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Rant: Why can't we buy small, cheap trucks now days????
Driving my 2004 Tacoma tonight, I kind of realized that it is an extinct breed, at least here in United States. The truck was $12,000 brand new(dad bought it for that price in 2004, not sure of the actual MSRP). Its 2wd, reg cab, short box, 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual, no options. Standard equipment included a/c, power steering, power brakes, carpet with floor mats, cloth 1 piece bench seat that does not recline, and the Toyota reputation that it is dirt cheap to service and doesn't break.
The only work this truck has required are the normal brakes(1 set of rotors, 4 sets of pads, 1 set of rear shoes), spark plugs, tires engine oil/coolant/transmission oil/rear diff oil changes. Knock on wood, nothing unexpected has ever broke, other than the battery committing suicide the other week, it has never left us stranded. Its 14 years old now with 172k miles on it, I would feel 100% confident driving it to Alaska and back.
Anyways, it kind of makes me mad that we can no longer buy this type of truck here in the United States. Personally I love this little truck because it gets great gas mileage, it doesn't break down, its comfortable by cheap truck standards(go drive a base 80's/90's/00's S10 or F150 work truck for comparison), and the big thing is you can reach over into the bed. Newer/taller trucks drive me nuts with that, you have to climb up into the bed to get the cargo out.
Granted I do like the new Tacoma, its a great truck provided you get the V6(4 cylinders are a dog considering how big/heavy this truck is), but man its huge, you can't reach into the bed, and with the V6 its $30,000. My 2004 Tacoma, at $12000, adjusted for inflation is $15,000 in 2016.
I just don't get it, we can have stripper Kia Rio sedans for $15,000, but why can't we have a small, workhorse truck for the same price???? I mean my 2004 Tacoma is so bare bones I think Toyota still made a decent profit on it, even with the $12,000 sale price.
The small, low ride height regular cab trucks like yours are indeed extinct. And sadly so, I agree.
Unfortunately trucks are still pretty heavy and with the new footprint categorization of fuel economy standards, the little trucks would have to get fuel economy similar to small cars, which would take a lot of investment that none of the automakers seem willing to do. Toyota specifically is capacity constrained at their pickup factories, so of course they'll opt to build more higher margin trucks like the 4WD's, Crew Cabs, TRD's etc.
The closest thing to what you want kind of exists in Mexico....low ride height, would be much easier to load a motorcycle or lawn mower. Starts at ~$11,000, payload is over 1,500 pounds, pretty capable!
Yeah what is that??? Looks like a 2016 version of the El Camino, hit upside the head with the ugly stick.
I really wish we could have bought a Holden or Ford Ute here in the States for the past 20 years or so. You can buy them in cheap six cylinder work truck form, or loaded up luxury version with tire frying Corvette/supercharged Mustang V8 power.
There must not have been money in it, overall. No other reason I can think of for the near-simultaneous disappearance of the compact Ford Ranger/Mazda B-series and Chevy S10/GMC Sonoma, followed shortly thereafter by the exit of the midsized Dodge Dakota from the market. Likely the smaller, less expensive trucks were cannibalizing sales from the larger and higher-margin fullsize market.
Ford initially tried to counteract this by simply refusing to update the Ranger for over a decade, even when it was refreshed in the international market. They figured buyers would graduate to the larger trucks due to the ever-increasing disparity between them. But the damn thing kept selling, even when it was 15 years old. So they gave up and dropped it.
I think the only hope for its return is if it were sold by a manufacturer that does not also have a full size program. But the few of these that have been tried--like Subaru did a few years ago with the Baja--have not been successful.
One thing that is driving up the prices of new trucks is that consumers are demanding more and more goodies and equipment on them...even on the most basic work models that you mention. Not only that, but the government itself is now demanding more and more safety, emission, and gas-mileage standards for them. For years, they were exempt from a lot of passenger-car standards, but those days are rapidly waning.
There must not have been money in it, overall. No other reason I can think of for the near-simultaneous disappearance of the compact Ford Ranger/Mazda B-series and Chevy S10/GMC Sonoma, followed shortly thereafter by the exit of the midsized Dodge Dakota from the market. Likely the smaller, less expensive trucks were cannibalizing sales from the larger and higher-margin fullsize market.
Actually, it was the reverse. The full-size models cannibalized sales of compact trucks because, in order to make a profit and cover costs of production, the manufacturers had to price smaller trucks so close to the full-size models that many buyers saw the handwriting on the wall and just went for the full-size models instead. Ford, though, may reconsider on the Ranger..... there is talk of bringing it back, along with a compact or mid-size two-door Bronco.
Originally Posted by pbm317
The small, low ride height regular cab trucks like yours are indeed extinct. And sadly so, I agree.
That's because many buyers today want to keep things inside the cabin, out of the weather.
The Ford Ranger (2010-2012) was pretty decent. 2010+ gained stability control. Consumer Reports generally speaking liked it throughout the years. The 4 cylinder could get mpg in the low 30's with the right coaxing.
Yeah what is that??? Looks like a 2016 version of the El Camino, hit upside the head with the ugly stick.
I really wish we could have bought a Holden or Ford Ute here in the States for the past 20 years or so. You can buy them in cheap six cylinder work truck form, or loaded up luxury version with tire frying Corvette/supercharged Mustang V8 power.
I was thinking minus the front end. It looked like a Subaru brat.
05-10-16, 10:28 PM
Rant: Why can't we buy small, cheap trucks now days????
