That's not really a passenger vehicle though, it's a truck (it's right there in the name "pick up truck"). Just having more seats doesn't make a truck into a "passenger vehicle", my brother used to drive a 40,000 lb heavy truck that had a crew cab that seats 6, but no one would classify that as a "passenger vehicle".
It was so heavy that when he took it home, he couldn't drive it all the way home, he had to park it a half mile away and walk because there was a bridge with a 10 ton weight limit that he couldn't cross.
Listen, I can haul sheet goods on the roof of any car all day long and he happy doing it.
But the problem is that YouPeople(TM) (as opposed to you personally) won't be happy about it. Instead of screeching about the environment you'd be screeching about safety. But it's not really about the environment or safety, it's about class. The fact of the matter is that moving any sizeable amount of goods (like some plywood for a garden shed, or a new stove, or similarly mundane things) with a car or crossover just doesn't pass for acceptable behavior for the slice of society that we're talking about here. People need more vehicle than they "need" for the same reason a 30yo finance professional "needs" a couple sets of nice clothes. It's what his peers expect from him. The quirky college professor can haul a sailboat on the roof of his prius and the tweaker won't be bothered for running scrap with a minivan but outside of that it's just not what "nice people" do (not that either of them care about the opinions of the kind of people who deride them). Meanwhile white collar people with three kids won't even shove them in a crossover once a week if they can avoid it. They'll commute in a 3-row SUV that costs twice as much to operate instead.
People buy crew cab trucks and 3-row SUVs because YouPeople(TM) expect them to "act their income" and they "need" the capability of these vehicles often enough to justify it.
> People need more vehicle than they "need" for the same reason a 30yo finance professional "needs" a couple sets of nice clothes. It's what his peers expect from him.
I'm afraid you're projecting your own issues on others...
While I didn't reply with the same degree of hostility as the GP, I had the same emotional reaction to your comment. My immediate thought was "who are you to say what I 'need'?"
I'm self-aware enough to realize that this is because of a larger cultural struggle in the US between "rural" and "urban". It's not quite that simple, but that's a close enough approximation for the conversation at hand.
The rural people on the US feel like we are constantly fighting a system in which we have no voice. We're subject to regulations that we feel to be frankly ridiculous; regulations that get in our way, make our lives more difficult and expensive, and most of all... don't even serve the purpose for which they were ostensibly designed.
In that context, the GP's response to your comment is understandable.
This is a common sentiment but it always makes me chuckle. People living in rural areas quite literally have more of a voice (as much as that counts for anything with political corruption) than people living in urban areas due to the Senate and gerrymandered congressional districts.
It was tongue in cheek/sarcasm. Point is people with the money to buy new buy more vehicle than they "need" because it is what society expects of them so in some sense they "need" it to meet the expectations of those around them.
> Point is people with the money to buy new buy more vehicle than they "need" because it is what society expects of them so in some sense they "need" it to meet the expectations of those around them.
I'm afraid that you are guilty of what psychology would call "projection". Unless you can back your views with hard facts. I have yet to meet anyone just blowing away $100k on a truck that don't NEED.
> In EU you don't see trucks or many heavy vehicles like that at all.
It’s a side-issue, but I see this type of statement all the time about “Europe” and have to say, in Sweden - and even on the suburban streets of Stockholm - these enormous American pickups and SUVs are amazingly common (although most of them don’t go over the 3500kilo limit).
They are not as common as in the US. And crucially, they are not (yet) a status symbol. Someone who can afford a vehicle like that as a daily driver (not a contractor) will get a huge-ass Merc or Audi instead.
> although most of them don’t go over the 3500kilo limit
I bet most not even go over 2000kg. My SUV is 1900kg (4k lbs) and is hybrid so has extra weight due to batteries. I think it's a very heavy car and considering downgrading again.
Please do not imply were dumb. We're not spending 100,000$ just to show off. We do need them, because we need to haul 2000-4000lb at a time over hundreds of miles and tow 5,000lb to 30,000lb on a regular basis. My biggest haul personally was about 20,000lb (of actual payload) over 500mi, and I regularly max out my 2,500lb capacity dodge 2500.
You ain't gonna move that shit with a Citroen C2.
Also, it's not just a matter of payload. The bigger wheelbase and larger tires make them much more drive able in snow or mud or ice which is common weather around. Small cars are a safety issue on black ice.
I don't think anyone has a problem with professionals using tools fit to task. (I certainly don't.) I just personally don't want to have to walk or bike on streets where trucks are moving a combined weight of 5 or 6 tons at high speeds. I think this could be solved with smarter street/highway design, which would also help drivers get from A to B more efficiently.
And FWIW, I grew up in rural Indiana (USA), soybean and corn country. It's definitely not just professionals driving these vehicles. Actually I'd say most trucks on the streets growing up were NOT used by professionals, the real farm trucks were often barely street legal and could never seem to get past 30-40 mph with a load (or without heh).
I'm not an urbanite, but on the rare occasion I need a pickup truck, I rent one. I don't like owning things I only need occasionally, I use our communities tool lending library too when I need a tool for a project.
A lot of them just use them for driving to places that they could do in a car. How many truck you see driving which are completely empty? Or how many you see who are transporting stuff that could easily have been done in a van?
That's complete bs, see my comment above. Pickups are much more flexible than vans.
The problem is the insurance model which insure the vehicle rather than the driver. Thus why some people daily drive their pickup because maintaining another beater is too much cost.
Every now and then their 5' 100lb wife will use that truck to go for groceries and then you'll see them there, because you have no life in the real world, and you'll judge them based on that single interaction alone.
Meanwhile, the next day, her hubby and the family will tow an 8000lb boat to enjoy the lake, and heck they can even stop at the hardware store pick up a couple 1000lb of concrete / 2x4 for their home improvement projects.
I've personally saved a few grands this year in various fees alone by being able to haul shit and do DIY home improvements.
But sure, that's only for social grand-standing...
It was so heavy that when he took it home, he couldn't drive it all the way home, he had to park it a half mile away and walk because there was a bridge with a 10 ton weight limit that he couldn't cross.