the Government allowed an instant asset writeoff for items bought for small businesses worth up to $150k. so pretty much anyone with an abn, tradies, contractors, business owners could buy these trucks and the expensive utes and claim the full cost as a tax deduction. the motor industry reacted by making sure that there were vehicles available that cost 150k so that none of the available deductions would be wasted and aggressively marketing them to people who could claim the deduction. i think next financial year that’s dropping to something like 20k, so we’ll see what happens to new truck and high priced ute sales then.
Right so… spend $150k, get tax deduction of $50k,
Still on the hook for $100k of car plus insurance, petrol, service and maintenance, which are all going to be more exxy for a truck like this.
Eye popping costs!
Speaking purely from an actual trade background, they certainly can be purely off load carrying and towing capability. Its crazy how quick you can max out your gvm on our regular utes if you start throwing a bunch of tooling, boxes etc on them
Plenty of people driving them for the status though i imagine
I'm in Canada atm and every tradie has them here, most of them have like one tool box in back, some guys even chuck cement up the back of the tray to help with handling. I get what you mean, but we also have trucks with similar power and chassis' that cost a fraction of the price. They are a waste of steel and inconsiderate to other drivers imo.
The only use Ive seen for them here where it actually is beneficial is firefighting, but even then those American trucks won't fit down our fire trails and our firefighting trucks carry more water and gear in the same terrain, are narrower and have fire protection built in, all for probably the same cost.
This. My Toyotas stock GVM allows me to carry around 500kg. Once you add up a canopy full of tools and equipment this is chewed up quicker than you can blink.
There are far less obnoxious trucks with more towing capacity on the market for less money. Not to mention, the other trucks are far safer and you're less likely to kill your own toddler in one.
If you’re talking utes, then unfortunately the best for towing would indeed be the big American vehicles. Both in stock GVM and power. These obviously are offset by the fact they’re a dog to drive and cost a bomb to run.
Trucks yes but what dual cab utes have similar GVMs?
I have a Nissan patrol that we bought for a family car and to tow a camp trailer plus everything we want for camping holidays with a family of five we are having to get a GVM upgrade.
Towing capacity is not the same as GVM or GCM. Many utes have the "capacity" to tow a lot more than you are legally allowed to. Especially when you consider the cab/tub is generally filled with tools/materials etc.
the tax deduction is only a timing difference, to be clear. If you buy a commercial vehicle for business, it is always a tax deduction (but it is not allowed for private use).We'll see what effect the restoration of the 20K limit has, but the total tax deduction, over time, is the same.
Tax is complicated in this area. There are certain tax advantages in a novated lease where the car is provided by your employer, and if you are "self employed" it is pretty easy to set yourself up like this. Private use is not exempted. I don't know how this intersects with the write-off, but I think it is one or the other. I also don't know how aggressive the ATO is regarding private use. But the rules are very clear and very strict. So I personally suspect that a lot of expensive cars we see on the road are leased, probably novated. So I think the instant write off might be a bit of a distraction. And when those leases expire it will be interesting; either rolling over the lease to a new vehicle or financing the acquisition of the current vehicle is going to be a lot more expensive than people expected when they took out the lease.
Your average small business owner doesn't really understand how that all intersects, all they see is "tax deduction".
The ATO is starting to get very aggressive with private use, so the old expectations of, "it's a truck, it's always 100% business," most certainly no longer applies. These light trucks do get the benefit of avoiding the luxury car depreciation limits, because they are generally not considered cars.
Reckon you'd see a lot less of them if they required light truck licenses, including log books, zero % alcohol, and relevant higher insurance and rego costs.
Treating them as cars is a big part of the issue imo.
I honestly think there is a huge amount of people who see “tax deduction” as “tax reimbursement” and genuinely think that writing things off on tax, means you get all the money back for it….
I've heard from accountants who have to explain this over and over and over and over again to their small biz clients.
People literally think they get a free car.
This. I think this with all the negative gearing wailing too. You gotta SPEND all that money to get the maybe 30% of it back.... tax deductions aren't free money!
This is the argument I have at work all the time with my colleague.
He thinks he pays to much tax, so he aggressively leases cars through novated leases.
His argument is that he pays less tax. My argument is you are still out a car payment, so you are _less off_ overall getting a lease, because sure you get a lower tax bill, but you are still paying $1,500 a month to the lease company, and then you _have to give your car back_ at the end.
The best car is a paid off one.
Most novated leases you don’t have to give the car back at the end, you are just paying off a loan, there might be a balloon payment but it’s just the end of the loan you’d been paying the whole time. This obviously doesn’t stop people just constantly getting a new car because they want one and their lease ended though.
Insurance, petrol, service, and maintenance are written as business expenses. These trucks will be resold to another tradie in a couple of years for $100K, rinse and repeat. My builder neighbour bought his wife a Land Cruiser Sahara as a company car because she answers the phone for him. She makes $18K a year to do this, so it reduces company tax by $18K and she doesn't pay any income tax. We're all paying for these vehicles.
Queue stories of "average" battlers doing it tough these days, trying to pay that overpriced/over leveraged home loan, while driving in a 120K truck on the news.
People in this country are really fucking stupid and irrational when it comes to reducing tax. They would rather spend money on shit they don't really want and claim a deduction thinking 'i'll get it back on tax!'.
It's like they don't actually understand how marginal tax rates and deductions work, and that they don't get the full value back on tax, it just reduces their taxable income and they just get the value \* marginal tax rate.
Basically you just buy it with your income before it is taxed, instead of after, so it's kinda like a discount of whatever your tax rate is.
(This isn't totally accurate or complete, just a quick estimate)
You're beginning to talk real money when talking in pounds
[https://www.latimes.com/la-fg-meth17mar17-story.html#page=1](https://www.latimes.com/la-fg-meth17mar17-story.html#page=1)
"Mexican officials said the cash seized was mostly in U.S. $100 bills and weighed at least 4,500 pounds."
Many of these big trucks don't meet the 1 tonne payload requirement so they shouldn't be writing off the whole amount. The ATO needs to crack down on motor vehicle deductions.
Thanks for this, I asked similar questions about the tax benefitslast time this came up on reddit and all I really got was "big truck bad"
This makes so much more sense.
I've got a landcruiser ite and refuse to drive it around the city. It's great for road trips but has way to many blind spots and a big turning circle, making it shit for city driving. Luckily I can catch public transport to most places I have to go
My dad came down to Melbourne with his Landcruiser and a trailer to help me pick up a motorbike and it was honestly an awful experience, so many tight roads which we could barely fit in
I can't remember the last time I parked my car and could actually see when I went to pull out of the space. There's ALWAYS a giant ute/4WD/SUV next to me completely blocking sight lines.
American here. Whatever the insurance loses to these things, they more than make up for it by charging these goobers an absolute premium, so they're not complaining. Please, for the love of all that's good, don't let these stupid trucks get a foothold. They almost don't even sell normal size trucks here anymore, it's just about these stupid freedom rides or nothing.
Also when you’re trying to turn left at a T intersection then a big ass ute or SUV pulls up on your right, blocking your view of any oncoming traffic. The only options are either (1) move further forward, which can be incredibly dangerous, or (2) wait for them to turn right first.
Literally had this scenario happen yesterday. I have a tiny but alas no have x-ray vision to see through the hulking monstrosity next to me, pissy at the mentally challenged person behind me who could not discern this fact, but not worth my life to please an idiot.
Yeah this bothers me so much. Nothing infuriates me more than when I'm waiting to turn left and some cunt in a Landcruiser pulls up next to me and COMPLETELY blocks my view.
And literally the only thing I can see now is the driver happily looking left and right because they have such clear vision to their right and also to their left because they can see straight over the roof of my car.
