this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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This is a really braindead and disingenuous take. The F650 is a commercial vehicle. Attempting to pretend that "Americans" drive these is moronic, because the number of private citizens who drive one of these as a personal vehicle is probably in the triple digits in a country with a population of 332,000,000.
I know it's fasionable to farm for upvotes these days by blaring AMERICANS BIG TRUCKS BAD. But no one is "driving these to McD's to get a McFlurry." Very, very few people own one of these just to be "decadent."
You may as well get on your high horse about Americans driving big rigs all the time while you're at it. Because they totally do!!!!! (It's true!) Ones who are truck drivers, you know, delivering the goods you rely on every day.
On the very outside edge of the graph, there are probably a few outliers who own one of these to tow something enormous: A big horse trailer or a box trailer with their airplane in it or something. I have never seen one of these on the road that wasn't an actual commercial vehicle like a tow truck or similar.
The problem with obviously ridiculous whinging like this is that it dilutes the actual useful message, which is that America's transportation infrastructure is fucked up, and our reliance on fossil fuels (not just trucks) is Too Damn High.
Yeah these communities should be "we are all victims of car dominated society and infrastructure: here is the problem and here are some solutions" but instead they're just people who have never set foot in North America getting triggered by vehicles 90% of the population isn't even aware that it even exists.
They're also living such sheltered and cushy lives that they have the outright luxury of sitting around on the internet bitching that other people should confirm their lifestyles to whatever their unrealistic pipe dream is, and do it overnight.
You're never going to catch me living in a city, ever. Walkable and bikable utopia or not.
Are you lost? This is the "fuck cars" community.
I think you're looking for the reactionary pedant shithead community or something.
Oh, sorry! I forgot we weren't allowed to poke a hole in the bubble of your whackdoodle echo chamber.
If you don't want people to criticize your obvious bullshit, don't post it publicly on the internet.
Do you have the same type of brain hemorrhage you're currently having when someone forwards you a stupid meme on facebook or email? Cuz that's about the quality of the thing you're "criticizing" here.
Also it ain't mine; I didn't post it. I just find it hilarious when people respond to a obvious circlejerk with bitter, weird pedantry in the comments instead of just downvoting it or moving on like most people without a personality disorder would.
If you guys really feel this way you ought to maybe move your community to a little private defederated instance or something, so you can keep your precious circlejerk going away from outside eyes and you won't get you wittle fewwings hurt so much.
Dude, I'm not even subscribed to this community, and you are the one who sounds like a little triggered baby.
What's going on with you? Your diaper full?
Seriously bro. You nailed it. I've seen f 450 and f 550s on the road that do exactly what your talking about. It's honestly common. But they are all commercial trucks. have never seen an f 650 besides on the internet, if I have it's commercial and not in cab form.
The point stands with actual consumer trucks, there's no need to cherry pick this truck and look like a clown.
Our message includes "current day cars are Too Damn Big", and this shit is the perfect example.
It's not, though, because statistically speaking no one is driving it.
The whole point was that this isn't really a day car, except in the minds of non Americans assuming what Americans really drive.
Now of course if they had used an F150, particularly comparing a modern one to what "full size" trucks used to be, fair and accurate point. The standard full size truck including the f150 tries to resemble a big rig a bit too much, just not as insane as the pictured F650 would be if anyone used it as such.
Give it a couple of years
But at the very least, there are way too many 350's on the streets compared to the number of people that have any actual reason to own one. And far too many with duelies. You don't have to go all the way to 650 to be getting a little nuts.
I’m glad we live in a country where your opinion on what vehicle a person should own or not own is just that… an opinion.
I'd agree more if you said F150 instead of F350. F305s are much more likely to actually be used for truck things rather than making people feel manly or whatever since those people aren't likely to spend more for worse ride quality and less mpg.
That's fair, I should state, my perspective is from living in Alberta. Where high-school kids work out in the oil patch and come back with their first month's pay and put themselves into 10 years of debt with the biggest pickup truck they can get. Then crash it a month later doing 150km/h on a dirt road back up to or down from work. Probably with a few beers in them.
I know that sounds like I'm describing one particular story that I have gotten hung up on, but I personally know at least 4 people where those details fit. The only one that varies between those 4 is whether they had been drinking. And I live in a small town.
It's a bit of a joke around here that half the kids are paying off college debt, and the other half are paying off Truck debt. Although up here college debt doesn't last anywhere near as long as Truck debt.
We do see way too many ornamental 350's here. I assume that's the biggest one you can buy normally or something like that.
My dude, the top 5 cars sold on the USA are Ford trucks, Silverados and RAMs. They might not look like much to you but in any other country those things are humongous. The RAM trucks are an abomination that should never be on regular people's hands, and even a F250 is gigantic if you compare to a regular sedan like a Civic.
