Americanisms

Small fuel efficient trucks make sense. Most of the time when you need a truck, you aren't hauling a ton. Just a couple sticks of lumber and a few sheets of plywood. If I'm ordering a bunch of wood, I have the lumber yard deliver it.

Right up until you get to the price tag. As many makers have found out, a compact truck costs almost as much as a full size, and the fuel economy generally isn't that much better.
 
I'm taking about a little truck or van based off of a Focus or something.

That's been tried in the US before. Remember the VW Rabbit Sportruck? The Dodge Rampage? Or more recently, the Accord-based Honda Ridgeline? All of them had problems selling mostly due to the price-to-performance equation not making sense - the amount of money you save over a non-fleet truck (and sometimes you don't save money) isn't worth the load carrying/towing/offroading/whatever capability you lose.

If you throw fleet-configured pickups into the mix, such car/truck hybrids have even more problems making sense financially.

As for the vans, the same thing mostly applies. The real things (van or minivan) are too cheap; look at how well the HHR cargo van variant didn't sell, mostly due to the fact that it cost *more* than an E-150 or Caravan cargo base model while not offering anything they couldn't do. The Transit Connect seems to be doing okay, but a lot of that is because it's not being pushed as 'a smaller van' but 'minivan alternative that actually carries more for the same price.'
 
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I see quite a few Ridgelines around this area. There even used to be one that towed a tube chassis Mustang and junior dragster with it. He said it pulled fine. I never did ask him again after he replaced it with a Cummins powered Dodge.

I also see many homemade trucks based off of minivans and small cats around here. May just be the "I need a truck, but all I have is this car" syndrome.

Cross posted from Random Thoughts Automotive and some what relevant:

uploadfromtaptalk1397094632967.jpg
 
When the 'shiny new model gotta have a Honda truck' glamour wears off, the finances take over. And in a world where you can get an F-150 for $10K less that actually does everything better, well...
 
Just to make it absolutely clear why those don't make financial sense:

2014 Honda Ridgeline base MSRP: $29,575.
2014 F-150 crewcab base MSRP: $32,300.

So, for ~$3K more you get a truck that can actually tow worth a crap, haul worth a crap, has a longer bed and is actually good at being a truck.

But that's on paper. I just got this in email from one of the local Ford dealers: https://www.eleadcrm.com/fresh/elead_track/Companies/TXNCFORD/Images/SPRING333.jpg

So, that's the F-150 at $19,300 then...

To compare to the Tacoma - the base Tacoma single cab shortbed *starts* at $18,125 and comes with about nothing. The numbers just don't generally work out in favor of the compact or car-based trucks.
 
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My main gripe with the F-150 is that a Crew Cab with the 6.5' box cannot fit in any of the garages in my neighborhood. That, combined with my strange attraction towards the Tacoma (which can just barely fit in these garages) is why I still like it, despite the lack of value for money with the Taco.

With that said, I secretly want a F-150 Platinum.
 
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This thread has got all ate up with truck talk. Ya'll better get it straight on track, else find me in a mood for fixing it right and proper. The business end of my temper ain't a thing you want me to fear you with.
 
Boy they did take a nose dive.

One of the major car mags in the US managed to blow out all the shocks in their long term Ridgeline, I forgot how but it wasn't anything that would worry a Ram or F-150.
 
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