this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
1683 points (97.7% liked)

Technology

59298 readers
6350 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sometimes it's down to more than what the vehicle can carry, but what the vehicle can tow. A pickup with a 3.5 tonne towing capacity might be a far more useful vehicle than a van that can only pull 1 tonne for example.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Maybe, but the same "work pickups" you see everywhere also aren't towing anything.

But the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van has a towing capacity of 5000-7500 pounds, or 2.5-3.75 tons, depending on configuration. That's the same range as most medium pickups.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Large vans are often made on the same chassis as trucks, so they have the same transmission and maybe a slightly reduced towing capacity

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not decrying the abilities of a big van, I drive a 3.5 tonne Transit for work and love it. But we are comparing apples with oranges. I have a friend who owns a Nissan Navara. During the week it is onsite, dragging machinery around building sites. At the weekend it is a family car, taking the kids out etc.

I do admit though, not all pickups are used in this way and my mate is probably in the minority where he has a genuine need for a vehicle that can handle the extremes of work life and home life.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, and if you're going to use one vehicle for both, that makes sense. Personally I wouldn't use my personal vehicle for work like that, because if it gets wrecked somehow, my insurance won't cover it, and I'd be out of a car until I fight the company's insurance enough to get something out of them. But that might be a US thing.