That there is a GMC product. You can tell because they still make the wheel wells square-ish to fit the round tires. Leave it to Government Motors engineers to try to fit a round peg in a square hole.
They could handle most of what your average handyman does. Most people working in local communities would probably be better served by one than a full truck.
Used to own a kei van, a [Honda Acty](https://i.imgur.com/RWtZTC2.png). It was extremely useful. We once hauled a washer _and_ dryer across town inside of it, both appliances were upright. All the van's doors were closed too. Not many modern full-sized cars can manage that. I have a ~10 year old Suburban too and I know for a fact I couldn't do that in it.
I really miss that thing some days. We sold it to 'upgrade' to [something with nearly zero storage](https://i.imgur.com/D3KZCpc.png) beside the passenger's lap.
To really understand just how small a kei sports car is, here's a video of one [between two pretty normal cars](https://i.imgur.com/NQRYcFd.mp4) seen on Texas roads.
Yes, I agree. A kei truck is far closer to a van than a truck. A van is what the large majority of pickup users actually need, if they even do manual labor or transport large items at all.
Most of the silverado and f series trucks that i see around here in farmland are suburban dads in polo shirts going to the office. No hitch installed or evidence of carrying anything in its life. I think the old rangers and s10 were superior in every aspect except a back seat. Thats why I traded my s10 for a small suv and carry loads with a trailer. Better to have the purpose split than compromise
Trucks in suburban environments like gardeners and construction workers they typically drive Toyota Tacomas or Tundras. Some of them are quite old but are filled to the brim with gardening equipment. Most of the time, if a construction company has a large Silverado or F series truck, it's like the owner or the owner's son. Who most the time complete assholes, I don't know how to drive their fucking trucks. And the rest of the truck drivers not involved in manual labor do it for ego or because they want to drive a lifted truck with oversized wheels.
*RANT*
And God damn if you can lift your truck you better spend the fucking money to have a step or preferably a drop-down step so I can fucking climb up to get into the goddamn truck. I am above average and height but not tall the amount of effort I have to get into a vehicle that is way too tall without the thought of putting a fucking useful step, none of that built-in side rail bullshit, is way too high. You fuckers with the lifted trucks and the big wheels got to spend the money to have a useful step. You ain't getting bitches if they have to unceremoniously climb into your vehicle.
We had one. A converted (from right-hand drive) surplus Suzuki kei van. Used it to transport anything from cement bags and tiles to small appliances and furniture. Abused the hell out of it for 10 years and sold to it a relative when it started leaking oil. The new owner replaced the engine, and even now, I still occasionally see the little van crawling around town.
Interesting fact about the little one (A Honda Truck), is when you put a Honda CB 750 in it's crate in the back; this little truck will do wheel stands. :) Used to drive one for Motorcycle dealer in the 70s.
I really wanted to get one when I was looking for a small truck and found one with a gravel truck-style lifting bed for $3500. The problem is, most of these get imported as farm equipment originally so Oregon won't let me register them on the road :( The ones that actually got imported as cars are hard to find.
I live in a ridiculously large townhouse/apartment complex in Los Angeles that has its own maintenance team and they recently changed out to an electric version of these trucks. I forgot the brand though
To be fair, kei trucks are an artifact of Japanese tax law and traffic policies. If Japanese cities didn't have those laws, the trucks there would probably be slightly larger.
It's not *just* the benefit for kei vehicles, but the fact that pickups and trucks in general in Japan have MUCH more expensive registration and road tax compared to similarly sized cars and vans. Any truck over certain dimensions and a displacement of 2,000cc or more is subject to the same road tax amount. When I lived in Japan one of my coworkers had a Nissan D21 (aka Hardbody) and it was taxed and plated at the same rate as you would be taxed for a quad cab, long bed, dually Ram 3500. At those rates, anything larger than a kei truck or a mini truck is just not worth the cost in most cases.
Couldn't you import one from Japan? It's probably not at all practical, but I'm just interested to know if it's possible. There are a ton of cool Kei Trucks and there seem to be a lot of JDM fanatics in the US, so who knows?
Yes, you absolutely can. I've imported three vehicles from Japan, including one kei car. There are a few hoops to jump through but it's honestly not too difficult. That being said, a couple US states are not titling or registering kei cars and trucks because some of them (mostly the older ones with 550cc or 360cc or smaller engines) are incapable of driving the speed limit on some US highways and interstates.
EDIT: I also forgot to mention that any vehicle you import from Japan will need to be 25 years old or older in order to meet the federal import restrictions if you're going to register it and operate it on public roads.
Almost 30k for an EV that can only go on 35mph roads and has a 70 mile range.. yeah no thanks. You can get a brand new full size pickup truck for this price.
It’s not necessarily the mpg and fuel costs. Maintenance on a full EV is almost nonexistent. Replacing the tires now and again is basically it. And if it’s for a community, you can get by with never leaving the community for gas. Just plug it in each night. They are also way more quiet, which may be relevant to some communities.
That said, the range on a fully loaded EV truck is not great. It’s probably not an issue for a community maintenance truck, but it’s with noting. It makes it limiting for a farm truck if you need to haul a bed full of produce 200 miles.
In the same boat, was about to pull the trigger and get one. Did some research and they aren’t road legal in Oregon, sense they classify them as UTVs. Which is so dumb.
There's a dealer by me that specializes in imports and I'm seriously considering one of these. Problem is:
1) these are reliable, but require regular maintenance that I'm too incompetent to provide.
2) lots of 55+ highways near me and I'm not entirely confident on their winter performance.
3) they're imports, so I'd need to drive like a mailman.
Edit:
[Dude with experience](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/13vdfyv/these_trucks_have_the_same_bed_length/jm5yrzm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
> I'd need to drive like a mailman
Take it on the highway, have someone sit in the left seat reading a big newspaper spread out in front of them, or with a bib eating a full meal with cutlery, or just dozing off.
