Honestly this is absurd. These death machines shouldn't be legal in europe. That thing doesn't even fit in the parking space, even though the parking lot has the biggest spaces in the whole city. The Golf Polo is so small in comparison, it could even hide in front of the engine hood of the truck.
EDIT: It's a Polo and not a Golf, I don't know my cars, sorry for that!
I'd wager a sizeable number of half-ton pickup trucks are used solely as people movers, i.e. the bed and towing capabilities aren't utilized. In many countries, trade workers more than manage with light vehicles, like kei trucks in Japan, so I think they'd work for the average weekend warrior too.
A percussionist I know has a double cab van, I think it's a Ford transit. It can haul 3 timpani, a drum, tubular bells, a bass drum and other smaller stuff all in one trip. And then it still has space for 5 people. Try doing that with a pick-up.
Because pick-ups are truly unfit for purpose unless the purpose is to increase your confidence and sense of safety on the road.
We are always gonna need utility vehicles for specific purposes. A percussionist is not hauling drums on the train.
Can you forklift a pallet from the side? Nope the tub design doesn't allow it unless you have a tray design.
Can you load a large ladder on it? No ladder/timber rack.
Is it good off-road? Perhaps, but the tub design over the rear tyres and back bumper make the departure angle poor, you'll need rock sliders or a lift.
Show me how you transport a ton of gravel in your car please (and remember, a ton is more than the towing capacity of the vast majority of cars, so no cheating!)
Never a pickup truck, that's for sure. Usually a tilt bed truck in my experience. Not something you'd generally want to drive unless you're moving gravel.
In my case multiple times a year... plus construction material, furniture, motorcycles... In the end I need to haul heavy shit multiple times a month.
Yet, people would take pictures of my SUV and call me an idiot with no respect for driving a big vehicle... With a 4 cylinders that has a fuel consumption that's the same (or better) as AWD cars that these same people don't criticize???
Just do a little bit of research into the fuel efficiency of various sized vehicles, the correlation is not direct and some larger vehicles get better gas mileage than smaller vehicles strictly due to efficiency. A small inefficient motor and a large efficient motor may yield the same mpg, but the large efficient motor is extracting more power from the same fuel source. And that's not even getting into diesel versus gasoline.....
Once again, most of your fuel, especially at speed, goes towards overcoming aerodynamic drag. A heavy vehicle with good health aerodynamics will get better efficiency than a light one with poor aerodynamics.
What? Are you so obtuse that you couldn't detect the sarcasm when I said it would be a better idea to listen to you and to drive a truck so I would take more space and burn more gas? Are you fucking serious now?
I have a small trailer. Towing capacity of my 2003 Subaru WRX is 1500 lbs. So I guess two trips? Truth be told, that's why I have the trailer. For when I need to move a decent volume of random crap for work.
I don't think the people here are complaining about pickups when used for work, but they are shit vehicles for daily driving. And, this is my personal opinion, crew cabs are usually not utilized to transport workers. More than not, I expect they are because they think they'll take the family or kids in it. Even then they usually drive without any passengers.
I get that a lot of workers don't want to have two vehicles, but pickups are not good daily drivers.
Can't fit an ATV in a van, and no I won't use a trailer because I'm already using one. Trucks have their uses because vans don't have an open top.
Seriously discussion here always feels impossible. They're sitting shit taking the truck while in a Euro city with great public transit. BOTH are unnecessary with the right context.
Let's ignore that people have been using vans in Europe to haul heavy things for years.
Let's ignore that you can strap things down to the railing inside the van
Let's ignore the protective barrier between the driver and the cargo space.
I don't care enough about towing ATVs, listing all possible vans, or you to continue this conversation.
All I know that, at least in Europe, we've gotten around fine for decades without pickups, and everyone in a pickup is assumed to be a knob or an american.