I saw the article before saw this thread. I seriously considered writing to the Bloomberg editors to explain the countless inaccuracies in the article, but I didn't see a "contact us" link. This is why all journalists should stick to publishing articles in areas where they are skilled/educated or articles in which they have first hand research/data. This journalist is clueless, and the article is an abomination.
You can always tell someone has an "angle" when they don't even bother to look up the basic facts regarding the topics in which they're writing about. Let's break it down:
"Among the increasingly popular heavy-duty models, the height of the truck’s front end may reach a grown man’s shoulders or neck. When you involve children in this exercise it starts to become really disturbing. My four-year-old son, for example, barely cleared the bumper on a lifted F-250 we came across in a parking lot last summer."
Where is the source to show of this claimed "increasingly popularity" in HD trucks? Unlike a Prius, these trucks are used for work and many are equipped with a front camera/360 camera that allows the driver to see what is in front of them instead of pulling out into traffic blindly while messaging on grindr.
"Since 1990, U.S. pickup trucks have added almost 1,300 pounds on average. Some of the biggest vehicles on the market now weigh almost 7,000 pounds — or about three Honda Civics."
Wrong on all counts. A brand new Honda Civic weights slightly over 3,000lbs. Maybe the author is bad at math, but 3 Honda Civics do not weight 7,000lbs. As far as the "biggest vehicles on the market", a 2020 F-450 weighs up to 8,600lbs. It weighs that much because it's designed for HD work, not because it can run over priuses. Although it can certainly do both well.
"Styling trends are almost as alarming. Pickup truck front ends have warped into scowling brick walls, billboards for outwardly directed hostility. “The goal of modern truck grilles,” wrote Jalopnik’s Jason Torchinsky in 2018, “seems to be… about creating a massive, brutal face of rage and intimidation.”
The only thing alarming is how stupid this journalist is. The grilles are large because HD powertrains with the capability to tow and haul massive amounts of weight need maximum airflow. This is the reason that 2020+ Super Duty Dually models all essentially share the same grille design.
“Burning fossil fuels can come to function as a knowingly violent experience,” Daggett writes, “a reassertion of white masculine power on an unruly planet that is perceived to be increasingly in need of violent, authoritarian order.”
This is so far out in left field it's comical. This dude probably wears a tin foil hat and thinks Elon Muskrat is the next coming of jesus. In other words, a retard.
"Jeff Weidner, an assistant professor at a college in El Paso, Texas, says he feels a little guilty about choosing to buy a full-size Toyota Tundra — but admits he likes it. “We were looking for something that would hold six people, would be good for long trips in terms of space and carrying our stuff,” he says. At first, he planned on buying the mid-size Tacoma, but “they upsold us hard with the Tundra. They barely even had stock of Tacomas — they probably do not make enough money on them.”
The only thing this idiot should feel guilty about is buying a rust bucket japanese poseur piece of trash with the worst fuel economy in the segment, not the fact that he purchased a pickup. Can't fix stupid.
