Nighttime Driving Impressions of 2024 Tacoma SR5 XtraCab - TheTopher

[tacoboutit]

The reason behind it is simple: The Vanity and Ego of the urban masses strangles the Freedom of Choice [read 'Ability'] for the fewer who have actual need of certain set of features.

This tends to deeply frustrate and upset the fewer people with real need and no good options to meet it. Think small rancher in the US needing something akin to a 2023 Landcruiser 70 Series Single Cab Truck.

There are dramatically more Americans who buy new pickup trucks, yet live in circumstances which call only for the features of a Suburbanite people & luggage mover that they don't feel inferior or weak for driving.

So, they 'wanna TRUCK!' because of what it represents in mind: big and tough. Nobody wants to be small. It's the connotations that a "Truck" carries and how it makes one feel when they picture themselves, and as they look to others.
There are also factors such as politics and tribal identity at play. A truck has become a tribal symbol in the south more than a tool to earn a living through.

This, versus a considerably more affordable, often more practical, and usually more convenient/smoother riding 'SUV'.

As a result, unfortunately, the cultural conflation trend biases what sells the most and thus design & manufacturing in the truck market, to a proportionate extreme.

Said market force pushed trucks - in North America - to devolve into less work-oriented, but subjectively more appealing, huge 4 Door SUVs that carry the right notions and symbolisms.
In turn, this screws over those far fewer (but not uncommon) number of people who need a light truck to do actual truck things on the regular to meet a genuine utilitarian need.

It also massively inflates "truck" prices due to outsized demand while delivering increasingly less utility every vehicle generation.

Save for the 2 remaining Toyota and Nissan trim levels in the American market - Gone is the ability to buy a New, quality, compact truck that is a power-to-fuel efficient, Affordable, 4x4 2-Seater with 5k+ Tow Capacity & Long Bed that'll last and meet your life's needs in one investment. No, a Gator or a Kei truck doesn't cut it. Talking roadworthy here.

Needs of capability that the near-urban consumer masses don't buy trucks for; trucking a load of 4'x8' for a building project, or moving the dining room set you handcrafted from your workshop to your downtown store, for recent examples. Also, not getting forced unto a 1 Ton Commercial model that costs 2x more and comes only in White with a V10 at 23 feet long, still with rear seats you'll never use, or elsewise unfavorable to own as daily driver.

I'm sympathetic to the guy using his truck every day to work, but I will not let that affect my decision to meet my own needs or wants. America is built on capitalism and the free market is driven by demand. It is not as if work trucks are unavailable, these guys are driving one. Just because the truck market evolved does not mean ayone has to be ridiculed for buying a truck for any reason that motivates them. They aren't hurting anyone, just spending their hard-earned money on what interests them. I'm a nurse, so I should not buy a truck just so a guy who uses his truck for work can have his cheaper? I do not go to work for that guy to be able to buy what he wants. Likewise, he is not gonna come do my job and earn me money, so why should I buy what he thinks I should buy? I am going to do the American thing and excercise freedom to live my life the way I want and he can do the same for himself. Will I use my truck for work puposes? Almost never, probably, but no one said trucks have to exist solely for work. What if I wanna move and use my truck for that purpose? What if I wanna go overlanding and enjoy my PTO that way? So what if I almost never use the bed. I almost never use the backseat of my civic either but no one is telling me to throw out the back seat because I am a poser in the sedan market. Give me a break. I think the ones who get up in arms over other people buying trucks for whatever reason they choose are the ones with little man syndrome who have a need to be the only ones in trucks so they can have their own little exclusive group like a little highschool clique. Too worried about what other people do and buy to just live their own lives. It is hypocritical to ridicule the "urban masses" for taking choices from the guy who uses his truck for work because you are attempting to take that same choice away from the people who, god forbid, chose a different avenue for work because we can't all work in our trucks all day. Society needs diffrentiation of occupations to stay afloat. At the end of the day, it is the automotive manufacturers who give and remove choices, be it because of popular demand or therwise. The many should not have to cater to the few anway.

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[BMM123]

I'm sympathetic to the guy using his truck every day to work, but I will not let that affect my decision to meet my own needs or wants. America is built on capitalism and the free market is driven by demand. It is not as if work trucks are unavailable, these guys are driving one. Just because the truck market evolved does not mean ayone has to be ridiculed for buying a truck for any reason that motivates them. They aren't hurting anyone, just spending their hard-earned money on what interests them. I'm a nurse, so I should not buy a truck just so a guy who uses his truck for work can have his cheaper? I do not go to work for that guy to be able to buy what he wants. Likewise, he is not gonna come do my job and earn me money, so why should I buy what he thinks I should buy? I am going to do the American thing and excercise freedom to live my life the way I want and he can do the same for himself. Will I use my truck for work puposes? Almost never, probably, but no one said trucks have to exist solely for work. What if I wanna move and use my truck for that purpose? What if I wanna go overlanding and enjoy my PTO that way? So what if I almost never use the bed. I almost never use the backseat of my civic either but no one is telling me to throw out the back seat because I am a poser in the sedan market. Give me a break. I think the ones who get up in arms over other people buying trucks for whatever reason they choose are the ones with little man syndrome who have a need to be the only ones in trucks so they can have their own little exclusive group like a little highschool clique. Too worried about what other people do and buy to just live their own lives. It is hypocritical to ridicule the "urban masses" for taking choices from the guy who uses his truck for work because you are attempting to take that same choice away from the people who, god forbid, chose a different avenue for work because we can't all work in our trucks all day. Society needs diffrentiation of occupations to stay afloat. At the end of the day, it is the automotive manufacturers who give and remove choices, be it because of popular demand or therwise. The many should not have to cater to the few anway.

Yup, exactly!

 

[D38]

Who cares.... who says my, or anyone else's reasons for wanting a truck are any less important to us than the other persons reasons? What I plan to use my truck for are my reasons and to me that's what counts. We all work hard for what we have or what we want, period!

Oh I agree quite completely - I don't concern myself with where or how [not me] spends his money. My point was that if doing so affects other people, it can upset them, which is what the 2nd poster was confused over. When cultures shift and people start using their purchasing power to make the market produce what they want, to the point You can't buy what You want - you'd be upset too, no?
If you want to buy a truck for any reason whatsoever, more freedom to you.
Manufacturers would be smart to figure it out though that there is profit left on the table and loyal buyers abandoned when they ignore the niche markets. Glad Toyota paid attention.

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