Home » That Viral Tweet About Truck Bed Sizes Over The Years Is Just Stupid

That Viral Tweet About Truck Bed Sizes Over The Years Is Just Stupid

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First off, I want to be clear that I’m a champion of small, useful trucks. I love them! There’s a reason I picked a tiny Taylor-Dunn workhorse for the Autopian’s first Truck of the Year, and why I braved the wrath of so many Ford F-150 owners when I pointed out how a small, one-cylinder Indian-market pickup had more payload capacity than some F-150s. Big-ass trucks do not always make a lot of sense, and if all you’re doing in them is driving to work and getting groceries or taking your dog to the movies or whatever then it’s possible you’re using the wrong tool for the job. Then again, drive what you want. I’m bringing all this up because there’s been another half-assed viral car-related tweet that’s blown up and has been seen by millions, shared by the kind of smug jackasses you desperately try to avoid at parties. Last time it was about how all SUVs allegedly look alike, and this time it’s about being wrong but still a judgy prick about truck bed sizes. I guess we may as well do this.

Here’s the tweet about this I saw first, coming from a Twitter account named “FuckCars,” which might be valuable context to keep in mind:

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At most recent count, that tweet has been seen 11.3 million times, which is a lot of times for anything to have been seen by anyone. I’ve probably only seen The Big Lebowski one-millionth of that many times, and I think it’s a fantastic movie, for example. So, what’s this tweet saying? It appears to show how truck bed length has decreased as a percentage of overall length over the F-150’s lifetime, based on measurements from 1961 to 2021. I’m pretty sure anyone reading this sees the inherent flaw here, but before we address this wildly obvious elephant in the room wearing a hat that says ELEPHANT in bright LEDs, let’s go to the source data of this chart, which is noted as coming from Axios, specifically this article, which is a subset of this longer, more involved one.

Essentially, what that Axios article describes is how the pickup truck in America has transitioned from being primarily a workhorse vehicle into a much more mainstream, general-use family car, and the associated body and other changes that went along with that, most specifically cab size. This is generally a reasonable observation about what’s been happening over the decades, and there’s definitely positives and negatives to this trend.

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The viral tweet latches onto one part of the Axios story, how the cab to bed ratio seems to have changed over the years, and states that “A new F-150 is just a minivan with a doorless trunk.” Now, even if we ignore the weird language (doorless trunk? Who talks like that?) and the strange attempt at minivan shaming (there’s nothing wrong with a minivan [Ed Note: Also, trucks don’t have sliding doors, so this makes no sense. -DT]) we can’t ignore what this whole mess ignores: You can still buy single-cab, long-bed pickup trucks. If we look at a brand-new Ford F-150 with a long (8 foot) bed with a single cab and compare it to one of those 1961-1979 F-150s shown in that chart, and then do our own math based on the overall length of the truck and seeing what percentage the bed takes up, we see it’s just about identical:

F150comparo1

Comparing apples to apples here, where those apples have single-cabs and long-beds, we see that bed percentage of overall length really hasn’t changed all that much at all. And, if we’re feeling saucy, like we clearly are, why shouldn’t we also just take a moment to note that the modern truck is much more fuel efficient and wildly safer than the old F-150, at least from the perspective of the people inside. It’s not wrong that bigger and heavier pickup trucks can cause more damage in wrecks, but it’s not like being hit by a ’70s-era F-150 is a picnic, either.

The Axios article has a similar graphic to the one in the tweet, too, and it’s similarly misleading:

Cab Bed Axios

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(image: Axios)

This isn’t showing any ratios flipping, it’s comparing fundamentally different types of trucks. A crew cab, by the very nature of how human bodies require physical space to exist, needs to be bigger. And, unless you want your truck itself to be even longer, then you have to take that space from somewhere, hence shorter beds. It’s not a new thing, it’s how crew cabs have always worked.

Crewcabs

That old ’70s Ford extended cab on the left there has a long bed, and the whole thing is incredibly long; and that’s not even a full crew cab, it just has two doors. And other crew cab designs like the Volkswagen Type 2 double-cab there has a shorter bed, but still decently long, and keeps the overall length short because it’s a rear-engine-under-the-bed design with no hood, something that’s not really feasible if we care about meeting modern crash standards. Don’t get me wrong, I love that design, but there’s actual reasons why modern crew cab trucks look the way they do.

