153

The engines rev, the guitars thrum and a gruff narrator lays out why the vehicle occupying the driveway is more than just a machine. “A truck is a tool,” he says, “but a Ram – a Ram is life.”

So begins an advert for the Ram 1500, a pickup truck slightly bigger than the Panzer I tanks of Nazi Germany and almost as heavy. It is growing in popularity in Europe, with the number of Rams arriving on the continent up 20% in 2023 from the year before, according to registration data from the European Environment Agency. Road safety and environmental campaigners in the UK and Europe are aghast as the latest, most extreme cases of North American car bloat – giant pickup trucks – are increasingly crossing the Atlantic.

“Europe should ban the Ram,” said Dudley Curtis from the European Transport Safety Council. “This type of vehicle is excessively heavy, tall and powerful, making it lethal in collisions with normal-sized vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.”

top 38 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] CyberMonkey404@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 hour ago

Ram 1500, a pickup truck slightly bigger than the Panzer I tanks of Nazi Germany and almost as heavy

That sounded like bs, so I went searching, but apparently it's correct. Panzer I is only slightly wider (by about 5 cm) and smaller in other regards. Eff me

[-] Vivendi@lemmy.zip 1 points 50 minutes ago

So you're saying that one can technically drive a Panzer tank in the USA

[-] Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 hour ago

Insane stat and glad they made the comparison

[-] slickgoat@lemmy.world 15 points 11 hours ago

This will not go well.

Europe is not designed for oversized cars. As soon as you are off the "A" roads, it is goat tracks in every direction. And, you can forget about parking. Regular cars have enormous trouble already. Every new car gets panel damage within a couple of weeks. Put those monster US vehicles in the villages it will be carnage.

[-] Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 9 points 13 hours ago

Really, I don't get the appeal, that's the weirdest thing about this. If this was an article about impractical and irresponsible racing cars getting popular and the objection was that they consume too much fuel, they drive too fast increasing safety risks and they only have 2 seats meaning less people moved per car, I'd lament the trend in the same way, but it'd be a story of how we tragically can't stop ourselves from stupid but understandable excess. It's easy to understand for example why obesity is hard to combat because at a basic level and all other nuance aside, generally, we like eating, and typically the foods that most lead to obesity are easily the most liked by people in general too.

But these fucking American truck things are bad for all the same anti social reasons as a sports car might be and more but they're also not appealing in the slightest, they look awful, they don't go fast and all the dubious "utility" value, even taken at its word, is such a weird thing to try to appeal to the masses with. Selling things like this to people who don't need them used to rely on a kind of "sex appeal", if it was a sports car your customer might never be able to actually drive it as fast as it can go but the idea that they theoretically could is sexy and it has those lines designed to feel like it goes fast, who the fuck thinks "ooh I could fit so much lumber in that thing" and gets a weak at the knees? It sounds about as exciting as selling something on fuel efficiency isn't. Somehow though, not only Americans apparently, but like everyone wants these things? I am baffled. Did we all go to some mass brain washing event and I slept in that day? What is this?

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 1 points 54 minutes ago

Have you driven one? If not, try it out and you may understand the appeal.

I would never buy one myself, but their comfy as all hell to drive, it's like driving a lazy boy. You are really high up, so other than the blind spots you feel like you can see really well. Any road bumps are essentially negligible. Curbs or other things that you might have to worry about in a small car, you can just drive right over. If you want to bring something somewhere, it's super convenient to just toss it in the bed.

I grew up in rural farm type life, and a pickup truck was just a given.

As long as you don't care about other people or the environment, it's a nice vehicle.

[-] CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 6 points 14 hours ago

The truck in the photo is absolutely hilarious and all the wrong ways.

It's got early 2000s fast and furious rims.

It's got that 1980s camper thing on the back.

The driver is like sitting halfway back the vehicle. I don't think the front side of that entire truck could fit in the bed.

That vehicle doesn't know if it wants to be an SUV, a van, or a truck. Really I think it got them all wrong. Slightly less than I saw than the Tesla truck.

[-] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 4 points 13 hours ago

US obesity even effects our autos.

[-] a1studmuffin@aussie.zone 12 points 19 hours ago

Clearly we're going to need regulations around personal vehicle size limits on the road. If you legitimately need a big truck for your business, get a licence for it.

[-] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 31 points 1 day ago

As an American, I'm so so so sorry in advance. These things come with some sort of feature that requires them to drive 30cm behind you, no matter how many kph over the speed limit you're going.

[-] Default_Defect@midwest.social 7 points 14 hours ago

With their high beams blasting directly into your eyes from your mirrors.

[-] AstridWipenaugh@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago

See, there's the problem. You're driving 33 kph but trucks can only go in mph so you're slower. Learn to freedom better.

[-] mastod0n@lemmy.world 9 points 20 hours ago

Yea I see more and more of them. And it's always the same kind of dickhead. Driving alone with no load, parking in the handycapped spot and taking the right of way.

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 72 points 1 day ago

A truck is a tool

Nah, that's usually the person driving it.

[-] bravowhiskey@lemmy.world 15 points 21 hours ago

The thing is, a truck is a tool, or used to be at least. I had an old little Toyota truck. Two seats and could haul as much construction materials or debris as any one person could manage.

These trucks are impossible to work with. Massive cabs that shorten the bed, lifted frames with beds that break your back loading stuff, terrible fuel economy. They’re as much about utility as lacy underwear.

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 9 points 20 hours ago

Oh yeah, to be clear, no disrespect to people who use trucks routinely for their intended purpose.

Up to you if you want to adopt this, but I've taken to calling those tiny, useless afterthoughts tacked onto modern trucks "vestigial beds".

[-] bravowhiskey@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

Vestigial beds that’s hilarious

[-] Default_Defect@midwest.social 1 points 14 hours ago

I wish my 94 ford ranger hadn't been such a piece of shit. It was my first vehicle and that little truck would have come in clutch a lot over the years, but alas.

[-] lehenry@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago

But t of course the tarifs are for Chinese electric cars, not for those waste of space, enormous polluters, dangerous for the other road users "cars".

[-] menemen@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

They are defintly becoming more in Germany thanks to the fucking Amarok.

And I understand that there might be valid reasons to buy an Amarok, but I've never seen them used by anyone, but suburbanites who use them as a personal ca4.

[-] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 6 points 1 day ago

“A truck is a tool,” he says, “but a Ram – a Ram is life.”

Sex is...well, no one knows. But the Saw is family!

this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2024
153 points (97.5% liked)

World News

32191 readers
984 users here now

News from around the world!

Rules:

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS