Big vehicles.

I spent several months making deliveries for a construction company. I would drive my Ford Pinto to work and climb out of it and into an F800 65' crane truck for 8 hours. There was a pretty good mental shift between the two. 

I should also note:  as a non-truck owner, I realize I should shut up and stop bitching :)

That said, as soon as orders are open again for Mavericks I intend to be on the list.

When I sold my gmt400 k3500 and got a gmt900, I noticed the top of the bed floor was noticably higher off the ground. I was used to being able to jump into the bed of my truck from flat ground.  Now I have to clamber up. It's less than desirable. Seriously considering getting a lowering kit for the new truck. 

RevRico said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

There's a few parts to it. Older lots, even older regulations that aren't keeping up with modern vehicles in a lot of areas because there are minimum sizes for spots. People cheating the minimum size to fit too many spots into to small of a property foot print because they forgot handicap spots are both required and larger than normal. Places being made commercial forgetting how much room a building takes up. There's lots of reasons mixing together. 

A lifetime ago when I was building commercial buildings we actually went to 10 feet wide instead of the 8.5 that was required because cars and people are getting wider. Got a little clap back from the township because they thought it would cut down on required handicap spots, but it didn't.

I started noticing it more when I went from the p71 to the Ranger. Now with the excursion I'm very attentive, to the point I yelled at a truck stop owner when he repainted his lot and added 5 spaces by shrinking the sizes of non trucker spaces. 

Business owners have an interest in getting as many parking spaces as they can fit into their lot, especially if that lot is small.  They really don't care if your door gets a nasty ding.  I find that some spaces are generous, others unreasonably tight.  Door dings are a fact of life.  If I'm driving something nice, I'll park in a space as far as possible from the entrance and walk.  If I'm parking the Dooley, I will back into two spaces with the line right down the middle of the truck.  At a glance from either side, it appears perfectly parked.

High bed sides mean higher bed sides :) The load floor is a question of ride height, differential size and suspension travel, really. I'll take a look underneath mine and see if there's air where there shouldn't be. The fact that mine is a 4x4 means it's going to be taller because high clearance is usually considered desirable with 4WD.

Wheels and tires can get pretty close to the maximum weight of a thing a person can load in the back of a truck. I've loaded an engine hoist in and out of the bed by myself. Past that, you're either using multiple people or equipment. I understand the complaints and I would do something about it if I'd found it to be a limiting factor in the past decade. I haven't found the bed height to be an issue compared to the first gen Tundra or '89 Toyota Truck before it. "I should make this lower" has never crossed my mind.

I'm quite comfortable driving the 20' long diesel around our town here, as this is a ranch service town and we are scaled for pickups. It gets a little claustrophobic in Denver at times. When I took it to Ottawa, it was comical/terrifying.

As I'm spending more time in my Miata, yes, I have noticed that everything around me seems a lot taller. 

Keith Tanner said:

Yeah, these new vehicles are huge :)

It's a barge, but it's NOT a skyscraper.

The current vehicular situation was caused by people buying SUVs at least in part so they could "see over" other traffic.

Well guess what, that was an arms race that ended in stalemate with everybody driving SUVs. At this point y'all still can't see over traffic, except now everybody is 18" farther off the ground.

You know what didn't get 18" taller?

Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.

And Miatas.

I just went from GMT400 to GMT900 on what should be the same size vehicle. It is a lot bigger. I have a picture but it isn't a good one.

i think you can see the size difference especially in height. I'm a little worried that the new one won't fit in my garage. 

Duke said:

Keith Tanner said:

Yeah, these new vehicles are huge :)

It's a barge, but it's NOT a skyscraper.

The current vehicular situation was caused by people buying SUVs at least in part so they could "see over" other traffic.

Well guess what, that was an arms race that ended in stalemate with everybody driving SUVs. At this point y'all still can't see over traffic, except now everybody is 18" farther off the ground.

You know what didn't get 18" taller?

Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.

And Miatas.

 

Turns out longer, lower, wider hits a functional maximum and the only way to get more interior space is taller. Bed floor is determined by a deep frame and a big diff.

FYI, my bed sides are shoulder height and the tailgate is just below waist height. 

