It does not show that

Agree to disagree.

your link lists MPG of 21.82 for 2023, that is almost 1/3 worse then your friend.

That is for a non-Hybrid Silverado, and my friend has a hybrid. Seems to make sense.

The legal issues are a issue not because these are unsafe or high-emission (they are not). They are a major issue because the auto industry has fed you that tripe and like a lot of US consumers you bought it.

That is sorta tinfoil. There is a process in most states to get ANY vehicle street-legal. But Kei trucks don’t just need safety features retrofitted, apparently they lack a sufficient roll cage to pass inspections for valid safety concerns. Even Kei fans can’t agree on whether it’s more or less safe in a crash than a motorcycle.

As for emissions, in a lot of states you just have to pass standard EPA emissions guidelines like any other vehicle. Apparently that’s very difficult for a Kei truck to do. Perhaps it uses a gallon or two less per hundred miles, but its emissions are worse.

Lots of Kei truck fans out there bitch about how the EPA should have better things to do than care about fehicle emissions, but I’d think a “fuck cars” community would care about vehicle emissions.

These are not good on gas, they have convinced people that 29mpg in a hybrid that costs as much as a house is good.

So your viewpoint is entirely about money. Just be straight with it.

and in no world would you catch me in anything made in north America for the last 20 years. Like many other people I had to buy a very old truck (carberated v8 that gets 14ish mpg btw) and it sits by my barn until it is needed.

Why is that? Newer vehicles tend to be safer in collisions and better on emissions than the equivalent older vehicle.

The “cure” to the f150 is just the option to buy a old f150

Circa 2000 F150s rate as low as 10-11MPG. New F150s rate as high as 25MPG. And new F150s are a lot safer to drive. I’ll ask again, is this entire rant of yours just about money? Because maybe I’m the wrong person to respond to if you’re just cheap. I get it, I’d rather take a bus myself than have a car payment.

Thanks for providing some info, sadly the 29mpg on the hybrid is not the norm or good

For a load-bearing vehicle it absolutely is. And I showed that it compared favorably to these minitrucks. This whole thread is about comparing trucks to trucks. If you need to carry shit, you are hurting the environment if you buy a mini-truck over a Silverado or F150.

it looks like your buddy is doing some great mileage compared to say the info from

Well, 10 years goes a long way. You literally picked a 2011 Silverado. Perhaps look at 2023 numbers on the same site?

As for Kei, as I said it’s hard to get a fair chance when the only places nearby sell heavily-used older vehicles. Gas mileage has largely skyrocketed of late because Auto manufacturers are getting scared.

But ultimately, If you have any truck and don’t need its carrying ability, you’re an asshole. I think the case of a japanese mini-truck being the “best choice” is ultimately too rare to hold your breath for.

A step further, the REAL sad truth is that most minitrucks aren’t even legal in the US without being modified to a max speed of 25mph because they don’t meet safety and emission standards for road vehicles. That’s why so many around here are old. Before 1998, they’re grandfathered in and people in other countries that don’t grandfather old vehicles are offloading them.

Do we really want to be cheering on unsafe high-emission vehicles as the “cure” to the F150?

A quick google suggests “real world” use of modern microtrucks is 28ish mpg without heavily modding it or super-efficient variants. Older Kei trucks are lower. Actually, much MUCH lower according to minitrucktalk. 22-23.

I know someone with a 2021 Silverado Hybrid holding at 29mpg. And they regularly lug full loads that would take four trips from a Kei truck. Admittedly the “hybrid” part stops mattering with full loads, but I guarantee Kei isn’t going to have great MPG numbers carrying 1000lbs of cargo.

Minitruck owners (sometimes rightly) lean on a soapbox where they and those around them rarely lug any cargo. IMO, might as well drive a Prius at that point but whatever. But ya gotta stop the circlejerk enough to acknowledge that someone who does regularly carry a full cab worth of stuff is in a better position with a normal truck.

Flip-side, very few people need a truck. And those that don’t need a truck also don’t need a kei truck.

This was my take. Considering the bed is wider and deeper, that black truck can literally hold 4x what the other truck carries.

Also from a quick google, I only see a single mini-truck retailer within 500 miles of me and they only sell very-used, with worse exhausts and MPGs than an F150.

Most people don’t need that bigger truck, but if they do that smaller truck won’t cut it.

Here in New England they’re really struggling from what I’ve seen. Parking lots and drive-thrus empty despite having this crazy 2-lane designed drive-thru. I think different regions have different guilty pleasures.

Youtube's margins are 38%, much lower than most of its competitors (that are in the 80% range). The primary reason for the margin being so low is that they give a far higher percent of their revenue to the content creators.

Just a reminder… 38% margins are kinda low for the type of product Youtube is.