Tough segment. There are examples like https://kilow.com/pages/la-bagnole of a cheap, small car but it’s basic utilitarian. It is NOT a status symbol. It’s equivalent to a cargo bike or long tail bike : it’s not sexy, it’s small range, you can’t bring lots of people or furniture, it’s JUST to go from A to B, mostly in small city or on the country side (if the roads are safe enough).
Meanwhile cars keep on being advertised, and thus mostly perceived, as something to travel with, to show of, to protect oneself and your family against the “others” as dangers on the road. Cars keep on getting bigger, higher and consequently heavier, polluting more (yes, even EVs, at least for pollution come from tires erosion on roads) and the acceptance window keeps on moving up.
Until laws get in place, like in Paris, to make SUVs expensive due to their impact on ourselves and our environment, car companies will keep on pushing for whatever makes the most money.
(US) I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that “small” trucks are starting to shrink again. Seems they finally hit critical mass.
I remember when the Toyota Tacoma was a truly small truck (up through the late 1990s, maybe early 2000s?). If I’m not mistaken, the 2015-2020ish Tacoma is the size of the 90s Toyota Tundra which was a “big” truck at the time. It’s stupid. I need a truck but I don’t need a $100,000 tank with a quad cab and a useless fucking tiny bed. About 75% of the people I know that buy those huge quad cab trucks actually need a minivan because all they use it for is shuttling their kids around but, of course, minivans aren’t “cool”.
… now I’m getting off topic but minivans are freaking awesome. Assuming the seats are stowable or removable, you get a ton of (enclosed) cargo space (more than those stupid quad cab trucks with tiny beds) and can optionally move a lot of people or a lot of cargo. They are fantastic for road trips if you need more space than a typical sedan.
This is one of the things in life that makes me irrationally angry. Give us small trucks that are actually small.
minivans are freaking awesome. Assuming the seats are stowable or removable, you get a ton of (enclosed) cargo space (more than those stupid quad cab trucks with tiny beds) and can optionally move a lot of people or a lot of cargo.
Which is why people in trades who actually work use vans, not stupid pickups.
(US) I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that “small” trucks are starting to shrink again. Seems they finally hit critical mass.
I fucking pray this is true. All I want in a vehicle is a late 90s style pickup with a single cab and a full bed to drive on the highway. I don’t need passenger space, I don’t need ridiculous ground clearance, I don’t need an engine powerful enough for towing. I just need something to haul furniture and lumber around in, maybe some yard waste if I ever manage to afford a house. Bonus points if it’s electric.
If nothing like that comes out I’ll just keep driving my Honda civic until it disintegrates and borrow my dad’s shitty Colorado when necessary.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re currently still huge. But I saw a 2024 or 2025 Tacoma a few weeks ago that looked a fair bit smaller than the previous year models. I’m hoping we’re on the rebound and that they’re going to continue to decrease in size. Guess we’ll see but I’m hoping so too.
I will say that I love a (tiny) extended cab - Toyota calls/called them the “access cab” and on the old (early to mid-90s) S10’s I had I think they called them a “king cab”. Having space in the cab to store tools, camping/emergency gear, etc is really nice. There are ““seats”” there in the Tacoma, presumably to get around the chicken tax, but they are horrible to use as such. The ones in the old S10 folded up into the side walls which was awesome. They were out of the way but available for the 0.0001% of the time you needed them and those actually weren’t too horribly uncomfortable since they faced the center of the vehicle instead of forward.
Yeah the ones with like a 1.5 cab aren’t terrible but I don’t want something that’s dedicating a whole ass second seating area for passengers when I don’t ever drive other people around. Being able to fit an entire desk/bookcase/bedframe in the bed is far more important to me (and being able to get it out without having to climb because I’m short as fuck).
Tough segment. There are examples like https://kilow.com/pages/la-bagnole of a cheap, small car but it’s basic utilitarian. It is NOT a status symbol. It’s equivalent to a cargo bike or long tail bike : it’s not sexy, it’s small range, you can’t bring lots of people or furniture, it’s JUST to go from A to B, mostly in small city or on the country side (if the roads are safe enough).
Meanwhile cars keep on being advertised, and thus mostly perceived, as something to travel with, to show of, to protect oneself and your family against the “others” as dangers on the road. Cars keep on getting bigger, higher and consequently heavier, polluting more (yes, even EVs, at least for pollution come from tires erosion on roads) and the acceptance window keeps on moving up.
Until laws get in place, like in Paris, to make SUVs expensive due to their impact on ourselves and our environment, car companies will keep on pushing for whatever makes the most money.
(US) I’ve noticed over the past couple of years that “small” trucks are starting to shrink again. Seems they finally hit critical mass.
I remember when the Toyota Tacoma was a truly small truck (up through the late 1990s, maybe early 2000s?). If I’m not mistaken, the 2015-2020ish Tacoma is the size of the 90s Toyota Tundra which was a “big” truck at the time. It’s stupid. I need a truck but I don’t need a $100,000 tank with a quad cab and a useless fucking tiny bed. About 75% of the people I know that buy those huge quad cab trucks actually need a minivan because all they use it for is shuttling their kids around but, of course, minivans aren’t “cool”.
… now I’m getting off topic but minivans are freaking awesome. Assuming the seats are stowable or removable, you get a ton of (enclosed) cargo space (more than those stupid quad cab trucks with tiny beds) and can optionally move a lot of people or a lot of cargo. They are fantastic for road trips if you need more space than a typical sedan.
This is one of the things in life that makes me irrationally angry. Give us small trucks that are actually small.
Which is why people in trades who actually work use vans, not stupid pickups.
I fucking pray this is true. All I want in a vehicle is a late 90s style pickup with a single cab and a full bed to drive on the highway. I don’t need passenger space, I don’t need ridiculous ground clearance, I don’t need an engine powerful enough for towing. I just need something to haul furniture and lumber around in, maybe some yard waste if I ever manage to afford a house. Bonus points if it’s electric.
If nothing like that comes out I’ll just keep driving my Honda civic until it disintegrates and borrow my dad’s shitty Colorado when necessary.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re currently still huge. But I saw a 2024 or 2025 Tacoma a few weeks ago that looked a fair bit smaller than the previous year models. I’m hoping we’re on the rebound and that they’re going to continue to decrease in size. Guess we’ll see but I’m hoping so too.
I will say that I love a (tiny) extended cab - Toyota calls/called them the “access cab” and on the old (early to mid-90s) S10’s I had I think they called them a “king cab”. Having space in the cab to store tools, camping/emergency gear, etc is really nice. There are ““seats”” there in the Tacoma, presumably to get around the chicken tax, but they are horrible to use as such. The ones in the old S10 folded up into the side walls which was awesome. They were out of the way but available for the 0.0001% of the time you needed them and those actually weren’t too horribly uncomfortable since they faced the center of the vehicle instead of forward.
Yeah the ones with like a 1.5 cab aren’t terrible but I don’t want something that’s dedicating a whole ass second seating area for passengers when I don’t ever drive other people around. Being able to fit an entire desk/bookcase/bedframe in the bed is far more important to me (and being able to get it out without having to climb because I’m short as fuck).