this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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United States | News & Politics
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A work van is not a minivan.
Refer to the video I posted above. The first comment mentioning those things seemed a bit confusing at first, but I'm starting to think maybe Americans don't have a notion of what a work van looks like? That's... a thing I learned today.
I know what a work van is, but I only have minimal experience with them so instead I critiqued my extensive experience with minivans vs pickups. A work van could address some, but not all, of the issues I outlined. The bigger issue is that it's still a MUCH larger vehicle than I want or need. I'd rather a small pickup and a detachable trailer for when I've especially large jobs to handle. I'd even consider importing a kei truck if they were A) road legal and B) available in automatic.
Ah, gotcha. I was confused because whenever the point of pickups comes up people keep bringing up having to use them for work, and in my mind that's what vans are for. I've been taken to school in a van before, but that's not the point of them.
I think over here people would instead get a hatchback and a van if they had to do both things. That'd probably cost the same amount of money and be more practical. And you'd have two cars by the end of it.
Oh, and there definitely are work vans sized like minivans. That's the entire point of the Kangoo, as far as I can tell. It's basically a minivan you can choose to get with or without seats.
EDIT: Oh, hey, apparently you CAN buy a Kangoo with a closed cabin, too. I said earlier that you couldn't.
~~Aren't work vans built on the same frames as pickups?~~ Only a minivan is going to be significantly smaller than a truck.
Maybe in the US? The Trafic gets rebadged a lot, but I don't know if it matches up with any current pickups. It's certainly not small, but it's not a gas guzzler, it's low slung and it uses sensible tyres. It certainly doesn't look like you're overcompensating for something, even if its road footprint is large.
And that's not even the smallest one they make (but it is the smallest with a separate cabin, I think).
I think that's more true as time goes on, though. That's what my comment about the concerning front of modern vans was about earlier. Still, if you compare the Ford Transit to the F150 you clearly don't see a pickup with a roof.
You're right and I'm wrong. They do have different frames.