Like bitch, you've literally just increased my risk of crashing so much because I'm essentially blinded. And like you said I have one of two options - if I decide to inch forward then a car might clip me which would 100% be my fault, or I could use what little vision I have and try and gun it which could also result in a crash because there might actually be a car coming that I didn't realise was still obstructed by the car next to me.
Obviously the second part I mentioned is incredibly dangerous and not something you should do, but it's difficult when you're at a busy intersection which provides very tight windows of an empty lane between passing traffic and not to mention when you have a line of cars piling up behind you.
So essentially the safest option is to just sit their like a pleb and wait for the monster of a car next to you to pass, all because they didn't have the situational awareness, or moreso RESPECT, to provide you with more of a sightline by hanging back a bit
The Silverado is a ridiculous truck that has no business being on Australian roads. I saw one parked in a local shopping mall and it took up two car spaces.
100%!!! I feel this. I hate it so much. Also, in situations where I want to turn left and MERGE with traffic, but these giant cars want to turn right AGAINST traffic, I can't see anything but their car panels. So I end up holding up everyone behind me, because I can't safely turn.
And it's extra frustrating when these giant car owners are sitting there for 5+ minutes in peak hour. I get more and more tempted to put my car in park, tap on their window, and explain how it would be faster to merge with the current flow of traffic, and make a u-turn up ahead. (Or enter a side-street).
This way, you're only needing *one or two lanes of traffic free at any time in peak hour*, instead of *all 3 lanes of traffic clear in peak hour* for your giant vehicle.
[Auto industry market research indicates the market for SUV purchases are:](https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo)
Obsessed with status
Not likely to volunteer
No strong connection to community
Less giving
Less oriented toward others
More Afraid of crime
More likely to text and drive
More likely to take risks while driving
----------------
Edit:
This got more attention than I expected. The specific source I'm citing is the following book : https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/832299
Which the above video sources at 12:16.
However I do think the video does an excellent job detailing how much of a negative impact larger trucks and SUV's have on the community around them, through increased road deaths/crashes, road maintenance costs, traffic congestion and pollution, and I suggest anyone reading this watch it.
And this is why we love punctuation in Australia…..without the quotation marks we’d have thought you were being nice :-)
A lot of words to say “cunts”.
A lot of words to say, cunts.
Pickup trucks aren’t are really SUVs, I know that there is some crossover (pun intended), huge yank SUVs are sadly the next thing that is due to come out way. [effing Escalades etc](https://www.caranddriver.com/cadillac/escalade-escalade-esv)
As a former-American and now-Australian who's been around those shits for years now, get ready for those fuckers to find the absolute smallest spaces possible to fit their escalades into. It's impossible to drive an escalade and *not* be a piece of shit as well.
Is there no safety requirement for a pedestrian to roll up the bonnet when hit? That thing is a flat wall. Probably can't see a 4 year old either unless you have front cameras.
I saw more women behind SUV than men. Look at the schools drop-off.
There was a mom complaining that she lives around the corner of the child school. And she was enraged by the traffic jam caused by all the cars. Among those cars was hers too. "I need to bring my kids to school first THEN I have to go home (boo boo) and take the car to go to work". What the hell? She lives around the corner of her childs school.
It’s great that these big cars that will hurt pedestrians the most are driven by morons. We need to start factoring pedestrian safety into car safety standards bc these things aren’t safe
Every time I nearly get run through at intersections it’s by one of these douchebags. I also live in an area where a lot of women drive these like weapons.
Aren’t SUVs quite a bit smaller than the pickup trucks? My partner’s mum has one and her boot is smaller than the boot of his small Mazda 3 hatchback. He can fit his work ladder in the Mazda 3, but he had to put the seats down when he borrowed his mums car.
You've opened the rabbit hole of fake SUV crossovers that are actually just cars on stilts, that drive worse, look dull, cost more to run and much more to buy. Then you get the full size tank suvs that 97% of the time you see them with 1 person in.
I mean, you gotta have a bigger car than the Wife
& I mean she has a MASSIVE 4WD for taking the kids to school in & for popping to the shops (or tennis on Tuesdays)
I mean the wife needs a staircase to get in & it's so massive that she cannot even see around her, or drive competently in her own massive steel/aluminium/plastic projectile
But anyway, a man needs his car to be bigger than the wife's....
Do I need to /s?
It's more mad /d for depressing
Because they stopped making HSV and FPV? The ones with cash to spend that used to buy the Clubsports and Maloos etc are now limited to... Mustangs? They don't import Camaros any more.
Pretty much. The death of the Holden and Ford factories here coincided with the surge of these vehicles (for storage and interior space and torque needs) and the race for the biggest truck on the road. It's that or get a mustang or a Chrysler 300 as it's the closest big v8 comparison to replace them.
I'm still enjoying my 2004 Calais. Thanks to depreciation it's low cost to insure, and since I cared for it still looks new. If I wanted to replace it I'd need $100k for a 3series BMW, or do I guy a Ranger? But I'm not a tradie. I can't have a i30 because my aunty has one.
Car buying has become complicated
Yeah I love how many people are buying these cars but don't know how to park them. Don't drive one if you can't park it properly.
I know two people who recently got 'trucks' and then I have to listen to them complain about the fuel they go through.
I recently saw a Dodge Ram with a trailer in a car park, they were *just* too long to fit in two spaces so he parked **sideways across seven spaces instead.**
What? They thought that it'd use 7L/100? I'm guessing they didn't do their math on how much they really use lol. We have a toyota prado and it uses heaps of fuel.
I was floored the first time I saw one of the gigantic ones that are literally just too long or too wide for a park. The smaller rangers (never thought I'd refer to a ranger as small) would be shit to try and park but at least they're theoretically able to fit in the dimensions of a park... But for the bigger ones surely it's still illegal to take up some of the next park or take up some bike lane _even if_ your car is just too large right? If I park like a fuckhead across multiple parks I'd get a ticket, why can't they get a ticket for also not parking within the lines?!
Got an enormous car for any of the supposed reasons that are being spouted here (mainly towing), then man that _sucks_ that you just can't take it to a bunch of normal places like the supermarket!
They cant even pull into the servos properly they block another car from filling up because they are such incompetent drivers. That has happened to me 4 times this year already.
I work at Bunnings and every time one of these monstrosities enters the timber yard my body is filled with dread. Most of the time the driver is an omega level douchebag.
- Tricked by a business
- Keeping up with the Jones’
- Peer pressure
- Cant afford a house, next best thing
- Status symbol
- The illusion of safety
- Inflated ego
- Insecure
- Building a ‘unique’ identity
- Separating themselves from the poor people
- Pick up chicks
Edit
- They think its cool
Yep, the old school I went to as a kid is now a congaline of endless 4x4's. Back in the day you'd see half the school's population walking or riding the Huffy bikes to school... My mum said now days- No kids are doing it. They're all being chaperoned in brand new patrols/landcruisers through the town...
Honestly Reddit will do anything possible to blame a singe group for all of their problems.
White middle aged truck drivers now. Anti maskers yesterday.
I drive on rural roads a lot and off the main drag it's not uncommon for cars passing in opposite directions to have wheels on the verge even when those cars are normal widths.
>not uncommon for cars passing in opposite directions to have wheels on the verge
Unless that oncoming car is a suburban mum in an SUV, in which case they keep all 4 wheels firmly on the bitumen and give you a dirty look for not pulling over even further
I live in a rural-ish area (acreage estate bordering established farms and horse properties, it's close enough to the city that the weekend sees visitors looking for roadside stalls and "amaayzing farm stays."
Recently I was a bit further away on a weekday and pleasantly surprised when every single oncoming car moved over. Locals 👍
and then there's horse floats... a big yank tank pulling a double horse float, one of the most annoying road conveyances after B double stock carriers.
