I used to have a 2007 Ranger which was the last generation before they disappeared, it was smaller than the current one, but still looked a lot bigger than the 80s Rangers. Now I've got a 2003 Chevy S-10 which is the last generation of those. A bit smaller than my Ranger was, but still bigger than an 80s S-10.

Unfortunately, US fuel efficiency standards killed the small pickup. You can't make them efficient enough to hit the numbers when they're small, so they get bigger. If EV trucks sell, I wonder if we'll get an actually small truck again in the 2nd or 3rd wave; fuel efficiency standards won't matter, but it would need to sell enough to justify a different design.

You can come to Germany and buy a brand new Ford Ranger. I've seen a few of them around my small town. I've been thinking about getting one, recently.

https://www.ford.de/nutzfahrzeuge-modelle/ford-ranger

A long time ago, I had an 84 S-10, and then an 84 S-10 Blazer. Those were great trucks.

That’s still the truckasaurus ranger that the OP was talking about. If any American manufacturer was serious at capturing the small truck market, they would have imported some Australian utes by now.

Ford will be manufacturing the Maverick, which seems to be about the size of the older Ranger.

Even the Maverick looks big compared to the 90-something Ranger my dad drove when I was growing up, though perhaps the apparently-mandatory crew cab has a lot to do with that perception.

EDIT: also, is there seriously now 4WD/AWD option? That's unfortunately a non-starter for me (though if push came to shove I'd certainly take FWD over RWD).

The crew cab thing drives me crazy. I had a '93 Ranger with standard cab and it was the perfect size. You can't buy anything like it today.

Ah, thanks, I didn't realize. They still seem a lot smaller than my Silverado, so ... but you're right, of course.

My dad had a really old Datsun truck. If you wanted small, well that was a good candidate. To this day, I wish he hadn't gotten rid of it!

They're bringing the Ranger back here, too, but it's much larger than the classic 80s Ranger.

The current Ranger model is not just larger than an 80s Ranger, it's larger than an 80s F150!

Ford is introducing the Maverick which is a compact hybrid pickup truck.

I would love to see this with a regular cab and a 6 foot bed. The Maverick bed is 4.5 feet, which just doesn't seem as useful to me; I've had plenty of things that didn't quite fit in a 6 foot bed, but were ok with the tailgate down and strapped in; they'd be a lot more precarious with a 4.5 foot bed.

Yes, not being able to move a piece of plywood (even with the bed down) would completely defeat the purpose of a small truck for me.

I'd rather give up cab space than bed space.

I think it’s possible to load 4x8 sheets by flipping the gate halfway down and putting 2x4s across the bed using the pockets in the sides. Good enough of you need the capability for an occasional project.

Photo in this article: https://www.autoblog.com/2021/06/08/ford-maverick-flex-bed/

Not bad. And it's not bad looking overall, really. For a truck.

Now if they'd only make it with a J1772 plug instead of as a soft hybrid.

The current gen Colorado isn't too big and has a six foot bed. It can be had for only $21k too.

Source: owner, and I use one for towing a vehicle trailer.

70's Datsun pickups were good for that too.

In the mid-south US, those Kei trucks circulate at around $5k right now for "beater" bottom priced ones. $10k would be a decent price for one with "no known issues at the moment".

The "gator / golf cart" things from Polaris, Kubota, etc; jumped up 4 wheeler things, are nibbling at the bottom of that niche too; without ever really getting into a satisfactory fulfillment of it. Them things are the bane of the roads around here, people just assume its ok to tool around the highway with the dogs and kids piled on.

Wow, I live rural Ontario and I've never seen a gator type thing on the road here. I see ATVs go on the roads briefly to go from one trail to another but that's it.

My dad has a Gator on his property and it's pretty meh. He complains about it a lot.

If they had a three point hitch and a PTO like a tractor I'd find them more compelling.

The giant pickup thing is a weird reflection of changing culture that I can’t quite wrap my head around. Old timey pickups tended to look like simple utilitarian farm equipmemt and kind of signified practicality or conservatism inasmuch as those were common rural values. Newer pickups have this almost scifi/military influenced styling and exaggerated proportions and I can’t help but think they are (subconsciously) being marketed at least somewhat to a Starcraft or Gundam watching type audience. These are still popular in rural US of course but now in my city there are lots of white collar men driving unnecessarily large trucks.

