The Brat also had SEVERE rust issues. I friend of mine is a Brat lover. Last I knew he had five of them. Only one was not a rust bucket. He bought it on ebay and had it hauled from Arizona. Let’s hope Fiat has done their homework on rustproofing.
Pretty much ALL Asian vehicles from that era had severe rust issues. No vehicle that I know of in the past 20+ years has had those kind of rust issues. They’ve all drastically improved since those dark rust days.
I agree with CapriRacer. If a small pick-up’s purchase price is similar to a full size half ton pick-up, why buy the small one? The new half ton trucks get excellent gas mileage. The Tacoma 6-cyl gas mileage is similar to the Detroit 3 1500 models and the Silverado and Ram are better. The 5.3L V8 Silverado gets the same average mileage as the Tacoma. The 4-cyl Tacoma averages 21 MPG, and that is only 1 better than the Chevy and Ram sixes. You get all that capability at no or low extra cost.
As far as landscaping goes, almost every one around here uses a low trailer to haul one or two 46" riders (or larger), a couple of walk behind mowers, a few edgers, and a leaf blower. You couldn’t fit that in any pick-up, and couldn’t haul that trailer with much less than a half ton truck.
As far as landscaping goes, almost every one around here uses a low trailer to haul one or two 46" riders (or larger), a couple of walk behind mowers, a few edgers, and a leaf blower.
Same here. Their choices are Open trailer or Closed trailer.
If some see current pickups as ‘too big’, this Fiat/Dodge is ‘too small’, to me. I’d think a new/modern Ford Ranger-sized pickup TRUCK (not open bed car) would be ‘just right’.
Oh, you mean a Colorado, @texases.
And the Ranger sold only outside the USA would be a good fit, too.
I liked the VW pickup which had huge cargo area that could carry a small tool box if it held about forty pounds.
Regarding the Subaru Brats, they were pretty popular around here. They had a roughly 10 year production run and while the early ones were a bit crude the last few years they were vastly improved.
I believe the Feds had some issues with those jump seats in the bed… 
“I believe the Feds had some issues with those jump seats in the bed.”
I can’t claim to recall the exact details, but–IIRC–it was discovered that Subaru of America had paid-off somebody at the US Customs Service to allow the Brats to be imported in a class other than the class that it should have been classified under.
I believe that those seats were to qualify it as a passenger car, rather than as a light truck.
Like dagosa, I also went the truck based SUV and trailer route. Sometimes it’s a pain to have to hook up the trailer to get a load of stuff but sure is nice to have something with a turning radius that doesn’t have to cross county lines when I’m plowing…
@jtsanders - I’ll wait and see on the Colorado. The few photos I’ve seen make it look like a half size up from the Ranger.
As a suburban homeowner, I’ve been wanting a small pickup for awhile now. Just something that could fit a yard of mulch in the bed, or haul off sod I pull out when creating a planting bed without having to go to Uhaul and deal with rentals. I don’t want something big because it would get parked outside, and I don’t want to have to squeeze past a behemoth with the other cars. If a T-100 came along at the right price, I suspect I’d irritate the SO by buying it.
I think small pickups have their place as long as they’re more economical than their big brothers. But as others pointed out, if the small costs as much as a large, and (in the case of the Ranger) doesn’t really get all that much better MPG, then what’s the point?
Of course, pickup trucks baffle me in general these days - they shrink the width of the bed so that the fender flares are visible. Why?! Then they shrink the length of the bed so they can install the equivalent of a conversion van behind the driver seat. Again, why?! If I’m driving a pickup, it’s because I want to haul things. Deleting hauling capacity for styling and limo duty seems silly to me.
Actually I wish they’d bring the Holden Maloo over here. I always thought the El Camino idea was a good one - you get your pickup bed without having to drive a giant truck around all the time.
@VDCdriver, the Subaru Brats were actually classified as something other than a truck so they got a pass on some Federal regulations. It’s been a long time but this was once explained at a training school I attended back in the 80s.
The Brat was given an “MPV” designation which is an abbreviation for “Multi Purpose Vehicle” and is considered an off-road vehicle not subject to the same standards as a passenger car or truck. Again, my memory is hazy but I seem to remember that “MPV” is also embossed into the driver’s door jam tag near the VIN.
I can’t say that I’ve ever had the desire to ride in the jump seat of one of those things although I’ve seen and heard of it being done.
OK passed a statute quite a few years ago outlawing anyone riding in the bed of a pickup but that gets into the issue (if someone wanted to argue the point) that their Brat is not legally a pickup.
Here are the 2015 Colorado specs. Weight can be as low as 4000# and it comes with either a 4-cyl or 6-cyl engine. Final drive ration is a tall 2.92:1 and it might get significantly better gas mileage than either of the base engine combinations for the Silverado. The EPA hasn’t issued their gas mileage figures yet.
http://media.chevrolet.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/vehicles/colorado/2015.tab1.html
I guess all new trucks are heavy. I wonder if anything could be made today like a 3000 lb. 1995 Ranger…
What about the new Fiat/Ram? The Tacoma regular cab with the I4 comes in at 3800#.
“No vehicle that I know of in the past 20+ years has had those kind of rust issues. They’ve all drastically improved since those dark rust days.”
Umm . . . what about the Toyota truck frames rusting away so badly, some of them were recalled.
Although I tried to avoid working on Volkswagons and diesels in general I found it necessary to work on one of the Rabbit based “El Caminos” for an old family friend. The owner was a real character and kept the VW pickup running for many years with little trouble and insisted that 50+ mpg was possible although reaching 70 mph required packing a lunch. But the vehicle was quite practical for anyone who had the need for hauling small loads on occasion and rarely needing to drive on a freeway.
In my area, there is a collector of those Rabbit “pickup” trucks, which came equipped with diesel engines
In the meantime, they’re slammed on fat rims and tires, tinted windows, booming sound systems, and gasoline engines under the hood
DMV still thinks they have the diesel, so the guy doesn’t get them smogged
The Brat got those jump seats as a result of the Chicken Tax which was enacted back sometime in the 70’s. From what I understand it’s a tax on imported trucks that could be avoided by installing some sort of rear seating. The jump seats qualified. It’s the same reason that at least the 1st gen Ford Transit Connect was shipped over as a passenger van from Turkey then the one’s ordered as cargo vans were converted by removing the rear seats at a facility on the east coast. The new one’s are imported from Ford’s factory in Spain since it had lots of capacity.