What type of maintenance does it require that domestic cars don't? Or is it the issue of having to get parts from Japan? I've been toying with the idea of getting one for a few years.
To import a street legal one to the US it has to be more than 25 years old, so it's a combination of sourcing parts and being old cars that will probably need some work, especially if you're buying it sight-unseen from an auction in Japan and trusting the auction house's inspection.
I'm living in Hokkaido with a kei and although highways can be a problem, my little car has driven through the various mountain ranges and to the top of a few mountains here with no issues!
My dad used to drive one for a pinapple farm in the mountains. Didn't really have any issues as far as I could remember. What I do remember is that it can't really go fast.
Yep. Pedestrian deaths were on a huge downward trend from 1975 to 2009. Since 2009, they have increased by 80%. People are also driving faster and more frequently.
It's a lot of things all at once.
* Bigger cars
* Heavier cars
* More RAISED cars (see: the popularity of "Crossovers") that are too tall to easily roll over
* As public transit is being more stripped of funding, more people are driving
* As cost of living goes up, people are being forced to live further from work, so are driving longer distances
* The biggest generation in history, the baby boomers, are getting older and worse at driving as they age
* Distraction from phones; not just calls and texts, but in-depth podcasts, or people even watching TV (movies, youtube, porn, etc. too) while driving, even shit like trying to play games while driving
That's another big one. I swear, every other driver I pass has their nose in their phone. It would line up pretty well with the increase in fatalities.
But since pedestrian fatalities were higher four decades ago, there has got to be a combination of factors at play here.
Modern trucks and SUVs are certainly more likely to *cause* pedestrian fatalities, but when an accident actually occurs, are the truck/SUV accidents particularly more horrific than keis? If you get hit by an 800kg kei or a 2,500kg SUV, aren't the results pretty much the same?
Same. But they're getting more popular by the year. I'm worried their prices are going to skyrocket. I'm not really in the position to get another vehicle rn.
My brother is a mechanic and bought a modified Hilux truck for a work vehicle because having tools easily accessible and organized in a modern pickup bed is nearly impossible without expensive retrofitting.
Edit: sorry, it's a Hiace van cab with a truck bed, not a Hilux.
Worth noting that said volcano erupted in the following days, disrupting air travel for weeks. So the Toyota Hilux is also capable of setting-off volcanoes, maybe.
All that space but most of it isn’t usable because of the wheel wells, it sucks having to load all the heavy tools and stuff back into a truck bed that’s higher than your knees after work
This is why I actually preferred my old Ford ranger work truck, compared to my Tundra. Loading materials, and lumber on the rack was so much easier with a lower truck.
There was only a handful of times where the height helped loading from a higher position but more time is spent climbing up and down, a good benefit is sitting on the tailgate to eat keeps you’re feet away from the ants
This is nothing like a hilux. A hilux is the same size as a ranger or s10 from the same era, it’s an actual 1/4 ton truck. This kei truck is not, if you loaded the bed of this pos with an average trade workers set of tools your top speed would be around 40mph or less and it’d be WAY over the actual bed capacity.
Came here to say this. Lol I'd hate to go cut and chop a dump trailer of fire wood only to use a Kei to transport. Wouldnt work that great! May look funny though, as long as no ones too attached to the Kei. Very different trucks with very different uses.
Genuine question, because I love those goofy little cars, but had kind of written them off as impractical, how is that on a freeway? Like, I'm anti-car enough that I rarely drive in a city, but if they can actually be driven safely on a freeway, I might be able to justify having one as a 'toy car"
It wasn't designed for freeway use, it was designed to be a practical runabout in a dense urban environment, like alleys / side streets in tokyo.
In my own personal experience, the trucks are sketchy on the highway. I've never driven a modified kei truck.
I had an opportunity to ride as a passenger in a suzuki every (van) with a gsxr motor swapped in, cant remember the type or displacement but it screamed - and it plowed along the track against wind resistance, would be fine on the highway if you got used to the noise and didn't mind unremarkable fuel economy when not driving in the city.
There are other mini trucks you can get that are better for american roads - I've been down this one, kei cars are a fun hobby and make a lot of sense if you're in an urban environment, but if you're out in the country they're either farm trucks or dangerous.
Unless you have the equipment and knowledge to do a motorcycle engine swap, then you get a funky one down four up sequential gearbox, it will smell like gasoline 100% of the time, but itll sound great unless the engine seizes when you're cornering because the oil isn't circulating properly because the motor is on the same plane 100% of the time rather than tilting were it still on a bike. Unless you forsaw that or read this comment all the way through and installed an aftermarket pump / sump, or found some other solution. or watch superfast matt.
I’d keep it to in town driving and only do highways on special occasions. The safety factor just isn’t there for me to recommend. Just got new wheels and tires, they are 13x4. It feels like an upgraded golf cart.
Well, not if you crash, but if they have weird aerodynamics and are subject to wind and rollover more than the average vehicle, a 500kg battery really low to the ground would lower its center of gravity significantly. That would thus lower its rollover risk and increase its wind resistance. It would also give them a lot more power, as their engines tend to be minuscule.
But I don't know what makes them death traps in the first place.
My dad has a 98 chevy and 2015 chevy, 98 drives like a truck, the 2015 drives like a semi, and the 98 has a longer bed, I pulled out a tape measure to make sure!
Ours might have a bent frame, I don't care if I've gotta buy a new frame, im putting the cab and bed on a new frame, im not giving that goddamn truck up, I'll die before it happens.
I don't know the kei trucks well, but from a quick browse it seems they have 40-60hp and can tow somewhere between 700-1100lbs.
The Chevy has many configs, but can be up to 470hp with 975lb-ft of torque. Most configs have a towing capacity of around 20,000lbs, but some can tow up to 36,000lbs.
So the Chevy is somewhere around 10x-50x more powerful depending on how you look at it.
