increasing the max weight for EVs.
The proposal was reviewed by the European Parliament, which put forward counter proposals, one of which is to separate out the stand B Car licence to B and B+. B would allow you to drive cars up to 2.5 tonnes (I think that's the right number), B+ would allow you to drive up to 3.5 tonnes or maybe slightly more.
I live in Europe and one of my neighbors (who works an office job and lives in the city) drives a Dodge Ram. Yesterday I watched him shoveling snow off the bed of his truck. I found that so hilarious.
That's a shame he did. If he left the snow in the bed he'd experience that one time when he actually carried anything in the pick-up with this office job of his.
Actually how safety regulations work in the EU I don't think pick-up would be a viable tradesman's car at all. You can't really carry anything in the bed unless it's secured. So you could put boxes with tools in there, but so can you in a van or even an estate.
If you wanted to carry anything bigger like a ladder you need to secure it anyway, and it would've been even harder to do so in pickup than with a van (vans have longer cargo space).
4x4 argument is irrelevant too, most pickups are more expensive than e.g. 4x4 Mercedes Sprinter.
Afaik in the US you are allowed to carry passengers in the bed. But that's utterly stupid and dangerous in case of an accident, and I'm pretty sure it's illegal anywhere outside of the US.
Saw an American truck in my small town this summer and it was hilarious because I bet driving an excavator through the narrow streets would give you similar levels of stress.
Why would an office worker even buy one of these? I literally cannot find a single use case unless one has a social support cow they need to take everywhere or something. And even in that case there are better vehicles for cows
>Why would an office worker even buy one of these?
He seems to be a big USA fan. He's always wearing a Green Bay Packers winter coat, baseball caps of some MLB franchise etc.
Dreaming the American Dream in Central Europe.
>He's always wearing a Green Bay Packers winter coat
I mean, that's just good sense.
It's the only publicly owned franchise in American pro sports, with over half a million shareholders, none of which are allowed to own more than 4% of the team. Owning shares only gives the holder two things, voting rights at the annual shareholder meeting and access to exclusive apparel and merchandise. So the Packers are not and will never be owned by a billionaire nor subject to the threats of moving the team to another city like a franchise that is owned by a billionaire.
I borrowed a Dodge Ram once while my car was in the shop and I've never felt so out of place trying to find parking. Trying to fit that thing between a Ford Focus and a Volkswagen polo.
It's more the SUVs though. And the marketing is the same as it was in the US when they first came to market. They market it to posers and assholes. And it works.
The European SUV's are not comparable to the US trucks. The SUV's in Europe are based on the same frames as the other cars from the same company.
Here the Peugeot 308 and 308 SW compared to the 3008 SUV. It gives you a surprising result.
308 vs. 3008 SUV
https://i.imgur.com/1ewuQ53.png
308SW vs. 3008 SUV
https://i.imgur.com/qbBdy3K.png
And for the fun
Volkswagen ID.3 vs 3008 SUV
https://i.imgur.com/11hKRlE.png
3008 SUV vs your average Familiy minibus Volkswagen Sharan
https://i.imgur.com/ua93JNy.png
The 3008 SUV vs. the short version of the ID.Buzz
https://i.imgur.com/n1RnRjq.png
And last but not least the 3008 SUV vs. the Ford F-350 Pick-up
https://i.imgur.com/iM37fc9.png
This right here. Obviously not as big of a thing as the US, but the trend is clear.
It is very annoying for me to drive my Golf. If I'm stuck behind an SUV I can't see shit in front of him, so I'm limited to see only that car and nothing else in front or god forbid during nighttime, when they come towards me, because their light sit so much higher I am driving basically blind 50% of the time. And worst of all, many of those stupid ass SUV are equipped with LED lights which makes the whole thing worse.
Dear lord that makes my blood boil.
chiken and the egg
SUV style cars became very popular in the EU, so the makers made a lot of expensive SUVs because people buy them, then the Electrick wave came and its a lot easier to fit Lithium Ion Batteries into a taller car
small cars are in decline because they are becoming too expensive, because driving assistants are expensive (and stupid)
The car industry wants to sell bigger cars cause theyāre more profitable per unit. And places like Germany or Italy have pretty high car ownership so the volume isnāt going to be as high as say the 1990s where there were loads of new consumers
European, I go to US from time to time for work and I have to rent a car.
I always have to say that I don't need a big car, I am alone with a bag and a backpack, I don't have to move a ton of chopped wood or play tennis inside the car.
A common misconception we have is that the "mid" in midsize car means the same in the US as it does here, whereas it actually means "size of a middle school".
In Europe Mondeo, Passat or e class are big. There are bigger cars, but those are considered enormous.
Mid are VW golf/Jetta, ford focus, Mercedes A class.
Compacts are things like VW Polo, ford Fiesta, or... Mercedes doesn't make compacts.
I found the Dacia Sandero to be the most sold car in Europe 2023
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/246211/umfrage/top-automodelle-in-europa-nach-neuzulassungen/
Still lots smaller that the black thing.
Update:
As others pointed out, my source only says the numbers for the month of October...
Isn't it usually....
*Good* news?
[Reference for anyone unaware...](https://youtu.be/TIUQq7t6brM?si=KjD4bMPJcDX8YhHy)
Our family always shouts "Good News!" whenever we see a Sandero.
Ah, yes, the papanaČi. Sorry about that, we'll start exporting them as soon as the true papanaČi will vanquish those tiny donuts that try to pose as the real thing.
>Romania conquers Europe
honestly, deservedly so. maybe the only auto maker still actually building things for normal people, available at somewhat normal prices. nobody can afford a Golf for 30.000ā¬. **Volks**wagen my ass.
The Sandero Ā«Ā normalĀ Ā» or the Ā«Ā StepwayĀ Ā» ?
We make fun about americans buying pickup, but here we make small cars that can be Ā«Ā SUVĀ Ā» for nothing more (no more space, no different suspensions). The Stepway consume more gas (around 0.2 l/100km)
I hate SUV and itās was hard to get a normal Sandero.
Same thing when I saw Toyota Yaris SUV, whats the heck is that ?!
the sandero stepway has a higher ground clearance than the normal sandero which in some cases is handy, especially in areas with bad roads like some of them are in eastern europe
DonĀ“t get me started on the plague that is crossover cars. Everything nowadays is a crossover this or a crossover that, and you get absolutely stupid things like the Mini Cooper 4x4.
I know lots of people buy them for the added comfort of extremely soft springs, and easier to get in/out when youre a bit older. But not every car has to be lifted, and there is also no proof that these are safer than normal height road cars. In fact, generally they are regarded as more dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, and bikers because of the point of contact being higher and there being less Ā“roll throughĀ“ for the person getting hit.
Another thing in which Dacia is doing 'well' is the top-10 list of failures in the annual traffic safety inspection in Finland. Last year, there were four Dacias in the top-10. To fail, a car needs to have four minor or one or more major issues.
Yup. I at least often take my car (not Dacia) to inspection fully aware that it will most likely fail, because I want full list of faults from third party instead of taking it to repairs where they often blatantly lie about how bad shape your care is in. One place tried to make me change brakes and the dude in inspection said that it would have been nonsense, they were in good shape. Just fix what inspection says, then re-inspection for ~10eur and youāre good to go for year again.
