this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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The Japanese minitruck is a lot cheaper than the American truck, both in purchase and in use. If you buy a purpose built vehicle for work and personal use (or, even better: use public transit for the latter) in Japan you likely spend less than you do buying just a large pickup in the United States.
A 2023 F150 in the US starts at $33k. A 2023 Mitsubishi Minicab in Japan starts at $12k. You can almost buy three of them. The F150 has a fuel efficiency of 20mpg. The Mitsubishi Minicab has a fuel efficiency of 39mpg US. On top of that, maintenance will be cheaper with a smaller and cheaper vehicle.
It's also worth noting that large vehicles incur social costs external to the consumer. A larger vehicle wears down roads quicker, requiring more government subsidy or higher taxes for road maintenance. A larger vehicle takes up more space, requiring wider roads and larger parking spaces, which makes infrastructure more expensive and sprawling; the latter makes cities less walkable.
A larger vehicle has a bigger environmental impact, negatively impacting health - leading to more spending on health care - and to a larger burden on the climate - requiring more spending on green energy and carbon offsets. A larger vehicle is less safe in collisions, leading to more deaths and graver injuries, again requiring more spending on health care.
Granted, the United States has remarkably poor infrastructure and civil planning for a rich country, making it difficult for its citizens to rely on superior modes of transport, and incentivizing bad transport outcomes. I certainly don't blame any American for deciding to buy an American car; the country is just designed around them.
All of these are great points to take into consideration, if you’re looking for a truck for personal use. You also compared the mini truck to a 150. You also failed to compare the load capacity of both vehicles if the 150 is used for its intended purpose, same with a 250 and 350. For instance, what is the load capacity of the mini truck compared to the F line? Am I able to haul a 5th wheel with the mini truck?
If I could, I’d buy 3 sedans rather than the 1 truck I currently own. But I wouldn’t be able to do my job. Id have to switch careers and we all know how easy that is in the current job market. I can’t haul shit in a sedan, pulling a loaded 26ft trailer is out of the question. It’s laughable imagining a sedan trying to pull a tractor.
These are some of the things people in these threads tend to forget. It seems like everyone sees a truck, closes their eyes, and just assumes the owners are dicks. And I’ll agree, tall truck owners are dicks, most of them are young who think they own the road.
But non lifted trucks? 90% are being used for its intended purpose. Lifting a truck lessens the load capacity so owners who need the truck for work, won’t lift it. At most, they’ll level it if they aren’t going to need the full load capacity.
I feel like you're taking this discussion way too personally. You don't need to defend your own purchase here. I already granted that anyone's choice of transport is hugely influenced by environmental factors, and in the United States those favour very big personal vehicles.
Even if that weren't the case, there will always be niches in which a specific choice makes sense, even if the choice were broadly asinine (which - again - choosing a large vehicle is not if you're in the United States). I am not (and no sane person in this thread) is arguing that there are no valid use cases for these vehicles, even in a country where infrastructure and society is designed around smaller vehicles.
Yes, the load a minitruck can carry is a lot less than a large truck. That doesn't take away the fact that the focus on huge personal use vehicles in the United States broadly has a lot of negative externalities.