My first car was an early 90s Ranger. These were the days when you could actually buy a small pickup, not whatever the hell the Ranger is now.

Now, look, it was still horrible for the enviroment like all cars. It wasnt great on gas, but compared to larger trucks in that era, it sipped fuel by comparison. But friends asked why I didnt just go for a 'real truck'.

Simple. It was big enough for anything I needed to haul. I didnt need a huge truck. It was easy to drive and I could park it anywhere, even in the city when I visited.

Now they dont even make small trucks anymore, at least not in North America. Everything is huge even though only, like, 1% of truck owners actually need something that big. And they keep getting bigger year by year. Its insane.

Having a back seat is a legit feature. Other than that, you are right on. I would love to have a real small trucks available in the US. But thanks to Country Music that is just not possible.

One is made to show how much of an egoist you are, and the other is made to do the job. I really don't get the gigantomax trucks, and never will

How does each hold up in a collision tho? Crumple zones take up space, not something terribly present in the kei truck.

Not that this makes the 2500's faults or anything. It just seems worth noticing.

One of these are not for work. You don't risk a dent on a $60,000 show piece.

Anyone drive one of these in Canada during the winter?

I recently bought a car and really wanted a kei truck, but I have to drive highway to get to work and I couldn't find a highway legal one for any remotely sane price :/ hopefully I'll find one next time I'm looking

But the right one doesn't have enough room for a crate of piss-weak "beer", a gun rack, or a perch for your eagle.

Japan is known for not having much on-street parking, you need the extra 10 feet of height to see over the SUVs parked on every street corner here.

They don't even sell like the tiny rangers anymore, the f150 trucks are so ridiculously oversized

I feel the Ford Maverick is a step in the right direction.

Vans are more useful work vehicles than these giant pickup trucks, since usually you want your equipments to be covered and protected from the elements.

Even Toyota's own Tacoma line is much more modest than that monstrosity on the left side of the image. I think their business and marketing people saw the trend in America for increasingly larger pickup trucks and pushed back against it, realizing themselves that it's pointless and ridiculous to have a truck that large.

All of the Tacoma's I've driven were pretty straightforward trucks despite it having 4 seats.