Without reading, I’ll read it after this, but I’m zero percent surprised. Only people I’ve seen buy ram trucks are ones who do not care about others and want to be seen as big and tuff.
Hell the vast majority of truck drivers too, sorry not sorry folks but you do not need a truck to drive to your office daily, or to drive the family around, you got it as a status symbol. RAM drivers are just the worst of them all.
There are many people in my highly liberal and progressive PNW town that drive trucks. The majority seem to be decent people based on my interactions on the road with them as a pedestrian and cyclist.
I do agree most people don’t need trucks, and it’s more of a performative masculinity thing, or maybe that’s just what they’ve been conditioned to like.
We as an American people have been conditioned for decades that we need larger and bigger vehicles when we absolutely don’t. This is because smaller cars have stricter regulations thanks to the “light truck” loophole in the CAFE standards. It’s literally less regulated, and thus highly profitable to get people to buy trucks instead of cars. The masculine thing, the “It’s safer because it’s bigger”, the “I need space for my family” - it’s all generated by marketing teams for car companies to convince each of us that we need a bigger (and less regulated) car.
When really… we don’t. We don’t at all, and it choosing a truck whether it’s intentional or not, is a selfish move. It’s large, it’s unnecessary, wasteful, it’s proven extremely deadly to pedestrians, bicyclists, and children. Choosing a vehicle like that is inherently accepting that you are risking other people’s lives, and that’s why I’m so against them.
Ignorance is excusable, but once informed then it’s no longer ignorance.
Hello fellow PNW person. I am likely one of those people. I try to represent the good side of this example whenever possible.
Also have a tiny ev that is my daily driver, especially in the city where parking a full size pickup is just not worth it. That said, on the days when my partner needs the car for longer trips and I have to take my truck around for chores, I’m constantly on alert to not be a dick.
I think this is honestly how a lot of folks are around here. It’s a little different when you head out east but near civilization, I am generally given hope.
Why didn’t you buy one with a lower height but the same load capacity? Safer and makes loading stuff easier.
Us Australians look at weird American raised utes and scratch our heads in puzzlement. You’ve got a higher driver position, granted, but it’s also a higher centre of gravity, it’s harder to park in garages and underground car parks, it’s harder to see pedestrians, it’s harder to load stuff into the tray, etc.
You clearly aren’t just driving it to look pretty, like many people that we both probably get annoyed by. What’s the story?
I got a friend who bought a RAM last year. he was previously hauling construction equipment in his partner’s crossover and his own sedan. a pickup was an appropriate buy
HOWEVER he got a RAM (thankfully no LED headlights, though they are mounted way too high still), and tbh I’m not really sure what his alternatives were. “small” pickups like the Maverick are too small, and expensive
also he’s like 6’4" 250+lb so he physically needs a bigger cabin lol
Only people I’ve seen buy ram trucks are ones who do not care about others and want to be seen as big and tuff.
The brodozer phenomenon is real and lamentable.
At the moment I am getting a reprieve from it. I moved to a small agricultural town* where the pickups are actually work trucks. Hay bales, animal feed bags, and farm dogs in the bed. It makes this grinch’s heart grow a little larger.
https://moparinsiders.com/study-shows-ram-truck-drivers-are-the-worst-on-the-road/
Without reading, I’ll read it after this, but I’m zero percent surprised. Only people I’ve seen buy ram trucks are ones who do not care about others and want to be seen as big and tuff.
Hell the vast majority of truck drivers too, sorry not sorry folks but you do not need a truck to drive to your office daily, or to drive the family around, you got it as a status symbol. RAM drivers are just the worst of them all.
There are many people in my highly liberal and progressive PNW town that drive trucks. The majority seem to be decent people based on my interactions on the road with them as a pedestrian and cyclist.
I do agree most people don’t need trucks, and it’s more of a performative masculinity thing, or maybe that’s just what they’ve been conditioned to like.
We as an American people have been conditioned for decades that we need larger and bigger vehicles when we absolutely don’t. This is because smaller cars have stricter regulations thanks to the “light truck” loophole in the CAFE standards. It’s literally less regulated, and thus highly profitable to get people to buy trucks instead of cars. The masculine thing, the “It’s safer because it’s bigger”, the “I need space for my family” - it’s all generated by marketing teams for car companies to convince each of us that we need a bigger (and less regulated) car.
When really… we don’t. We don’t at all, and it choosing a truck whether it’s intentional or not, is a selfish move. It’s large, it’s unnecessary, wasteful, it’s proven extremely deadly to pedestrians, bicyclists, and children. Choosing a vehicle like that is inherently accepting that you are risking other people’s lives, and that’s why I’m so against them.
Ignorance is excusable, but once informed then it’s no longer ignorance.
Hello fellow PNW person. I am likely one of those people. I try to represent the good side of this example whenever possible.
Also have a tiny ev that is my daily driver, especially in the city where parking a full size pickup is just not worth it. That said, on the days when my partner needs the car for longer trips and I have to take my truck around for chores, I’m constantly on alert to not be a dick.
I think this is honestly how a lot of folks are around here. It’s a little different when you head out east but near civilization, I am generally given hope.
Yeah the difference between PNW truck drivers and Midwestern ones is night and day.
Hey, well here’s one that bought one with a 2 seat cab, to haul drywall and various construction materials.
Why didn’t you buy one with a lower height but the same load capacity? Safer and makes loading stuff easier.
Us Australians look at weird American raised utes and scratch our heads in puzzlement. You’ve got a higher driver position, granted, but it’s also a higher centre of gravity, it’s harder to park in garages and underground car parks, it’s harder to see pedestrians, it’s harder to load stuff into the tray, etc.
You clearly aren’t just driving it to look pretty, like many people that we both probably get annoyed by. What’s the story?
Good luck finding one in the US. I miss my old 95 Ranger.
The fact that they never brought the Holden Ute over to the US as a new El Camino is frustrating.
We came close, it was gonna be brought over as a Pontiac like with the Commodore/G8, but then that brand went away.
And we wonder why GM needs bailed out all the time.
I think it’s pricing
I got a friend who bought a RAM last year. he was previously hauling construction equipment in his partner’s crossover and his own sedan. a pickup was an appropriate buy
HOWEVER he got a RAM (thankfully no LED headlights, though they are mounted way too high still), and tbh I’m not really sure what his alternatives were. “small” pickups like the Maverick are too small, and expensive
also he’s like 6’4" 250+lb so he physically needs a bigger cabin lol
They also have more size configuration options, per model. RAM is one of the only brands that offer single cabs and 8 foot beds, for example.
The brodozer phenomenon is real and lamentable.
At the moment I am getting a reprieve from it. I moved to a small agricultural town* where the pickups are actually work trucks. Hay bales, animal feed bags, and farm dogs in the bed. It makes this grinch’s heart grow a little larger.
*actually just a Census Designated Place