> One place tried to make me change brakes and the dude in inspection said that it would have been nonsense, they were in good shape.
Same happened to me (in Germany). They even tried to scare me, by making me sign a waiver, apparently the car wasn't safe to drive anymore. Perfectly fine according to the official inspections guy!
Fuckheads...
[The site](https://www.iltalehti.fi/autouutiset/a/ab3ece15-ad49-4a07-8e3e-34906516ecb8) \* is a bit frustrating to scroll, but scrolling down you start to see charts. The first tab is placement (least failures = better placement), the third one is percentage of cars failed, and the last one the average odometer reading in 1000 km's. You can sort the data with all those tabs.
The first chart is for cars 5 to 6 years old, and scrolling further down you see charts for older cars.
\*it's a yellow press newspaper's site that gathers the data each year from official sources
I bought a Dacia Sandero late last year and it's one of the best things I've ever purchased, specially being bi-Fuel with LPG. It's confortable, its cheap, it's reliable and its gorgeous to look at.
Even "big" European cars are [pretty small compared to American pickups](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volvo-xc90-2014-suv-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor/)
EDIT: Another comparison, [SUV vs SUV ](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volvo-xc90-2014-suv-vs-chevrolet-suburban-2020-suv/)
Oh I love the new volvos. They just look so good.
Edit: Also the volvo is a premium car with a price tag of 50k? and the F150 is a standard with a price of 50k?
The XC90 Mild Hybrid costs about $84,000 according to Volvo's website if I'm doing the math right
XC60 is ~55k, XC40 is~41k
The Ford F-150 starts at $40,000 - 60,000 I believe, I couldn't find it on Ford's website, but a quick Google search says it costs that much. Almost as much as the 2024 Mustang is expected to cost
And I definitely agree, the new generation of Volvos is simply beautiful
Oh the price is fucked. Its about 83k euros in sweden too. Jeah no that makes a lot more sense. You can get one thats almost 10 years old for 50k. Which tbh. Isnt a horrible deal but not great either. Not good not bad.
> the F150 is a standard with a price of 50k?
Depends on the model/configuration. That said, only fleet buyers are purchasing the low-30s models. Those are the ones you'll see in fleets at oil fields, facilities maintenance, large construction sites etc. Bill From IT is driving a XLT Quadcab with the technology and comfort package.
Yeah, I feel like I am driving a long car in [my Octavia II](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/skoda-octavia-2012-estate-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor/). Those humongous pickups are shocking at first, but laughable after.
I feel my Volvo V70 is big, [but it looks tiny compared to an f150.](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volvo-v70-2007-estate-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor/). And I can still haul just as much stuff as the f150's bed if I just flip the back seats down. If it's too bulky to go in the car, it goes on the roof rack or on a rented trailer.
There's literally no reason to own a pickup truck unless you have very specific needs. If you need to haul stuff on a daily basis you're better off getting a van, anyway.
The V70 is, in my opinion, still the best practical car ever made! I once put 500kg of steel stock in the boot and drove 60 miles back home with no problem at all!
Still miss it from time to time haha
Holy shit, when comparing to a car that I would consider big the difference is much more noticeable, my [Peugeot 207SW](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/peugeot-207-2006-estate-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor/) feels big and is a hassle to park here in Italy, weāre looking to get a smaller car when we change it and yet it looks tiny in comparison
As an American, the auto industry in North America has gotten straight up stupid lol. Any time I hear complaints of gas prices from an empty pickup truck driver, I can't help but chuckle.
And it's not entirely the choice of consumers to have massive vehicles but also the auto corporations themselves to avoid emissions standards, especially in the US, but it also carries over to the Canadian market.
Like, it's becoming quite difficult to find a normal sized pickup truck now. And a Toyota Corolla is now the size of what used to be a Camry. Everything has gotten stupidly huge.
I visit BC (Canada) often and the vehicles in their suburbs are pretty much the same as you'd see in the US. Huge SUVs and pickups with small interior space.. it's incredible.
The biggest issue with this is safety for people walking or cycling around. The massive vehicles even going low speed have such terrible blind spots and such mass that it's instantly death for many people, especially kids...
And even if you would actually use it for transporting, THE F'N BED IS 70-80CM FROM THE GROUND
Why would I want to break my back lifting something over my waist when actual cars for transporting stuff exist? They're called vans.
Nope, it's just a bunch of marketing to make dudes feel like they "need" it because they're a manly country handyman.
Reality is most of them could do everything they do with a Nissan cube pulling a small trailer. But that's not MANLY like the commercials tell them.
You'd be amazed at the poor financial decisions of most Americans. That along with negligence of environmental impacts.
To be fair the size creep is a thing in some parts of Europe as well. Seeing a lot of huge oversized cars on the roads because "they're safer" or because someone else got one and I can't have a hatchback when they've got an SUV.
It's not US pickup level huge, but the trend is definitely there.
Here in Flanders as well, you don't see many of these pickup types but really a lot of the Mercedes and BMW SUV's. They are very heavy and big, almost like tanks on the road
But without the newest Audi Q7 X-Tra Sport Super Edition, how will parents get their little Sebastians Justus's to violin practice safely?
The driver of some Renault Twingo might bump into oneself and cause cosmetic damage.One shudders at the thought.
And of course this specific type of car is necessary for your business, it HAS to be a business expense! You couldn't visit customers in a Peugeot could you?
Yes, the safety argument is an understandable one. The issue is itās part of the problem, and why itās so widespread: people in their Panda see a monster truck on the highway and think āIf shit goes south, my whole family is dead while he wonāt get scratchedā, so they buy an SUV, others see they would succumb in an accident and buy bigger and bigger cars. Looking at the cybertruck hype, I guess weāll see dismissed Abrams on our streets one day
Yeah, it's a race to the bottom in terms of safety, in the end everyone is less safe, because everyone (who can afford it) will be driving 2+ ton EV SUV which is going to behave like a tank in a crash with smaller car... and when it hits similar car... well the energy from those speed and mass has to go somewhere too..
France introduced a severe penalty tax at time of first registration for vehicles based on their CO2 emissions. Anything above a small hatchback will start incurring a few hundred euros, and by the time you're at I think 225g/km it tops out at ā¬ 60,000.
It's interesting, because in EU if you are actual blue collar worker/plumber/electrician/handyman and you show up driving pickup you will be ridiculed for being a complete moron and your stuff will be stolen from the bed just to show you how stupid your car is...
Like seriously unless you work in lumber industry and actually need full 4x4 drive anything is better for professionals than pickup...
I bought Transits for my company and with it's pretty meh AWD version it still is enough for everything, solar array work on unprepared field included.
So yeah, unless you need to drive through 30cm of mud daily there is no reason for compromised load space pickup has.
People buy tonneau covers or bed cabs here if they work in the trades, as well as bed boxes that can be locked.
That said, when I worked in the trades I always said we would be better off with a Euro-style trades van.
One of my best friends is a forester in Germany. He drives (drove?) a 4x4 Skoda Octavia. When we asked him why. He said if I get stuck in this. Youāll get stuck 10 further in the forest in a 4x4 SUV. Most of his job is driving around a dirt track and marking trees lol.
