And the reason for this is that the "light truck" classification has weaker emissions standards, so they can cheap out on efficiency of the engine which means higher profit margins (and more harmful pollution for us to enjoy inhaling).
iirc, that is bc your Forester is an SUV that uses a truck chassis underneath, whereas the otherwise extremely similar Crosstrek uses the Impreza chassis so is more of a high "car". But that could change over the years and I'm not really a car person so don't quote me or anything!:-P
The Forester up until 2008 was quite literally an Impreza/Legacy chassis that shares identical drivetrain components except for the body. It is unibody, Macpherson strut, symmetrical AWD and as far from a truck as you can get.
Thanks for the correction. I see now, it's a larger car chassis - so as @empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com said, that's not a "truck", light or otherwise, at all!?
I did a search and found this article suggesting that it is a historical (hehe, some might say... "legacy", eh?:-P) naming scheme, based on fuel economy:
The U.S. government uses light-duty trucking as a vehicle class for the regulation of fuel economy by enforcing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The light-duty truck class includes pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), vans, and minivans.
Since light-duty trucks are typically used for utility purposes rather than personal use, they have lower standards for fuel economy than cars do.
Yeah I was wrong about that. I mentioned this in another reply:
The U.S. government uses light-duty trucking as a vehicle class for the regulation of fuel economy by enforcing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The light-duty truck class includes pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), vans, and minivans.
Since light-duty trucks are typically used for utility purposes rather than personal use, they have lower standards for fuel economy than cars do.
I drive a 91 Cherokee and I defend myself because I like Jeeps and cherokees are easy to work on. I would kill for an old 70s military Jeep truck though, hell id commit genocide for one of those old boxed Willy Jeeps they find in the gods forsaken deep storage of places like the Sierra Army Depot.
Rebuild one, the few that are still in the boxes are given to museums not psychotic Rednecks. On more realistic levels though I think it'd be neat to get an old willy Jeep body and convert it to electric, theyre light enough that a squad of men can pick them up so I figure they may actually lose weight without an engine depending on the battery type.
That would be awesome! I love classic Jeeps, especially the Willy's era - if you actually ever manage to do this, I hope you make a video journal and share it somewhere.
I mean, the el Camino caught a lot of flak when I was young. I remember my "surfer/ stoner/ slacker/ loser" gen x cousin who was a pool guy used his as a work vehicle and I guarantee that guy was SMASHING with that ride. I'm not saying a cyber truck truck is on that level and but some things take time to catch on.
Hey a 1961 Ford rancho was my first vehicle. I did a lot of truck things with that. It was even one of one built of the crappy falcon body, which was one of Ford's first unibodies. Boy did that thing flex.
I even parked next to 2005ish Ford F150, with that dumb extra short bed. My 50 year old caruck has a bigger bed on it.
There needs to be a way to validate if something is a truck.
Isn't there already legal definitions such as gross vehicle weight? I know there have been some edge cases where people argue cars as trucks to get special truck access for commercial use. Chevy HHR comes to mind with some contractors.
USA Light Truck definition: Firstly, the vehicle must have a gross vehicle weight--that's the curb weight plus payload--of no more than 8,500 lbs. Secondly, it has to be designed to transport persons, property, or be fitted with special features allowing its "off-street or off-highway operation and use".