Nothing better, that Icon FJ45 looks amazing! But anything that says"handmade in los angeles" is not going to be close to 20K
Their motto though, "the most advanced form of simple", is exactly what I hope Toyota will do with SOMETHING in their US portfolio. An truck with cutting edge tech, but simple, no BS. I guess the new FJ fits the bill actually, but Im looking for a Pickup.


I think a huge element that could lead to both Toyota and other manufacturers bringing some very interesting trucks to the US will be the repeal of the Chicken Tax. I know Volkswagen has said specifically this is why they haven't brought the Amarok to the US market.

The case here is the manufactures believe a true compact truck is a niche vehicle in the US (debatable for sure), and as such doesn't deserve its own factory on top of safety/epa costs for US market compliance on top of a %25 tax.

That tax gets repealed and we could start to see some smaller, more interesting trucks.

 

Australia has all the cool stuff, for real. The Nissan Patrols are sweet as well.

The Ranger never capitalized on the crew/quad/double cab craze, which I think was part of it's downfall. Everywhere else in the world has had double cab pickups of every variety since their release. (And diesels).

The Hiluxes in other countries are narrower than the US version too. I think a new Tacoma is probably bigger than a 1st gen Tundra at this point.

The 70 series cruisers have some awesome engines available...the 4500 turbo diesel with a twin turbo puts out some seriously awesome numbers.

 

I would really like to buy a newer 80's Toyota pickup.

I own a 2005 Tacoma and an '87 Toyota pickup, both base model standard cab 4x4 trucks with manual transmissions and 4 cylinder engines. While the 2005 Tacoma is a very nice truck, I would not mind at all if it was smaller. I would really like a manual transfer case and a cable-driven throttle. The truck feels a lot bigger when driving down the road, parking, etc., but does not have the usual benefits of a larger truck. The cargo bed size and towing capacity is the same as my '87. It gets about 2 MPG better than my '87, so making it smaller with the same technology would get even better mileage.

I was seriously considering the Ranger before I bought my Tacoma, but I remember the 4x4 trucks only came with a 4.0 liter V6 that got similar mileage to an F150. I believe you cannot get a 4x4 Ranger with a 4 cylinder unless you get one from the 80's. I would think that was a big part of their sales problem.

I have to believe that if they can make a Smart Fortwo pass safety standards, they can certainly make a smaller Toyota truck that would. It just could not be an exact replica of the 80's trucks.

 

+1
American trucks are just getting bigger, bulkier, not staying trim and fitter than Australian models (and other countries where they have the Hilux).

To much McDonald's I guess - LOL!

 

It's like this. The main reason the Ranger failed in my opinion was they marketed them only to kids at a certain point. Yea you could bolt on obscene suspension travel but that's where the awesome stopped. They did not keep up with the rest of the truck. Ok motor and cheep feeling interior. Look at it after 100k miles and it looked like it had 150-200k on it.

All car name brand car and truck manufactures are doing the same thing wither they realize it or not. They are taking away from the purists and catering to the masses. (Remember you can serve the masses and live with the rich or serve the rich and live with the masses). Those are true words. But gen companies like Audi BMW Benz's ect. They built these awesome fast cars that go around a corner stop as fast as they get moving and will tell you and sometimes stop you before you hit something. And the worst fault of all they know that most Americans can't drive a manual any more. Why even bother to call it a standard. They have gotten us hooked on convinces and not practicality.

I do not believe it would it would be cost prohibitive to built a small truck again. Safety this and that aside. If a smart car can pass a crash test then they could easily make a 85 or older style truck pass. Emissions isn't it either. There are a number of small motors that would pass be today's standards with flying colors. I believe it's simply that with publicly owned companies you are always going to struggle to go to a board of directors, who probably drive a Lexus and not a Toyota truck, and say. Remember when we used to sell a truck for 12-15k. Well lets stop building as many 30-50k dollar trucks and go make some cheaper ones. The market for sales is there. If it wasn't why do we have a thread about how often do people offer to buy your truck. It's simply that publicly held companies, (at least in the USA), are required by law to make every effort possibly to make more money than the year before. It's really probably that simple.