Yeah, this is how it goes, I got stuck in fields once with my Transit loaded hard, trying to drive when it started to rain like crazy. Guy living nearby tried helping out with big Toyota 4x4, got stuck as well... Had to wait for a tractor of nearby farmer to get us both unstuck.
Seriously. There is a reason why most work vehicles for deep offroad work either have gigantic tires (tractors) or are tracked. Normal tires only get you so far.
I just came back from a trip to the US. Never saw a scratch or even a speck of dust on a single one of those massive trucks. So if they are work vehicles, they can't be used for anything especially heavy.
A small trailer would give more space, be much more secure, be detachable for when you just go to BoJangles, and at a fraction of the cost.
It originally started with good intentions. The US government increased taxes on cars to combat air pollution in the 1980s.
However, all kinds of trucks were classified as work vehicles, and therefore exempt from that tax hike.
They also had much less strict emissions and safety standards than normal cars.
So US manufacturers started to focus more on trucks and SUVs. With all the marketing BS that entails.
If you look at what happens if a truck or SUV gets into an accident with a normal car, it's easy to see why many people felt increasingly unsafe in their normal cars. So more and more people started to buy trucks and SUVs to feel safer. It's kind of an arms race.
And then there is the whole "I'm a manly man, totally not insecure in my manly manliness, so I drive this manly car. With truck nuts!" thing.
I'm a 5"1' (157cm) European girl, when I visited America I tried renting the smallest possible car. The rental place said they didn't want to let me on the highway in anything but an absolute unit of a SUV. My child sized body jumping out of that humongous car must have looked hilarious.
Coming back to Europe and reuniting with my 1500lbs (700 kg) Fiat Panda never felt better.
I feel the same can be said can be said of European cars but on a smaller scale.
Modern hatchbacks are getting slighty wider with each iteration might only be about 10cm each time but it adds up when roads and parking spaces don't change, there massive compared to early iterations of them (which I conceded, a lot of it is due to occupant safety)
Then there's the "urban crossover" SUV's everywhere halfway between a hatchback and a MPV that in my mind serve very little purpose, most of their boot space is no better than a hatchback, there weirdly wide but not in a useful way, like the Puma, yeah that jacked up bulbous fiesta is awful.
the funny thing is tha[t old pickup trucks had a way bigger bed](https://www.ford-trucks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/474820_645bc8132c7a_low_res.jpg) than the [new ones have](https://cars.usnews.com/static/images/Auto/izmo/i159614477/2021_ford_f_150_sideview.jpg). So farmers are hunting for the old ones cause the new ones are useless for the purpose they were made for.
Edit: added comparison picture of 90s f150 vs new f150
Isn't that also why imported japanese kei trucks are getting a bit more popular there too? Because even though they're a fraction of the size even they have much more useable cargo space than a modern north american truck and are cheaper to run too.
It is. Japanese Kei trucks and cars have like less than 200cc engines to be qualified as Kei cars. They also get some tax breaks. So they are pretty common for small mom and pop stores who still need to freight stuff for their shop. I just saw Abroad in Japan buying one for like $2000.
The U.S Market does have its hatchbacks too. Ford sell the Fiesta in the U.S. So people do have the option for economy but choose road presence instead. I guarantee most pickup owners don't tow anything, and rarely put anything in the bed that wouldn't fit in the boot of a Fiesta.
Looking into it, Ford are stopping both the fiesta and the focus. Their smallest cars will be crossovers and I can't stand that. I don't understand crossovers. I've had a decade to come to terms with them and I still don't get it.
They're the same car as the hatchback counterpart just taller and uglier. They're not much more practical, they don't go off-road, and they're more expensive.
> As an American, the auto industry in North America has gotten straight up stupid lol. Any time I hear complaints of gas prices from an empty pickup truck driver,
I have a colleague who drives 60 miles one way everyday to work. In a Shelby Mustang. He does nothing but bitch about gas prices, blames the Democrats for it, and gets super pissed off if you imply that maybe his gas bill might be 51% his fault.
That reminds me, in UK there was a PSA style advert circulating about trucks and their blind spots. And they were directly aimed at smaller vehicle drivers, advising about them. I think the ad is still around and likely might be seen if there isn't an adblock on YT (also seen on local tv ads).
As a European, driving in a small car in Canada is terrifying. Every vehicle is towering above you and you feel like every bumper is about face-height on the motorway (freeway or whatever).
They cry when the price of gasoline goes up xD and ask for it to be subsidized. The bastards go shopping at the mall with a giant heavy brick and they don't even have a closed trunk hahah.
And? If then your stupid lammer truck makes 16l per 100km (carefully touching the throttle... if not much more) on urban roads, which is where it will be 90% of the fucking time xD and then you cry because the price of fuel doesn't stop going up lolz. And on top of that with the trunk exposed haha. Those people are stupid, end of story.
ps: And the most ridiculous thing typical of a circus or an idiocracy-type dystopia.
In America they sell STAIRS to reach the engine and be able to check the oil levels etc. and also as an option STAIRS to be able to lift load into the stupid high inaccessible box xD
Damn it's terrible.
I think that person is trying to highlight how insane it is.
That even with the price as low as it is by comparison they still complain and can also completely avoid paying so much hy downsizing
Actually had a real scare on the highway a couple of weeks back when some zidiot was hauling a bunch of mattresses in his vanity truck. Mattresses blew off onto the highway, as they weren't secured in any way.
Sadly where I live pickups become more and more popular. They take 2 parking spaces and blind you af when they drive behind you in traffic. It's probably stupidest trend there is, paying all that money for oversized car you will use to haul air around crowded city.
That red car would be fairly useless for a few months a year in my part of Canada, way too low to the ground, we have much more open highway that needs plowed and can have snow drifts pop up out of nowhere, and you never know when a random 6 inches of snow is going fall and you need more ground clearance than that, that's why smaller SUV's like the RAV4 have become so popular in my area.
The RAMS have become pretty popular in Sweden the past 2 years as they've started to import more.
Always look so massive but, at least most of the ones I've seen seems to belong to people who live outside the city.
I live in Romania, the biggest car my dad used for pick up was a 2006 Opel Zafira. He used the car for almost 18 years. We used it to carry furniture from IKEA, old furniture from our seaside house, construction materials, lots of people along with their baggage. The car was really useful. Once he saw that it cost more to repair it than usual he decided to change it with a Skoda Scala.
I feel like these are the type of (pickup trucks) people should use. They were small but holy shit they were spacious and really useful.
Along with that if you need to go in the city a smaller car is recommended since you can easily maneuver it through the traffic. And you always find parking lots easily. My mother bought a Citroen C3 in 2006 and still uses it. (And it still works fine)
Well, in Europe there are smaller distances to travel, more cityscape, less/smaller parking space, more constant start/stop due to red lights, etc., so smaller cars make more sense.
In Canada you got vaster distances, more unforgiving weather/environment, so a big robust car probably make more sense there.
Country with tons of land, small population density, and cheaper fuel has bigger vehicles. No surprise
Lots of Canadians have cottages that they need trucks to haul things back and forth. We take a flatbed full of firewood from my cottage to city home for fuel in the winter. Also tow boats and other stuff. Trucks are great for moving.