Keith Tanner said:

It's interesting to see how people park in a snow covered parking lot. The amount of "personal space" people want around their car is obviously considerably larger than the amount allocated to them by the stripers.

I have no problem with the height of the bed in my 4WD pickup, but I know it's something that keeps a bunch of GRM people awake at night. You can buy lowering kits, it's okay. I used to have a first gen Tundra and the boss had the facelifted version of the same truck. His had taller bed sides, which meant we could carry two wheels/tires stacked on top of each other and still get them under the tonneau. I couldn't, so I could only carry half as many wheels/tires under cover when doing race support. Since the entire purpose of the bed is to be cargo capacity, I wished I had the taller sides. The depth of the Dodge's bed is good, and I can reach over the side if I need to.

I think it's a matter of how much it's used too. My trucks definitely never have tonneau covers so it's depth from bed rail doesn't matter much.

But jumping into a truck bed 35 times to get the tools then a few hours later jumping in the truck 35 times again to put the tools back can get annoying . Also putting lumber racks on an already tall truck kinda suck. My ranger has the rack at about shoulder height which is spectacular for unloading and loading rebar. That same rebar being roughly 8 feet up isn't optimal.

The cool thing about trucks is that they come in a lot of configurations though too

In reply to 81cpcamaro :

I got pulled over in a chevy van with the 6.2 diseasel on the freeway, ages ago. Cop said he was gonna write me up for 70 in a 55 and I said "Uphill? In a diesel van?" And he said "get outta here, have a nice day" :D

My wife went from a smart fortwo to a BMW i3. It's nearly half a smart longer. It's wider than my Mazda 2. Parked next to Jean Clyde Damn Van (1992 Safari) it makes then van seem small!

aircooled said:

I will never under stand the "lets make the bed height of the pickup high enough to make it as hard as possible to put things in it" trend.

Why, so 1 in 20 people who want to put huge tires on one and 1 in 10 of those might get some use out of those tires?

 

A black Smart Car seems like a really bad idea.  Beyond all the downsides of black in general, visibility would seem to be something you should consider.  I get a little concerned driving my Ghia around (not in traffic generally) but it is also ridiculously bright yellow!

It's because it has nothing whatsoever to do with use.  It's all about how those trucks make their owners feel.

Even your Miata is huge when you ride a motorcycle.

when I bought my Disco, I sat just as high as the Pickups.  Now I am half a foot shorter. In some cases I am a lot shorter.  Two of the places I worked at, I had trouble fitting into the parking garages,  I do not know what the owners of the huge vehicles do in that case.

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

Currently riding to work in an 89 civic.

 

There are bicycles bigger than this

Which is funny because right when I got my driver's license my mom bought a brand new 89 Civic. At the time I had been tooling around test driving repairs in my triumph GT6. Mom let me take her civic out for a spin, and aside from being amazed at how "modern" it was, I remember thinking that I better be careful because this car was way bigger than the triumph lol.

I daily drive a GTI which is mostly in commuting traffic so probably a higher proportion of mid-size cars there than other times of the day. On the weekends I usually drive my Porsche 924 and I pay real close attention to literally everybody on the road because I'm sitting below their mirrors.

On the flip side I also have a Sequoia which is slightly taller than stock, And I will fully admit that when I drive that I enjoy the fact that I'm sitting higher than pretty much everybody except for the bro trucks. It's definitely a commanding feeling, And you get the perception that people are going to stay the berkeley out of your way because you're in a big vehicle, which may or may not be true lol.

Sidewayze said:

aircooled said:

I will never under stand the "lets make the bed height of the pickup high enough to make it as hard as possible to put things in it" trend.

Why, so 1 in 20 people who want to put huge tires on one and 1 in 10 of those might get some use out of those tires?

 

A black Smart Car seems like a really bad idea.  Beyond all the downsides of black in general, visibility would seem to be something you should consider.  I get a little concerned driving my Ghia around (not in traffic generally) but it is also ridiculously bright yellow!

It's because it has nothing whatsoever to do with use.  It's all about how those trucks make their owners feel.

Yep, and I make zero apologies for that.