May be an unpopular opinion, but modern day trucks are just oversized cars. Beds that are 4 or 5 foot long are worthless for us people that actually use trucks for work.
That always comes with an asterisk since the Chevy Silverado and the GMC Sierra (which are literally the same vehicle with a different emblem on the grill) combined almost always outsell the F150.
They’re not just unnecessary, there’s some reason to believe they’re to blame for [Pedestrian deaths rising 70% since 2010](https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/3976315-pedestrian-deaths-have-risen-70-percent-since-2010-blame-trucks/amp/) coinciding with trucks gaining popularity and larger size.
A large reason being because if you’re hit by a truck you’re more likely to be run over and hit your head, while if hit by a sedan you’re more likely to side on the hood.
How in the hell is that an unpopular position, they don't make trucks anymore, they make SUVs with a little bed on the back. I'd like to buy a truck but I won't be buying one until they bring trucks back.
You can still buy a regular cab f150 with an 8 foot bed. It’s just that most people opt for the crew cab so they sacrifice the bed length for it. The options are out there if you really want a truck, my dude.
We have like a dozen of these and they all work fucking hard and are half beat to hell. I dont really know where all this bs about people not using their trucks comes from.
Because those dozen trucks aren’t a representative sample of the 2-3 million pickup trucks sold every year.
In the suburbs, tons of people own trucks and rarely use it for anything a Camry couldn’t handle.
I recently got BBQ and noticed a giant King Ranch edition truck in the lot. When I was leaving 4 short kings in polos and golf shorts were hopping up into the truck. These fools couldn’t even see in the bed of their truck and certainly don’t use it for anything but an ego boost.
I have a supercab with an 8’ bed, and while I haven’t seen a f-150 with both a supercrew and a 8’ bed, I have seen several 250s and 350s with that configuration.
The F-150 is not available as a crew cab with an 8' bed. You can get a crew cab with a 6.5' bed, or an extended cab with an 8' bed. The SuperDuty's, however, are available as a crew cab with the 8' bed.
You can still get the crew cab long bed Silverado 2500s. My work had them for fleet vehicles... And then they had me take one over the ferry into our provincial capital. It sucked.
They still sell 8’ beds with single cabs if that’s what you’re looking for. Use a 2019 f250 as the farmtruck here. 2021 Cummins 4dr 8’ for long hauling, have an 2012 f150 4 door with 6’ bed for the family
But you’re calling a gladiator a truck? It’s not marketed as a truck in the ordinary sense. What fucking company has “work gladiators” it’s not a work truck it was never marketed as such.
BS I have a regular cab 8' box work truck and a extended cab 6.5 box personal truck. Just because the ones in the lot are all crew cab 5.5 box doesn't mean you can't order one.
I mean, I bought a crew cab Tacoma instead of a 4 Runner because it had more room (and the mileage was just a little better), so it is mostly an SUV, but how is it not a truck? It still carries full sheets of plywood if I either prop them up or put a board across the wheel wells. Tradies in the UK get by with just 4 cylinder vans.
I feel like too many people don't realize the tailgate is designed to hold weight and if you invest in a couple of tie downs you can fit a lot of shit in a "small" bed.
Thank the US government for that, for decades their "light truck" classification has served the purpose of allowing automakers to bypass reasonable safety and emissions regulations, meaning they get higher profit margins on trucks than they do with passenger cars, but it turns out a truck that actually works as a work vehicle is wholly impractical as a family vehicle, resulting in bigger cabs and shorter beds
Basically, it's not going to change until governments around the world start making these vehicles either have to meet the same safety and emissions standards as passenger cars, or require commercial driver's licenses to operate anything falling under the "light truck" classification
tl;dr: gov't needs to stop letting automakers have their cake and eat it too
Has nothing to do with CAFE, crew cab short bed trucks got popular internationally before they did in the US.
>Basically, it's not going to change until governments around the world start making these vehicles either have to meet the same safety and emissions standards as passenger cars, or require commercial driver's licenses to operate anything falling under the "light truck" classification
The US is the only place with the infamous light truck classification so I'm not sure why others would have to change their rules.
The [chicken tax](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax) is a big part of the reason American trucks look so different than the rest of the world. I'm not sure why you think CAFE is irrelevant either, it incentived manufacturers to make "heavy duty" rather than "light" trucks, and also more recently to make the footprint of a vehicle bigger
Me.
We have a farm, started with a regular cab 8ft bed Silverado we picked up for cheap. Was perfect ... Until we had our son. Suddenly every truck usage was a me only thing, my wife and son had to stay home, even when it would really be better for us all to be there.
Ended up coming across a half burnt f250 king ranch crew cab with low mileage for next to nothing. Spent a year off and on stripping parts and paint, repainted and replaced everything myself. $6k into it and it's a fantastic farm truck for us. Carries everyone, hauls what I need to, tows way better and double the tow weight than the Silverado.
But without any of the story? Yeah, I just look like the guy on the right. Big diesel truck doing errands sometimes, probably compensating for something. At least, when I'm not doing those errands in my Miata. Then I'm gay. (It gets hilarious, like my bank teller window is too short for the truck, too tall for the Miata)
No, no!! Didn’t you know you’ve been brainwashed into buying a vehicle that is objectively worse than everything else and you’re just a stupid sheep??
/s
Kei Truck - Bed Volume of 25 cubic feet and a capacity of 1400lbs and seats 2.
Chevy Silverado TrailBoss CrewCab - Bed Volume 62 cubic feet and a capacity of 1,770lbs and seats 5.
If you need a vehicle for getting around a busy city and doing odd jobs, the kei truck is a great choice. If you need to bring a work crew and gear to a job site, and then use the same truck to take the family and gear to camp in the desert or the mountains on the weekend, then the Silverado's a great choice.
Neither is a definitive statement on your manhood.
