As you may have read before in previous installments of Autopia, I’m all for longevity and endurance when it comes to cars. Sure I love an Alfa or a nice Fiat (not to pick on Italians or anything) but they are just not cars that come to mind when I have to choose one to drive myself and my wife to work every morning. I’ve always wanted (desperately) to own and drive the Lancia Monte Carlo (known as the Scorpio in North America). I think it’s a beautiful car, sort of looks like an 80’s icon, that like the rest of the 80’s did not go out of style. Most things in the 80’s were horrible looking, even haircuts so how could they possibly go right with the Countach. But, the Scorpio just cannot serve me as a practical daily driver and not just because of the lack of space. They were not popular in Canada so spares are rare, and they like most Italian cars are tricky to tune and keep in good order.
You see this brings me right to my point of this oceanic difference. In Italy for example, the lifestyle is so vastly different that cars don’t have to live as long. Fashion, city life, expensive gas and well dressed Italians will not put up with old cars, and as such they don’t have to be built to last.
In North America, the exact opposite is true. Lets not talk about fashion and I don’t just mean clothes, but anything from furniture to watches. The life in most places consists of sprawling cities with freeways and big box stores and large parking spaces. Gas is cheap and plentiful. And lots of North America is still inaccessible. So you don’t really need a car, you need a truck!
I bet there is no one in all of North America that does not know someone with a truck. Not one person. We really really love them. They are the ultimate in practicality. My favorite is the Toyota Tacoma.
The Tacoma (or Hilux anywhere else in the world) is a standard by which all trucks must be measured by. Now, I love the F-150 as much as the next guy, but the Hilux is made in such staggering numbers that it’s nearly sold in every country on earth. From the Dhobi desert to the Antarctic it is one of the most dependable and desirable machines out there. It is reliable like nothing else on the road (you must see the Top Gear attempt at destroying one), it is economical and comes in a variety of engines (too bad we don’t get diesels in North America), endless combinations of drive trains and body styles (my favorite is the double cab, 4x4) and they hold their value like gold….except gold goes down once in a while, they don’t.
The Hilux was until 2004 largely unchanged. The front end was massaged a bit here and there as they gave it a makeover. I absolutely loved that about the truck. No frills, no clever cup holders, just plain old truck. Old reliable to the core. Slim body on big wheels. Lots of suspension travel. Rear hitch that gave it that “U.N” official look. Metal bumpers that would look like crap after 5 years from hitting things and got swapped for bush bars and rear tailgates that eventually all spelled “Toy” or “yota”. Those were trucks, when men were men.
Than 2005 came along. Oh my. I still remembered the day, when I heard “the all new Tacoma is here”. I thought, “oh great, maybe a bit more squint to the front end, maybe a slimmer door”, but nothing could prepare me for the 05. Lets start with the faux tough look. Do they think we are mentally retarded? I mean, it’s a bunch of plastic that’s made to look like it’s budging tough truck until you press on it and the paint cracks. Plastic bumpers with matching truck paint????!!! Who puts plastic bumpers on a TRUCK? What are you doing with plastic bumpers? Pushing fluffy pillows around? Even my Kiwi friends will dent it pushing fluffy sheep around!
Than there is the new midsize. I guess it’s like most of North America thou, where last years medium is today’s extra small. This midsize truck looks like a monster compared to say a 1970 Chevy C30 ¾ ton truck – a full size truck. Why? The old one was small because it didn’t need to be bigger for 25 years! Are the dunes bigger this year in the Dhobi? Is the snow higher in the Antarctic?...I think it’s melting, no?
You see this brings me right to my point of this oceanic difference. In Italy for example, the lifestyle is so vastly different that cars don’t have to live as long. Fashion, city life, expensive gas and well dressed Italians will not put up with old cars, and as such they don’t have to be built to last.
In North America, the exact opposite is true. Lets not talk about fashion and I don’t just mean clothes, but anything from furniture to watches. The life in most places consists of sprawling cities with freeways and big box stores and large parking spaces. Gas is cheap and plentiful. And lots of North America is still inaccessible. So you don’t really need a car, you need a truck!
I bet there is no one in all of North America that does not know someone with a truck. Not one person. We really really love them. They are the ultimate in practicality. My favorite is the Toyota Tacoma.
The Tacoma (or Hilux anywhere else in the world) is a standard by which all trucks must be measured by. Now, I love the F-150 as much as the next guy, but the Hilux is made in such staggering numbers that it’s nearly sold in every country on earth. From the Dhobi desert to the Antarctic it is one of the most dependable and desirable machines out there. It is reliable like nothing else on the road (you must see the Top Gear attempt at destroying one), it is economical and comes in a variety of engines (too bad we don’t get diesels in North America), endless combinations of drive trains and body styles (my favorite is the double cab, 4x4) and they hold their value like gold….except gold goes down once in a while, they don’t.
The Hilux was until 2004 largely unchanged. The front end was massaged a bit here and there as they gave it a makeover. I absolutely loved that about the truck. No frills, no clever cup holders, just plain old truck. Old reliable to the core. Slim body on big wheels. Lots of suspension travel. Rear hitch that gave it that “U.N” official look. Metal bumpers that would look like crap after 5 years from hitting things and got swapped for bush bars and rear tailgates that eventually all spelled “Toy” or “yota”. Those were trucks, when men were men.
Than 2005 came along. Oh my. I still remembered the day, when I heard “the all new Tacoma is here”. I thought, “oh great, maybe a bit more squint to the front end, maybe a slimmer door”, but nothing could prepare me for the 05. Lets start with the faux tough look. Do they think we are mentally retarded? I mean, it’s a bunch of plastic that’s made to look like it’s budging tough truck until you press on it and the paint cracks. Plastic bumpers with matching truck paint????!!! Who puts plastic bumpers on a TRUCK? What are you doing with plastic bumpers? Pushing fluffy pillows around? Even my Kiwi friends will dent it pushing fluffy sheep around!
Than there is the new midsize. I guess it’s like most of North America thou, where last years medium is today’s extra small. This midsize truck looks like a monster compared to say a 1970 Chevy C30 ¾ ton truck – a full size truck. Why? The old one was small because it didn’t need to be bigger for 25 years! Are the dunes bigger this year in the Dhobi? Is the snow higher in the Antarctic?...I think it’s melting, no?
The new truck is borrowing from the new styling that seems to be engulfing Toyota these days. Rather than the harder edged 70’s and 80’s cars they’ve started to look into nature for inspiration. Except they must have dropped the styling team at the beach where there was a beached whale. Have you seen the new Camry? It’s brutal. It looks exactly like a water logged beluga lying on the beach. It’s the size of 2 Crown Victoria’s. Its like Christy Alley.
So there you have it. Mark your calendar black. Toyota has stopped making the last cool car they had going for them. I’m going to buy a used Hilux, too bad I have to pay the same money for a used one, but I think it’s worth it.
kk
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