>the ever-increasing size of the American pickup truck.

Technically what is presented is for Ford pickups not all American pickups though I'm sure the trends still line up

The graph in the middle that uses the top view of the trucks themselves to plot the size of cabs vs beds over time might be the best data visualization I’ve ever seen.

Cool share and genuinely beautiful data.

Axios does some cool stuff.

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As a guy who prefers an affordable supercab truck with 6.5' box, I fucking hate how everything is moving to $75,000 limousines with a tiny half box.

As someone who's never used a truck, why do you prefer them? My jetta can fit a twin mattress in the back, and I've hauled 8' lumber with the trunk closed before. The higher wheelbase makes sense for camping I guess, but like the 4runner can do that just as well.

I feel like unless you expect to have stuff overflowing the top and sides, having an external bed without access to the folding seats makes you lose capacity.

I mean, hell, my parent's town and country, with all the seats folded flat, was basically a UHaul van in capacity.

Truth be told, I'd prefer a smaller truck. Like a Maverick size, but with a shorter cab and longer box. And RWD. And a V8. But since nobody makes such a thing, I have to settle for what I have.

Yes, a minivan could probably haul MOST of whatever I'd ever need to haul in my truck, but minivans are FWD and uh....don't look as good as an F-150. Now, vans DO exist that have RWD and lots of cargo space, but they're not any smaller than my truck nor do they look as good.

If a guy could get a RWD, 350hp+ V8, midsized SUV/CUV with 8 full feet of length behind the front seats and a nice flat load floor with rear seats folded down that also looked good, all for a reasonable price, I'd be all over it.

Edit: As it turns out, the new Ford Explorer actually is RWD AND it seems to be able to fit a full sheet of plywood behind the front seats. And it can be had in either 365hp or 400hp forms. It's just not a V8:( Very impressive nevertheless.

Woww the presentation is amazing. The 3D models that swivel as you scroll? The simple graphs? The top view of cabs comparing one another? I love this!

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I was telling my fiance yesterday how much I dislike modern pickup trucks after reading the Axios article yesterday and she was kinda rolling her eyes because I normally deep-dive into useless topics...but then I showed her that visualization and she immediately got it. "They're not even trucks anymore"

then I showed her the stacked bar chart showing how people use use their pickup truck mostly just for their daily commute and as a grocery getter. She had the same 'wtf? just get a crossover/hatchback/stationwagon/minivan' reaction I did.

very cool, Axios. very cool

why do you care about a V8? if power and torque are sufficient, why does engine volume matter?

>Can’t beat trucks because the box is open. If your Jetta had an open bed instead of truck/back seats it would be legit even with its small size.

What are your thoughts on the Hyundai Santa Cruz?

>Where I live delivery is not an option, if I ever want to buy any furniture I kinda have to have a truck.

Would you be open to renting a truck or van the 1 day per year you need to fit something large?

I've personally driven compact cars my enter life and then just rent or borrow a truck whenever I need one, which isn't very often. Compact cars are crazy cheap to operate compared to a pickup which more than makes up for the cost of renting a truck.

my next car will be a larger sedan so that I have room in the back seat for passengers/kids. Maybe something like a Volvo V90 CrossCountry or a VW Arteon.

The fact that I can get a fully spec'd 300HP full-size upscale hatchback(the Arteon) for almost $10,000 cheaper than the cheapest bare bones full-cab F150 makes me think people have absolutely lost their minds to be choosing modern pickup trucks as their commuter/grocery getter.

The marketing departments at the truck companies have been doing a bang-up job tapping into emotion and aspiration in order to get people to spend so much money

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Gotcha - I think you're not the sort of person driving this trend in the pickup market then haha. my most spendy car purchase was a new Mazda 3 that I still drive a decade later and plan to drive for a few more years, so I'm not responsible for the trend either.

you are using pickups in a way that makes more sense to me, though i.e. as a tool that does a job.

I can see owning a pickup truck in that scenario, though to me it would be a 'necessary evil' or last resort because my preference would be to continue having a smaller/cheaper car if I can somehow avoid having to buy a pickup truck.

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>We worked out the math for this, and with the added hassle of renting, and very minimal price differences, it didn’t seem worth it for us personally.

^I'm lucky in this regard because the closest car/truck rentals are about as close to me as the closest grocery stores(~1 mile down a collector road) so it's not a big inconvenience.

It is a good set of data. But in terms of #dataviz, it has too much unnecessary animation for me, gets in the way of looking at the images. More to impress web designers than to help visualize the data.

V8 indicates a configuration, not displacement/volume. And to answer your question, it's the sound of a V8 that I crave. Even if it's smaller and maybe less powerful.

TLDR; trucks are better at killing women

Yes, you right about V8. They also do tend to have greater displacement than engines with fewer cylinders.

I can't say I value the engine note that much. Certainly not enough to outweigh a difference in efficiency, power, or price. I'd be perfectly happy with something like a Subaru boxer engine.

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