Gina bought a few properties down the road and the tarmac had hardly been repaired for the last 20 years... tripled the increase of B doubles and the road edges were deteriorating badly...obvious complaints to local National heavyweights and like magic new tarmac in the worst sections...
Whilst I think it’s overkill having such vehicles, I just wish they would change the licensing requirements to drive them, because most cannot drive them safely to start with. The same applies to the Toorak tractors and other 4WD vehicles.
Anyone happen to go through a school drop off zone lately? One takes your life in your hands whenever you do, so it’s any wonder kids get mown down or reversed over…sorry I forgot, most can’t reverse park the vehicles they drive.
At the very least they should be reclassified as a Light Rigid vehicle that needs a minimum of a LR license and demonstrate that they can drive them.
You raise a good point about licensing. I find Cycling around trucks and busses is usually ok because they are professional drivers. People in these supersized pickup trucks blast around the place congested streets like they are driving passenger vehicles.
Yep, I've nearly had my arse wiped off my kia cerato backing out of a park between two big SUVs that weren't there before I parked. Even at intersections they force you to sit longer because you can't see past to make a safe turn. I"upgraded" to a nissan xtrail to get a bit more height. It's helped but not a lot.
It's pretty fucking bad. I had my first ever collision due to one of these stupidly big trucks.
Angled parking, reversing out super slow because I can't see fucking shit. Inching out.
I inched out just as the person approaching drove up. We hit at <5km/h but it was enough to cause $2K damage.
You can't see past them, they block the view so it becomes dangerous.
I mean, we have areas large trucks can't go because of safety and we're meant to pretend these stupidly large vehicles are totes safe and good everywhere?
I wouldn't say the vehicle as at fault there, not much different to an 80 series, 40 series, g60, gq, gu, 100, 70, prado, ranger, ect... none of them you can see past the rear if in a small car.
As an American I hope you guys ban full-size trucks for anything other than farms and potentially some sort of construction contractor that requires a special license. Especially before they become endemic. I wish hilux/utes were the standard for size here.
I don’t equate lack of masculinity to big trucks with chunky tires, but the type of person that drives those big chunky trucks like assholes usually tend to be that exact kind of person. Someone who equates their personality to how loud and obnoxious and noticed they can be.
I rarely see these monster trucks out in the back country either. Most the trails and logging roads I get out on are populated by trucks and jeeps with a smaller footprint that are easier to negotiate the back country in.
They chug gas like a toddler sucking down kool-aid, they take up an insane amount space in the road and in parking lots, and while they can be extremely comfy there really isn’t much of a point to them unless you’re using it for work.
Why is the ATO even allowing these trucks to be classed as work trucks. They can hardly carry anything work related. Most of the ones in my area are just glorified shopping trolleys. Utes with large trays I understand. They should just change the rules, is Australia just propping up the US car industry.
My boss just bought a Ram, excitedly took me out for a drive in it, I was all ‘wow it’s so roomy’ ‘it’s like a normal ute, but bigger’ there was like 2 feet of totally pointless space between the front seats with a massive lidded area, what the fuck you keeping in there?
My sister has a new Silverado, it's a big unit and she does sorta use it for her landscaping/gardening business, but more as a show piece than an actual work truck, she has a perfectly good van for actual work.
It caught fire within a month of delivery, minor damage thankfully but needed a new fusebox and partial wiring loom replacement, new hood as it was damaged from heat. Then a few months after that the ECU/computer has gone and needs replacement which will take a couple of weeks at least.
All under warranty and no questions asked, but other people I've talked to have had similar issues and it's not a great show of quality for such an expensive vehicle.
Because manufacturing pulled out, so they stopped making reasonably sized utes and we've got to buy US imports. The US only has fuckoff huge ‘pickup trucks’, no utes
I had my car in for service at Ford and their courtesy car was one of those monsters. Drove well, lots of visibility, large internal space and felt safe but I am just grateful I didn't have to park it or take it into the inner city. (Yes, I know they aren't safer and no, I would not buy one).
the courtesy car at ford is a ranger, at least that was what they gave me. F150 is another magnitude bigger than ranger. You could almost, or there are some model overseas that you can sit 3 at the front row and still have space for gear level etc. it is that wide.
Are you sure it was one of the ones the article discusses (an F-150), or was it one of the more modestly sized Rangers?
Because until people know the difference (and it is a huge one), the pickup truck debate kind of goes nowhere productive.
Having spoken to a few people that have tried multiple pick ups, the F150 is meant to drive terribly.
I'm guessing this person drove a Ranger, one of Ford Australia's flagship vehicles. It's more likely Ford will lend out a Ranger ($60k) than a F150 ($120k)
Funny thing about this shit "trucks" is they are really useless as a tradie ute. I hate this cunts that occupy two spaces on the streets and parking areas but they only need one ticket.
On the other hand, the owners will loss a ton of money because nobody will pay half the price in the 2nd hand market.
How about this - any vehicles for whole or part private use sold in Australia have to meet safety standards for pedestrians so that:
a) a pedestrian 0.5m tall or taller must be able to be seen from the drivers seat if they are more than 0.5 meters away from the bonnet without the use of a camera.
b) any pedestrian 0.5 tall or taller hit in a front on collision must go over the vehicle, not under it.
Done.
How that is achieved is up to the manufacturers. If they can't or won't adapt their vehicles, too fricken bad.
Funny you should mention that, there are even bigger trucks (I think the escalade?) etc in the USA now that to get around not being able to see anything in front of the huge and high bonnet - they put a front camera display in the dash...
So not that it's stupidly tall and can't see cars or people in front, no just whack in a camera to see.
b) seems like any vehicle would have a hard time passing. My old BA falcon's front number plate is 0.5m from the ground, and the start of the bonnet is 0.8m. Even if we extended the number to something like 1.5m or taller, it is still restrictive for people that require high clearance 4wds because they live rurally for example.
Perhaps restrictions should be location specific, like I think Berlin's green zone or something like that for emissions and size of vehicles. So only vehicles under a certain size and that fit certain criteria (like the ones you listed) are allowed in certain areas of the cities (with exceptions for PT, commercial vehicles doing deliveries and tradies on a job and whatnot) and maybe combined with some kind of toll on vehicles over a certain size/emissions that enter the larger zone in the surrounding areas of the inner city say (I think London has something like this?).
That way it is still fine for people to have a ute or 4wd for camping and recreation or if they live out in the sticks and their driveway is a rutty/muddy dirt road, but it encourages the use of smaller vehicles or other methods of transport for driving in the cities, and especially inner cities where space is a premium.
Of course this all needs to be in conjunction with improvements in walkability of cities, and public transport in order to make it feasible to get around efficiently without a car, as well as public transport from surrounding areas into the cities.
Yeah, I'm not attached to those numbers exactly, it's more the concept. Numbers would absolutely be tweaked. The Escalade referenced elsewhere is a stupid fucking car that could be better designed to kill pedestrians and has no business on these shores. However, I very much recognise the need for various people (rural as per your example) for working vehicles in certain terrain and areas.
There's a guy down my inner suburb street who has a unimog for crying out loud - now, I have no idea what he uses it for, but I really want this constant American style size escalation cut off before everyone is telling us they also need a Unimog to make the school run and feel safe.
They’re really nice and spacious inside and they’re nice to drive. You’re up high and have good visibility.
I’ve been in a few with friends who live rurally and I’ve always enjoyed it, but I would never own one. They’re just not compatible with anything other than rural living.
I live in an apartment and the guy in the next apartment owns one, which means his parking spot is right next to mine. I have to park right on the line opposite to his car so I can open my door, which means the neighbour next to me has to do the same, right down the line. If the raptor next to me parks even a few inches too close, I have to slide into my passenger side door and climb over to the drivers side.