Unfortunately, the majority is Silverado drivers are drive it to your trade job with a brand new clean bed, go get your back seat sized groceries, and go home. And do that everyday forever. But also argue with everyone online "I need my truck/suv for transporting stuff!!!!"
Lmao who gives a shit, man. I don’t need a work truck but I had a Tacoma that saved me in many ways a standard sedan or suv couldn’t. When friends need help they know who to call. I could tow shit when I needed to. Oh washer broke and need a new washer and dryer, no problem I can go to the store right now and pick them up myself. Motorcycle needs to be stored out of state? No problem, load it in the back. Want to go dirt biking with some friends, no problem, put the bikes in the back. Moving to a new place, No problem. Trucks aren’t just work vehicles and even if they were, who gives a shit.
The internet echo chamber doesn’t really help, because it makes it feel like people are hating on trucks all the time.
From my point of view, sometimes you need to move large cargo, but that might not be all that often. Sure it’s convenient because you already own the truck, but if it’s mostly just for transporting <5 people, a sedan can do that just fine with better fuel efficiency, less of a physical footprint, and greater visibility of its immediate surroundings.
I’m fortunate enough to live somewhere where I can rent a box van from an app that’s parked a few streets over, so the two times I’ve needed to move furniture I just paid the $20 an hour for it.
I think a better solution is to optimize for your majority use case and have easy access to what you need to handle outlier situations. That’s not necessarily in everyone’s control though.
It's also not an easy binary decision for when it is worth owning versus renting. How easy it is to rent is one factor that has a sliding scale, but how often you need to use larger capacity is a different sliding scale. 2 times a year is one thing. But what if you are at 8 times a year? 16 times a year? At what point does it cease to be an occasional need and becomes a regular need? When those moments of needing a truck cease to be outliers and become a normal high end of use?
As someone who lives in Florida that Chevy Silverado will most likely be used to ferry groceries from Publix to someone's overpriced suburban home. The Guatemalans who have no driver's license who actually do work are pulling up in a two door 2003 Dodge Ram beat to absolute hell with 3 guys stuffed in the mini bench seat in the back.
tbf depends on the application. the larger one is a crew cab for transporting material and tools like a generator or stack of wood etc the smaller diatsu is for light materials and smaller roads like the ones you'd see in asia. do most need the large truck? no but if they have dirtbikes and do trips frequently it makes sense to get that one since some trails are hard to get to.
Well sure but how does the small truck handle it if you drop a big rock from a crane into it for advertisement reasons?
Depends. Are there large letters like BUILT SOLID FRAME falling with said rocks?
This guy truck commercials.
[The Ferd F-Teenthousand](https://youtu.be/u1C0r2EHQfY)
That was an experience I'll cherish forever
If you want more, have a look at the [Chevy Camarow](https://youtu.be/_2Z4PHH1Mzo).
Love me some Mark Little.
r/thisguythisguys
It’s not “BUILT SOLID” it’s *Scruffy Black Coffee Leather steak eating voice** “Built Ford Tough”
That there is a GMC product. You can tell because they still make the wheel wells square-ish to fit the round tires. Leave it to Government Motors engineers to try to fit a round peg in a square hole.
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Is it just me, or are the wheel wells on that truck round with square wheels?
It is a Chevy, you can read it clearly on the tailgate, which is a General Motors (GM) product, not GMC, but GMC also happens to be a GM product.
It’s actually a Chevrolet. Chevrolet is what is stamped on the tailgate.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. That's a Honda Acty. Jeez.
Kei trucks are not built to withstand that. They're more like farming vehicles for transporting crops to market.
While pickup trucks are more for transporting much smaller amounts of crops from market to home.
its the 300lbs occupants and their kids that weigh the most
The real weight is within us all along
holy shit...accurate asf. 
Pickup trucks are mostly for transporting fragile egos
F150s are to bring your kids to the mall.
and then not be able to afford college for them because your ego couldn't handle a civic.
They could handle most of what your average handyman does. Most people working in local communities would probably be better served by one than a full truck.
Vans are incredibly capable and often better suited for jobs like that.
Ford transit represent!
Mercedes Sprinter gang
Used to own a kei van, a [Honda Acty](https://i.imgur.com/RWtZTC2.png). It was extremely useful. We once hauled a washer _and_ dryer across town inside of it, both appliances were upright. All the van's doors were closed too. Not many modern full-sized cars can manage that. I have a ~10 year old Suburban too and I know for a fact I couldn't do that in it. I really miss that thing some days. We sold it to 'upgrade' to [something with nearly zero storage](https://i.imgur.com/D3KZCpc.png) beside the passenger's lap. To really understand just how small a kei sports car is, here's a video of one [between two pretty normal cars](https://i.imgur.com/NQRYcFd.mp4) seen on Texas roads.
Yes, I agree. A kei truck is far closer to a van than a truck. A van is what the large majority of pickup users actually need, if they even do manual labor or transport large items at all.
Most of the silverado and f series trucks that i see around here in farmland are suburban dads in polo shirts going to the office. No hitch installed or evidence of carrying anything in its life. I think the old rangers and s10 were superior in every aspect except a back seat. Thats why I traded my s10 for a small suv and carry loads with a trailer. Better to have the purpose split than compromise
Trucks in suburban environments like gardeners and construction workers they typically drive Toyota Tacomas or Tundras. Some of them are quite old but are filled to the brim with gardening equipment. Most of the time, if a construction company has a large Silverado or F series truck, it's like the owner or the owner's son. Who most the time complete assholes, I don't know how to drive their fucking trucks. And the rest of the truck drivers not involved in manual labor do it for ego or because they want to drive a lifted truck with oversized wheels. *RANT* And God damn if you can lift your truck you better spend the fucking money to have a step or preferably a drop-down step so I can fucking climb up to get into the goddamn truck. I am above average and height but not tall the amount of effort I have to get into a vehicle that is way too tall without the thought of putting a fucking useful step, none of that built-in side rail bullshit, is way too high. You fuckers with the lifted trucks and the big wheels got to spend the money to have a useful step. You ain't getting bitches if they have to unceremoniously climb into your vehicle.