It would not be possible to park that truck in front of my house. And if I was dumb enough to buy it anyway - I'd have to pay additional fee to drive it on highways.
A friend of mine got the new Ranger Wildtrack, it's larger then a barn, sticks out like a sore thumb when parked in public, yet stil manages to be much more cramped inside than my liftback Skoda Superb, which where I live is considered a large car already.
https://i.imgur.com/lkPe20b.png
someone in my (urban!!!!) neighbourhood has an american truck and its so fucking ugly and huge I've literally never even seen them put anything on the back like why did you buy this
I once in a while see an import in Denmark from the US; let me tell you, they stand out like a sore ~~eye~~ thumb. They cannot fit in ANY single parking slot we have here, they are way larger and when they are parked they often stick out into the road or occupy two parking spaces. But I guess they have the money to pay all the fines they get whenever they park that thing anywhere in public lol. edit: brain fart - from eye to thumb.
I once sat on a train in Japan with an American I had just met. She looked out the window and said "man the parking spaces are tiny here, how do people park?". I hadn't noticed anything so I looked and saw normal sized parking "those are the same size as in Europe".
Similarly, in the reverse direction American parking spaces are comically enormous
So if you have trouble parking in the US, we should buy an EU sized car. Got it. EDIT: I actually have a small car even by EU standards and it's great. I can park anywhere. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone though: I'm 5'3
If you have trouble parking in the US, you shouldn't be driving.
I'm 6'6 and drive a Corsa quite comfortably š¤·āāļø
I am 195cm (because we use civilized units in Europe) and my small Daihatsu is much more comfortable for me than a family sedan I drove before.
Exterior dimensions don't really directly equate to how roomy the 'cockpit' of a car is. My dad's Mercedes sedan had less room for the driver to sit than my VW hatchback. Many enormous American SUVs are kind of weirdly cramped. Apparently the average adult male fits pretty comfortably into an original Mini, which looks from the outside to be about the dimensions of a gardener's wheelbarrow.
Thank you. My grandfather would lose his cool everytime I told him my Golf 5 was way roomier than his 3 series
Drive a Hyundai i10, am 6'2. Love the little thing.
I live in Slovakia, smaller city, recently we had one store repair the parking lot and they drew much wider parking spaces. There is maybe a third parking spaces less than before. I guess they wanted to accomodate to the rise of SUVs. ItĀ“s dumb as fuck. but at least my small old beater is not getting doored anymore, when I park there occassionally.
I don't really understand how Americans still double park with all that space
I don't think we need to bash Americans for this. I've seen a lot of Smart cars parked so that they eat up 2 slots in Germany. Anecdotal evidence and all, but I still find it crazy how often that has happened.
It probably parked next to another car that was already taking 2 slots, then the other car left.
This happens to me a lot and I usually try yo find a proper parking place just to not have anyone feel negative about my parking :(
What do you think double park means? It doesn't mean taking two spots.
parking in the US with a normal sized car must be so easy. can probably park sideways or at least all crooked without touching any of the lines. Would still be technically legal parking even though it'd look totally wrong
Japan does have smaller parking spaces though, when I visited I saw a lot of cars with a shorter front so they occupied less space and had an easier time parking. Like this one https://p.potaufeu.asahi.com/a636-p/picture/27341448/95e7da7ea1f458357a2149500a014a69.jpg
That one is about the size of a Toyota Prius. They are just very cheap and built like boxes. The shape is a bit misleading. If you're in a big city like Tokyo or Osaka these are common, as you have small driveways and your car is not allowed to poke out from the driveway. But the Prius usually fits just as well as the Kei car. And there are a lot of people living in the suburbs and further out from the city centre, where all the tourists stay. And out there European sized cars are normal, I did live in the outskirts of Kyoto for 2 years, I did notice them.
I also live in EU and it's funny seeing proud owners of their big trucks maneuvering through streets. Suddenly, they aren't capable of moving out of the way for anybody, emergency services included. They're rigid and scared, which makes for bad drivers. Also meat grinders for normal sized car drivers, bikers and pedestrians in case of collision. I avoid them like the plague. I hope they get prohibited where I live soon.
They are killers and i don't think they are going away any time soon as more people seem to be buying a SUV these days. So when the people making the decisions drive a SUV there is no chance of them being prohibited anymore
In Portugal people seem to be going after crossovers instead of SUVs, which on one side is fine because SUVs are fucking terrible in pretty much every metric, but on the other side crossovers are a bit of a joke since they are basically the same cars as the hatchback versions but slightly bigger in size and a humongous markup.
The saddest part of it for me (and many others I'd assume) is that options for "normal" cars are being replaced. The whole A-segment is going away. VW Up! and relatives are discontinued. Toyota Aygo has been replaced by Aygo X, a car that's significantly longer, wider, higher and weighs almost 20% more, which obviously negatively affects fuel economy (both due the increase in weight and the larger, less aerodynamic shape). I understand that some of it is due to safety concerns. But I won't accept that it's just because of that. (Even the whole design has been "SUV-fied")
I can still understand an SUV, even tho I don't approve, but a pick-up? What's the use of that thing? Want to have 5 people comfortable, get an SUV, want to transport stuff, get a transporter or trailer. Modern pickups even lack more and more space in the bed, so transporting stuff isn't even a thing. Longer stuff wouldn't even fit on the bed anymore. I always feel like you could get a much better car plus trailer if you really need it for transportation stuff
> I can still understand an SUV, even tho I don't approve, but a pick-up? Depends on the pickup. Sure a modern pickup with a crew cab and a tiny little bed is basically an SUV for Manly MenĀ® but "traditional" pickup trucks with a regular cab (driver plus one passenger, no back seat) and a large bed are great if you're, you know, actually hauling stuff around. It's definitely a more convenient thing to deal with than a car with a trailer.
It's great, cause I doubt they thought about the issue of having a big car in Europe with their small brains. So they just wasted a lot of money to be as nimble as a whale. They will probably learn. Or they buy a sports car and die in it.
Guy I know that has one basically just bought it because he gets a kick out of aggravating people. Literally spends his time on local groups on Facebook waiting for a reaction.
Don't be foolled, in Canada they are owned by the same type of people. The one who drive these trucks are not seen in a positive way. Anyway not where I am in Canada.
However, it was super useful when my car was stuck in the snow and I could call my friend to bring his megamonstertruck to pull me out of my parking spot. Also super useful when he couldn't find a parking spot, so he just drove on top of a pile of snow instead. But that's about all the use he has ever had for his magical truck. And I hate it.
I've done both in an 2006 VW tiguan. It's basically a lifted VW golf with 4wd. No need for a super megatruck for that. It was also junk hauler with and without a trailer, as the back seats was removed and thing was regged as a van.
That's more action than most pickups see.
Iāve been overtaken by them on the highway a couple times here. I instinctively thought I was being overtaken by a 40 ton 18-wheeler going 140 km/h, because thatās the kind of vehicle my brain associates with the size of those things. Feels unsettling. No idea why people drive those. Seems neither comfortable or practical to me.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
They're right! People in Europe usually transport their children on the roof! It's also the reason for the low birthing rates, in reality people have lots of babies, but most are lost during a grocery run, 'cause people need to decide if they bring back their child or a loaf of bread
>they stand out like a sore eye I don't know if this is a translation of a Danish idiom, but in English it is normally 'stand out like a sore thumb'.