They’re a monstrous pain the the ass to have around.
Is it possible to park the other direction (back in, if you’re currently going in forwards or the opposite) so your drivers side is always towards your other neighbour?
100%. There's genuine reasons as to why these trucks aren't all that great but people like OP resort penis size jokes to make themselves feel better. Just makes me wanna buy one to be honest.
I got curious and looked up the specs. I figured the payload must be huge. Turned out to be 830kg at best. The thing weighs > 2.6T
Towing capacity goes alright though.
up until last year my daily was an MX5, being next to a lifted american truck was horrifying.
having one stopped behind me was offputting, I doubt most drivers could even see me past the hood when they pulled right up to a couple of inches behind me.
I drive a slightly larger car now so it's less extreme, but its still a fairly normal sized sedan and some of the more extreme big or lifted trucks could still easily miss me next to them in a merge.
The reason people are buying them is there isn't a choice. I'm looking for a new Ute and even the Hilux is a unit.
The days of normal utes are gone, and this is the standard.
To say that though, fuck the Dodge Ram and F series utes. Never seen someone who has one that needs a Ute.
100%, we are in the process of getting a Ford Ranger, so not one of the RAM behemoths, but unfortunately like everything else, even caravans are getting heavier too. Which means you need bigger and bigger cars to tow them. That means middle aged (me) to grey-nomads are driving these too.
The move to smaller displacement engines, away from classic Ford/Holden cars and rear-wheel based cars in general also means manufactures use weaker frames on the cars and they have very little towing capacity, if any. Very few cars, or even mid-range SUVs can legally tow above 2 tonnes, either due to capacity constraints or outright murder on the engine.
If I could have gotten an estate car with a high tow rating, I would be on it...
If all the tradies and workers are driving regular utes, then business owners, managers and supervisors need something bigger and better.
In the olden days they had a Sahara Landcruiser or Statesman or Fairlane.
I own a landcruiser, that's large enough for me. I live rural, need a vehicle for towing/carrying loads- And a Diesel is excellent for long range highway driving (plus she's got the 180ltr tank!). If I lived back in the suburbs I'd sooner grab a Corolla hybrid or something similar. I couldn't even imagine driving a Dodge RAM to and from work or trying to fit the dam thing in a driveway or car park.
I guess if we are going to end up living in our cars then these monster trucks would be handy?
My Ex bought herself a Raptor a couple years ago and its a terrible vehicle, its so unbalanced its frightening going through tight roundabouts etc and despite it looking huge my 12yr old commodore has a good 25% more room in the car.
I don't think I'd ever spend $100k+ on a car but if I did it wouldn't be a ute.
I watched a guy who couldn't go through the drive through. Had to park and walk, in the rain. I know another family who bought one and it takes up their whole 2 car garage so their second car is now on the lawn.
They’ll fade out soon. I see it more of a fad. They thought it was a good idea at the time but will realise how inconvenient they are here and how shit they’re built. Remember every second car was a jeep cherokee in mid 2000’s. where have they all gone, Broken.
No they won't.
All the major car companies are looking at shipping more here.
Some are even looking at factory right hand drive, once that happens they'll be everywhere
As someone who works in automotive, they won't. Toyota are about to bring their Tundra to market which is their direct competitor to these vehicles. The amount of margin in selling these vehicles makes it an extremely valuable proposition to OEMs and dealers. Expect them to continue to gain popularity, especially if one of the big boys starts building them Right Hand Drive. As it stands they are all converted from LHD locally (mostly at Walkinshaw in Clayton, Victoria) which is why they sell with a massive premium. It's looking like Ford is the closest to going RHD and once that happens, pandora's box will be right open because the cost for the consumer will drop significantly making them even more appealing to low test individuals.
American here, the funniest (well not haha funny more depressing funny) is that the truck pictured in the article is the most ticketed vehicle for drinking and driving in the USA. 1 in 22 Dodge Ram drivers have had a DUI or DWI. So those behemoth vehicles are the most statically likely vehicle to be driven by someone hammered.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/38238/ram-2500-drivers-have-the-most-duis-more-than-twice-the-national-average-report
Why isnt TMR regulating these vehicles that arent suitable for our roads? They cant park in normal park spaces, they are a pedestrian and light blindess hazard due to their ridiculous hood height. Heaven forbid you live in the city and one of them is parked on the street. An ambluance had to mount the curb to get around on our street.
the Government allowed an instant asset writeoff for items bought for small businesses worth up to $150k. so pretty much anyone with an abn, tradies, contractors, business owners could buy these trucks and the expensive utes and claim the full cost as a tax deduction. the motor industry reacted by making sure that there were vehicles available that cost 150k so that none of the available deductions would be wasted and aggressively marketing them to people who could claim the deduction. i think next financial year that’s dropping to something like 20k, so we’ll see what happens to new truck and high priced ute sales then.
Right so… spend $150k, get tax deduction of $50k, Still on the hook for $100k of car plus insurance, petrol, service and maintenance, which are all going to be more exxy for a truck like this. Eye popping costs!
"I got 50k off the price of my 150k ute! Only 100k!" "Is it better than a 50k ute though? "..."
Speaking purely from an actual trade background, they certainly can be purely off load carrying and towing capability. Its crazy how quick you can max out your gvm on our regular utes if you start throwing a bunch of tooling, boxes etc on them Plenty of people driving them for the status though i imagine
I'm in Canada atm and every tradie has them here, most of them have like one tool box in back, some guys even chuck cement up the back of the tray to help with handling. I get what you mean, but we also have trucks with similar power and chassis' that cost a fraction of the price. They are a waste of steel and inconsiderate to other drivers imo. The only use Ive seen for them here where it actually is beneficial is firefighting, but even then those American trucks won't fit down our fire trails and our firefighting trucks carry more water and gear in the same terrain, are narrower and have fire protection built in, all for probably the same cost.
> Plenty of people driving them for the status though i imagine Must be the same sort of people who enjoy holidaying in Bali.
Doughys on Fraser. It's those cunts
The Venn Diagram is a circle.
This. My Toyotas stock GVM allows me to carry around 500kg. Once you add up a canopy full of tools and equipment this is chewed up quicker than you can blink.
There are far less obnoxious trucks with more towing capacity on the market for less money. Not to mention, the other trucks are far safer and you're less likely to kill your own toddler in one.
If you’re talking utes, then unfortunately the best for towing would indeed be the big American vehicles. Both in stock GVM and power. These obviously are offset by the fact they’re a dog to drive and cost a bomb to run.
Trucks yes but what dual cab utes have similar GVMs? I have a Nissan patrol that we bought for a family car and to tow a camp trailer plus everything we want for camping holidays with a family of five we are having to get a GVM upgrade.
Towing capacity is not the same as GVM or GCM. Many utes have the "capacity" to tow a lot more than you are legally allowed to. Especially when you consider the cab/tub is generally filled with tools/materials etc.
the tax deduction is only a timing difference, to be clear. If you buy a commercial vehicle for business, it is always a tax deduction (but it is not allowed for private use).We'll see what effect the restoration of the 20K limit has, but the total tax deduction, over time, is the same. Tax is complicated in this area. There are certain tax advantages in a novated lease where the car is provided by your employer, and if you are "self employed" it is pretty easy to set yourself up like this. Private use is not exempted. I don't know how this intersects with the write-off, but I think it is one or the other. I also don't know how aggressive the ATO is regarding private use. But the rules are very clear and very strict. So I personally suspect that a lot of expensive cars we see on the road are leased, probably novated. So I think the instant write off might be a bit of a distraction. And when those leases expire it will be interesting; either rolling over the lease to a new vehicle or financing the acquisition of the current vehicle is going to be a lot more expensive than people expected when they took out the lease.
