I don’t. I would gladly purchase a small practical brand new kei car if I could.

Given the choice between a $35k sedan and a $40k SUV the choice is going to be SUV for most people.

Given the choice between a $15k sedan and a $40k SUV, it gets a lot more interesting.

The US car market is incredibly restricted. You can buy a 300 mile range electric sedan for $25k in China. Why the fuck can’t we get that in North America?

You kind of can. Chevy bolt ev is $26k and 260 miles. That’s probably cheaper relatively speaking than the $25k china ev when you account for wages.

I should have specified that $25k is for a nicely optioned Chinese Buick, not a base level chevy that has a year+ waiting list where I am (Canada).

Bare bones 300 mile cars like the BYD Dolphin cost $16.9k.

They also have a model called the Seagull that is 250 mile at ~$11k. I would buy either of those in cash, today, if I could.

> People (in general) prefer sitting higher up and being in bigger vehicles

I don't think that in isolation people broadly prefer bigger vehicles, but in the context of other people having bigger vehicles, a circular problem exists, with people feeling like they're in ever increasing danger behind the wheel if they have a small car but are surrounded by behemoths. If it weren't contextually dependent, I don't think it would be a relatively recent phenomenon, since big vehicles have always been available, and I think you'd see people getting large vehicles despite what's common around them, in terms of both geography and what's on the road. I'd prefer a larger vehicle if I was driving around polar bear country, and I think every other car on the road in North America is a metaphorical polar bear.

My last two vehicles have been trucks:

- 1991 Ford Ranger 2WD

- 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD OR (4WD + extra features)

The Tacoma is Toyota's smallest North American truck and is dramatically larger than the Ranger. The Ranger suited my needs perfectly except that it wasn't 4WD and would frequently get stuck in Canadian winter. I couldn't even buy good snow tires for it anymore because the rims were too small.

If there were a recently built 4WD truck available in the North American market that was the size of the 91 Ranger, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. It does not exist.

90s Tacoma were the same size as the Ranger. Unfortunately, as you have found, nobody makes a 90s size small truck anymore.

They do, just not for the US market. Both ford and Toyota make excellent mid-small-size trucks (Ranger and Hilux). In South Africa we have similar sized trucks from Nissan, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Colt, a bunch of Chinese brands.

Lol up, 90s Tacomas and 90s Rangers are the about same size. 2023 Tacomas and Rangers are the about same size. But wow is there a delta over that time frame.

My dad recently totaled his old Mazda pickup. Insurance gave him about three times as much for it as I expected. Turns out the value of used small pickups is through the roof, because there are no new small pickups and used ones are getting harder to find.

Ford Maverick is about the size of your old Ranger, although it looks visibly chunkier.

Looks like it’s 8” wider and 24” longer, with a box that’s 6” shorter. To be fair on the length/box size, mine was one of the “club cab” ones with the two sideways-facing backseats and no rear doors. Great for throwing the dogs in the back seat but not so good for passengers. It would probably have been an option but I bought the Tacoma a year before the Maverick was released.

Thanks for the update -- I didn't realize it was so much bigger. That's a real shame. I wish they'd make small, simple, cheap cars again.