Why are Pickup Trucks so popular in the US?

25 comments

1. Because

2. Because it’s fun to drive

3. I think this was most recently asked within the last week. Try using the search function for it.

4. They really fit the lifestyle of a lot of people here

5. Because you can haul things. I usually borrow my dads truck 4 or 5 times a year just to take things places or buy something I need to take home

6. Big roads, big parking, cheap gas (on the world scale, I know what it is right now).

   Lots of people like something big and comfy.

7. They are useful if you need to tow your boat or RV. Helpful if you enjoy any activities, hobbies, or work that requires hauling a lot of things or large equipment. And it’s also been drilled into our heads through yearssssss of marketing and advertising that trucks are the vehicle men should drive (along with jeeps, motorcycles, and muscle cars).

8. Wider roads, *relatively* cheap gas, and the entire culture around them

9. Up north people have them because the winters are brutal here. the four-wheel drive is probably the biggest reason.

10. They’re fun to drive, and extremely convenient for project around the house. We use ours to take our boat to our lakehouse and we can fill the back up with all of our stuff, kids fit in the backseat. It’s perfect. I’ll never not own one, gas or electric.

11. Mid sized or compact (by our current standards) pickups are pretty damn useful honestly. The jumbo ones are, IME, a bigger pain than they’re worth unless you semi-regularly tow pretty heavy stuff.

    I still prefer mid sized or compact SUVs but yeah. The ability to handle rough roads, stick a family of four in, with a week’s worth of luggage and shit? That’s nice.

12. Growing up I was always taught that it’s useful to have a truck. While I don’t have one, my parents do and it’s definitely come in handy while transporting things.

13. Because you don’t need them for 99% of your drives but it’s really nice to have it for the 1% of times

14. I can put 5 bikes in the back and fit the entire family up front? Yes please

15. They haul a lot of stuff in their bed and tow our toys like boats and campers.

    They can fit a family inside.

    They’re unmatched in handling bad weather. A truck in snow or major rain is unrivaled.

    They can go off-road.

    They are fun to drive

    They can be used for work, family and pleasure.

    They provide much better visibility while driving.

    They fare better in accidents.

    The better question is why they aren’t more popular everywhere else?

16. I camped, hiked, hunted whitetail deer, Elk, Moose, black bear, ferral hogs and fly fished for 40 years. Hauled all my supplies for maintaining my home, lawn and garden. A 4X4 pick up just made everything easier to do.

17. 1. they are useful: the back of a pickup truck can carry a lot more stuff than a normal car’s trunk can, also pickup trucks are usually more suited for off-road travel than a car is.
    2. they create an idea of a hardworking outdoorsy type of person which a lot of people want to imitate

18. Very convenient to be able to transport large stuff.

19. I’m not a fan of pickup trucks but it’s not hard to see why they’re popular.

    -Gas is cheap. Even with current fuel prices, they are still lower than much of the developed world.

    -Once you get away from the Northeast, space is plentiful and the roads are wide and cities are easy to navigate in a large truck.

    -Large engines and vehicles are not taxed as highly in the US compared to somewhere like Belgium for example.

    -They’re very versatile and trucks are also increasingly becoming an alternative to premium cars like a BMW 3 series with how fancy trucks have been getting.

    Pickup trucks are also fairly popular in places like New Zealand, Australia, and Canada where fuel prices are cheaper than Europe, lots of space, and fairly car friendly infrastructure. I also think it’s more common in our countries for people to own campers, ATVs, and boats compared to people in developed European/Asian countries.

20. If you can have a car that also hauls things, why not?

21. Around these parts a truck is used for farming. They are also used to haul horses. And other livestock but Kentucky/horses, you know.

    They are also a status symbol. If you have a big clean truck without a scratch and no farmin tag, you’re probably rich…or you have a rich daddy.

22. We have stuff to haul, snow-covered roads to drive over, and boats to tow.

23. They look cool and are useful and/or are generally reliable

24. They are incredibly convenient.

    Like you don’t understand just how convenient they are until you have one…or better yet until you *don’t* have one anymore.

25. My truck can do everything my sedan could to do, plus all the extra truck stuff.