The Excursion is way more vehicle than I "need" most of the time.  I'd drive it the 40 miles round-trip to the office - back when I went to an office - with just me in it.  I like the rough ride, I like the towering above traffic, and I like the fact that if I want to change lanes that turn signal is a warning not a request.  The seating position is very comfortable for long periods of time. When we go somewhere as a family, we can use the third row so that we can spread out a bit. I even put the big mirrors on it to make it stick out a little more.  They're somewhat more functional than the originals, but mainly I like the way it looks.  I think it's cool how I have to basically climb up into the beast instead of how I fold myself down into the NA.

Sure, I tow with it sometimes.  And I've carried ridiculous amounts of cargo sometimes - 2200lbs of ceramic tile on a skid in the back was probably a bit much, but it did it.  But I could do that with a smaller vehicle if I wanted to.  Maybe when der Scheißwagen is finished, I'll sell the Big Ugly Truck for Towing and use the Scheiß From Stuttgart instead.

But I like big trucks and I cannot lie.

mad_machine said:

when I bought my Disco, I sat just as high as the Pickups.  Now I am half a foot shorter. In some cases I am a lot shorter.  Two of the places I worked at, I had trouble fitting into the parking garages,  I do not know what the owners of the huge vehicles do in that case.

There's a guy near here who has an unexceptionally sized house with the garage at 90* to the front of the house. His new mildly lifted pickup won't fit inside the garage, so he parks it in front of the door. This means it's basically the main focus of the house from the curb and the scale looks way off. He owns a truck with a small house that lives behind it. It's hilarious. 

I like the fact that if I want to change lanes that turn signal is a warning not a request.

That sort of thought process is what worries the drivers of smaller cars and it's easy to start thinking that way with a big vehicle. Right of way does not actually change with size. 

Keith Tanner said:

I like the fact that if I want to change lanes that turn signal is a warning not a request.

That sort of thought process is what worries the drivers of smaller cars. Right of way does not actually change with size. 

Maybe not, but when I have that guy who wants to speed up to me then park in my blind spot on my left side, all I have to do is start easing towards the lane marker and riding the extreme left side of my lane.  It works even better with the trailer attached.  9 out of 10 times they will stomp one of the pedals and either resume going faster than me or fall in behind.  That trick doesn't work as well in the NA or the 5 or the Neon.  The motorhome is pretty much already riding the edges of the lane on both sides.

But back to the original point, the other spots that work well for parking are at the end of the aisle or next to a curbed area with trees or grass or whatever.  I can get right up to the curb or the outside line which provides enough room to swing a door.  And not get clocked by a ridiculously-sized mirror. 

My mother-in-law and her husband like to park their F150 in, like, four spots to "keep anyone from parking too close" and that just makes my head explode.

Duke said:

Keith Tanner said:

Yeah, these new vehicles are huge :)

It's a barge, but it's NOT a skyscraper.

The current vehicular situation was caused by people buying SUVs at least in part so they could "see over" other traffic.

Well guess what, that was an arms race that ended in stalemate with everybody driving SUVs. At this point y'all still can't see over traffic, except now everybody is 18" farther off the ground.

You know what didn't get 18" taller?

Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.

And Miatas.

 

I was trained to look through the vehicles ahead of you.

You can't do that when everyone is in a truck with blackout tint on the rear windows, which is a result of (rant expunged)

I have learned to drive by watching shadows.  Depending on where the sun is, you can still see two, three vehicles ahead of you.

Relevant to thread, I spent an hour this week driving a Jetta Sportwagen and I found it to be uncomfortably large.

Duke said:

The current vehicular situation was caused by people buying SUVs at least in part so they could "see over" other traffic.

Well guess what, that was an arms race that ended in stalemate with everybody driving SUVs. At this point y'all still can't see over traffic, except now everybody is 18" farther off the ground.

You know what didn't get 18" taller?

Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.

And Miatas.

This is all very well explained by evolution.  Species of vehicle that are unable to evolve will lack those traits necessary for survival and eventually cease to exist.

When I bought my 2014 F250 CC RWD to replace my 2002 f350 CC dually RWD I was amazed at how much taller the 2014 sits. I'm sure some of it is the tire size but why make the tailgate so high you can't sit on it? 

SLATE had an article on this very issue last month.