What happened to small trucks?

[newbury]

<snip>If I'm only getting 15mpg I might as well drive a full sized truck.

My dually gets 15 to 18mpg (empty, highway). I can legally tow 12,000 lbs. It has a payload capacity of about 4,000 lbs. Of course to buy a NEW one now would run around $50K or more.

 

[EddieWalker]

I had a Mitsubishi mini pickup back in the late 80's that was great. Power steering, comfortable seats and great gas mileage. Every time I've gone looking for a new truck, and a few times that I've gone looking for just a farm truck to run to the store with, I've tried to find something small that is great on gas and can haul a few sacks of feed. The few used trucks that are out there are pretty much trashed with tons of miles on them. I don't want a fixer up. And when I've looked at new ones, they cost close enough to what a full sized truck goes for that it doesn't make any sense buying small. I paid $24,000 for my full sized, extra cab long bed F150.

I think small SUV's are really what's replaced the small pickup.

Eddie

 

[s219]

Back in the day, I definitely saw the appeal of small 4-cyl pickups, and we owned several. My dad also had full size pickups for his construction business, but in his later years his personal truck was almost always a small pickup -- remember the Mazda being very nice, but Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Nissan all made great small trucks back then. In later years, the smaller companies stopped making trucks, and Mazda rebranded the Ford Ranger, Isuzu rebranded a GM, and Mitsubishi rebranded a Dakota. That was quite an industry consolidation that took several of the nicest small trucks off the market, replacing them with mediocre re-labeled domestic trucks with confusing trim, odd looks, and no brand identities. Only Toyota and Nissan remained doing small trucks on their own. While they still offered 4-cyl models, they went in a different direction emphasizing V6 models.

Ultimately, I think it was improvements to full size trucks that made the remaining smaller trucks less appealing. I mean, my full size GMC Sierra 4x4 Crew cab V8 gets 19-23mpg routinely, and can out-tow and out-haul any small pickup on the market. If a smaller Toyota or Nissan with V6 got dramatically better gas mileage, that would be a compelling reason to consider one, but they don't, and in fact they were rated *worse* the last time I looked. And last time I drove a Tacoma, the ride and handling were so awful, it didn't even drive like a small truck. That combined with improvements to ride and handling in full size trucks took another advantage away.

So I think the automakers shot their own small truck ambitions in the foot in several ways, both in product/brand strategies and in making full size trucks so much better and more acceptable as daily drivers.

Will be interesting to see how the new Chevy/GM mid-size trucks do. They are nice -- I looked one over and went for a ride last time I was in for service -- but I don't really see the compelling point. I do think they will eat Toyota and Nissan's lunch until they can (if they even bother) modernize their small trucks. They are both way behind at this point.

 

[newbury]

One of the developments we have not seen here yet are the cab over mini's prevalent overseas. I see them on DOD auctions frequently but I think they are not blessed for highway use.
Example:

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

I remember those nissan hardbody trucks, we had several for the construction business in the mid 90s and they all got nearly 30 miles a gallon and went over 250k miles with minimal maintanance, still see quite a few on the road too. Found one a month or so agon on craigslist that had 115k original miles for $2000 and wish i had snatched that up.

I hear what people are saying about rough riding, not enough room and towing but I miss those small little trucks with a stick and 4 cylinder.

 

[AaronS]

One of the developments we have not seen here yet are the cab over mini's prevalent overseas. I see them on DOD auctions frequently but I think they are not blessed for highway use.
Example:

That's one of the sharper minis I've seen. The maintenance and grounds dept at the school I work for has 4 or 5 of those to get around campus. They told me they get something like 60 or 70 mpg. A long-legged driver is very cramped though.

 

[charlz]

When I was truck shopping earlier this year for my son I was also surprised to find the Ranger etc had been discontinued. One of the articles I read stated that Ford, in particular, felt the F150 meets all the same needs for someone looking at a 'mid size' truck such as the Ranger so they would rather just push them towards the F150

The Ranger is still made and available, overseas, not available in the U.S.

 

[bigtiller]

I priced a new '97 S10 back then and what there was on the dealers lot was about the same price as a full sized one. The mileage was about the same, but it road worse and couldn't haul as much. So i bought a full sized one.

 

[3930dave]

Scooby started an interesting thread a while ago....

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/trailers-transportation/288903-compact-diesel-trucks-we-cant.html?highlight=trucks+we+can%27t+get

Interesting run-down of what is currently available outside of Can/USA. New, I'd be taking a serious look at an Amorak, or the Duratorq Rangers. Always liked the Toyota utes too.... somebody Down Under (Timbatrader ?) posted some real-world hauling mpgs with his ute in that thread.

Closer to my present budget..... if I ever think I can sneak another project past SWMBO, I'd be seriously tempted to import at 15 year old Landy diesel from the UK.

As a personal vehicle, these smaller trucks are more to my liking..... a little better suited to an old logging trail, than a 1 ton CC dually. Not that I have anything against one-tons.... as I have one in the driveway at the moment.

Rgds, D.

 

[davrow]

I've been wondering the same thing for years as well. Because all the manufacturers stopped making them I always suspected some sort of undisclosed political pressure from the regulatory agencies.

Read about the 'chicken tax' and President Johnson. It's not a secret, just not widely known. 25% tax on foreign light trucks effectively ended all small truck imports.

They are still available overseas, we just can't get them here.