How big is your farm? I’ve had the same idea, although I eventually went with a 1999 GMC Savana auctioned off the county because it was only $5000 early this year. I’m in Seattle where it’s wet all the time so I like the fact that it is in closed. And it can easily fit 4 x 8 plywood in the cargo area.

Just 6.5 acres, half wooded + market garden + hobby vineyard. I've considered local beater trucks, but I'll wait until I can get farm plates (lower insurnace) which requires us making a little more revenue on the farm biz first.

> I've been wanting a Kei mini truck for around the farm here. Just for picking up lumber, manure, etc. no long highway trips. Just mostly local and on the property.

Have you looked at ATVs and pseudo-Jeeps like the Mahindra Roxor or the Kioti?

Well, those are fine for on-property, but not going places, as at least around here they're not road/hwy legal.

I have a compact tractor, I want something for moving stuff around that is either off-property (compost, manure, lumber, straw bales, etc.) or not suited for tractor/trailer.

I do have an SUV (Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which is cool cuz it has a 12 amp outlet in the back for powering tools etc) but it can't fit plywood in the back and I wouldn't put dirty stuff in it, cuz it's my wife's :-)

ATVs seem to be street legal in Ontario if they have a license plate: http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/driver/drive-ATV.shtml

> or not suited for tractor/trailer.

what about a small utility trailer? Cheap as dirt at harbor freight, etc.

I have a nice aluminum trailer but I hate using it. Driving with a trailer sucks, and pulling one into the lumber yard is a pain is the worst.

Spoiled, am I. This is what happens when you combine a FAANG salary with rural hobbies ;-)

>I don't want a big pickup truck.

It's a tough thing to buy aside from vintage. Bummer that these aren't sold in the US (1/2 down the page). Maybe it isn't just lack of demand but also scads of DOT safety standards.

https://www.toyota.com.sa/en/vehicles/commercial/LC70

I've always thought that regular cab shortbed 1/2 tons were the sweet spot, but even those look like semis now.

For sure. I have a huge 1995 Ford F-150 XL that the wife and I mainly use for camping and kayaking. Needed something, and I was able to snag it for $1800. Otherwise looking at 10k+ for something newer.

It has horrible gas mileage, but I guess that's offset by pretty cheap repair costs. Parts are abundant. Parking is a real chore.

However, I've wanted to downsize, and one of the these Kei trucks would probably fit our use case 90% of the time. Just more work packing the camping gear and getting a kayak mounted safely.

Kei class cars are not usually legal for highway use in the USA.

Depends on the state.

In Oregon, for example, the DMV arbitrarily refuses to register them for any use whatsoever. It's not a law or regulation, it's more like an internal opinion or rumor that turned into a standard practice of refusal. They'll still happily give you plates and registration for your even smaller and slower Fiat 500, Subaru 360, Isetta, etc. - but if a DMV employee assumes it's an imported Kei car, you're out of luck.

Because it's not a defined rule (despite mentioning it on their website!) even non-Kei Japanese imports are risky to register. Sometimes a DMV employee will see a car they assume is Kei or close enough because it looks funny, and they'll write down the plate number and void the registration later.

If you're a business and register it with your business, that seems to mollify the DMV for some reason. A few Kei pickups and vans with Oregon plates and business logos have been roaming the local streets.

It's also somewhat common to see Kei cars driving around in Oregon from neighboring states. Totally legal for highway use in Oregon, the Oregon DMV just won't register them.

It seems more than an internal opinion or rumor:

https://www.oregon.gov/odot/DMV/pages/vehicle/vehicletypes.a...

It has it's own section: "Kei Vehicles/Mini-Trucks"

"Many of these vehicles can be imported. They can be titled in Oregon, but cannot get registration because they were not primarily manufactured for U.S. roads or highways."

Perhaps it is still arbitrary, not supported by a specific regulation (but I don't know that). Still, they aren't hiding their unwillingness to register them.

I think they're legal here in Canadia, but I've also heard they are highly unpleasant on the highway.

If they’re older than 25 years old, they can be driven on the highway in the USA because they’re exempt from EPA and crash safety standards. That said, I’ve driven one 10k miles mostly highway and I would not recommend it. The car tops out at 120kmh at the redline and is very light and top heavy, so it can almost be blown over in the window.

It varies by state. Limiting them to roads with speeds <50 or so is somewhat common.

There are two sets of regulations IIRC.