This isn’t a trend of “shrinking beds” as those graphs and articles claim, it’s a change in how people use trucks, and I think it uses the trends of more mainstream truck ownership to make some kind of vague point that we’re all going crazy and being more and more wasteful and killing everyone and somehow the inherent problem is our nation’s love for trucks, which are, you know, bad I guess.

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But, any amount of scrutiny shows that this really isn’t the case. Yes, we all could get by with smaller cars for most use. I believe this, and, as a driver of a miniscule 52 hp weirdo car, I practice what I preach. But that doesn’t mean I see the past through a rose-tinted windshield and think every current truck owner is a monster, because they’re not, and modern trucks aren’t the demons they’re made out to be.

As far as the argument goes that it’s terrible that four-door crew cab pickup trucks have become normal, everyday cars, let’s not forget what normal family cars were like in the past. Growing up, my family’s two-car fleet was made up of a 1968 VW Beetle and one of these:

Countrysquire

Yes, a Ford LTD Country Squire Wagon. Long as a truck, big-ass V8 engine, gas mileage numbers that, if they were the age of a child, would be definitively pre-B’nai Mitzvah, and about as safe in a wreck as being in a file cabinet dropped from a second-story window. Modern trucks may be excessive as family cars, but to cast this excess as something new and representative of some sort of moral decline is just not looking at what the past was really like. Even the most ostentatious-seeming modern big-ass truck gets better fuel economy, is vastly safer, and pollutes a hell of a lot less than family cars from the past decades. It doesn’t matter if it’s a truck or a station wagon.

Maverickmpg

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Plus, charts like these deliberately ignore huge-selling double-cab pickup trucks like the Ford Maverick, which has the big cab and short bed these articles and tweets are lamenting, but can also get 40 mpg in its entry-spec hybrid form. A compact car like a Honda Fit, for example, gets about 35 mpg combined. So, really, what’s the matter with the Maverick being a truck with a big cab and a short bed?

What seems to be going on here with these tweets and articles is that they seem to want to make trucks into this scapegoat for everything that’s going poorly in the automotive space, when the reality is that like almost every other category of motor vehicle, they’re getting safer, more efficient, less polluting, and more. Sure, they’re also more expensive, more feature-laden, harder to repair on your own, and, yeah, probably generally more vehicle than is needed for most situations.

What cars become popular has never been rational. People don’t buy cars for rational reasons, and people have been buying cars for stupid reasons like status markers since cars have existed. If you can’t accept that, then you’re living on the wrong planet, because that’s how humans work, for better or worse.

If you want to tweet about some car-related things that actually matter and aren’t, you know, provably wrong with minimal effort, tweet about how cool tiny efficient cars can be! But if someone rolls by in a pickup truck with a bed only 37% of the overall length of the vehicle, just calm the fuck down, and be happy that they’re possibly getting better fuel economy and almost certainly polluting less than a 1990s Camry.

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Boxing Pistons
Boxing Pistons
1 year ago

Another fault is neglecting the fact that riding in the bed was much more acceptable way back when. You could argue that hillbillies (hoosiers as we call them in my neck of the woods) were “buying too much vehicle” years back if they were transporting their brood in the bed on a regular basis. Coming from Missouri, I have ridden in many a pickup bed over the years, and it was totally legal. Seems kinda crazy, now. Hahaha.

XLEJim700
XLEJim700
1 year ago
Reply to  Boxing Pistons

I’ve talked about the two bucket seats out of a wrecked ’67 GTO proudly installed in the back of my ’72 W100 Power Wagon (first car).

I, and my friends (three or four at a time), had a bed-full of fun running around like that. This was the mid-seventies of The Century of Freedom.

Roll Free or Die

Boxing Pistons
Boxing Pistons
1 year ago
Reply to  XLEJim700

Sitting in actual seats?! Look at Mr. Rockefeller over here!

The Ultracrepidarian
The Ultracrepidarian
1 year ago

How about how truck tires have also shrunk (got thinner) over the years. 1960-70’s the really thick balloon like bias tires to todays low profile radials? I mean a tire is just a fender without metal and paint.

Rockfish
Rockfish
1 year ago

Love this story. Needed to be told.

