It’s a video about how pickup trucks and SUVs have been heavily promoted to the US market. They are more profitable than selling cars as the video explains. US CAFE regulations penalize shorter vehicles too.
SUVs also block the view from cars. It’s annoying when one pulls up next to you so you can’t see to the side.
What the video says about safety isn’t true though. Compact vehicles with a short distance between the front and the driver seat are going to be less safe even in an accident with another car of the same size. It is just physics.
The need for crash tests between differently sized vehicles is needed though, as the video says. The few tests that you see are usually done at a lower speed.
For people who actually use pickups to carry heavy cargo, a pickup has a safety advantage that a minivan and wagon doesn’t come with. The bed is separated from the cab. Having a sevenal hundred pound unsecured load behind you, such as a motorcycle, in a minivan is quite dangerous.
With the popularity of trucks and SUVs, and the newer much heavier EVs, I don’t recommend anyone drive a compact car unless it is to be rarely used on non divided highways. A full size car or minivan is a good choice to be safe but not have the waste of an SUV.
Body on frame construction does the same as a unibody, it is just heavier for the same body and crash strength and costs less to manfacture a body on frame vehicle.
edit: To learn why trucks themselves have grown to huge sizes and how CAFE regulations promote this, you must watch this excellent video.
A very advanced car. Heh, heh, had to look it up😀
From Wikipedia:
The Lancia Lambda is an innovative automobile produced from 1922 through 1931. It was the first car to feature a load-bearing unitary body, (but without a stressed roof) and it also pioneered the use of an independent suspension (the front sliding pillar with coil springs).[1][2] Vincenzo Lancia even invented a shock absorber for the car and it had excellent four wheel brakes
I wouldn’t recommend doing any serious off-roading with a unibody. I’ve seen a brand new unibody suv after ONE off-road trip. The body was twisted enough he couldn’t close his rear hatch. Cost him a few thousand to get it fixed.
I don’t mind the bigger trucks. But my own personal observation I’ve noticed a couple of things about them. Rarely are they ever used for hauling anything. The truck bed is pristine. And second - it seems the bigger the truck the smaller the driver. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a guy who’s 5’3 and weighs no more than 140lbs step out one of these things. Compensating for something I guess.
So did the shop drive it off road and twist it back the other way, then charge him a few thousand? This has been known to happen with body on frame trucks as well, at least with the older channel frames. The door wouldn’t close until they drove it up the opposite way to fix it back. The vehicles with square tube frames should be much more twist resistant.
I saw a video once where a flat bed truck with a heavy load flipped over going around a corner. The back of the truck bed was nearly vertical with the load nearly touching the road before the front wheel picked up and the front went with it. Talk about a flex frame!
Also, another thing that was surprising about the video is where it says that 89% of drivers who tried to intentionally run over animals placed on the road were in SUVs. https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo?t=748
One of Consumer Reports criteria in its testing of pickup trucks is the more “car like” the pickup truck the higher the rating. I don’t want a truck to be like a car. I want a truck to do truck work. When I had some acreage in the country I bought a used (well used) 1950 Chevrolet 3800 1 ton pickup. It had a 10 foot bed. I hauled 50 bails of hay at a time for our horse. I got a good price for the hay by buying it directly from the field. When I fenced in a four acre pasture, I stretched the woven wire fence with the truck by shifting it into extra low (granny gear). The short bed on today’s four door pickup trucks wouldn’t accommodate even 25 bails of hay and I doubt that the automatic transmission would stand up very long stretching wire fence. I did lose money in depreciation on the truck. I paid $115 for the truck in 1972 and only was able to get $110 when I sold the truck in 1975!
As far as a car vs an SUV, I find an SUV has a more comfortable seating position for me than many cars. The university where my wife and I were employed had Honda Civic hybrids in its fleet. Both my wife and I found these Honda Civics uncomfortable on road trips. Both of us preferred the Ford Escape hybrids that were in the fleet for road trips.
I think many cars became uncomfortable when the manufacturers began lowering them back in the 1950s. I remember my parents owned a 1954 Buick sedan. In 1959, that Buick had gone 100,000 miles. We road tested a 1959 Buick. The seating position was so uncomfortable that we were glad to get back in our 1954 Buick. Maybe the seating position in today’s cars is driving people into SUVs and pickup trucks.
Had to be put on a frame machine. It takes time and money,
No where near as easy. Body-on-frame vehicles have been doing off-roading for decades. It’s extremely rare for this to happen. In my younger day I’ve done some pretty good off-roading adventures. I wouldn’t even try some of those trails with my Unibody Highlander.
Yeah, you’re not going to get an unbiased statement out of NotJustBikes. He’s the Scotty Kilmer of urbanist youtubers IMHO. This is a guy who was so offended by the suburban Canadian lifestyle that he suffered through, that he took his family and moved to the Netherlands so could embrace the Dutch urban lifestyle and make Youtube videos lambasting anything that isn’t that. I won’t say that he’s completely wrong with everything he says, but he comes off as insufferable in most of his videos. Much like Kilmer, he doesn’t tolerate opposing viewpoints very well, particularly on his subreddit.
Things he really dislikes
Streets/roads with more than 2 lanes
Cars used for private transport anywhere within the city limits
Free parking or parking lots for cars (massive structures for parking your bike is fine though)
Single family homes/low density housing
Highways anywhere near cities
Unprotected bike lanes
Suburbs (he really hates the idea of suburbs, and constantly bemoans the apparent lack of culture/sense of community that can apparently only occur if you live on the same block as 1000 other people and walk, bike or depend on public transport entirely.)
Things he really likes
Bicycles, more specifically biking everywhere
Mass transit (busses, light rail) with unrealistically frequent service
I can’t say he was wrong in all his conclusion. 4 doot pickup trucks used as passenger cars by people who don’t tow anything are stupid. the beds on today’s pickup’s are so high off the ground that they make loading them ridiculously hard work.
I agree that minivans are much more practical for mixed passenger and hauling use. Not towing though.
THe cars od the 40s and early 50 were superior to later cars in only one wat, and that us in seating comfort and I think that fuels a lot of truck and SUV sales.
The sense of security in SUVs us false, they are more likely to kill you or put you in the ditch even though they fare better on a crash with a car.
And, even stupider was the truck that I saw a couple of days ago:
A Dodge Ram Diesel “Dually” which was lowered so close to the ground that you know the driver never carries anything in the back. Then, to make matters truly offensive to everyone with whom he shared the road, that jerk was rolling coal much of the time that I observed his truck.
Last week I was at a warehouse club. Driver of the biggest crew cab 3/4 ton Chevy sells tried to park next to me. He did about four forward/backup maneuvers to get into the slot, the was about 12 inches from my car. I was concerned his door would hit my car when opened . I pulled out and drove to a different spot.
At an unpscale strip mall, saw a Range Rover with every possible aftermarket off-road accessory on it. Show room clean, I bet it had never even seen a dirt road, much less gone off-roading.
I always get a kick out of the Wrangler drivers who–for once in their life–decide to do some off-roading, and then they decide to leave the mud and other debris on the car for the next year or two, just to prove that they went off-roading.
Cars and trucks have always been a personal choice from the very first. While some may not like trucks and SUVs used as they are, the vehicles are the owners choice.
I think Clewiston Cadillacs (fancy jacked up diesel trucks) are stupid, but slammed, cambered fart-piped cars are also stupid. But like a flower print, shiny 3 piece suit with flip flops, that is their choice.