If it’s older than 25 years on import, you can bypass FMVSS/EPA/DOT regulations, so they are always perfectly legal to drive on the federal highway system (incl. at 70-80mph). Some states will refuse to register them though, such as Minnesota or Oregon.

Separately, some states have an import process for cars newer than 25 years old which allows them to be licensed as UTVs/ATVs, so they can go on local roads but are usually speed limited. And iirc, they can’t drive on federal highways.

Innnteresting. I'm going to have to look into it again with that in mind. I really would like to own one.

I just drove my father-in-law's kei truck through southern Japan for about 5 hours in total, mostly on the "express". Even mild wind had me legitimately scared a few times, and it has no guts when it's necessary to pass.

Besides that it was a blast to drive, it feels more like an oversized toy than a vehicle.

When I was in college, my friend was driving an early 80s Ford Ranger. It was crazy how much smaller it was then a modern pickup...

Yeah it was also great in high school in the winter when I would miss a day of school because I couldn't get the thing up the driveway. Best excuse ever, underpowered rear wheel drive in a Canadian winter.

He kept a pair of brake drums in the bed in winter, but this was Indiana which has milder winters then most of Canada

Yeah this was in central Alberta, pretty brutal winters. And my parents had a bit of a steep driveway.

These days I live in southern Ontario which is about the same as Indiana for climate.

One thing about that old Ford Ranger is that the cab was small and the engine hot and it heated up faster in the winter than any other vehicle I've ever had.

As someone who owns one, they’re much cheaper if you import it yourself — the importers charge a massive markup. I think I ended up at about 5k USD for a 25 year old one in the US. Might be different import fees for Canada.

There is a shop which imports JDM cars ran by one fellow I knew from Vladivostok in Vancouver: https://www.velocitycars.ca/

I got a '97 Dodge Dakota, and thought it was unnessarily big at the time, I also thought it was unnessarily mechanically complex too.

Fast forward to today, and it seems small, and simple to work on.

I was just thinking, if they made the exact same truck, I might buy another Dodge.

I guess they did their homework, and decided Americans want huge trucks?

Beside large trucks being generally popular, there’s also regulatory reasons that are pushing smaller and cheaper cars out of the market. Even if dodge wanted to make that exact Dakota again, there’s at least a handful of regulatory reasons they couldn’t.

I bet this would gather some attention: http://www.piaggiocommercialvehicles.com/it_IT/modelli/ape/a...

FWIW Ford is coming out with the the Maverick, and Hyundai's coming out with the Santa Cruz.

Not mini trucks, not as small as an 84, but they're both still smaller then the current batch of trucks and the base MSRP for the Maverick is $25,900 CAD.

Yeah I did see that, though it looks like the hybrid option is just a soft hybrid, no plug/PHEV and no EV option, right?

I feel like if I'm going to pay the money for a new vehicle, I'll replace my Volt with an EV truck. But only once there is an option below $45k CAD. Which could be a long time.

Do look at small chinese electric trucks, found this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzMsJqDNke8

A kawasaki mule is pretty comparable to a kei car and you can buy one new

Not permitted on the roads.

There are several states like Texas where most UTVs/sxs are legal to be driven on public roads. And several other states where they are street legal if you add a kit with turn signals and a horn. In Canada these can be legal at least in Ontario, I would expect they can be driven on roads in rural areas

those are pretty common on roads in rural areas

Why not get a side-by-side?

You can also still get old trucks in great shape. Think old Toyota, Rangers, last gen Colorado.. Set aside $300 a year to keep it running, pretty much cheaper than any alternative.

1980's Volkswagen pickup was perfect for stuff like this.

We had one. It was great. My dad bolted a wooden crossbar to the back of the bed, and an old metal crossbar over the cab. We used to carry a small sailboat, windsurfer, etc. Great for dump runs, etc.

I'd like a truck like that now. An electric version of the new Ford Maverick would be perfect.

Some others called it out, but the Ford Maverick hybrid is coming out that starts at $20k and is about the size of the old rangers.

Isn't it a problem that the steering wheel would be on the right side? Japan drives on the left.

Right hand drive can be road legal here. Not all companies will insure it but many will. Would take some getting used to, but I've seen people driving them around.

Not at all. Passing using the oncoming lane is difficult, but everything else is doable. Mail trucks in the US are right-hand drive so they can deliver to road-side boxes through the drivers window.