But that 1972 F150 was actually called a. F100. “F150” came around in 1975. The original tweet has it wrong, too.

I’ll go back watching my 1967 F100 “gather patina” now.

My Goat Ate My Homework
My Goat Ate My Homework
1 year ago

I think the graphic is a fair comparison if they are comparing the most popular consumer models from a timeframe. Seems about accurate.
I don’t think that is the flaw. I don’t agree with what they are suggesting by using that graphic, but the underlying comparison seems legit through that lens.

3WiperB
3WiperB
1 year ago

I do wish the companies would innovate a bit more when it comes to the truck bed. The mid-gate design, or at least a passthrough into the cabin for longer items would be so useful. I always found it silly that I have a 1/2 ton truck but I would still take my wife’s SUV to the hardware store to get 7′ or 8′ 2×4’s because I could fit them inside the SUV and close the hatch. In my 5′-7″ bed, they have to stick out the back over the tailgate and need a flag and I have to spend time securing them. My truck does what I need it to do (haul a camper and drive my family around), but the bed isn’t very useful for truck things. I mostly use it as a big trunk with a tonneau cover. In a lot of ways, the bed isn’t even that useful as a trunk, because it doesn’t have that much height with the tonneau on it, and I have to keep a reaching stick in there to get any items that move to the front of the bed.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  3WiperB

Mine has a shell, so the height isn’t as much a problem (visibility sucks, though), but the reaching stick or similar is a necessity. I keep a carpeted piece of plywood between the wheel wells to slide most things in and out more easily.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 year ago

Many, many years ago, I had a buddy who drove a beat-to-shit, two-door, long bed, Ford F-150. One night we were out cruising the ville and stopped at a 7-11 for Cokes and other convenience store crap. Inside were a couple of girls we knew who needed a ride. Since neither was willing to sit in my lap, I was relegated to riding in the bed. My buddy, in a fit of teenage testosterone, nailed the throttle on the way out of parking lot, whereupon I tumbled down the bed and blasted through the unsecured tailgate to land in the middle of the highway. Fortunately, being young, dumb, flexible and somewhat beer lubricated, I was a bit scraped, but otherwise undamaged. My point? If I’d been in one these modern short bed trucks, I’d have been tossed out of the bed about a tenth of second sooner, ergo, long beds are safer and modern trucks with vestigial tails suck. Of course, if he’d had a crew cab, I wouldn’t have been in the bed to begin with, so …

Frankencamry
Frankencamry
1 year ago
Reply to  Canopysaurus

Are you sure?

The kind of friend that dumps you out of the bed showing off for the girls is the kind of friend that puts you in the bed so you don’t cramp his style. That 4th seat? That’s for the beer.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 year ago
Reply to  Frankencamry

Might have had something to do with my standing up behind the cab and using the roof as a set of bongo drums as we pulled off.

Unclewolverine
Unclewolverine
1 year ago

The argument that I never seem to see in the whole people using giant trucks to commute is wasteful discourse is how much time, fuel, resources, and congestion could be saved if everyone used motorcycles and scooters as much as weather/cargo allowed? Even large displacement bikes can easily get 50 mpg, I image with today’s tech 100 mpg would be simple. Not to mention cell phone related problems would be greatly reduced and parking capacity would double!

Taargus Taargus
Taargus Taargus
1 year ago

We all know that a 4′-6′ long bed does everything the typical family wants and needs for a truck bed anyway. These trucks are not being sold to people who regularly buy sheet goods anyway. I used to tell myself that I’d like a truck with a long bed for that use, until I realized that the local construction supply company will deliver drywall via boom truck right through the upstairs windows of my house.

I know these massive trucks aren’t popular here. I personally have no beef with large pickups themselves, or the people who use them responsibly. Hell, I don’t even care that nearly every single person I know that owns one basically uses it as a commuter (damn near every one of my coworkers). I respectfully ask though; if you’ve decided to spend half your income on a truck payment and fuel, please, I beg of you, do not come up to me and complain about gas prices and how expensive the U.S. is in 2023.

Crank Shaft
Crank Shaft
1 year ago

I’ve tried to Fuck Cars before and all got for it was severe chaffing and profound disappointment.

