Cars - For Car Enthusiasts

Because I don't like breathing gas fumes when I carry my motorcycles and I can't have them dump a load of gravel in a van using a loader.

"Just get a trailer for when you need to do that?"

Well then, when I don't need to carry that stuff I'm taking as much space as a truck with my van but when I need to carry that stuff I'm now using the space of a truck plus a trailer with my van and trailer and I still need to store my trailer somewhere when I don't need it.

Just let people drive whatever the fuck they want and push for more energy efficient and safer versions of said vehicles and for better public transport as an alternative.

Talking about safety and efficiency, vans that are equivalent to trucks are usually worse on gas because they're shaped like bricks and aren't as safe because of the much bigger blind spots.

For work, sometimes a van is better than a truck, and sometimes a pickup truck is better. Loading and unloading a pickup is generally easier because it's open and you can stand fully upright in the bed. But security and protection from the weather is non-existent.

If it is also your personal vehicle, pickups have a slight edge in terms of daily driving, especially when you have a full backseat (at the expense of the bed). Work vans don't typically have second row seating.

Most of the pickups you see on the road are chosen by insecure men who have no need for a work vehicle at all.

Pickup trucks give an unparalleled amount of emotional support to men whose self esteem is otherwise nonexistent.

Wouldn't be surprised if there's wiring and shit in the tailgate that's not cleanly removable without snapping cables

I think it also comes and goes in waves. For a while, a specific model of Ford SUV was having its factory alloy rims stolen. Because they were being stolen so much, and there weren’t replacements available, junk yards were able to sell rims they ‘happened’ to buy sans vehicle for near retail prices. They also paid more for the wheels than other parts, so it was sort of a self-sustaining theft economy.

Huh. It’s like little criminal entrepreneurs chasing pricing bubbles in inelastic goods. But they also create demand for those goods by doing crime.

I guess, the word got out, or the economy got bad enough where suddenly lots of folks are doing it? Or the easiness of fencing the tailgates on social media is encouraging folks who wouldn't know how to sell a catalytic converter to get into the "steal components" game? Not totally sure!

I am sure that it's newly cropping up as a common problem. It's all over the Tacoma subreddit, even the news is covering it (local news in Alameda covered a chop-shop bust that was targeting Tacomas specifically, and that was like, 2 days ago).

So yeah, I'm as mystified as you are. I explained the removable tailgate concept just for folks who maybe never drove a pickup truck or the many folks who don't use that feature.

(Edit: and thanks for the dealership insights! I never drove any F-Series other than the F-150, so I had no idea how the heavy duty models handled tailgate features)