General Unibody Hate?

[Fazzie01]

Discussion topic for the group. There seems to be a lot of hate for the Maverick/Santa Cruz/Ridgeline and statements that they are not 'Real' trucks. A lot of these statements are followed by a comment about the unibody design. I have several questions if y'all are willing to indulge me.

1: Is the unibody design the only reason these vehicles should not be considered 'Real Trucks'?
- If your answer is no, please flesh out the other reasons. I have my own for these specific vehicles as well.
2: If yes, in your mind, how does a unibody design disqualify these vehicles from being trucks (Truck = Ladder frame and nothing else ever)?
3: What if a truck comes along with huge payload, towing, & off-road numbers and is unibody, would you still not consider it a 'real truck'?
4: If all things were the same with the current and beloved 5G ranger, but it was unibody, would it still be a real truck and would you have still bought it?

I'm interested in everyone's opinions and how these opinions came to be.

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[Dahveed]

 

[bruhaum]

I think there is a strange fascination with the fixation of what is "real" truck. To me, if it has a bed, it is indeed a pickup truck, regardless of whether it is unibody, its tow rating, payload, off road capability, whatever.

Are some trucks better at doing work than others? Yes! But I think some people are more realistic in their needs for a truck as well, hence why many of us have bought a Ranger5g instead of a more capable full size.

But to answer your question, yes I believe the Maverick/Santa Cruz/Ridgeline are all trucks in their own right.

Okay rant over! Please don't hurt me! ?

 

[Nomadjohn]

Certainly one of the interesting things we are seeing with the various unibody trucks is just how high their payload ratings are. I have to think this is largely due to how much lighter they are because the body has become a stressed member.

Having a chassis certainly has advantages in that it's more flexible for upfitters and you're unlikely to have weight in the bed lead to body flex. Also nice if you're off road and need to jack the vehicle up in that you can use anywhere on the chassis as opposed to just the jack points.

For me I don't have any dogma in this. I occasionally drive down a dirt road so the off-road thing doesn't matter, I'm not going to get a service body or an aftermarket bed so that doesn't matter, I do tow and I'd want to make sure there wasn't any undue flex in the body while doing that but I'd absolutely buy a unibody truck if it met my other requirements.

 

[Dr_Strangelove]

I think the only argument with legs is the capabilities argument. Otherwise it seems to me to just be a battle of perceptions. You see this in other ways in other circles. People with inexpensive Mercedes don't drive a "real Benz" because it's not the S class or SL. People with a Boxster don't have a "real Porsche" because it's not a 911. It's typical automotive gatekeeping.

I'm so basic anything with a bed and a tailgate counts as a truck to me.

 

[Jason B]

Well, top and middle are 1961 Ford F100 unibody, bottom is a 1970 Chevy Unibody. Can't deny those are trucks.

 

[maxbottomtime]

I think a unibody can be more of a truck than the current trend of cab size exceeding bed size. If that's what you're after they make SUVs & Minivans.

 

[ctechbob]

All I know is that I found it amusing when the Maverick appeared and all of the Ridgeline haters were suddenly silent as to whether the new little bugger was a truck or not. They've slowly come back around to the 'not a truck' chant, but slowly and fewer of them.

Truck or not, all I see is a vehicle.

If the vehicle meets my needs, then it is the one I'm going to buy. Truth be told, before I bought my 2020 I had already made my mind up to buy a Ridgeline, until I took a good look at the marketplace for them. People that own those trucks put a ton of miles on them and their value was strong. So it was either, buy a used Ridgeline with a fair few miles on it, or a brand new Ranger. The travel trailer wasn't even in the picture then, so no I wasn't planning on towing with the Ridgeline, that came after the fact. But that truck would have done everything I needed it to at the time, I didn't care whether it had a unibody or not.

In my mind, if it has an open cargo space in the back, it is a truck. And that includes the goofy Subaru Baja thing.

 

[AzScorpion]

I think the only argument with legs is the capabilities argument. Otherwise it seems to me to just be a battle of perceptions. You see this in other ways in other circles. People with inexpensive Mercedes don't drive a "real Benz" because it's not the S class or SL. People with a Boxster don't have a "real Porsche" because it's not a 911. It's typical automotive gatekeeping.

I'm so basic anything with a bed and a tailgate counts as a truck to me.

For the most part I feel the same as you. But a "real" truck I classify as something you can do more serious off roading and towing with. Most people don't need that and a Maverick or Ridgeline suite them fine. We've had a few members sell their Rangers for Ridgeline's because they got more use from them.

I just have a hard time classifying this as a truck. lol

 

[IdahoRanger]

For the most part I feel the same as you. But a "real" truck I classify as something you can do more serious off roading and towing with. Most people don't need that and a Maverick or Ridgeline suite them fine. We've had a few members sell their Rangers for Ridgeline's because they got more use from them.

I just have a hard time classifying this as a truck. lol

Yeah, but the '69 with a 351 moved along pretty good.

 

[Wang.S]

I think it's all just posturing.
Its what the world is made of right now.
Every internet warrior wants to be the one to start a trend, quash a rising, stir the pot; all for likes, cred and some weird obsession to be liked.
Look around here, probably in 85% of the threads is someone trying to speak louder about why they think x is better than y.
Who flipping cares.
If you don't want a unibody "truck" don't buy one.

 

[AzScorpion]

Yeah, but the '69 with a 351 moved along pretty good.

Yup but kind of a waste in that vehicle. With all that power the ass end was all over the place. lol

 

[canyonslicker]

The real downside for unibody is it doesn’t take much of an accident to get totaled.
My wife has a Maverick and it does truck stuff like hauling a refrigerator standing upright. Easier load and unload.
I still prefer my Ranger. So we have both.

 

[canyonslicker]

For the most part I feel the same as you. But a "real" truck I classify as something you can do more serious off roading and towing with. Most people don't need that and a Maverick or Ridgeline suite them fine. We've had a few members sell their Rangers for Ridgeline's because they got more use from them.

I just have a hard time classifying this as a truck. lol

I had one and really only used the bed for coolers and empty beer cans.. and maybe getting lucky on occasion

 

[subquark]

Real truck:

Spoiler: NSFW

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