Justin Short
Justin Short
1 year ago
Reply to  Crank Shaft

And some very hard to explain burns

Jim Stock
Jim Stock
1 year ago

Glad to read this I was just pricing out a regular cab f-150 to see if they still made them. I loved having 8ft boxes in trucks and getting to sleep in the bed when camping. Yes, they technically still make them but how many are on new and used lots to buy. As an “Old” it still looks strange to see a full-sized truck with a tiny short bed, even if it is a 4 door.

My Goat Ate My Homework
My Goat Ate My Homework
1 year ago

What if instead of considering them “trucks” we just think of them as large SUVs with a bed in back. That’s pretty much what they are. A Suburban with less seats and a trunk that is open to the elements.

That’s more consistent with how they are used. Feel better now?

Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
1 year ago

I can still gripe about today’s so-called pickup trucks not having manual chokes, though, right?

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Harrell

To continue with what others have mentioned about the handle “FuckCars,” you can certainly still manually choke someone in a modern pickup if that’s what you’re both into.

Mr. Asa
Mr. Asa
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Harrell

As someone who grew up with a manual choked vehicle, you’re nuts. Damn near the first mod I’ve done on any carbed vehicle is an electric choke.

Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Mr. Asa

A few of my previous vehicles have had bimetallic automatic chokes, including one that ran engine coolant through the housing to regulate the spring, but no electric chokes. All of my current vehicles with gas engines have factory manual chokes, though. I like them.

Sklooner
Sklooner
1 year ago

I would like to see a comparison of the heights of new trucks compared to old ones, loaded a bunch of firewood into a new Silverado and it seemed about twice the effort of the old heavy half.

Shop-Teacher
Shop-Teacher
1 year ago
Reply to  Sklooner

That’s my problem with current trucks. That, and the extreme cost, are why I’m going to cling to my ’06 Sierra as long as possible.

Data
Data
1 year ago

Fuck Cars; so a fan of the movie Titane, I presume.

David Hudson
David Hudson
1 year ago

This is an interesting story, but I really try to ignore what idiots say on social media. The main thing I want to read on the Autopian, wrenching stories, is largely hidden behind a paywall.

ADDvanced
ADDvanced
1 year ago

FuckCars is an infuriatingly stupid subreddit filled with idiots who don’t live in reality. They’re always wanting to push to tear down arteries in cities, and pretend everything will be some walkable urban utopia. They don’t care about poor weather or frigid climates, cars = bad, walking is the answer for literally everyone, old people be damned.

They also constantly whine about ‘high speed rail’ being the solution to everything, because they went backpacking in Europe once and enjoyed using the trains. POPULATION. DENSITY. Google a map of it. Everywhere that has high density, already has rail of some kind. The fact is America is spread out, and extremely low population density for the majority of the country. Throw in the fact our existing rail network isnt’ designed for high speed (not stable enough, not graded properly, no pop up barriers at all the intersections) and it’s just a pipe dream that is not going to happen. I hate that subreddit.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  ADDvanced

The sad thing is that we could be making most urban centers both walkable and accessible, increasing public transit, and adding high-speed rail in corridors of heavy population, but the conflict between the “no cars at all” extreme and the “everything must be drivable” extreme sucks a lot of the oxygen from the room.

We could have pedestrian-only areas without banning cars from cities, we could add high speed rail in areas that could have the most benefit, and we could ensure that people with mobility needs have access to options that help them get around. All of that could free up space for the people who WANT to drive, reduce stress for those who don’t want to, and not involve as much sudden infrastructure shift. But anything like that grinds to a halt because it is too far for some and not far enough for others.

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

The dumb thing about that is if you set up a pedestrian-focused downtown with parking nearby, it’s absolutely fantastic for everyone! Everyone gets around a lot easier – pedestrians and drivers don’t have to interact as much.

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago
Reply to  Citrus

There are a couple streets by my office that were closed to automotive traffic and it’s brilliant because pedestrians have a safe corridor and car traffic is diverted to places more relevant to them – places they can actually park.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  Citrus

Exactly! You’re gonna need to park anyway, and it’s better to park and then go into walkable areas than park just to navigate through vehicle traffic on foot. There’s quite a bit of focus on space “wasted” on parking, when it can be great to use a bit more parking space to reduce the space wasted on roads where you’ll be driving circles to find limited parking.