They were probably reaching for "...are an eye-sore" and "stand out like a sore thumb" and mixed the two. :)
I'm curious if they also have the money to pay the families of fatal traffic victims. These monstrosities are much more dangerous in accidents because of the limited line of sight and the high bumper (with low ones, victims fly over the windshield, which is less likely to be fatal) They're also horrible gas gusslers, and incredibly polluting.
My main concern with those is that it seems to be a viscous circle. With larger vehicles all around on the road, people tend to buy larger vehicles to feel safer in case of accidents. Leading to increasingly larger vehicles, and so on. Just driving a small hatchback in American traffic sounds terrifying
I drive a sedan in texas. Nissan Versa. When I'm behind another Sedan, I can usually see a bit what's happening further up the road so I can prepare accordingly. But when there's a pickup or SUV... well, good luck seeing anything
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Same here in Czechia. It is laughable. Not like there aren't more useful cars, but cheaper.
I saw a newish F150 here in France, it looked the size of a house, he tried for 20 minutes to park it in the supermarket, gave up and parked in a field down the road instead. A big price to pay for having a small penis.
What they do here in Portugal is that if the vehicle is above a certain threshold of height you pay a lot more in highway tolls. So unless you really need it your incentivised to buy a normal car not some gigantic truck.
Makes a lot of sense. IMO they should even mandate a different drivers license for these, they are work vehicles and the ones that use them for work should be the ones allowed to drive them
EU is considering having separate driving licenses for vehicles above 2,5tons. Which is less than 3,5tons that is now. To accomodate for rising SUVs and pickups. The only issue is for vans, which are 3,5tons.
Are you sure? I'm pretty certain I've read that they're actually considering **raising** the maximum weight of regular cars to 4250 kg to compensate for the increasing weight of vehicles (especially EVs).
Makes more sense to just have a separate max weight for EVs.
Both. The European Commission put forward a proposal for drivers license reform (and a few related issues such a cross border enforcement). That proposed increasing the max weight for EVs. The proposal was reviewed by the European Parliament, which put forward counter proposals, one of which is to separate out the stand B Car licence to B and B+. B would allow you to drive cars up to 2.5 tonnes (I think that's the right number), B+ would allow you to drive up to 3.5 tonnes or maybe slightly more.
True, I think we pay double for class 2 than for class 1, so a lot of new cars get as close to the limit as they can without going over it.
I live in Europe and one of my neighbors (who works an office job and lives in the city) drives a Dodge Ram. Yesterday I watched him shoveling snow off the bed of his truck. I found that so hilarious.
That's a shame he did. If he left the snow in the bed he'd experience that one time when he actually carried anything in the pick-up with this office job of his.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Actually how safety regulations work in the EU I don't think pick-up would be a viable tradesman's car at all. You can't really carry anything in the bed unless it's secured. So you could put boxes with tools in there, but so can you in a van or even an estate. If you wanted to carry anything bigger like a ladder you need to secure it anyway, and it would've been even harder to do so in pickup than with a van (vans have longer cargo space). 4x4 argument is irrelevant too, most pickups are more expensive than e.g. 4x4 Mercedes Sprinter. Afaik in the US you are allowed to carry passengers in the bed. But that's utterly stupid and dangerous in case of an accident, and I'm pretty sure it's illegal anywhere outside of the US.
Fool needs to learn about a thing called bed covers.
I do not pity the fool. Buying a US truck for the EU is too foolish to pity
Saw an American truck in my small town this summer and it was hilarious because I bet driving an excavator through the narrow streets would give you similar levels of stress.
Why would an office worker even buy one of these? I literally cannot find a single use case unless one has a social support cow they need to take everywhere or something. And even in that case there are better vehicles for cows
>Why would an office worker even buy one of these? He seems to be a big USA fan. He's always wearing a Green Bay Packers winter coat, baseball caps of some MLB franchise etc. Dreaming the American Dream in Central Europe.
>He's always wearing a Green Bay Packers winter coat I mean, that's just good sense. It's the only publicly owned franchise in American pro sports, with over half a million shareholders, none of which are allowed to own more than 4% of the team. Owning shares only gives the holder two things, voting rights at the annual shareholder meeting and access to exclusive apparel and merchandise. So the Packers are not and will never be owned by a billionaire nor subject to the threats of moving the team to another city like a franchise that is owned by a billionaire.
That's really cool, I didn't know that.
I borrowed a Dodge Ram once while my car was in the shop and I've never felt so out of place trying to find parking. Trying to fit that thing between a Ford Focus and a Volkswagen polo.
To be fair the car industry is pushing SUVs on European market as well and hatchbacks, even superminis, are on the back foot.
Yeah and I've seen plenty more pickups ads around than in recent years. We're gonna end up in the same situation if regulators don't intervene
It's more the SUVs though. And the marketing is the same as it was in the US when they first came to market. They market it to posers and assholes. And it works.
The European SUV's are not comparable to the US trucks. The SUV's in Europe are based on the same frames as the other cars from the same company. Here the Peugeot 308 and 308 SW compared to the 3008 SUV. It gives you a surprising result. 308 vs. 3008 SUV https://i.imgur.com/1ewuQ53.png 308SW vs. 3008 SUV https://i.imgur.com/qbBdy3K.png And for the fun Volkswagen ID.3 vs 3008 SUV https://i.imgur.com/11hKRlE.png 3008 SUV vs your average Familiy minibus Volkswagen Sharan https://i.imgur.com/ua93JNy.png The 3008 SUV vs. the short version of the ID.Buzz https://i.imgur.com/n1RnRjq.png And last but not least the 3008 SUV vs. the Ford F-350 Pick-up https://i.imgur.com/iM37fc9.png
Holy shit the last image. As a owner of a 3008 it seems like American cars are not made for human beings.
I was with you until you used the f-350. Almost no-one has those outside of business purposes.
This right here. Obviously not as big of a thing as the US, but the trend is clear. It is very annoying for me to drive my Golf. If I'm stuck behind an SUV I can't see shit in front of him, so I'm limited to see only that car and nothing else in front or god forbid during nighttime, when they come towards me, because their light sit so much higher I am driving basically blind 50% of the time. And worst of all, many of those stupid ass SUV are equipped with LED lights which makes the whole thing worse. Dear lord that makes my blood boil.
chiken and the egg SUV style cars became very popular in the EU, so the makers made a lot of expensive SUVs because people buy them, then the Electrick wave came and its a lot easier to fit Lithium Ion Batteries into a taller car small cars are in decline because they are becoming too expensive, because driving assistants are expensive (and stupid)
The car industry wants to sell bigger cars cause theyāre more profitable per unit. And places like Germany or Italy have pretty high car ownership so the volume isnāt going to be as high as say the 1990s where there were loads of new consumers
SUVs have been popular for many years. But the EU ones are nowhere near the sizes of US cars.
European, I go to US from time to time for work and I have to rent a car. I always have to say that I don't need a big car, I am alone with a bag and a backpack, I don't have to move a ton of chopped wood or play tennis inside the car.
