348
Can we stop buying these stupid things? Thanks
(lemmy.blahaj.zone)
A place to discuss Australia and important Australian issues.
If you're posting anything related to:
If you're posting Australian News (not opinion or discussion pieces) post it to Australian News
This community is run under the rules of aussie.zone. In addition to those rules:
Congratulations to @Tau@aussie.zone who had the most upvoted submission to our banner photo competition
Be sure to check out and subscribe to our related communities on aussie.zone:
https://aussie.zone/communities
Since Kbin doesn't show Lemmy Moderators, I'll list them here. Also note that Kbin does not distinguish moderator comments.
Additionally, we have our instance admins: @lodion@aussie.zone and @Nath@aussie.zone
In America they are mostly bought because of consumerism and fragile masculinity.
Where I live trucks are at around half the vehicles. My wife and I play a game where we try to spot a truck hauling something that they actually needed the truck for. Most trips I'll see dozens of trucks and zero being necessary.
Do you see them on the weekends when they're hauling their 4 wheelers, boats, or motorcycles? You probably don't make it to the outdoors much, but there's good reasons to have a pickup.
A Chevy Bolt EV hatchback can tow right sized utility trailers, boats, campers, bicycles, cargo boxes, motorcycles, ride on lawn mowers and ATVs. With the roof rack it can move kayaks. Before someone chimes in to say it can't, I own one, I live in a rural area, I do these things and have done them for part of the last 150,000kms.
If the little ol' bolt can do it, think about all the larger vehicles that could do it too. The idea that you need a weekday driver pick up truck to have enough utility for weekend fun is a myth told by truck salesmen and people trying to justify the unnecessary purchase they made.
I looked into if it would be possible to tow a small trailer with the Bolt, but it's not rated for any towing load so it's an insurance liability. Is your model rated for towing, or are you just accepting the insurance liability?
My insurance company tells me that when a trailer is attached it's covered under liability, no different than a cargo box on a hitch. Rated capacity never factored into the discussion, just don't overload the OEM hitch that I have installed.
But now we're talking about differences in people's specific insurance coverage, which may vary by country, state, province, provider, and legislation and not the overall point which is that owning a daily driver pick up truck just because you occasionally tow is more an excuse than a nessecity for many , many truck owners.
How heavy are these towed things. Some boats are well over 1000kg and small towballs aren't rated for enough down force to properly handle them. Plus a large enough trailer will start pushing you around if you don't have enough mass in the tow vehicle.