ADDvanced
ADDvanced
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

High speed rail doesn’t make sense in this country until all metro areas have really nice intra-urban transit. Most don’t.

Mr. Asa
Mr. Asa
1 year ago
Reply to  ADDvanced

Mostly agreed. There are some good points sprinkled throughout the crap, but the signal to noise ratio of damn near off the charts.

Go visit r/projectcar or r/RCSB instead

Eggsalad
Eggsalad
1 year ago

Ford, and maybe the others, IDK, won’t even sell you a RCLB with fancy trim. I think all you can get is XL and XLT. Work trucks are for working. I also suspect that most of the RCLB trucks sold by the big 3 are 3/4-ton or heavier. Half-ton trucks have become family haulers and the suspension has become too wimpy for real work truck use.

V10omous
V10omous
1 year ago
Reply to  Eggsalad

“Half-ton trucks have become family haulers and the suspension has become too wimpy for real work truck use.”

The first part of this is true, the second part is not. Payloads and towing are as high as ever. In some cases you have to select stiffer springs as options, but this has always been true.

My Goat Ate My Homework
My Goat Ate My Homework
1 year ago
Reply to  V10omous

I had a ’90 1500 Silverado, single cab, long bed and that thing would squat like a dog when loaded. I can put the same load in ’21 Silverado and it barely drops a couple inches. I’m not sure how this guy measures “real work” but the older trucks can’t handle as much as everyone seems to remember.

I had to roll up the windows… and the pass-through window had a fun plastic latch that held it closed. Until it reached its plastic limit and fell off in my hand. Maybe that made them more of a truck?

Bearddevil
Bearddevil
1 year ago
Reply to  Eggsalad

This comment is particularly relevant. I would prefer to get a high-trim regular cab truck, as I don’t really have a use for the back seats, but I want the fronts to be a nice place to be, and I still want to be able to get my motorcycle in the bed and be able to close the tailgate.

However, as I live in a very truck-centric market (Oklahoma), I realize there’s a limited sales potential for those, as you can’t fit the whole family easily in a regular cab truck, and that’s what people out here are buying them for. You get your F-150 or Silverado “Oklahoma Edition” instead of a sedan or minivan when you have kids.

But they’re definitely still capable of doing more hauling and towing than my old 79 F250 with its smog-choked 351. They’re just not used for that predominantly. I need to go pick up 4 tons of gravel for my driveway, and since I have a fancy midlife crisis truck as a hauler, it’s going to take more trips just because of limited bed VOLUME, not carrying capacity.

Man With A Reliable Jeep
Man With A Reliable Jeep
1 year ago

“I own a minivan. And you, sir, are no minivan.”

Gary Lynch
Gary Lynch
1 year ago

Me thinks that the majority of the folk nowadays that buy pickup trucks don’t need them. But it’s their prerogative. Even the spike in gas prices over the last couple of years didn’t put a dent in that trend.

Probably more ridiculous are large trucks and SUVs that never seem to have more than one person in them.

Oh well. It’s not illegal. Yet…

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago
Reply to  Gary Lynch

Saying what people “need” is always a tricky thing. There’s lots of stuff you don’t need, but you prefer it or it still makes your life better.

I think the right point of view isn’t “do they need this” but instead “does this make sense for what they’re doing.” And trucks do often fail by the second judgment.

Mr. Canoehead
Mr. Canoehead
1 year ago
Reply to  Citrus

I’m fortunate to have 3 cars and a pickup (and 4 motorcycles) in the family, so there is a vehicle for every need. I don’t drive the truck a lot but when I need to haul something (steel, firewood, trash or motorcycles, etc or tow a trailer) the truck gets used.

But if I could only have one of the 4 cars, it would be my pickup truck. The differential in cost of fuel used would be less than the additional cost of insurance, maintenance and registration of another vehicle.

I think a lot of people are in the same boat – you buy a vehicle for the greatest need and put up with it not being great for other, lesser needs (like commuting). Yes, I could rent a truck when I need to do those things but that is a PITA when I live out in the country.

