Hacker News Reader

Comment by ErroneousBosh | Hacker News Reader

And nothing of value was lost.

What's the point of these things? They're not useful for anything. They're horrible to drive, get through fuel like a burning oil well, can't tow, and can't carry anything.

If you need something to haul building materials around, get a van.

View on HN

Ever try to hose out the back of a van after you've carried a 1/2 ton of manure in it? Or, say, a carcass or two from a feedlot?

In the US, a sizeable % of pickups are equipped w/ dump &&|| stake beds for precisely this type of work.

I am a landscaper and would absolutely not be able to do my job without a large truck. I agree that for most cases a truck is not needed, but some jobs simply require their use.

I see plenty of landscapers in Ireland with utility vans. What’s wrong with those?

(I’m not a landscaper, but they seem to pack in everything from hand tools to those petrol powered tiller & compacting tools)

Well, just from today, I had to have two trucks just to haul debris away from a job site (which we were both fuller that I'd like). Also something to consider, is that a lot of our work trucks double as snow plows in the winter, which is something a van absolutely can't do.

Can't tow and can't carry anything, "get a van". Yeah, vans are known for their amazing tow capacity.

It's what all the builders round here use. Full-size Ford Transit and if they need to carry more than about three tonnes, a trailer on the back.

One of the downsides to using a van for these heavy duty use cases (speaking from experience) is that they're typically not equipped with powerful enough engines. So you end up straining the engine when towing heavy loads, which reduces the life of it considerably.

Also for a lot of vehicles, a GVM/GCM upgrade is needed to be able to tow certain loads.

Not defending these large american trucks. I think there are valid use cases for them (in smaller bodies), but the majority of the ones I see driving around are just for peoples pleasure and not utility.

Not only the engine, but also the transmissions and suspensions on commercial vans in the US aren't rated for duty past a certain gross weight.

Well, not really. The biggest size Transits have a 2.4 or 3.2 litre diesel which will pull hell up a high wall.

Compare that to these pickups which have neither the power nor the grip to get out of their own way.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com