They might not look like much, because they aren't. The trucks you mention are vastly different than the one pictured. Also, "shouldn't be on regular people's hands" doesn't even make sense. The regulating body that ensures the proper training has given me a license stating that I have the ability to drive a truck. I'm a regular person. What are you even trying to get at here?
Nah they're not actually all that big if you take into account what they're designed to do. Maybe even a lil small. How do you expect to load pallets of construction materials in anything smaller? That is, after all, it's intended use. Complain about SUV sizes because those definitely don't have to be so big, but trucks are that size for good reason. People using them as commuters? That's not the truck's fault. Blame the soldier not the gun. Blame the craftsman not the tool. Etc.
I could see a work truck with many heavy tools and spares for hydraulic machinery being one of these trucks.
How is this a practical commercial vehicle? How do you even put something in the back of this thing? Does it come with a loading ramp?
Boy I sure do love it when pedants pick apart something that's obviously an exaggeration or meme designed to affect laughter. /s
I was sitting in Trader Joe's parking lot last night waiting for my wife and there were gigantasaurus cars surrounding my ultra-compact car in every direction. I have lost count of the number of people in my (urban) neighborhood that drive extra large trucks and then park them in all of the guest spaces because they can't even fit the big, dumbshit beasts in their normal sized garages.
You understand the F150 is the best selling vehicle in the US right? It's not a fear cry from this monstrosity.
If the rednecks would spend their money on trucks instead of meth these would be all over the place.
And you realize the F150 is hugely dissimilar to something like the 650. right? The only commonality is that they're both trucks and they're both made by Ford.
The current gen F150's have their own stupid design aspects, as well, and you'd never catch me buying one. But they're not comparable. The F650 is 20.5 inches wider than the F150 and in its shortest factory bed configuration is 19.3 inches longer than the longest factory bed and cab combination of the F150.
They. Are. Not. The. Same. Thing.
Like comparing a desktop computer to a commercial web server
You got me...it's not even TWO FEET bigger...clearly that's a completely different vehicle.
That's hilarious...I honestly thought I was kind of bullshitting about the dimensions...Phew...
Go out to your car (or your neighbor's car if you're one of those types) with a tape measure and some masking tape, and mask off 20.5" from the side of his vehicle to get a feel for how much bigger that is. Do the whole thing, all the way around. Make a whole box the size of the footprint of an F650. Tell me if it will even still fit in its parking space anymore.
And then kindly shut the fuck up, because you are obviously either a little kid with no perspective or experience with the world, or you have the mentality of one.
Damn...I'm really sorry about your penis. I'd say it gets better, but well...Keep buying the big trucks I guess.
Seriously though...go get a 2 seater anything and drive about 100 miles. Tell me which giant ass SUV or Truck really stood out to you? They all just kind of blur together in a McDonald's super sized orgy of excess. Does it really matter if it's a jacked up F250 or a regular sized F650...they're embarrassing.
Man you're just trying to be an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. Have you ever tried actually being reasonable?
Not American, not into big trucks but thought I'd Google a 150 beside a 650 to get an idea of what they look like, they do indeed seem to be on a completely different scale and I'd tend to agree the 650 appears to be a commercial vehicle.
Looking up current trucks, the F150 varies from 209-228" long and it's 96" wide. That means there's a 21% increase in width and a bit less than 10% in length.
If that isn't significant to you, I will happily accept 20% of your paycheck at your convenience.
The government takes 20% of my paycheck and I don't notice...so um...go ask them I guess.
I'm really sorry you're 4 feet tall and feel envious of us 6-footers, but it is a big difference
The F150 has always been the bestselling truck in America, through all its iterations, which includes when it was about 40% smaller.
Which reinforces OPs pic. Big trucks are an obsession with Americans.
It's a valid stereotype.
He could have used a more accurate picture of a modern F150, and made the point well without inspiring folks to think "oh the Internet has made this person think Americans are all out driving F650s and I can put aside their ill informed point".
An F150 is still ridiculous. If he were concerned that people were desensitized to how ridiculous it is, could have included a comparison picture from 30 years ago to show what trucks used to look like, or a reasonably sized sedan.
If you want to sway hearts and minds, avoid claiming an example as representative when the audience is likely to recognize that example as something they have never actually seen casually on the road.
But was it always the best seller vehicle? (This is not a gotcha, I don't know).
Iirc it was for like 40 years in a row and it's always close to the top
Possibly. I took license with my response for sure as I don't follow it closely or own one at all, but it's done fairly well.
You have to go get a specialized company to make it look this way it does not come like this. Is the f150 ridiculous yes. But this truck is a far cry from an f150. It's like saying an f150 is equal to a flat bed tow truck or an international bobtail. F150 cost ~37,000 vs f650 cost ~70,000 and that comes with only the cab,nothing on the back where the bed would go.
These 2 trucks are not comparable because they are for 2 different markets.