• Nfamwap@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Sometimes it’s down to more than what the vehicle can carry, but what the vehicle can tow. A pickup with a 3.5 tonne towing capacity might be a far more useful vehicle than a van that can only pull 1 tonne for example.

    • wmassingham@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Maybe, but the same “work pickups” you see everywhere also aren’t towing anything.

      But the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van has a towing capacity of 5000-7500 pounds, or 2.5-3.75 tons, depending on configuration. That’s the same range as most medium pickups.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Large vans are often made on the same chassis as trucks, so they have the same transmission and maybe a slightly reduced towing capacity

      • Nfamwap@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m not decrying the abilities of a big van, I drive a 3.5 tonne Transit for work and love it. But we are comparing apples with oranges. I have a friend who owns a Nissan Navara. During the week it is onsite, dragging machinery around building sites. At the weekend it is a family car, taking the kids out etc.

        I do admit though, not all pickups are used in this way and my mate is probably in the minority where he has a genuine need for a vehicle that can handle the extremes of work life and home life.

        • wmassingham@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, and if you’re going to use one vehicle for both, that makes sense. Personally I wouldn’t use my personal vehicle for work like that, because if it gets wrecked somehow, my insurance won’t cover it, and I’d be out of a car until I fight the company’s insurance enough to get something out of them. But that might be a US thing.