RustHoles
RustHoles
1 year ago

Saw the meme, had this exact same thought (as did many Reddit commenters). I was wondering if the measurements were for the ‘best selling’ model for each generation? If that’s true then this isn’t quite as stupid as it appears (but still pretty dumb). I wouldn’t be surprised if the most popular current F150 was the four-door 5.5 foot bed.
Also because I’m a pedant: I believe your image is actually a 1967 F150 rather than a 1972 judging by the lack of side-markers/turn signals.

Bearddevil
Bearddevil
1 year ago
Reply to  RustHoles

I had a very similar thought, in that a more rigorous analysis would do a composite of the weighted average of cab sizes and bed lengths sold in a particular year to generate an average cab-to-bed ratio that is more reflective of what’s actually moving in the market.

Frankencamry
Frankencamry
1 year ago
Reply to  Bearddevil

Yep, was looking for this as well. It would also encounter odd statistical impacts like crew cabs only being available with 8′ beds for a few generations, cabovers and rear engines leaving the market (assuming they did all pickups) and the like.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  RustHoles

It makes sense that it is based on best-selling. We see the shift from single cab to extended to quad cab, which does reflect the trends in that direction. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sales data was specifically for consumer sales, making the shift look faster and more drastic without fleet sales.

OnboardG1
OnboardG1
1 year ago

We’re currently buying a pickup at work. We have actual big-boy off-road truck needs due to being a fieldwork team: AWD, low range box, good ground clearance and a long load bed. However, we also drive all over the UK so we need some long range comforts. The issue we’re finding is that firms either do luxo-barge crew cab designs with a bed that’s too short or bare-bones day cab units without any ICE, nav or cruise control. Not sure what it’s like in the states but it’s a real pain trying to spec something with good capacity and comfort.

Stig's Cousin
Stig's Cousin
1 year ago
Reply to  OnboardG1

From my experience it is much harder to find a low-spec work truck than a fancy one. I was in the market for an F250 a few years ago. It took me 3 months to find an XLT, but if I wanted to spend $90,000 to get a Platinum or Limited, there were plenty available in any configuration (F250, F350, crew cab, single cab, long bed, short bed, etc.).

Turbeaux
Turbeaux
1 year ago
Reply to  Stig's Cousin

Single cab work trucks are still unicorns since the pandemic. The company I work for has been buying extended cabs instead, and even those are hard to come by sometimes. If a new job starts up and needs multiple trucks, you get what you can get.

Stig's Cousin
Stig's Cousin
1 year ago
Reply to  Turbeaux

I recall seeing several single cabs for sale when I was looking at trucks in early 2021. They were mostly F450s or F350s duallies, although I did see a few F250s. I don’t recall seeing any F150 single cabs or F150 XLs in any cab configuration, though.

My local Ford dealer keeps a large supply of F150s and F250s in various configurations on the lot (I think the dealer claims to be the largest Ford truck dealer in the world, or something stupid like that). You can buy any truck you want, as long as you are willing to pay a 30% (or more) “market adjustment.” I can’t imagine having to buy multiple trucks for a job right now. I imagine your choices are to search from a broad area (like I did when I bought my truck and got it 10% off MSRP) or pay a ridiculous upcharge. Both options suck.

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago

It’s a dumb graphic but I do think turning trucks into family sedans IS a negative development, mostly because they’re really bad at it. More difficult to enter and exit, space is harder to use, kind of dangerous in bad weather if you forget to load the bed up. They’re just… Not good. Sorry. I know at least one person is going to be mad at me in the comments but most trucks I see are driven by people who would be a lot happier in an SUV or minivan if they gave them a chance.

My anti-truck stance has largely developed because I live in place where trucks are everywhere. They just have so many compromises because of the category drift.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago
Reply to  Citrus

And the number of super/heavy duty pickups that are purchased to tow trailers that a mid-size SUV could tow…I also live in pickup country, and the number of commuters in F250s and F350s is ridiculous. Most of them because they might tow a trailer a couple times a year and don’t really understand towing beyond assuming the heaviest tow capacity is best. I know people with F250s who bought them because they might get a trailer in the future, and they haven’t decided how heavy a trailer they will get.

Of course, because of the category drift you mentioned, the standard half-ton is also worse at towing than it feels like it should be.

