Today every damm vehicle behind me and in
front was an oversized truck or van.

Talk about creepy.

Older small cars can be 18".

Drivers are juice.

Sure hope I get to actually see one one day soon.

And one can get a Maverick Hybrid for 30k

The Maverick is an actual nice vehicle the Slate is half golf cart.

in most of the country... especially using public charging, 45+ mpg is cheaper to drive than EV.



https://www.torquenews.com/1083/dont-wait-slates-low-cost-electric-pickup-truck-arrive-2027-buy-ford-maverick-hybrid-electric

considering the lack of amenities and a 200 mile range.

which are still going for a premium over gas.

However, given the lower costs to fuel and maintain an EV, it is still a good buy.

start at around $27,600 and are way more EV that those things.

and a small pickup as well. The Bolt is certainly a better passenger EV.

It has a 4 cylinder diesel, a manual gearbox, a/c and other stuff. Its a mini truck.

You can buy it anywhere in the world except here.....

it were available in Canada.

... some state's do license them for the roads. But not Texas, of course.

I'm hoping to buy a plug-in hybrid (or at least a conventional hybrid) vehicle in the next year or so depending on how things go. I want no part of anything that would benefit Bezos.

We have a 2024 chevy escort. I call it the NANNY CAR. Huge number of sensors and driving conviences

I don't need my car to keep track of my opening a backdoor. I don't need a car to tell me on a frosty WI morning to watch out for ice
I don't need the nanny shit at all I got to my ripining old age by not being stupid and paying attention to conditions in the world arounddme

was a Chevy pickup. It didn't have a heater. It didn't have a radio. It had a 3-on-the-tree transmission. Who would buy that today?

Who? The same people who bought it then. It was a work truck. A utility vehicle that put everything aside except the utility part. It had a six-foot long box on the back you could carry stuff in. You could load it with lumber, concrete blocks, or trash to take to the dump. You could buy it for yourself to use or as a farm truck for your farm hands to use.

It was a utility vehicle. We don't make those any longer. We don't. Others do. They're some of the most popular vehicles on the planet, everywhere but in the USA. They're sold by the tens of thousands everywhere in the world but here. In fact, you can't buy one here. They're illegal to sell in the USA. Not safe enough. Not environmentally friendly enough. Not expensive enough for US makers to produce profitably.

They're some of the most popular vehicles anywhere, except here in the USA. We don't want them. We won't allow you to own one. We hate them. They don't make enough money, see.

Everywhere else, though, you can buy one. They're cheap. They're functional. They're great for hauling stuff from one place to another, along with a couple of workers to do something with that stuff.

We don't sell those in the USA. Don't mention them. Don't show pictures of them with the $12,000 price they sell for everywhere else. You don't' want one, see, and you can't have one if you do want one. Trust us. You want something better, with amenities and tons of safety features. They'll only cost you about $30,000, at a minimum. Low monthly payments.

But while you're here, let us show you what you really want. See that huge pickup with the 4.5 foot bed. It has four doors and seats five. It's got a touch screen and will play your tunes from your cell phone automatically. if you need to haul stuff, hang a big trailer off the back. it can handle that just fine and go 0-60 in 6 seconds. That's what you want. It starts at just $67,500. Don't you want that one?

Another 90 seconds of ads before you can open the door to exit.

Prime is just the cost of having the ability to buy the truck in the first place.

If you want to be completely ad-free, you need to get the Centurion Package (IYKYK).

Here's the problem in a nutshell: Slate is building an incredibly ugly car for the very vocal minority who doesn't want "giant screens" in their vehicles. In other words, he's selling a $25k-plus much-more-limited version of a 1997 Ford Ranger off Craigslist to the people who forward that old email about how things were so much better when little kids drank out of the hose.

Problem is, if your ideal car is a 1997 Ford Ranger off Craigslist there's nothing stopping you from going on Craigslist and finding a 1997 Ford Ranger. Since the only things that can survive a nuclear war are cockroaches and 1997 Ford Rangers, it should last you a really long time. The "electric vehicle" part isn't going to do them much good when (1) the car has about as much range as a Nissan Leaf (2) it can only tow a thousand pounds and (3) the people who reminisce about how much fun drinking out of the hose was want their cars to run on good old all-American gasoline.

When I talk fondly about my bulletproof only vehicle bought new 1989 stock 5 speed 4 cylinder Ford Ranger (no cab +, but with a bed you could load a 4x8 sheet of plywood in - and only $7k after tax and registration), or the 2nd hand mid 70's Datsun truck I had(until it was stolen), everyone over the age of 35 I talk to also commiserates about those late 80's/early 90's smaller trucks - the fuel economy, ease of repair, low cost, and basically, ability to do what was expected of a light work/family use truck.
Because occasionally, you, or a buddy, just needs a truck - to pick up or haul bigger boxes or dirtier household/yard stuff around. Or pick upsome swap-meet stuff or new furniture or haul away excess appliances and all that hoarder crap that's around the home. Or make an extra $50 + a sixpack hauling for a co-worker, neighbor, friend, or family member.
Or put a topper or camper over the bed and live out of it, in a pinch.
And if you have kids, pets, or best buds, all that oversized utility, sports, or outdoors stuff.
And best of all, those sizes of trucks could typically fit in a normal sized driveway or parking spot.

A smaller, cheap, basic truck is perfect for most people who don't have to regularly travel off road or haul trailers for work.

Those suckers are large. At one point more than 30 years ago, I ran deliveries for a medical testing company and we used a fleet of mini Toyota pickups (~ 86' - 88') - some of which were pushing 300K mi. We kept to the regular oil change schedule. There's a lesson in mechanical engineering there. Practically indestructible. Very firm but comfortable ride. I do repair/handy work on the side and drive an older F150 plain fleet truck. It's been pretty good so far. I do plan trips to economize, but the highway mileage isn't terrible.