Now if we have another Great Depression and during the recovery people ask for an affordable truck to help reestablish the farm. Then we might se a manufacture like Kia or Hundia come in and make a small truck. Alas the old awesome Toyotas are gone. And probably for good. Sad

 

I have talked to and know several Japanese families (living in Washington state) and they all say, right or wrong we don't have the Hilux because of 2 city's we introduced to the Stone Age back in WW2. And we never will have the Hilux. Stuff happens.

 

fish guy. Google up the video of a smart car hitting a cement barricade at highway speeds. Both doors still open and the majority of the glass is in tact.


I drive the 85 pickup you're comparing it too. I had to accept when I bought it that if I'm in a collision at highway speeds...I'm dead. That simple. No other way around it. Dead. Mom wanted me to install an inner roll bar for safety, it wouldn't have helped for a highway collison.

People make fun of me for always driving the speed limit and being cautious, but I know the outcome of a crash. It doesn't have all the modern safety features that keep people alive now. My version of an airbag is a soft dash pad on the passenger side and a steering wheel that flexs when I push on it. I assure you my truck, even in stock form, would not pass modern crash ratings. Airbags or not.


Fun story, I work in a body shop. We had a truck towed in that was racing his buddy after a party. Long story short, they were doing 160kmph (100mph) and he hit the back of a tow truck that was moving maybe 5 kmph. It was a brand new dodge 1500 (2013) No body panel of the truck was usable, no driveline part was undamaged, but so little energy was transfered to the cab and driver that he walked away with a broken wrist and his pants full of chocolate pudding. With my truck I would have been dead before the windshield broke.

 

I'm not saying they could copy a older truck. What I was saying is they could design it to meet modern standards. I have friends in the fire department and they have been on scene's of smart car crashes. Yes the doors open but the internal damage to the human body is still the same. It's not unheard of to find a body in a seemingly in tacked smart car. There is a limit to the amount of g forces the average human body can withstand.
And yes when I drove my 85 it was the same way I also treat my 93 virtually identical. Good driving habits are the only way to prevent accidents. I too drive the speed limit with 2 hands on the wheel and usually around 3 + seconds following distance. When I can i am lift my truck up at most about 3" and putting a cage inside it to help. I figure after seeing these trucks get broadsided my only hope is to get them to go under me. I might end up on my lid. But m hope is the compartment will be somewhat in tacked. Note I said help it not make it safe.

My point in comparing the smart car was not to say they are bad but to point out that size is not the only factor in making a safe car. They would have to completely reengineer the truck and then put old school suspension and drive train in it. And there is not a chance that you will convince a board of directors to go in a direction that they perceive as backwards.

 

Like Rick said, "We'll always have classic Yota's/ 4Runners."
Makes me love mine more. We should all help each other to preserve our classics.

 

right? It doesn't seem fair to build a truck like the domestic ranger, which saw no attention from ford in terms of progression, got the same or worse MPG than a full size with its 1950s era engine, had a econo car interior, and say look look LOOK it won't sell, no one wants a compact truck.

well no kidding bros. try building a truck with the same dimensions of the old ranger but fully redesigned with a 4 cylinder twin turbo diesel, and high-efficiency gas v6 and all the attention, design, and tech resources the F150 gets and maybe your compact truck might sell a little better.

Of course compacts probably aren't where the money is, or at least thats how ford sees it.

 

See I live 15 min outside Seattle. When we have to go in to seattle we either take my wife's ford focus or my Toyota. Almost never take my full size Chevy. I think there is a unidentified market for "city farmers" And small trucks. There is not a snowballs chance in h*ll that your going to consistently park a full size rig in seattle type city unless you have a lawn to park it on. Although it is kinda funny watching a outback to down the road with hay and straw inside the car. Just looks like so much fun to clean out.