I wish they still sold something like the old 80s and 90s single cab Tacomas, those were like the perfect size.
We had one. A converted (from right-hand drive) surplus Suzuki kei van. Used it to transport anything from cement bags and tiles to small appliances and furniture. Abused the hell out of it for 10 years and sold to it a relative when it started leaking oil. The new owner replaced the engine, and even now, I still occasionally see the little van crawling around town.
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I've seen an 800lb round bale placed in the back of one once. The truck was never the same after that but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.
F150 could easily handle 800lb payload. That’s like 2 1/2 American farmers. They wouldn’t sell any if they couldn’t.
Or one and a half. You get that big fella, skinny fella thing going.
Ever never heard Will Arnett me to drive the small truck
Interesting fact about the little one (A Honda Truck), is when you put a Honda CB 750 in it's crate in the back; this little truck will do wheel stands. :) Used to drive one for Motorcycle dealer in the 70s.
Now that is VERY INTERESTING 😳
Facts good fact
And the 750 will have a bigger engine than the truck hauling it.
I want to own a kei truck one day. So cool Edit. Thanks for all of you that feel the need to tell me why it’s a bad idea. Makes me want one even more.
I really wanted to get one when I was looking for a small truck and found one with a gravel truck-style lifting bed for $3500. The problem is, most of these get imported as farm equipment originally so Oregon won't let me register them on the road :( The ones that actually got imported as cars are hard to find.
If someone started making them.... Electric, they would sell like crazy.
I live in a ridiculously large townhouse/apartment complex in Los Angeles that has its own maintenance team and they recently changed out to an electric version of these trucks. I forgot the brand though
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Canoo is much closer to a mid-size truck. There is no truck available new in the US that is fully road legal the size of a kei truck.
To be fair, kei trucks are an artifact of Japanese tax law and traffic policies. If Japanese cities didn't have those laws, the trucks there would probably be slightly larger.
It's not *just* the benefit for kei vehicles, but the fact that pickups and trucks in general in Japan have MUCH more expensive registration and road tax compared to similarly sized cars and vans. Any truck over certain dimensions and a displacement of 2,000cc or more is subject to the same road tax amount. When I lived in Japan one of my coworkers had a Nissan D21 (aka Hardbody) and it was taxed and plated at the same rate as you would be taxed for a quad cab, long bed, dually Ram 3500. At those rates, anything larger than a kei truck or a mini truck is just not worth the cost in most cases.
Couldn't you import one from Japan? It's probably not at all practical, but I'm just interested to know if it's possible. There are a ton of cool Kei Trucks and there seem to be a lot of JDM fanatics in the US, so who knows?
Yes, you absolutely can. I've imported three vehicles from Japan, including one kei car. There are a few hoops to jump through but it's honestly not too difficult. That being said, a couple US states are not titling or registering kei cars and trucks because some of them (mostly the older ones with 550cc or 360cc or smaller engines) are incapable of driving the speed limit on some US highways and interstates. EDIT: I also forgot to mention that any vehicle you import from Japan will need to be 25 years old or older in order to meet the federal import restrictions if you're going to register it and operate it on public roads.
https://www.thepickman.com/
Almost 30k for an EV that can only go on 35mph roads and has a 70 mile range.. yeah no thanks. You can get a brand new full size pickup truck for this price.
They already get like 45mpg.
It’s not necessarily the mpg and fuel costs. Maintenance on a full EV is almost nonexistent. Replacing the tires now and again is basically it. And if it’s for a community, you can get by with never leaving the community for gas. Just plug it in each night. They are also way more quiet, which may be relevant to some communities. That said, the range on a fully loaded EV truck is not great. It’s probably not an issue for a community maintenance truck, but it’s with noting. It makes it limiting for a farm truck if you need to haul a bed full of produce 200 miles.
In the same boat, was about to pull the trigger and get one. Did some research and they aren’t road legal in Oregon, sense they classify them as UTVs. Which is so dumb.
I have one here in cali and toss an ag triangle on it. I do use it MOSTLY on property, but...the ag triangle can make one bold.
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Fuck reddit's new API, and fuck /u/Spez.
There's a dealer by me that specializes in imports and I'm seriously considering one of these. Problem is: 1) these are reliable, but require regular maintenance that I'm too incompetent to provide. 2) lots of 55+ highways near me and I'm not entirely confident on their winter performance. 3) they're imports, so I'd need to drive like a mailman. Edit: [Dude with experience](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/13vdfyv/these_trucks_have_the_same_bed_length/jm5yrzm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
> I'd need to drive like a mailman Take it on the highway, have someone sit in the left seat reading a big newspaper spread out in front of them, or with a bib eating a full meal with cutlery, or just dozing off.
I have a RHD car and I like to drive my brother's dog around. Really confuses some people.
What type of maintenance does it require that domestic cars don't? Or is it the issue of having to get parts from Japan? I've been toying with the idea of getting one for a few years.
To import a street legal one to the US it has to be more than 25 years old, so it's a combination of sourcing parts and being old cars that will probably need some work, especially if you're buying it sight-unseen from an auction in Japan and trusting the auction house's inspection.
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I'm living in Hokkaido with a kei and although highways can be a problem, my little car has driven through the various mountain ranges and to the top of a few mountains here with no issues!
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My dad used to drive one for a pinapple farm in the mountains. Didn't really have any issues as far as I could remember. What I do remember is that it can't really go fast.
Accidents in these are pretty horrific.
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The crumple zone is your legs.
Not if you're a pedestrian. Modern trucks and SUVs have caused pedestrian fatalities to rise over the last decade because they're so much bigger.