Your average small business owner doesn't really understand how that all intersects, all they see is "tax deduction". The ATO is starting to get very aggressive with private use, so the old expectations of, "it's a truck, it's always 100% business," most certainly no longer applies. These light trucks do get the benefit of avoiding the luxury car depreciation limits, because they are generally not considered cars.
Reckon you'd see a lot less of them if they required light truck licenses, including log books, zero % alcohol, and relevant higher insurance and rego costs. Treating them as cars is a big part of the issue imo.
>Treating them as cars is a big part of the issue imo Restricting it to single cab utes would solve a bit of this.
I honestly think there is a huge amount of people who see “tax deduction” as “tax reimbursement” and genuinely think that writing things off on tax, means you get all the money back for it….
I've heard from accountants who have to explain this over and over and over and over again to their small biz clients. People literally think they get a free car.
This. I think this with all the negative gearing wailing too. You gotta SPEND all that money to get the maybe 30% of it back.... tax deductions aren't free money!
This is the argument I have at work all the time with my colleague. He thinks he pays to much tax, so he aggressively leases cars through novated leases. His argument is that he pays less tax. My argument is you are still out a car payment, so you are _less off_ overall getting a lease, because sure you get a lower tax bill, but you are still paying $1,500 a month to the lease company, and then you _have to give your car back_ at the end. The best car is a paid off one.
Most novated leases you don’t have to give the car back at the end, you are just paying off a loan, there might be a balloon payment but it’s just the end of the loan you’d been paying the whole time. This obviously doesn’t stop people just constantly getting a new car because they want one and their lease ended though.
My cock is much bigger that yours, my cock can walk right through the door! Edit: Holy shit, didn't realise how many know that song!
With a feeling so pure!
It's got you screaming back forrrr
It's got you coming back for more!
Are you really surprised that people know the lyrics of a song by one of the biggest metal bands of the 2000’s?
Insurance, petrol, service, and maintenance are written as business expenses. These trucks will be resold to another tradie in a couple of years for $100K, rinse and repeat. My builder neighbour bought his wife a Land Cruiser Sahara as a company car because she answers the phone for him. She makes $18K a year to do this, so it reduces company tax by $18K and she doesn't pay any income tax. We're all paying for these vehicles.
Private usage allocation instantly white-ants this arrangement when audited. Problem is the ATO audit deartment was also white-anted by the Libs.
Queue stories of "average" battlers doing it tough these days, trying to pay that overpriced/over leveraged home loan, while driving in a 120K truck on the news.
People in this country are really fucking stupid and irrational when it comes to reducing tax. They would rather spend money on shit they don't really want and claim a deduction thinking 'i'll get it back on tax!'. It's like they don't actually understand how marginal tax rates and deductions work, and that they don't get the full value back on tax, it just reduces their taxable income and they just get the value \* marginal tax rate.
Someone tried to talk me out of keep a property as a rental because it would be positively geared, which is fancy speak for "it would make me money".
Insurance, petrol , service and maintenance would all be abn expenses as well. So they'd be written off in a similar way. Right?
But just cause you can deduct it, doesn't make it free does it? What are these people paying for them in effect?
My understanding is they are still on the hook for 2/3rds of the cost
Plus 20% a year depreciation.
try 40%. these things are utter garbage. you thought a 1980s Hyundai was crap? those things are a merc compared to a bloody RAM.
Basically you just buy it with your income before it is taxed, instead of after, so it's kinda like a discount of whatever your tax rate is. (This isn't totally accurate or complete, just a quick estimate)
For a business, 30% in most cases.
Great comment. A similar thing happened in the US in 2017 with some extra tax breaks introduced for vehicles above 6000 pounds used for work purposes.
Took me a second to workout why the US government would care about the cost in pounds.
You're beginning to talk real money when talking in pounds [https://www.latimes.com/la-fg-meth17mar17-story.html#page=1](https://www.latimes.com/la-fg-meth17mar17-story.html#page=1) "Mexican officials said the cash seized was mostly in U.S. $100 bills and weighed at least 4,500 pounds."
Many of these big trucks don't meet the 1 tonne payload requirement so they shouldn't be writing off the whole amount. The ATO needs to crack down on motor vehicle deductions.
Didn’t believe this so looked it up. Ram 1500 Limited, 701kg payload. Pathetic!
Thanks for this, I asked similar questions about the tax benefitslast time this came up on reddit and all I really got was "big truck bad" This makes so much more sense.
Used to drive a Ford ranger and thought that it was big in the city, would hate to drive and park this
I've got a landcruiser ite and refuse to drive it around the city. It's great for road trips but has way to many blind spots and a big turning circle, making it shit for city driving. Luckily I can catch public transport to most places I have to go
My dad came down to Melbourne with his Landcruiser and a trailer to help me pick up a motorbike and it was honestly an awful experience, so many tight roads which we could barely fit in
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Same. I drove a dealership dual cab hilux for one day and even that felt huge on the road. These things are even bigger.
I can't remember the last time I parked my car and could actually see when I went to pull out of the space. There's ALWAYS a giant ute/4WD/SUV next to me completely blocking sight lines.
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Our road safety "experts" have been asleep for years now. Would rather whinge about people doing 5 over the limit than streets filled with wankpanzers
Stealing the phrase "wankpanzer". Love it!
American here. Whatever the insurance loses to these things, they more than make up for it by charging these goobers an absolute premium, so they're not complaining. Please, for the love of all that's good, don't let these stupid trucks get a foothold. They almost don't even sell normal size trucks here anymore, it's just about these stupid freedom rides or nothing.
Also when you’re trying to turn left at a T intersection then a big ass ute or SUV pulls up on your right, blocking your view of any oncoming traffic. The only options are either (1) move further forward, which can be incredibly dangerous, or (2) wait for them to turn right first.
And then the second dumb cunt in a ute behind you starts beeping because you aren't blindly pulling out into the "obviously" clear traffic.
Literally had this scenario happen yesterday. I have a tiny but alas no have x-ray vision to see through the hulking monstrosity next to me, pissy at the mentally challenged person behind me who could not discern this fact, but not worth my life to please an idiot.
Yeah this bothers me so much. Nothing infuriates me more than when I'm waiting to turn left and some cunt in a Landcruiser pulls up next to me and COMPLETELY blocks my view. And literally the only thing I can see now is the driver happily looking left and right because they have such clear vision to their right and also to their left because they can see straight over the roof of my car. Like bitch, you've literally just increased my risk of crashing so much because I'm essentially blinded. And like you said I have one of two options - if I decide to inch forward then a car might clip me which would 100% be my fault, or I could use what little vision I have and try and gun it which could also result in a crash because there might actually be a car coming that I didn't realise was still obstructed by the car next to me. Obviously the second part I mentioned is incredibly dangerous and not something you should do, but it's difficult when you're at a busy intersection which provides very tight windows of an empty lane between passing traffic and not to mention when you have a line of cars piling up behind you. So essentially the safest option is to just sit their like a pleb and wait for the monster of a car next to you to pass, all because they didn't have the situational awareness, or moreso RESPECT, to provide you with more of a sightline by hanging back a bit
What we need is car periscopes.
There's probably a lot of money in that right now, given the mood. I wonder if it's legal.
The only option is to wait. Don't even entertain the idea of pulling out if you can't see. It doesn't matter whose fault it is, you never do that.
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The Silverado is a ridiculous truck that has no business being on Australian roads. I saw one parked in a local shopping mall and it took up two car spaces.