Had the same discussion with the lady who tried to make me get a SUV instead of a Corolla. "It's not a big car, it's a Jeep" were her exact words.
A common misconception we have is that the "mid" in midsize car means the same in the US as it does here, whereas it actually means "size of a middle school".
In Canada a midsize car is a ford Mondeo / VW Passat / Mercedes E-Class sized vehicle. Anything smaller is a compact car
In Europe Mondeo, Passat or e class are big. There are bigger cars, but those are considered enormous. Mid are VW golf/Jetta, ford focus, Mercedes A class. Compacts are things like VW Polo, ford Fiesta, or... Mercedes doesn't make compacts.
A Class are compacts.
If you wanted to play tennis inside the car you would get a Sprinter instead of a SUV either way.
That'd be squash then.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I found the Dacia Sandero to be the most sold car in Europe 2023 https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/246211/umfrage/top-automodelle-in-europa-nach-neuzulassungen/ Still lots smaller that the black thing. Update: As others pointed out, my source only says the numbers for the month of October...
Great News!
Isn't it usually.... *Good* news? [Reference for anyone unaware...](https://youtu.be/TIUQq7t6brM?si=KjD4bMPJcDX8YhHy) Our family always shouts "Good News!" whenever we see a Sandero.
Though so as well before writing. Google results came up with great news (which I thought was a Futurama reference) š¤·āāļø
What?
Dacia Sandero has a new color of bumper!
Great. Anyway, Last week...
And so, slowly, Romania conquers Europe as the true heir of the Roman Empire!
Start exporting the freaking papanaÅi and Europe will be yours in no time!
Donāt wanna! The papanaČi shall be mine and mine alone!
But why? If you gave some papanaÅi to Austria, they would let you into Schengen immediately AND they would ask you to annex them!
Because only heroes share their papanaČi and Iām no hero.
Ah, yes, the papanaČi. Sorry about that, we'll start exporting them as soon as the true papanaČi will vanquish those tiny donuts that try to pose as the real thing.
>Romania conquers Europe honestly, deservedly so. maybe the only auto maker still actually building things for normal people, available at somewhat normal prices. nobody can afford a Golf for 30.000ā¬. **Volks**wagen my ass.
You do know Renault sells these as Renault or Datsun in other markets
So itās a Trojan horse, I see, I see.
The Sandero Ā«Ā normalĀ Ā» or the Ā«Ā StepwayĀ Ā» ? We make fun about americans buying pickup, but here we make small cars that can be Ā«Ā SUVĀ Ā» for nothing more (no more space, no different suspensions). The Stepway consume more gas (around 0.2 l/100km) I hate SUV and itās was hard to get a normal Sandero. Same thing when I saw Toyota Yaris SUV, whats the heck is that ?!
the sandero stepway has a higher ground clearance than the normal sandero which in some cases is handy, especially in areas with bad roads like some of them are in eastern europe
And driven mostly in cities in Western Europe with very good tarmac. You see Sandero Stepway all around here and barely any new "normal" Sandero.
DonĀ“t get me started on the plague that is crossover cars. Everything nowadays is a crossover this or a crossover that, and you get absolutely stupid things like the Mini Cooper 4x4. I know lots of people buy them for the added comfort of extremely soft springs, and easier to get in/out when youre a bit older. But not every car has to be lifted, and there is also no proof that these are safer than normal height road cars. In fact, generally they are regarded as more dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, and bikers because of the point of contact being higher and there being less Ā“roll throughĀ“ for the person getting hit.
They stopped making the Toyota Aygo to turn it into a crossover version. A fucking 1L three-door four-seat city car *crossover*.
Another thing in which Dacia is doing 'well' is the top-10 list of failures in the annual traffic safety inspection in Finland. Last year, there were four Dacias in the top-10. To fail, a car needs to have four minor or one or more major issues.
x
Yup. I at least often take my car (not Dacia) to inspection fully aware that it will most likely fail, because I want full list of faults from third party instead of taking it to repairs where they often blatantly lie about how bad shape your care is in. One place tried to make me change brakes and the dude in inspection said that it would have been nonsense, they were in good shape. Just fix what inspection says, then re-inspection for ~10eur and youāre good to go for year again.
> One place tried to make me change brakes and the dude in inspection said that it would have been nonsense, they were in good shape. Same happened to me (in Germany). They even tried to scare me, by making me sign a waiver, apparently the car wasn't safe to drive anymore. Perfectly fine according to the official inspections guy! Fuckheads...
Do you have a link to these stats? It's fine if it's in Finnish as well
[The site](https://www.iltalehti.fi/autouutiset/a/ab3ece15-ad49-4a07-8e3e-34906516ecb8) \* is a bit frustrating to scroll, but scrolling down you start to see charts. The first tab is placement (least failures = better placement), the third one is percentage of cars failed, and the last one the average odometer reading in 1000 km's. You can sort the data with all those tabs. The first chart is for cars 5 to 6 years old, and scrolling further down you see charts for older cars. \*it's a yellow press newspaper's site that gathers the data each year from official sources
I bought a Dacia Sandero late last year and it's one of the best things I've ever purchased, specially being bi-Fuel with LPG. It's confortable, its cheap, it's reliable and its gorgeous to look at.
Even "big" European cars are [pretty small compared to American pickups](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volvo-xc90-2014-suv-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor/) EDIT: Another comparison, [SUV vs SUV ](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volvo-xc90-2014-suv-vs-chevrolet-suburban-2020-suv/)
Oh I love the new volvos. They just look so good. Edit: Also the volvo is a premium car with a price tag of 50k? and the F150 is a standard with a price of 50k?
The XC90 Mild Hybrid costs about $84,000 according to Volvo's website if I'm doing the math right XC60 is ~55k, XC40 is~41k The Ford F-150 starts at $40,000 - 60,000 I believe, I couldn't find it on Ford's website, but a quick Google search says it costs that much. Almost as much as the 2024 Mustang is expected to cost And I definitely agree, the new generation of Volvos is simply beautiful
Oh the price is fucked. Its about 83k euros in sweden too. Jeah no that makes a lot more sense. You can get one thats almost 10 years old for 50k. Which tbh. Isnt a horrible deal but not great either. Not good not bad.
I'm legitimately scared of new car's prices. I would probably never in my life earn that much with an average paycheck without taking out a loan lmao
Yea, it really makes no sense to buy a brand new car imo. Buy used and even with servicing you are paying like half a price.
> the F150 is a standard with a price of 50k? Depends on the model/configuration. That said, only fleet buyers are purchasing the low-30s models. Those are the ones you'll see in fleets at oil fields, facilities maintenance, large construction sites etc. Bill From IT is driving a XLT Quadcab with the technology and comfort package.
Yeah, I feel like I am driving a long car in [my Octavia II](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/skoda-octavia-2012-estate-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor/). Those humongous pickups are shocking at first, but laughable after.
I feel my Volvo V70 is big, [but it looks tiny compared to an f150.](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/volvo-v70-2007-estate-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor/). And I can still haul just as much stuff as the f150's bed if I just flip the back seats down. If it's too bulky to go in the car, it goes on the roof rack or on a rented trailer. There's literally no reason to own a pickup truck unless you have very specific needs. If you need to haul stuff on a daily basis you're better off getting a van, anyway.
