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Comment by carabiner | Hacker News Reader

Just get a Tacoma or Tundra and put a Kimbo on it. Drive everywhere, even the cities.

Don't get a Tacoma for this - a Kimbo weighs upwards of 1k lbs, right at the limit of a Tacoma's payload capacity. Add in fuel, people, water, anything else heavy and you're above the rated capacity before you know it.

This was my disappointment with my Tacoma. For the size of the truck itself, the towing is very limited. I know they would rather you buy a Tundra, but a Tacoma's towing isn't much better than my '85 Chevy S-10. That's just really sad when you compare the sizes of a Tacoma and an S-10

The new canyon/Colorado's can tow over 7000lbs.

!! Careful to not conflate - payload is not the same as towing capacity. The 2023 Colorado has a payload capacity of 1,310 to 1,610 lbs.

To get much beyond the 1 to 1.5k lbs PAYLOAD capacity, you need to move into a full size truck, ideally an F-250 or equivalent. People putting campers in the back of Tacomas and the like are playing with fire.

Also, you are uninsured if you exceed your vehicle's towing or gross weight rating. It's in the fine print of your insurance binder, something about using the vehicle IAW manufacturer's recommendations.

EDIT: And yes, the insurance company will weigh your equipment after an accident.

TIL. Always read the fine print!

Tacomas have small beds compared to other trucks. It’s all trade offs though. Slide in campers can b nice but are more difficult to decouple from the vehicle than a bumper pull. Bumper pulls or even fifth wheel campers have the benefit of being much larger when people need more space.

Yeah, Tacomas are weird hybrid trucks. It's a full sized truck in every way except the bed. The loss of the smaller truck like the S-10 makes me sad. I miss my S-10.

Not entirely joking, have you considered importing a ute/sport truck from Australia? Or is that too small?

Japan also has the Hilux and the Navara, both turbo diesels similar to a sprinter or similar small diesel van.

I hadn't thought about it at first but I guess those two locations would be right hand driv

I’ve seen diesel f150s in the states, they have a small power stroke which is cool. Also talked to a guy who imported one from Canada.

I wish the American market was more conducive to Japanese diesel vehicles.

Deboss garage is a Canadian mechanic on YouTube and he mentions he went to South Africa to do some work and was expecting there’d be many Hilux but ended up just working on fords (and was disappoint)

Many camp sites don’t let you leave Kimbo style campers behind. For that reason I prefer a towable.

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