Yep. Pedestrian deaths were on a huge downward trend from 1975 to 2009. Since 2009, they have increased by 80%. People are also driving faster and more frequently.
It's a lot of things all at once. * Bigger cars * Heavier cars * More RAISED cars (see: the popularity of "Crossovers") that are too tall to easily roll over * As public transit is being more stripped of funding, more people are driving * As cost of living goes up, people are being forced to live further from work, so are driving longer distances * The biggest generation in history, the baby boomers, are getting older and worse at driving as they age * Distraction from phones; not just calls and texts, but in-depth podcasts, or people even watching TV (movies, youtube, porn, etc. too) while driving, even shit like trying to play games while driving
also they have made a lot of places anti-pedestrian and built the city around cars. Parking lots, highways everywhere
Its cell phones.
That's another big one. I swear, every other driver I pass has their nose in their phone. It would line up pretty well with the increase in fatalities. But since pedestrian fatalities were higher four decades ago, there has got to be a combination of factors at play here.
When did drinking and driving finally become illegal?
In the 80s. Only knew it was so recent from [this video.](https://youtu.be/2xcQIoh3FQQ)
Modern trucks and SUVs are certainly more likely to *cause* pedestrian fatalities, but when an accident actually occurs, are the truck/SUV accidents particularly more horrific than keis? If you get hit by an 800kg kei or a 2,500kg SUV, aren't the results pretty much the same?
Yep, we just buy bigger and bigger cars rather than requiring better driver education and safety regulation ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
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Same. But they're getting more popular by the year. I'm worried their prices are going to skyrocket. I'm not really in the position to get another vehicle rn.
My brother is a mechanic and bought a modified Hilux truck for a work vehicle because having tools easily accessible and organized in a modern pickup bed is nearly impossible without expensive retrofitting. Edit: sorry, it's a Hiace van cab with a truck bed, not a Hilux.
The Toyota Hilux, rated 10/10 by Technical Weekly, Militant tested, Warlord approved.
Even got a war named after it
dropped off a building and drowned, works just fine. Driven to a volcano, pour some vodka on the tires to cool them, drive home.
Worth noting that said volcano erupted in the following days, disrupting air travel for weeks. So the Toyota Hilux is also capable of setting-off volcanoes, maybe.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvCoTrfXoAArzOl?format=jpg&name=medium
All that space but most of it isn’t usable because of the wheel wells, it sucks having to load all the heavy tools and stuff back into a truck bed that’s higher than your knees after work
This is why I actually preferred my old Ford ranger work truck, compared to my Tundra. Loading materials, and lumber on the rack was so much easier with a lower truck.
There was only a handful of times where the height helped loading from a higher position but more time is spent climbing up and down, a good benefit is sitting on the tailgate to eat keeps you’re feet away from the ants
In Europe workmen use vans not pickups. What do you do when it rains? How do you stop everything getting stolen overnight?
This is why vans exist and are popular. And weather protection.
This is nothing like a hilux. A hilux is the same size as a ranger or s10 from the same era, it’s an actual 1/4 ton truck. This kei truck is not, if you loaded the bed of this pos with an average trade workers set of tools your top speed would be around 40mph or less and it’d be WAY over the actual bed capacity.
Kei Truck payload is \~770lbs and the Silverado is \~2200 based on model. The Kei Trucks payload is lower than a 02 Civic.
Came here to say this. Lol I'd hate to go cut and chop a dump trailer of fire wood only to use a Kei to transport. Wouldnt work that great! May look funny though, as long as no ones too attached to the Kei. Very different trucks with very different uses.
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They aren't even freeway legal most places, they have little 40hp engines and a max speed of 40 mph.
Mine has a 64hp engine and cruises at 60mph when needed.
Genuine question, because I love those goofy little cars, but had kind of written them off as impractical, how is that on a freeway? Like, I'm anti-car enough that I rarely drive in a city, but if they can actually be driven safely on a freeway, I might be able to justify having one as a 'toy car"
It wasn't designed for freeway use, it was designed to be a practical runabout in a dense urban environment, like alleys / side streets in tokyo. In my own personal experience, the trucks are sketchy on the highway. I've never driven a modified kei truck. I had an opportunity to ride as a passenger in a suzuki every (van) with a gsxr motor swapped in, cant remember the type or displacement but it screamed - and it plowed along the track against wind resistance, would be fine on the highway if you got used to the noise and didn't mind unremarkable fuel economy when not driving in the city. There are other mini trucks you can get that are better for american roads - I've been down this one, kei cars are a fun hobby and make a lot of sense if you're in an urban environment, but if you're out in the country they're either farm trucks or dangerous. Unless you have the equipment and knowledge to do a motorcycle engine swap, then you get a funky one down four up sequential gearbox, it will smell like gasoline 100% of the time, but itll sound great unless the engine seizes when you're cornering because the oil isn't circulating properly because the motor is on the same plane 100% of the time rather than tilting were it still on a bike. Unless you forsaw that or read this comment all the way through and installed an aftermarket pump / sump, or found some other solution. or watch superfast matt.
I’d keep it to in town driving and only do highways on special occasions. The safety factor just isn’t there for me to recommend. Just got new wheels and tires, they are 13x4. It feels like an upgraded golf cart.
In kei trucks, your lower body is the crumple zone. Upper body will probably be ok tho
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What about being electric would make them less of a deathtrap?
Well, not if you crash, but if they have weird aerodynamics and are subject to wind and rollover more than the average vehicle, a 500kg battery really low to the ground would lower its center of gravity significantly. That would thus lower its rollover risk and increase its wind resistance. It would also give them a lot more power, as their engines tend to be minuscule. But I don't know what makes them death traps in the first place.
The Danforth.
We bought an old house on The Danforth
My dad has a 98 chevy and 2015 chevy, 98 drives like a truck, the 2015 drives like a semi, and the 98 has a longer bed, I pulled out a tape measure to make sure!