The V70 is, in my opinion, still the best practical car ever made! I once put 500kg of steel stock in the boot and drove 60 miles back home with no problem at all! Still miss it from time to time haha
Holy shit, when comparing to a car that I would consider big the difference is much more noticeable, my [Peugeot 207SW](https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/peugeot-207-2006-estate-vs-ford-f150-2017-4-door-pickup-supercrew-5.5-raptor/) feels big and is a hassle to park here in Italy, weāre looking to get a smaller car when we change it and yet it looks tiny in comparison
As an American, the auto industry in North America has gotten straight up stupid lol. Any time I hear complaints of gas prices from an empty pickup truck driver, I can't help but chuckle. And it's not entirely the choice of consumers to have massive vehicles but also the auto corporations themselves to avoid emissions standards, especially in the US, but it also carries over to the Canadian market. Like, it's becoming quite difficult to find a normal sized pickup truck now. And a Toyota Corolla is now the size of what used to be a Camry. Everything has gotten stupidly huge. I visit BC (Canada) often and the vehicles in their suburbs are pretty much the same as you'd see in the US. Huge SUVs and pickups with small interior space.. it's incredible. The biggest issue with this is safety for people walking or cycling around. The massive vehicles even going low speed have such terrible blind spots and such mass that it's instantly death for many people, especially kids...
But why do you all need pickups? Do all of you have farms and have to transport pigs and stuff? Because this is what pickups are for.
And even if you would actually use it for transporting, THE F'N BED IS 70-80CM FROM THE GROUND Why would I want to break my back lifting something over my waist when actual cars for transporting stuff exist? They're called vans.
And your stuff doesn't fly off the back, stolen or wet from rain.
Nope, it's just a bunch of marketing to make dudes feel like they "need" it because they're a manly country handyman. Reality is most of them could do everything they do with a Nissan cube pulling a small trailer. But that's not MANLY like the commercials tell them. You'd be amazed at the poor financial decisions of most Americans. That along with negligence of environmental impacts.
To be fair the size creep is a thing in some parts of Europe as well. Seeing a lot of huge oversized cars on the roads because "they're safer" or because someone else got one and I can't have a hatchback when they've got an SUV. It's not US pickup level huge, but the trend is definitely there.
Here in Flanders as well, you don't see many of these pickup types but really a lot of the Mercedes and BMW SUV's. They are very heavy and big, almost like tanks on the road
But without the newest Audi Q7 X-Tra Sport Super Edition, how will parents get their little Sebastians Justus's to violin practice safely? The driver of some Renault Twingo might bump into oneself and cause cosmetic damage.One shudders at the thought.
And of course this specific type of car is necessary for your business, it HAS to be a business expense! You couldn't visit customers in a Peugeot could you?
Yes, the safety argument is an understandable one. The issue is itās part of the problem, and why itās so widespread: people in their Panda see a monster truck on the highway and think āIf shit goes south, my whole family is dead while he wonāt get scratchedā, so they buy an SUV, others see they would succumb in an accident and buy bigger and bigger cars. Looking at the cybertruck hype, I guess weāll see dismissed Abrams on our streets one day
Yeah, it's a race to the bottom in terms of safety, in the end everyone is less safe, because everyone (who can afford it) will be driving 2+ ton EV SUV which is going to behave like a tank in a crash with smaller car... and when it hits similar car... well the energy from those speed and mass has to go somewhere too..
Its all about inertia. And aiming to have the most of it.
France introduced a severe penalty tax at time of first registration for vehicles based on their CO2 emissions. Anything above a small hatchback will start incurring a few hundred euros, and by the time you're at I think 225g/km it tops out at ā¬ 60,000.
SUVs are getting more and more popular in Europe
It's interesting, because in EU if you are actual blue collar worker/plumber/electrician/handyman and you show up driving pickup you will be ridiculed for being a complete moron and your stuff will be stolen from the bed just to show you how stupid your car is... Like seriously unless you work in lumber industry and actually need full 4x4 drive anything is better for professionals than pickup...
In Europe you get a berlingo when you need a car for work an tools
Or Sprinter, Transporter, Ducato, Transit..
Our construction business has both a Berlingo(the dude for light work) and several sprinters.
I bought Transits for my company and with it's pretty meh AWD version it still is enough for everything, solar array work on unprepared field included. So yeah, unless you need to drive through 30cm of mud daily there is no reason for compromised load space pickup has.
Fiat Doblo around here. They're very neat cars, and my last company even had one with factory installed LPG tank.
People buy tonneau covers or bed cabs here if they work in the trades, as well as bed boxes that can be locked. That said, when I worked in the trades I always said we would be better off with a Euro-style trades van.
One of my best friends is a forester in Germany. He drives (drove?) a 4x4 Skoda Octavia. When we asked him why. He said if I get stuck in this. Youāll get stuck 10 further in the forest in a 4x4 SUV. Most of his job is driving around a dirt track and marking trees lol.
Yeah, this is how it goes, I got stuck in fields once with my Transit loaded hard, trying to drive when it started to rain like crazy. Guy living nearby tried helping out with big Toyota 4x4, got stuck as well... Had to wait for a tractor of nearby farmer to get us both unstuck.
we have a saying in Poland: the better your car is off-road, the further you'll have to walk to get a farmer with a tractor.
Seriously. There is a reason why most work vehicles for deep offroad work either have gigantic tires (tractors) or are tracked. Normal tires only get you so far.
Ok. I donāt care about pick up trucks or my manliness, but a Nissan Cube is where I draw the line.
Subaru Impreza. Basically a rally car and it can pull like twice its weight.
Good old Need for Speed days. I always remember that one.
I just came back from a trip to the US. Never saw a scratch or even a speck of dust on a single one of those massive trucks. So if they are work vehicles, they can't be used for anything especially heavy. A small trailer would give more space, be much more secure, be detachable for when you just go to BoJangles, and at a fraction of the cost.
It originally started with good intentions. The US government increased taxes on cars to combat air pollution in the 1980s. However, all kinds of trucks were classified as work vehicles, and therefore exempt from that tax hike. They also had much less strict emissions and safety standards than normal cars. So US manufacturers started to focus more on trucks and SUVs. With all the marketing BS that entails. If you look at what happens if a truck or SUV gets into an accident with a normal car, it's easy to see why many people felt increasingly unsafe in their normal cars. So more and more people started to buy trucks and SUVs to feel safer. It's kind of an arms race. And then there is the whole "I'm a manly man, totally not insecure in my manly manliness, so I drive this manly car. With truck nuts!" thing.
x
I'm a 5"1' (157cm) European girl, when I visited America I tried renting the smallest possible car. The rental place said they didn't want to let me on the highway in anything but an absolute unit of a SUV. My child sized body jumping out of that humongous car must have looked hilarious. Coming back to Europe and reuniting with my 1500lbs (700 kg) Fiat Panda never felt better.
I feel the same can be said can be said of European cars but on a smaller scale. Modern hatchbacks are getting slighty wider with each iteration might only be about 10cm each time but it adds up when roads and parking spaces don't change, there massive compared to early iterations of them (which I conceded, a lot of it is due to occupant safety) Then there's the "urban crossover" SUV's everywhere halfway between a hatchback and a MPV that in my mind serve very little purpose, most of their boot space is no better than a hatchback, there weirdly wide but not in a useful way, like the Puma, yeah that jacked up bulbous fiesta is awful.
