My aunt and uncle had a 1988 Mitsubishi L300 Sportpac with a 5 speed manual on the column. It was glorious. I’m sure it was horrid to drive, but I was a kid so it was cool. Way cooler than my parents boring Ford Telstar sedan. 

They are pretty darn good. I was talking to a taxi driver who had done over 600,000km’s on his previous Prius, repaired the battery cells himself a couple of times, but it was dead reliable. He had upgraded to a Camry Hybrid for a bit more space and it had 450,000km’s on it and he reckoned he had another 100,000km in…

Urgh my mother in law did this. Swapped her delightful Mazda2 for a horrid Mitsubishi ASX. Theres a reason why its cheap!!!!

That just because you have an SUV, you don’t have a 4x4. 

OH! I think I may have found the first actual use case for a Hyundai Santa Cruz!!! Its reliable, but a bit funky and weird, its really quite practical for someone who doesn’t need a truck. (I don’t know if it fits into his budget, and I’m not about to look)

Australia and New Zealand are a big market for this truck... The Hilux and Ranger are the two top selling vehicles in both countries. Unlike SE Asia, our cars have to meet EU emissions standards and safety regulations

All manufacturers do this. You can’t simulate 250,000kms of mixed driving + 10 years of wear and tear when you are R&Ding a new vehicle. So you take it to an extreme and maybe do 10,000kms at -40c or +45c. You put it in the harshest conditions to see how it performs and where its break point is. Because yes, noone is…

I had to sell mine when life happened :( it was a red 2009 BMW 135i manual coupe (no iDrive) with a sunroof. I miss it every single day.

The T-Cross is hardly some gargantuan SUV. Its a mildly restyled and raised VW Polo, akin to the CrossFox or Fox Xtreme. (I get that the Fox sits in a class below the Polo, but there really isn’t that much in them). 

Easy E60 M5. Closely followed by an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrafoglio

I suspect that your estimation of conservatism must be correct. I just can’t for work out how they can have a smaller payload. Is it a cynical ploy to upsell you to an HD or SuperDuty style truck?

Nope - our trailers are poorly designed to be honest. From what I’ve seen they are identical, especially in New Zealadn, I think Australia actually has some standards. There is a difference with brakes v unbraked. You are normally limited to 750kgs on an unbraked trailer, but up to whatever your vehicle is rated to…

We have higher safety standards in Australasia than in the USA.... the Jeep Wrangler for example is a 3 star car here... 

I’m not in Europe. I’ve lived in Australia, but am from and now live in New Zealand. But yes I agree, towing in the USA is unregulated, however when it comes to payload, none of this makes any sense. 

So do we. In the Northern Territory of Australia the speed limit is 130km/h. In the rest of Australia and parts of New Zealand its 110km/h. Anyone can drive a Ranger, load up the back with stuff, hitch up a 3.5tonne trailer and off they go (I mean they are morons, but yeah they can). 

Except they aren’t. The best selling vehicles in New Zealand and Australia are the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger. Most of them sold are top trim SR5 or XLT/Wildtrack - most with stupid bed limiting sport bars and tonneaus. Leather interior, heated seats... these aren’t work trucks. They are sold and marketed as…

Ok - so this truck aside... how do you Americans build trucks this big with such small payloads. I mean a Toyota Hilux, VW Amarok, Ford Ranger, Isuzu DMAX, Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton et al all have a payload sitting around or just under the 1 metric tonne mark - thats a little over 2000lbs. We call these “1…

Toyota Highlander. It is just a good car. Spacious, but not huge. Powerful but not obscene, infinitely reliable, comfortable and practical. 

1st and second place?

Um really? Its a Toyota Hilux. This is the dumbest question ever asked. Next time go with “What is the second best truck in the world?”