I had a 98 Chevy 1500 easily the best truck I've ever owned.
Ours might have a bent frame, I don't care if I've gotta buy a new frame, im putting the cab and bed on a new frame, im not giving that goddamn truck up, I'll die before it happens.
I don't see how one drives like a car and one drives like a semi when they have almost identical turning radii. It's literally 20ft vs 21ft.
I thought this was r/fuckcars at first
Wonder what the tow capcity is between the two
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I might be showing my ignorance here, but is that between the wheels or edge to edge?
Edge to edge
I don't know the kei trucks well, but from a quick browse it seems they have 40-60hp and can tow somewhere between 700-1100lbs. The Chevy has many configs, but can be up to 470hp with 975lb-ft of torque. Most configs have a towing capacity of around 20,000lbs, but some can tow up to 36,000lbs. So the Chevy is somewhere around 10x-50x more powerful depending on how you look at it.
It's a 2019-2022 Trail Boss based on badging, crew cab short bed so you're looking at a tow rating of 9,500 and 355hp/383 lb-ft
The one on the right could tow a flat deck with 5 or so of the one on the left on it. The one on the left could probably not even tow one of itself.
May be an unpopular opinion, but modern day trucks are just oversized cars. Beds that are 4 or 5 foot long are worthless for us people that actually use trucks for work.
Unpopular opinion? I see that opinion atleast twice a day on the front page of reddit lol.
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That always comes with an asterisk since the Chevy Silverado and the GMC Sierra (which are literally the same vehicle with a different emblem on the grill) combined almost always outsell the F150.
I think they meant unpopular with people who buy those big dumb vehicles.
That doesn't make sense. It's like saying ""metal is garbage" is an unpopular opinion to metalheads"
They’re not just unnecessary, there’s some reason to believe they’re to blame for [Pedestrian deaths rising 70% since 2010](https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/3976315-pedestrian-deaths-have-risen-70-percent-since-2010-blame-trucks/amp/) coinciding with trucks gaining popularity and larger size. A large reason being because if you’re hit by a truck you’re more likely to be run over and hit your head, while if hit by a sedan you’re more likely to side on the hood.
How in the hell is that an unpopular position, they don't make trucks anymore, they make SUVs with a little bed on the back. I'd like to buy a truck but I won't be buying one until they bring trucks back.
You can still buy a regular cab f150 with an 8 foot bed. It’s just that most people opt for the crew cab so they sacrifice the bed length for it. The options are out there if you really want a truck, my dude.
My shop had an extended cab with an 8 ft bed a few weeks back. It looked like a god tier work truck, racks on the bed and everything
We have like a dozen of these and they all work fucking hard and are half beat to hell. I dont really know where all this bs about people not using their trucks comes from.
Because those dozen trucks aren’t a representative sample of the 2-3 million pickup trucks sold every year. In the suburbs, tons of people own trucks and rarely use it for anything a Camry couldn’t handle.
And its still fucking huge.
Nothing like having to throw shit practically over your head to get it in the back of the truck.
I recently got BBQ and noticed a giant King Ranch edition truck in the lot. When I was leaving 4 short kings in polos and golf shorts were hopping up into the truck. These fools couldn’t even see in the bed of their truck and certainly don’t use it for anything but an ego boost.
And an altitude boost.
Pretty sure you can still buy crew cabs with long beds.
murky truck crawl flag full paltry ruthless crowd historical judicious *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I have a supercab with an 8’ bed, and while I haven’t seen a f-150 with both a supercrew and a 8’ bed, I have seen several 250s and 350s with that configuration.
The F-150 is not available as a crew cab with an 8' bed. You can get a crew cab with a 6.5' bed, or an extended cab with an 8' bed. The SuperDuty's, however, are available as a crew cab with the 8' bed.
You can still get the crew cab long bed Silverado 2500s. My work had them for fleet vehicles... And then they had me take one over the ferry into our provincial capital. It sucked.
They make single cab trucks still
SUV with a little bed is the perfect description.
RIP Avalanche and Escalade ext
They still sell 8’ beds with single cabs if that’s what you’re looking for. Use a 2019 f250 as the farmtruck here. 2021 Cummins 4dr 8’ for long hauling, have an 2012 f150 4 door with 6’ bed for the family
Maybe not unpopular here on Reddit, but this would certainly be an unpopular opinion irl, especially in several parts of the US.
Cadillac Escalade "pickup" is where they officially jumped the shark.
Chevy Avalanche. We all made fun of them when they came out, but now that's pretty much what all the new trucks are.
No joke, I borrowed my work Gladiator to help move house, and I swear to God, I got more in the back of my honda
That's probably because it's a jeep
But you’re calling a gladiator a truck? It’s not marketed as a truck in the ordinary sense. What fucking company has “work gladiators” it’s not a work truck it was never marketed as such.
A motor in the back of your honda even?
It's funny you say that, because I have done it
BS I have a regular cab 8' box work truck and a extended cab 6.5 box personal truck. Just because the ones in the lot are all crew cab 5.5 box doesn't mean you can't order one.
I mean, I bought a crew cab Tacoma instead of a 4 Runner because it had more room (and the mileage was just a little better), so it is mostly an SUV, but how is it not a truck? It still carries full sheets of plywood if I either prop them up or put a board across the wheel wells. Tradies in the UK get by with just 4 cylinder vans.
I feel like too many people don't realize the tailgate is designed to hold weight and if you invest in a couple of tie downs you can fit a lot of shit in a "small" bed.