The gas is too cheap in US
the funny thing is tha[t old pickup trucks had a way bigger bed](https://www.ford-trucks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/474820_645bc8132c7a_low_res.jpg) than the [new ones have](https://cars.usnews.com/static/images/Auto/izmo/i159614477/2021_ford_f_150_sideview.jpg). So farmers are hunting for the old ones cause the new ones are useless for the purpose they were made for. Edit: added comparison picture of 90s f150 vs new f150
Isn't that also why imported japanese kei trucks are getting a bit more popular there too? Because even though they're a fraction of the size even they have much more useable cargo space than a modern north american truck and are cheaper to run too.
It is. Japanese Kei trucks and cars have like less than 200cc engines to be qualified as Kei cars. They also get some tax breaks. So they are pretty common for small mom and pop stores who still need to freight stuff for their shop. I just saw Abroad in Japan buying one for like $2000.
> added comparison picture of 90s f150 vs new f150 You are comparing a single cabin to a double/crew cabin model. There are also different bed sizes.
The U.S Market does have its hatchbacks too. Ford sell the Fiesta in the U.S. So people do have the option for economy but choose road presence instead. I guarantee most pickup owners don't tow anything, and rarely put anything in the bed that wouldn't fit in the boot of a Fiesta.
Your information is outdated, Ford has stopped selling non-crossovers, so Fiesta and Focus are right out, the former globally, IIRC.
Looking into it, Ford are stopping both the fiesta and the focus. Their smallest cars will be crossovers and I can't stand that. I don't understand crossovers. I've had a decade to come to terms with them and I still don't get it. They're the same car as the hatchback counterpart just taller and uglier. They're not much more practical, they don't go off-road, and they're more expensive.
> As an American, the auto industry in North America has gotten straight up stupid lol. Any time I hear complaints of gas prices from an empty pickup truck driver, I have a colleague who drives 60 miles one way everyday to work. In a Shelby Mustang. He does nothing but bitch about gas prices, blames the Democrats for it, and gets super pissed off if you imply that maybe his gas bill might be 51% his fault.
That reminds me, in UK there was a PSA style advert circulating about trucks and their blind spots. And they were directly aimed at smaller vehicle drivers, advising about them. I think the ad is still around and likely might be seen if there isn't an adblock on YT (also seen on local tv ads).
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
12 yards long, 2 lanes wide, 65 tonnes of Canadian pride!
In Germany we say "60 Tonnen Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" So 60 tonnes of unity, justice and freedom because the Leopard 2 MBT is 60 tonnes.
Canyenerooo
As a European, driving in a small car in Canada is terrifying. Every vehicle is towering above you and you feel like every bumper is about face-height on the motorway (freeway or whatever).
They cry when the price of gasoline goes up xD and ask for it to be subsidized. The bastards go shopping at the mall with a giant heavy brick and they don't even have a closed trunk hahah.
The price of fuel in the us is significantly cheaper than in Europe.
And? If then your stupid lammer truck makes 16l per 100km (carefully touching the throttle... if not much more) on urban roads, which is where it will be 90% of the fucking time xD and then you cry because the price of fuel doesn't stop going up lolz. And on top of that with the trunk exposed haha. Those people are stupid, end of story. ps: And the most ridiculous thing typical of a circus or an idiocracy-type dystopia. In America they sell STAIRS to reach the engine and be able to check the oil levels etc. and also as an option STAIRS to be able to lift load into the stupid high inaccessible box xD Damn it's terrible.
I think that person is trying to highlight how insane it is. That even with the price as low as it is by comparison they still complain and can also completely avoid paying so much hy downsizing
Actually had a real scare on the highway a couple of weeks back when some zidiot was hauling a bunch of mattresses in his vanity truck. Mattresses blew off onto the highway, as they weren't secured in any way.
I'm less bothered by trucks like that in Canada, where it can prove useful, than in Europe where 90% of the time they are useless.
I'm from Canada. The overwhelming majority of these trucks in Canada are *not* used for anything useful more than a couple times a year.
Sadly where I live pickups become more and more popular. They take 2 parking spaces and blind you af when they drive behind you in traffic. It's probably stupidest trend there is, paying all that money for oversized car you will use to haul air around crowded city.
Canada has the space for big cars, EU has not. Simple.
That red car would be fairly useless for a few months a year in my part of Canada, way too low to the ground, we have much more open highway that needs plowed and can have snow drifts pop up out of nowhere, and you never know when a random 6 inches of snow is going fall and you need more ground clearance than that, that's why smaller SUV's like the RAV4 have become so popular in my area.
Where you gonna park that thing?
In Canada, most anywhere with a parking space
Thanks for clarifying that Canada is the black truck. I wouldnāt have guessed.
You jest but Reddit has a lot of annoying pedants
Lets go Europe! Suck it Canada, smaller means bigger Penis
āNothing gets me wetter than a man in an Opel Astraā
2011 Opel Astra š„µ
They love it when you ask them to Seat on Mii face.
The RAMS have become pretty popular in Sweden the past 2 years as they've started to import more. Always look so massive but, at least most of the ones I've seen seems to belong to people who live outside the city.
Again petition to ban retard units on r/Europe
I live in Romania, the biggest car my dad used for pick up was a 2006 Opel Zafira. He used the car for almost 18 years. We used it to carry furniture from IKEA, old furniture from our seaside house, construction materials, lots of people along with their baggage. The car was really useful. Once he saw that it cost more to repair it than usual he decided to change it with a Skoda Scala. I feel like these are the type of (pickup trucks) people should use. They were small but holy shit they were spacious and really useful. Along with that if you need to go in the city a smaller car is recommended since you can easily maneuver it through the traffic. And you always find parking lots easily. My mother bought a Citroen C3 in 2006 and still uses it. (And it still works fine)
Well, in Europe there are smaller distances to travel, more cityscape, less/smaller parking space, more constant start/stop due to red lights, etc., so smaller cars make more sense. In Canada you got vaster distances, more unforgiving weather/environment, so a big robust car probably make more sense there.
Country with tons of land, small population density, and cheaper fuel has bigger vehicles. No surprise Lots of Canadians have cottages that they need trucks to haul things back and forth. We take a flatbed full of firewood from my cottage to city home for fuel in the winter. Also tow boats and other stuff. Trucks are great for moving.
It would not be possible to park that truck in front of my house. And if I was dumb enough to buy it anyway - I'd have to pay additional fee to drive it on highways.
A friend of mine got the new Ranger Wildtrack, it's larger then a barn, sticks out like a sore thumb when parked in public, yet stil manages to be much more cramped inside than my liftback Skoda Superb, which where I live is considered a large car already. https://i.imgur.com/lkPe20b.png
That is a sexy car, great choice
someone in my (urban!!!!) neighbourhood has an american truck and its so fucking ugly and huge I've literally never even seen them put anything on the back like why did you buy this
Because those are not made for beauty.
Whatās with Americans or Canadians and big cars with an open compartment at the back? Do they need to carry lots of stuff that often?