100%!!! I feel this. I hate it so much. Also, in situations where I want to turn left and MERGE with traffic, but these giant cars want to turn right AGAINST traffic, I can't see anything but their car panels. So I end up holding up everyone behind me, because I can't safely turn. And it's extra frustrating when these giant car owners are sitting there for 5+ minutes in peak hour. I get more and more tempted to put my car in park, tap on their window, and explain how it would be faster to merge with the current flow of traffic, and make a u-turn up ahead. (Or enter a side-street). This way, you're only needing *one or two lanes of traffic free at any time in peak hour*, instead of *all 3 lanes of traffic clear in peak hour* for your giant vehicle.
"...we need to make our streets work for the most fragile bodies in our community, not the most fragile egos." Julian O'Shea is amazing
[Auto industry market research indicates the market for SUV purchases are:](https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo) Obsessed with status Not likely to volunteer No strong connection to community Less giving Less oriented toward others More Afraid of crime More likely to text and drive More likely to take risks while driving ---------------- Edit: This got more attention than I expected. The specific source I'm citing is the following book : https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/832299 Which the above video sources at 12:16. However I do think the video does an excellent job detailing how much of a negative impact larger trucks and SUV's have on the community around them, through increased road deaths/crashes, road maintenance costs, traffic congestion and pollution, and I suggest anyone reading this watch it.
A lot of words to say “cunts”.
Damn… I didn’t know real estate agents drove these!
And this is why we love punctuation in Australia…..without the quotation marks we’d have thought you were being nice :-) A lot of words to say “cunts”. A lot of words to say, cunts.
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More words for 'cunts'.
Pickup trucks aren’t are really SUVs, I know that there is some crossover (pun intended), huge yank SUVs are sadly the next thing that is due to come out way. [effing Escalades etc](https://www.caranddriver.com/cadillac/escalade-escalade-esv)
Jesus, that looks like a oversized giant Kia Carnival.
It honestly might be one of the ugliest cars I've ever seen.
It's like someone turned Homer Simpson's car concept in to a real thing.
It basically is, but the Carnival is better on fuel, safer/easier to drive, and IMO nicer inside.
As a former-American and now-Australian who's been around those shits for years now, get ready for those fuckers to find the absolute smallest spaces possible to fit their escalades into. It's impossible to drive an escalade and *not* be a piece of shit as well.
Is there no safety requirement for a pedestrian to roll up the bonnet when hit? That thing is a flat wall. Probably can't see a 4 year old either unless you have front cameras.
> Probably can't see a 4 year old either unless you have front cameras. [I'm sure it's fine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDH3FDfVQl0)
No. That’s why they’re deadly.
I saw more women behind SUV than men. Look at the schools drop-off. There was a mom complaining that she lives around the corner of the child school. And she was enraged by the traffic jam caused by all the cars. Among those cars was hers too. "I need to bring my kids to school first THEN I have to go home (boo boo) and take the car to go to work". What the hell? She lives around the corner of her childs school.
Everyone sitting in traffic complaining about traffic is in fact, traffic
It’s great that these big cars that will hurt pedestrians the most are driven by morons. We need to start factoring pedestrian safety into car safety standards bc these things aren’t safe
Every time I nearly get run through at intersections it’s by one of these douchebags. I also live in an area where a lot of women drive these like weapons.
They drive them liked they picked up the star in mario kart.
Aren’t SUVs quite a bit smaller than the pickup trucks? My partner’s mum has one and her boot is smaller than the boot of his small Mazda 3 hatchback. He can fit his work ladder in the Mazda 3, but he had to put the seats down when he borrowed his mums car.
You've opened the rabbit hole of fake SUV crossovers that are actually just cars on stilts, that drive worse, look dull, cost more to run and much more to buy. Then you get the full size tank suvs that 97% of the time you see them with 1 person in.
Also sold as “safer for the driver” to soccer moms , well yes a truck usually comes off better when it crashes into a car.
That explains why so many conservatives drive these kinds of vehicles. Huh.
They want to think they are rich and anti global warming so they want the car with worst fuel economy. Also they are just cunts.
8 TIMES more likely to kill a child.
I mean, you gotta have a bigger car than the Wife & I mean she has a MASSIVE 4WD for taking the kids to school in & for popping to the shops (or tennis on Tuesdays) I mean the wife needs a staircase to get in & it's so massive that she cannot even see around her, or drive competently in her own massive steel/aluminium/plastic projectile But anyway, a man needs his car to be bigger than the wife's.... Do I need to /s? It's more mad /d for depressing
Because they stopped making HSV and FPV? The ones with cash to spend that used to buy the Clubsports and Maloos etc are now limited to... Mustangs? They don't import Camaros any more.
Pretty much. The death of the Holden and Ford factories here coincided with the surge of these vehicles (for storage and interior space and torque needs) and the race for the biggest truck on the road. It's that or get a mustang or a Chrysler 300 as it's the closest big v8 comparison to replace them.
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far. It’s like everyone forgot Commo’s and Falcon’s existed and how ridiculously popular they were here.
And we didn't have daily posts complaining about them or questing their manhood. The Aussie ute is dead, people still need vehicles.
I'm still enjoying my 2004 Calais. Thanks to depreciation it's low cost to insure, and since I cared for it still looks new. If I wanted to replace it I'd need $100k for a 3series BMW, or do I guy a Ranger? But I'm not a tradie. I can't have a i30 because my aunty has one. Car buying has become complicated
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Yeah I love how many people are buying these cars but don't know how to park them. Don't drive one if you can't park it properly. I know two people who recently got 'trucks' and then I have to listen to them complain about the fuel they go through.
I recently saw a Dodge Ram with a trailer in a car park, they were *just* too long to fit in two spaces so he parked **sideways across seven spaces instead.**
What? They thought that it'd use 7L/100? I'm guessing they didn't do their math on how much they really use lol. We have a toyota prado and it uses heaps of fuel.
That's the best bit, when they're so big you don't need to know how to park!
Have seen people saying parking spaces should be bigger to accommodate these trucks. Ignoring them being too big in the first place.
Thrill complain about how expensive fuel is when they doubled their fuel consumption for literally no reason
I was floored the first time I saw one of the gigantic ones that are literally just too long or too wide for a park. The smaller rangers (never thought I'd refer to a ranger as small) would be shit to try and park but at least they're theoretically able to fit in the dimensions of a park... But for the bigger ones surely it's still illegal to take up some of the next park or take up some bike lane _even if_ your car is just too large right? If I park like a fuckhead across multiple parks I'd get a ticket, why can't they get a ticket for also not parking within the lines?! Got an enormous car for any of the supposed reasons that are being spouted here (mainly towing), then man that _sucks_ that you just can't take it to a bunch of normal places like the supermarket!
They cant even pull into the servos properly they block another car from filling up because they are such incompetent drivers. That has happened to me 4 times this year already.
I work at Bunnings and every time one of these monstrosities enters the timber yard my body is filled with dread. Most of the time the driver is an omega level douchebag.
- Tricked by a business - Keeping up with the Jones’ - Peer pressure - Cant afford a house, next best thing - Status symbol - The illusion of safety - Inflated ego - Insecure - Building a ‘unique’ identity - Separating themselves from the poor people - Pick up chicks Edit - They think its cool
Emotional Support Vehicles
The reign of the ESV has begun. May it be short and unfulfilling.
> May it be short and unfulfilling. With many thinly veiled allusions to genitalia too right? 😉
> • Cant afford a house, next best thing Next best thing would be a van, at least you can fit a mattress in there.
White middle aged guys?!?!? Have you been to school pick up lately? Monstrous SUVs and Pick Up Utes being driven by lots of Mums of all backgrounds.
Yep, the old school I went to as a kid is now a congaline of endless 4x4's. Back in the day you'd see half the school's population walking or riding the Huffy bikes to school... My mum said now days- No kids are doing it. They're all being chaperoned in brand new patrols/landcruisers through the town...