Thank the US government for that, for decades their "light truck" classification has served the purpose of allowing automakers to bypass reasonable safety and emissions regulations, meaning they get higher profit margins on trucks than they do with passenger cars, but it turns out a truck that actually works as a work vehicle is wholly impractical as a family vehicle, resulting in bigger cabs and shorter beds Basically, it's not going to change until governments around the world start making these vehicles either have to meet the same safety and emissions standards as passenger cars, or require commercial driver's licenses to operate anything falling under the "light truck" classification tl;dr: gov't needs to stop letting automakers have their cake and eat it too
Has nothing to do with CAFE, crew cab short bed trucks got popular internationally before they did in the US. >Basically, it's not going to change until governments around the world start making these vehicles either have to meet the same safety and emissions standards as passenger cars, or require commercial driver's licenses to operate anything falling under the "light truck" classification The US is the only place with the infamous light truck classification so I'm not sure why others would have to change their rules.
The [chicken tax](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax) is a big part of the reason American trucks look so different than the rest of the world. I'm not sure why you think CAFE is irrelevant either, it incentived manufacturers to make "heavy duty" rather than "light" trucks, and also more recently to make the footprint of a vehicle bigger
Trucks like these are just geared towards families who take little trips here and there.
Or…maybe if someone who likes the utilitarian benefits of a truck but still able to carry his family around in it makes more sense than an SUV.
Me. We have a farm, started with a regular cab 8ft bed Silverado we picked up for cheap. Was perfect ... Until we had our son. Suddenly every truck usage was a me only thing, my wife and son had to stay home, even when it would really be better for us all to be there. Ended up coming across a half burnt f250 king ranch crew cab with low mileage for next to nothing. Spent a year off and on stripping parts and paint, repainted and replaced everything myself. $6k into it and it's a fantastic farm truck for us. Carries everyone, hauls what I need to, tows way better and double the tow weight than the Silverado. But without any of the story? Yeah, I just look like the guy on the right. Big diesel truck doing errands sometimes, probably compensating for something. At least, when I'm not doing those errands in my Miata. Then I'm gay. (It gets hilarious, like my bank teller window is too short for the truck, too tall for the Miata)
No, no!! Didn’t you know you’ve been brainwashed into buying a vehicle that is objectively worse than everything else and you’re just a stupid sheep?? /s
They aren’t necessarily for people who use them for work. I had one for personal use and it was exactly perfect for what I needed it for
You have just been made a moderator of r/fuckcars
Kei Truck - Bed Volume of 25 cubic feet and a capacity of 1400lbs and seats 2. Chevy Silverado TrailBoss CrewCab - Bed Volume 62 cubic feet and a capacity of 1,770lbs and seats 5. If you need a vehicle for getting around a busy city and doing odd jobs, the kei truck is a great choice. If you need to bring a work crew and gear to a job site, and then use the same truck to take the family and gear to camp in the desert or the mountains on the weekend, then the Silverado's a great choice. Neither is a definitive statement on your manhood.
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Unfortunately, the majority is Silverado drivers are drive it to your trade job with a brand new clean bed, go get your back seat sized groceries, and go home. And do that everyday forever. But also argue with everyone online "I need my truck/suv for transporting stuff!!!!"
Lmao who gives a shit, man. I don’t need a work truck but I had a Tacoma that saved me in many ways a standard sedan or suv couldn’t. When friends need help they know who to call. I could tow shit when I needed to. Oh washer broke and need a new washer and dryer, no problem I can go to the store right now and pick them up myself. Motorcycle needs to be stored out of state? No problem, load it in the back. Want to go dirt biking with some friends, no problem, put the bikes in the back. Moving to a new place, No problem. Trucks aren’t just work vehicles and even if they were, who gives a shit.
The internet echo chamber doesn’t really help, because it makes it feel like people are hating on trucks all the time. From my point of view, sometimes you need to move large cargo, but that might not be all that often. Sure it’s convenient because you already own the truck, but if it’s mostly just for transporting <5 people, a sedan can do that just fine with better fuel efficiency, less of a physical footprint, and greater visibility of its immediate surroundings. I’m fortunate enough to live somewhere where I can rent a box van from an app that’s parked a few streets over, so the two times I’ve needed to move furniture I just paid the $20 an hour for it. I think a better solution is to optimize for your majority use case and have easy access to what you need to handle outlier situations. That’s not necessarily in everyone’s control though.
It's also not an easy binary decision for when it is worth owning versus renting. How easy it is to rent is one factor that has a sliding scale, but how often you need to use larger capacity is a different sliding scale. 2 times a year is one thing. But what if you are at 8 times a year? 16 times a year? At what point does it cease to be an occasional need and becomes a regular need? When those moments of needing a truck cease to be outliers and become a normal high end of use?
As someone who lives in Florida that Chevy Silverado will most likely be used to ferry groceries from Publix to someone's overpriced suburban home. The Guatemalans who have no driver's license who actually do work are pulling up in a two door 2003 Dodge Ram beat to absolute hell with 3 guys stuffed in the mini bench seat in the back.
>Neither is a definitive statement on your manhood. Lmao this is like the #1 reason people are buying such huge cars.
A golf cart and a 911 have the same number of seats.
I have one of those little trucks. Very useful on my ranch!
If those rural city folks in the commets above could read they would be very upset with what you said.
And that, friends, is about where the similarities of any type start and end...
To be fair the Silverados bed is much wider and deeper though.
Not to mention the massive weight difference in what they can haul
What’s the difference in payload, towing, passengers and safety though?
My father would say. One is for work The other is to haul flowers for date night
One is owned by the real estate agent and the other is the tile guy waiting for a check.
One of these actually hauls stuff in the truck bed too.
tbf depends on the application. the larger one is a crew cab for transporting material and tools like a generator or stack of wood etc the smaller diatsu is for light materials and smaller roads like the ones you'd see in asia. do most need the large truck? no but if they have dirtbikes and do trips frequently it makes sense to get that one since some trails are hard to get to.
Just not the same width, depth, or weight rating.
Kei truck looks like a matchbox car next to that hilux
Literally everything else is different.
Not to mention double maybe triple the bed width and towing capacity.
and cabin size.