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A comment on Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks. Parent comment

Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by nicbou on Thursday April 20, 2023 @05:38PM (#35646723)
For me, European multipurpose vehicles (sprinter vans?) were a revelation. An old Renault Kangoo is cheap to buy, cheap to drive and cheap to maintain. It's a small, simple car that drives and parks like a small sedan, but carries as much as a small pickup truck.

I can fit a bed, 3 months of luggage and a bicycle in mine. In a pinch, it's a brilliant microcamper. It's a big box on wheels. You can do what you want with it.

It's not a nice car, but it was designed to serve real user needs. That's why they're everywhere from Morocco to Poland.

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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by quarantine on Thursday April 20, 2023 @06:13PM (#35647202)
The Citroën Berlingo really is one of the best cars they made
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by lm28469 on Thursday April 20, 2023 @06:52PM (#35647615)
The c15 is an icon too, such a classic, produced from 1984 until 2006, it can carry almost as much as it weights. And it was designed to fit a full euro palette in the back https://images.caradisiac.com/images/0/9/8/4/190984/S0-route...
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by sofixa on Friday April 21, 2023 @05:44AM (#35651598)
There is this amazing Twitter thread comparing the Citroen C15 (a design from the 1980s) to a modern American pickup and a modern British SUV, with the Citroen blowing them out of the water in most scenarios: https://twitter.com/jmaris_/status/1570889945551863808
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by lm28469 on Friday April 21, 2023 @09:16AM (#35653257)
Aha that's amazing. It would be nice to retrofit them with electric engines, but I doubt that would be commercially feasible, as much as I love them I wouldn't want to crash in that above 20kph
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by sofixa on Friday April 21, 2023 @09:52AM (#35653748)
Yeah, Stellantis just need to release a new one. They quote the C15 in the "more than 90 years in utility vehicles" press releases for their new (optionally electric) Citroen utility vehicles: https://www.media.stellantis.com/ch-fr/citroen/press/citroen...
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by rtpg on Thursday April 20, 2023 @06:35PM (#35647439)
This made me realize why I see so many Kangoos in Japan, despite them not really being cheap here! A bit of a nicer version of a Kei truck, without being a full minivan!
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by fomine3 on Thursday April 20, 2023 @10:08PM (#35649018)
Kangoo buyers in Japan also cares fashion. Japanese vans like Toyota Townace are too boring for them but Kangoo is cute.
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by freetime2 on Thursday April 20, 2023 @11:13PM (#35649414)
Yup Kangoos are quite expensive in Japan. They start at JPY 3.8M [1]

The Toyota Sienta, which starts at JPY 2M, seems like a much better value for a passenger car - and I think they borrowed from the Kangoo's styling a bit for the latest iteration [2]. Or for business use a Town Ace, NV200, HiJet, etc.

[1] https://www.renault.jp/car_lineup/kangoo/gps/index.html

[2] https://toyota.jp/sienta/

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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by rtpg on Friday April 21, 2023 @12:14AM (#35649760)
Yeah, sure. If you're running some successful bakery in Kagurazaka having the nice-looking truck feels like a "fine" decision. My mental image is that Townaces are bigger, but maybe that's just my impression from the Kangoo's curves
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by freetime2 on Friday April 21, 2023 @01:18AM (#35650032)
L/W/H for Kangoo is 4490/1860/1810 vs. 4065/1665/1930 for the Town Ace. So probably quite a bit easier to park/maneuver the Town Ace.
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by porphyra on Thursday April 20, 2023 @06:48PM (#35647566)
Vans are really much more practical.

* protects your goods from weather

* more cargo volume

* better forward visibility without a long hood

* easier to load and unload due to being lower

* can park it without people being able to walk up to it and taking your tools and equipment out of the exposed truck bed

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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by bink on Thursday April 20, 2023 @07:16PM (#35647809)
I think this is true unless you're hauling something that you really don't want in a closed space with you. Lawn equipment, motorcycle, fertilizer, that sort of thing.
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by Symbiote on Thursday April 20, 2023 @07:34PM (#35647988)
In that case you have a dropside van, based on the same cab and chassis but with sides that fold down for easier loading and unloading.

In use: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bairon-FR-08-chantie...

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercedes-Benz_Sprint...

(Can an American tell me what these vehicles are called in the USA?)

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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by georgeoliver on Thursday April 20, 2023 @08:07PM (#35648221)
> (Can an American tell me what these vehicles are called in the USA?)

Flatbeds.

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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by wpm on Thursday April 20, 2023 @08:09PM (#35648242)
I think in America we'd just call that a "flat bed truck" or something, which is a catch all for those that do indeed have flat beds as well as these with short sides around the bed.
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by Symbiote on Thursday April 20, 2023 @08:23PM (#35648341)
That got me there with a little extra searching. "Flatbeds with side gates."

Here they are very common on construction sites for the messier work (building roads, railways, walls, roofs, forestry etc) but normal vans with a roof are more common for the cleaner work (plumbing, electrics, painting, carpentry etc).

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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by shellfishgene on Friday April 21, 2023 @03:14AM (#35650654)
Most van models are offered commercial version that has a separation between the cab and the cargo space, at least in Europe.
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Re:Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks by bombcar on Friday April 21, 2023 @02:32AM (#35650417)
The US equivalent is a minivan; which everyone seems to agree is absolutely impossible to admit buying unless you’re a housewife with small kids. But they’re incredibly practical.
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