Bearddevil
Bearddevil
1 year ago
Reply to  Citrus

While I’d rather see people with people-carrying needs driving things like minivans or MPVs, the backseat room in modern crew-cab trucks is not to be denied. They’ve got more space than something like an Accord or Camry. That’s not to say that I approve of them as family haulers, but I understand why. I wish more cars had better rear seat legroom and better rear door access.

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago
Reply to  Bearddevil

But the problem is the back seat needs the room because it has to double as primary storage – the bed is usually unsuitable for smaller items like groceries. So if you’re doing family hauling, you’ve got to pack your groceries around your kids.

Frankencamry
Frankencamry
1 year ago
Reply to  Citrus

Why isn’t the bed suitable for groceries? I have the classic regular cab with an 8′ bed. It’s where I put mine if I had to do truck stuff before the grocery run.

With the cargo net hooked over they roll around less than in my station wagon.

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago
Reply to  Frankencamry

Weather is a big one – especially where I live, where we get all of it. I couldn’t bring my groceries home in an open bed today. Ease of access for other people. Aerodynamic reasons – don’t want your bananas to catch the wind on the freeway home.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago

Bed length is such a weird metric to complain about, too. The pedestrian safety aspect of the very tall SUV and pickup hoods is where the growth is a problem. The crash testing of vehicles without really accounting for the survival of anyone outside the vehicle is a problem. Longer cabs and shorter beds just reflects the typical usage. Hell, my dad’s old Chevy stepside saw a lot of log truck parts and debris and stuff in the bed, but it also saw us sitting in the bed a lot because it was a single cab. He would have probably done just fine with a shorter bed to fit us into the cab, even if it meant an extra trip occasionally. His next pickup was an extended cab and it served his purposes well.

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

Yeah I don’t get why they aren’t focused on height instead of proportions. The height of a modern pickup is a much larger issue than proportions. Makes loading/unloading more difficult, actual issue if you’re doing truck things, and hurts pedestrian safety.

Maymar
Maymar
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

Yeah, the footprint of full-sized trucks is pretty contained by parking space size regulations, and what percentage of that is devoted to people or cargo doesn’t really impact me much. But the beltline of modern pickups getting as high as it has seemingly for little reason other than owner insecurity has quite a bit more impact on the rest of us.

Beer-light Guidance
Beer-light Guidance
1 year ago

Maybe you are misreading the point of “Fuck Cars.” What if they aren’t mad at cars but more interested in exploring the benefits of various vehicles for fucking in? You know, like there are work trucks, sports cars, delivery vans, they just want to talk about fuck cars. The crew cabs makes it more difficult to fuck in, thus they need to share this important information with their followers.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago

“As you can clearly see, dropping below a 6.5ft bed begins to restrict the options of many couples. At 5.5ft you’ve lost horizontal positions for the average American male unless they tuck in their knees. And what do you have left with a 4.5ft bed? The pile driver? The bridge layer? The helicopter? The dirty eagle?”

I might have made up a couple of those.

Sid Bridge
Sid Bridge
1 year ago

Whatever you lose here in sexable bed space, you gain with a nicely enclosed crew cab anyway. Imagine what you can accomplish in air-conditioned comfort with fold-down leather seats in a nice crew cab pickup? Plus, if you’re having sex in your spare time while working your job cleaning up the giraffe enclosure at the zoo, having sex in the crew cab instead of the bed is a safe way to avoid being peed on by a giraffe mid-coitus. I’m sure this happens.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago
Reply to  Sid Bridge

I personally don’t want to get pissed on by a giraffe during my lovemaking, but I won’t say that nobody should. To each their own! What consenting adults and giant spotted Africa deer do in the privacy of their own truck bed is none of my business.

Drew
Drew
1 year ago

I’m at work, so I can’t confirm, but they’re probably all on Urban Dictionary already, even if you made them up.

IRegertNothing, Esq.
IRegertNothing, Esq.
1 year ago
Reply to  Drew

Honestly, I’d be disappointed if they aren’t already in use.

Nsane In The MembraNe
Nsane In The MembraNe
1 year ago

Jokes on you! No one who spends a significant amount of time on Reddit is doing any fucking….

Bhtooefr
Bhtooefr
1 year ago

That subreddit has specific rules about that, because of another interpretation: actually fucking cars.

V10omous
V10omous
1 year ago

These facts aren’t going to go over well with a lot of the crowd here, but bravo for publishing this.

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