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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

It does look cool. TBH, I've never thought much of these pickup truck/car hybrids (which have a fairly long history) from a practical perspective. You get a car without a lot of interior space and a pickup bed that is too small for a lot of purposes. But it's a nice aesthetic.

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There are a lot of people who don't need backseats, don't need a full-size pickup for towing or very heavy items, but need to be able to carry 4x8 sheet goods, large furniture, or sports equipment like bikes, kayaks, etc.

IMO there are very few people who actually need a pickup truck for towing or very large/bulky items, but they're still very popular since there aren't great alternatives in the US due to the chicken tax.

I've packed a Saturn Vue full of hay. My wife is better than I am at it: I used to be able to fit 7 small square bales, she's been able to fit 9 more consistently.

However, the fact that it can be done doesn't mean it's the vehicle for the job. We have a pickup truck, but I'm not a big fan of them.

Same here with a Subaru Forester. Even though I have a giant diesel RAM pickup we typically use the Subie to haul stuff since it's easier to get stuff in and out.

The RAM is so tall it's unwieldy to get stuff in and out of the bed. I really need to sell that thing and get something practical.

>but need to be able to carry 4x8 sheet goods, large furniture, or sports equipment like bikes, kayaks, etc.

I'd argue you can do most of those things with an SUV or really any car with a roof-rack. I rarely need a back seat but I do appreciate having interior space to keep/transport camping gear etc. in my car. An open bed will tend to work better for some large awkward items but this isn't even that big a bed and you can always rent a truck or trailer for a day.

But really, I'm making a largely rationalist argument and a lot of people in the US just want a pickup.

Huh, that's news to me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

I really wish someone would bring back truly small trucks like the old Rangers, or even something like an el Camino. Having a truck is really nice sometimes, but driving a tank around every day seems just silly.

I agree, but I'd be somewhat satisfied if trucks just weren't so damn tall now. It sucks to have to climb into or flop up onto the side of the bed just to reach your tools. Lots of older trucks weren't made this way.

The newer Honda Ridgeline is pretty close to a modern El Camino, albeit with 4-doors.

The ranger is back!

Brats and Caminoes could make sense when having bucket seats in the truckbed was allowed (though obviously dangerous). But nowadays I guess it only makes sense for hauling white goods home from the home center and such.

The buckets in the Brat were strictly to get around the "Chicken Tax": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

A protectionist law that favored small trucks built in America. Australia has a long history of loving "utes", the car/truck hybrid: https://www.core77.com/posts/88821/The-Australian-Designer-W...

Interesting! I didn’t realize that was to avoid the chicken tax. Same as the rear-windowless Ford Connect.

Reading the wiki page it mentions Ronald Reagan owned one and used it on his ranch, which speaks to their versatility.

Little pickups really shine when you say "hold my beer" and then make them do something that people in a higher tax bracket would use a bigger truck for. It's socially unacceptable for the kind of people who Teslas are typically owned by to be doing those kinds of things (don't get me started) a UTE like this is a perfectly fine replacement for the small pickup that most them would consider buying.

Yes, a Ranger EV is going to run circles around this from an "ability to do truck things" perspective but if the you're just doing homeowner things with it then the difference really doesn't matter.

Edit: Why the downvotes?

Why the downvotes, you ask.

>the kind of people who Teslas are typically...

Well that is pretty broad especially considering the TCO for an entry level Tesla now is below that of a Honda Accord over five years.

Many kinds of people are buying them now.

There's a reason that basically every auto review comparing a Tesla to something is comparing it to a German "driving machine" in the same price bracket. They're not idiots, they do market research, they know what models people are comparing to each other.

Is HN really to immature to handle the fact that the Tesla demographic is substantially more upscale than the entire new car buying demographic (which itself is leaps and bounds ahead of the overall car-buying public)?

Edit: Don't answer that question.

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