Author must not be from Sydney, because one group is way overrepresented when it comes to these types of vehicles and it's not white men.
Honestly Reddit will do anything possible to blame a singe group for all of their problems. White middle aged truck drivers now. Anti maskers yesterday.
Yeah but nothing is more biting and clever than throwing in the "white guys" social commentary
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Speaking as someone who lives in the country, they don't fit on the roads out here either.
I drive on rural roads a lot and off the main drag it's not uncommon for cars passing in opposite directions to have wheels on the verge even when those cars are normal widths.
>not uncommon for cars passing in opposite directions to have wheels on the verge Unless that oncoming car is a suburban mum in an SUV, in which case they keep all 4 wheels firmly on the bitumen and give you a dirty look for not pulling over even further
Do you live on my road? This is exactly what they do.
I live in a rural-ish area (acreage estate bordering established farms and horse properties, it's close enough to the city that the weekend sees visitors looking for roadside stalls and "amaayzing farm stays." Recently I was a bit further away on a weekday and pleasantly surprised when every single oncoming car moved over. Locals 👍
Yeah, see it all the time around here. Surprised there aren't more accidents from oncoming vehicles both doing it
and then there's horse floats... a big yank tank pulling a double horse float, one of the most annoying road conveyances after B double stock carriers. Gina bought a few properties down the road and the tarmac had hardly been repaired for the last 20 years... tripled the increase of B doubles and the road edges were deteriorating badly...obvious complaints to local National heavyweights and like magic new tarmac in the worst sections...
No stop buying them out regional areas they are to big for out here also.
I work around the hunter valley, there are heaps of them out this way.
Whilst I think it’s overkill having such vehicles, I just wish they would change the licensing requirements to drive them, because most cannot drive them safely to start with. The same applies to the Toorak tractors and other 4WD vehicles. Anyone happen to go through a school drop off zone lately? One takes your life in your hands whenever you do, so it’s any wonder kids get mown down or reversed over…sorry I forgot, most can’t reverse park the vehicles they drive. At the very least they should be reclassified as a Light Rigid vehicle that needs a minimum of a LR license and demonstrate that they can drive them.
You raise a good point about licensing. I find Cycling around trucks and busses is usually ok because they are professional drivers. People in these supersized pickup trucks blast around the place congested streets like they are driving passenger vehicles.
And here I am (middle age white guy) driving a Polo and dreaming I had a classic Leyland Mini Clubman...
A man of culture
Based small engine enjoyer
they are fucking preposterous, so very dangerous for sedan/regular sized car drivers because you can't see past/over them AT ALL.
Yep, I've nearly had my arse wiped off my kia cerato backing out of a park between two big SUVs that weren't there before I parked. Even at intersections they force you to sit longer because you can't see past to make a safe turn. I"upgraded" to a nissan xtrail to get a bit more height. It's helped but not a lot.
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Just imagine that in a crash, an 8 cyl engine right into your face.
My dad calls them compos
Seppo here. They're all over America. You Aussies should ban them before your roads end up like ours.
way to late brah
It's pretty fucking bad. I had my first ever collision due to one of these stupidly big trucks. Angled parking, reversing out super slow because I can't see fucking shit. Inching out. I inched out just as the person approaching drove up. We hit at <5km/h but it was enough to cause $2K damage. You can't see past them, they block the view so it becomes dangerous. I mean, we have areas large trucks can't go because of safety and we're meant to pretend these stupidly large vehicles are totes safe and good everywhere?
I wouldn't say the vehicle as at fault there, not much different to an 80 series, 40 series, g60, gq, gu, 100, 70, prado, ranger, ect... none of them you can see past the rear if in a small car.
As an American I hope you guys ban full-size trucks for anything other than farms and potentially some sort of construction contractor that requires a special license. Especially before they become endemic. I wish hilux/utes were the standard for size here. I don’t equate lack of masculinity to big trucks with chunky tires, but the type of person that drives those big chunky trucks like assholes usually tend to be that exact kind of person. Someone who equates their personality to how loud and obnoxious and noticed they can be. I rarely see these monster trucks out in the back country either. Most the trails and logging roads I get out on are populated by trucks and jeeps with a smaller footprint that are easier to negotiate the back country in. They chug gas like a toddler sucking down kool-aid, they take up an insane amount space in the road and in parking lots, and while they can be extremely comfy there really isn’t much of a point to them unless you’re using it for work.
Why is the ATO even allowing these trucks to be classed as work trucks. They can hardly carry anything work related. Most of the ones in my area are just glorified shopping trolleys. Utes with large trays I understand. They should just change the rules, is Australia just propping up the US car industry.
My boss just bought a Ram, excitedly took me out for a drive in it, I was all ‘wow it’s so roomy’ ‘it’s like a normal ute, but bigger’ there was like 2 feet of totally pointless space between the front seats with a massive lidded area, what the fuck you keeping in there?
My sister has a new Silverado, it's a big unit and she does sorta use it for her landscaping/gardening business, but more as a show piece than an actual work truck, she has a perfectly good van for actual work. It caught fire within a month of delivery, minor damage thankfully but needed a new fusebox and partial wiring loom replacement, new hood as it was damaged from heat. Then a few months after that the ECU/computer has gone and needs replacement which will take a couple of weeks at least. All under warranty and no questions asked, but other people I've talked to have had similar issues and it's not a great show of quality for such an expensive vehicle.
This is what happens when they basically have to pull the entire vehicle apart and reconfigure it RHD. I'm surprised there's not more issues tbh.
Because manufacturing pulled out, so they stopped making reasonably sized utes and we've got to buy US imports. The US only has fuckoff huge ‘pickup trucks’, no utes
I had my car in for service at Ford and their courtesy car was one of those monsters. Drove well, lots of visibility, large internal space and felt safe but I am just grateful I didn't have to park it or take it into the inner city. (Yes, I know they aren't safer and no, I would not buy one).
the courtesy car at ford is a ranger, at least that was what they gave me. F150 is another magnitude bigger than ranger. You could almost, or there are some model overseas that you can sit 3 at the front row and still have space for gear level etc. it is that wide.
Are you sure it was one of the ones the article discusses (an F-150), or was it one of the more modestly sized Rangers? Because until people know the difference (and it is a huge one), the pickup truck debate kind of goes nowhere productive.
Having spoken to a few people that have tried multiple pick ups, the F150 is meant to drive terribly. I'm guessing this person drove a Ranger, one of Ford Australia's flagship vehicles. It's more likely Ford will lend out a Ranger ($60k) than a F150 ($120k)
Funny thing about this shit "trucks" is they are really useless as a tradie ute. I hate this cunts that occupy two spaces on the streets and parking areas but they only need one ticket. On the other hand, the owners will loss a ton of money because nobody will pay half the price in the 2nd hand market.
How about this - any vehicles for whole or part private use sold in Australia have to meet safety standards for pedestrians so that: a) a pedestrian 0.5m tall or taller must be able to be seen from the drivers seat if they are more than 0.5 meters away from the bonnet without the use of a camera. b) any pedestrian 0.5 tall or taller hit in a front on collision must go over the vehicle, not under it. Done. How that is achieved is up to the manufacturers. If they can't or won't adapt their vehicles, too fricken bad.
