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Precisely this.
I've said it before and I'll say it again... the minitruck was great for what the average diy homeowner needed. Hauling a few odds and ends every once in a while that would be impractical in a brodozer and impossible in a sedan.
We got upsold by the industry when they pushed quad cab brodozers. Incredibly upsold. The fact that bob the white collar suburbanite thinks he "needs" a CCSB on 39"ers is proof of marketing trumping critical thinking.
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Agreed. Growing up, my Dad had an 84 Ford Ranger. No A/C, no cruise, no power anything. Vinyl floormats, so every so often Dad would pull the drain plug and wash out the floorboards! That little truck hauled full sheets of plywood, 2x4s, 4x4s, PVC pipe, bags of rock, sheets of corrugated plastic - whatever Dad could put in there. He drove it for years until it got totaled on the Interstate.
I've wanted something like that for years. I don't need a brodozer. Heck, I tried to get in the bed of a full size pickup a couple of weeks ago that had its tailgate down, and I couldn't do so - it was just too high! With a long commute, I need something good on gas, and the current Tacoma/Ranger/et al, don't have the gas mileage I need. They also are more than I want to spend on a vehicle. I also rarely have a passenger, maybe my son a few times a month, but that's it, so a standard cab or extended cab with a little space would work fine. All I would want is A/C and cruise control. No power windows or doors. No 4x4.
The only thing that would keep me from buying one would be that its a Ford. The bad experience I had with our Explorer was enough to sour me on anything made by Ford.