Vans and minivans do everything trucks and SUVs do, and they do it better. Every time. No exception. SUVs and crossovers are just worse minivans for people who think they’re too cool to drive a minivan.
And those outside of North America largely need not apply. I wish we could just have a robust public transit system here, but apparently, public transit is antithetical to muh freedum or something. Or so they tell me.
And that’s not even getting into the point the post makes, which is that these monstrosities are getting bigger and more dangerous to pedestrians, yet our governments do nothing to stop it.
What about moving a mattress? Can’t fit that in a minivan, and that comes up all the damn time.
There are valid complaints in here, but most of it is nonsense. Trucks and SUVs are the only choice? What do you even mean by that? It’s way easier to get a regular car.
I live in Texas. I only know one person with a truck, and it’s used constantly. There’s something in the flatbed that wouldn’t fit in a van at least once or twice a month, I’d say.
You can fit at least a twin, probably a full size inside most minivans (I did have to take one out of a grand caravan recently), and a queen or king would go on the roof fine if you spec one with crossbars. Most minivans also have reasonable towing capacity, so renting a U-Haul utility or cargo trailer is less than the difference in one monthly payment between a van and a bigger truck or SUV. I’ve put thousands of miles on my 2nd gen highlander hybrid just towing either my utility trailer (5x8) or a U-Haul cargo (4x6, 5x8, and 6x12), moved twice, helped friends and family move, done dump runs etc… I’ve only rented a moving truck once, for my first move, and that was only due to limited time for a full apartment move.
The Highlander is an SUV and is thus unsafe to pedestrians and worse than a minivan according to this post.
I mean, it’s a hybrid vehicle that seats 7 people that is smaller in length and width than a new sienna, the same weight and the same towing capacity. It might be an inch or 2 taller than the sienna overall because I needed to add a 1.5" lift when I replaced my suspension at 195000 miles to give me the ground clearance to clear the rocks where I go camping when it’s fully loaded, but I still manage to get the 28mpg it was rated for 13 years ago. My previous 2006 highlander hybrid had almost 170K on it when I upgraded to the 2012. Hate on a Tahoe or Expedition or Wagoneer all you want because they are fucking absurd vehicles, but I bought literally the only used AWD, hybrid people mover/working vehicle I could buy, and when my 2006 hihy came out it was the only option at all 15 years before the Sienna went hybrid.
I’ve moved many a mattress in my parent’s minivan. With the seats folded down or removed and a bit of an angle and/or squishing in a bit you can usually fit a queen, maybe even a king depending on the mattress and van. Box springs are harder, but often still doable, and in a pinch can be easily strapped to a roof rack.
They also have a '93 ranger with the 7ft bed, still chose to use the van for mattresses as often as not, to need to strap anything down or cover them if there’s rain in the forecast.
I did a road trip with my wife a few years back and borrowed their Sedona, took out the back seats, threw a “queen” sized air mattress (I’m pretty sure it was a little undersized from a real mattress, but still pretty close) and the mattress was a little squished on the sides but otherwise fit pretty comfortably in the back, we slept in the van for about a week moving between different campsites.
Know what mattresses don’t fit comfortably in? The 5.5ft beds a lot of pickup trucks have these days.
Fair enough. But short beds notwithstanding, removing seats or using a roof rack hardly qualify as “doing everything trucks do and doing it better”.
I’d still rather use the truck. The original post is silly.
I mean, it probably takes about as long for me to remove the seats from the van as it does for me to find a broom and sweep out the truck bed to make sure my mattress doesn’t get dirty because I’ve been using my truck as a truck, so six of one, half dozen of the other.
And truck bed or roof rack I’m anal about securing my loads, so I’m gonna spend a few minutes fucking with ratchet straps either way, box springs are light so unless you’re really short it’s pretty trivial to get them on a roof rack.
Plus you get the benefit of being able to carry more passengers when you need to. Haven’t found a pickup yet that will seat 7 or 8 people.