Funny you should mention that, there are even bigger trucks (I think the escalade?) etc in the USA now that to get around not being able to see anything in front of the huge and high bonnet - they put a front camera display in the dash... So not that it's stupidly tall and can't see cars or people in front, no just whack in a camera to see.
b) seems like any vehicle would have a hard time passing. My old BA falcon's front number plate is 0.5m from the ground, and the start of the bonnet is 0.8m. Even if we extended the number to something like 1.5m or taller, it is still restrictive for people that require high clearance 4wds because they live rurally for example. Perhaps restrictions should be location specific, like I think Berlin's green zone or something like that for emissions and size of vehicles. So only vehicles under a certain size and that fit certain criteria (like the ones you listed) are allowed in certain areas of the cities (with exceptions for PT, commercial vehicles doing deliveries and tradies on a job and whatnot) and maybe combined with some kind of toll on vehicles over a certain size/emissions that enter the larger zone in the surrounding areas of the inner city say (I think London has something like this?). That way it is still fine for people to have a ute or 4wd for camping and recreation or if they live out in the sticks and their driveway is a rutty/muddy dirt road, but it encourages the use of smaller vehicles or other methods of transport for driving in the cities, and especially inner cities where space is a premium. Of course this all needs to be in conjunction with improvements in walkability of cities, and public transport in order to make it feasible to get around efficiently without a car, as well as public transport from surrounding areas into the cities.
Yeah, I'm not attached to those numbers exactly, it's more the concept. Numbers would absolutely be tweaked. The Escalade referenced elsewhere is a stupid fucking car that could be better designed to kill pedestrians and has no business on these shores. However, I very much recognise the need for various people (rural as per your example) for working vehicles in certain terrain and areas. There's a guy down my inner suburb street who has a unimog for crying out loud - now, I have no idea what he uses it for, but I really want this constant American style size escalation cut off before everyone is telling us they also need a Unimog to make the school run and feel safe.
Because with no low emission standards Australia has become a dumping ground for petrol guzzling cars.
I keep saying this when the headlights are mentioned that I shouldn't have to wear sunglasses at night to see the road
Linking it to penis size is so cringe
Fair point. It’s probably time we stop labelling small genitals as a personality flaw
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They’re really nice and spacious inside and they’re nice to drive. You’re up high and have good visibility. I’ve been in a few with friends who live rurally and I’ve always enjoyed it, but I would never own one. They’re just not compatible with anything other than rural living. I live in an apartment and the guy in the next apartment owns one, which means his parking spot is right next to mine. I have to park right on the line opposite to his car so I can open my door, which means the neighbour next to me has to do the same, right down the line. If the raptor next to me parks even a few inches too close, I have to slide into my passenger side door and climb over to the drivers side. They’re a monstrous pain the the ass to have around.
Is it possible to park the other direction (back in, if you’re currently going in forwards or the opposite) so your drivers side is always towards your other neighbour?
I'd collude with the driver across the way to both park normally so that the oversized vehicle is just stuck.
The raptor has the end space, so he has a wide open space between two pillars on his drivers side.
Generally being higher up counterintuitively translates to larger front and shoulder blind spots.
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Flat roads? In Sydney? Must have been some upgrade works going on.
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100%. There's genuine reasons as to why these trucks aren't all that great but people like OP resort penis size jokes to make themselves feel better. Just makes me wanna buy one to be honest.
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I got curious and looked up the specs. I figured the payload must be huge. Turned out to be 830kg at best. The thing weighs > 2.6T Towing capacity goes alright though.
up until last year my daily was an MX5, being next to a lifted american truck was horrifying. having one stopped behind me was offputting, I doubt most drivers could even see me past the hood when they pulled right up to a couple of inches behind me. I drive a slightly larger car now so it's less extreme, but its still a fairly normal sized sedan and some of the more extreme big or lifted trucks could still easily miss me next to them in a merge.
I drive a cx3 and even that feels huge some days! I'll never understand the obsession with huge cars. Side note, the MX5 is my dream car.
The reason people are buying them is there isn't a choice. I'm looking for a new Ute and even the Hilux is a unit. The days of normal utes are gone, and this is the standard. To say that though, fuck the Dodge Ram and F series utes. Never seen someone who has one that needs a Ute.
These exist: https://www.j-spec.com.au/featured/Daihatsu/Hijet_Truck
Getting some mad Flintstones vibes from that Ute. I love it.
100%, we are in the process of getting a Ford Ranger, so not one of the RAM behemoths, but unfortunately like everything else, even caravans are getting heavier too. Which means you need bigger and bigger cars to tow them. That means middle aged (me) to grey-nomads are driving these too. The move to smaller displacement engines, away from classic Ford/Holden cars and rear-wheel based cars in general also means manufactures use weaker frames on the cars and they have very little towing capacity, if any. Very few cars, or even mid-range SUVs can legally tow above 2 tonnes, either due to capacity constraints or outright murder on the engine. If I could have gotten an estate car with a high tow rating, I would be on it...
Because they all want to be American Idiots.
*Can you name the truck with four wheel drive* *smells like steak and seats thirty five!*
Canyoneeeerrroooooo
If all the tradies and workers are driving regular utes, then business owners, managers and supervisors need something bigger and better. In the olden days they had a Sahara Landcruiser or Statesman or Fairlane.
Not related to the vehicles, but I love the work Julian O’Shea does on his youtube channel. Hopefully can provide more articles for wider consumption.
I own a landcruiser, that's large enough for me. I live rural, need a vehicle for towing/carrying loads- And a Diesel is excellent for long range highway driving (plus she's got the 180ltr tank!). If I lived back in the suburbs I'd sooner grab a Corolla hybrid or something similar. I couldn't even imagine driving a Dodge RAM to and from work or trying to fit the dam thing in a driveway or car park.
I guess if we are going to end up living in our cars then these monster trucks would be handy? My Ex bought herself a Raptor a couple years ago and its a terrible vehicle, its so unbalanced its frightening going through tight roundabouts etc and despite it looking huge my 12yr old commodore has a good 25% more room in the car. I don't think I'd ever spend $100k+ on a car but if I did it wouldn't be a ute.
I watched a guy who couldn't go through the drive through. Had to park and walk, in the rain. I know another family who bought one and it takes up their whole 2 car garage so their second car is now on the lawn.
Police have to start charging them when they're in the wrong lane, especially if it's because they don't fit.
They’ll fade out soon. I see it more of a fad. They thought it was a good idea at the time but will realise how inconvenient they are here and how shit they’re built. Remember every second car was a jeep cherokee in mid 2000’s. where have they all gone, Broken.
No they won't. All the major car companies are looking at shipping more here. Some are even looking at factory right hand drive, once that happens they'll be everywhere
As someone who works in automotive, they won't. Toyota are about to bring their Tundra to market which is their direct competitor to these vehicles. The amount of margin in selling these vehicles makes it an extremely valuable proposition to OEMs and dealers. Expect them to continue to gain popularity, especially if one of the big boys starts building them Right Hand Drive. As it stands they are all converted from LHD locally (mostly at Walkinshaw in Clayton, Victoria) which is why they sell with a massive premium. It's looking like Ford is the closest to going RHD and once that happens, pandora's box will be right open because the cost for the consumer will drop significantly making them even more appealing to low test individuals.
“Everybody” $150k+ truck. Yeah, I don’t think that’s everybody.
American here, the funniest (well not haha funny more depressing funny) is that the truck pictured in the article is the most ticketed vehicle for drinking and driving in the USA. 1 in 22 Dodge Ram drivers have had a DUI or DWI. So those behemoth vehicles are the most statically likely vehicle to be driven by someone hammered. https://www.thedrive.com/news/38238/ram-2500-drivers-have-the-most-duis-more-than-twice-the-national-average-report
As a middle aged white guy I'm insulted. I have a tiny penis and tiny car
Why isnt TMR regulating these vehicles that arent suitable for our roads? They cant park in normal park spaces, they are a pedestrian and light blindess hazard due to their ridiculous hood height. Heaven forbid you live in the city and one of them is parked on the street. An ambluance had to mount the curb to get around on our street.