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.
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.
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.
Almost none of you have the slightest clue what you're blathering about.
I drove pickup trucks for years. Most people probably don't realize is how much higher the operating cost is compared 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.
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.
The bed on the left probably gets used more.
But the one on the left wouldn't pass US fuel economy standards, which are based on vehicle footprint since 2012.
That's the reason the Ranger etc were discontinued for a while, and when they returned were bigger than the old F-150s.
It's so the reason the small cargo vans (Nissan NV200, Ford Transit Connect, and Ram Promaster City) were all discontinued in the last 2 years. CAFE standards increase over time, and it's easier to just make bigger cars.
Functional design is the only proper design.
But one of these is actually using their truck bed.
If I had to buy a pickup truck I'd buy a Suzuki Carry and call it a day
Testicular cancer is not a game
And one can only do 45 and carry 800 lbs at best. The other a couple thousand, tow a large trailer at 70 easily.
