Well OT - pickup trucks
 

Back in the day it was realised that pick-up trucks could be bought by a
company without attracting VAT (and other taxes?) and then double as a
company car - as long as they had a carrying capacity of at least 1,000kg.

Cue the luxury crew cab models we see today with names like Animal.

All good stuff, but I'm casting my eye over them at the moment and the UK
ones all seem to have engines of 2.5 litres or less. I also remember this
from when I was last looking around 2000/20001.

Non-UK versions by the same manufacturers seem to have at least 3.0 litre
engines.

Does anyone know why?
Funny tax rules perhaps?
Initial Google searches get loads of adverts but not much information
otherwise.

TIA

Dave R

--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

On 25/01/2016 16:54, David wrote:
Back in the day it was realised that pick-up trucks could be bought by a
company without attracting VAT (and other taxes?) and then double as a
company car - as long as they had a carrying capacity of at least 1,000kg.

Cue the luxury crew cab models we see today with names like Animal.


Where do they go next? Predator, Psychopath, Megalomaniac, Rapist?

Personally I would not be seen dead driving an Animal or similar.

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

In article ,
David wrote:
Back in the day it was realised that pick-up trucks could be bought by a
company without attracting VAT (and other taxes?) and then double as a
company car - as long as they had a carrying capacity of at least
1,000kg.

Cue the luxury crew cab models we see today with names like Animal.

All good stuff, but I'm casting my eye over them at the moment and the
UK ones all seem to have engines of 2.5 litres or less. I also remember
this from when I was last looking around 2000/20001.

Non-UK versions by the same manufacturers seem to have at least 3.0
litre engines.

Does anyone know why? Funny tax rules perhaps? Initial Google searches
get loads of adverts but not much information otherwise.

Probably because they're basically a US vehicle which generally have
larger engines. Cheaper fuel and longer distances. Same as with their home
grown cars.

--
*Geeks shall inherit the earth *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

On Mon, 25 Jan 2016 17:20:55 +0000, newshound wrote:

On 25/01/2016 16:54, David wrote:
Back in the day it was realised that pick-up trucks could be bought by
a company without attracting VAT (and other taxes?) and then double as
a company car - as long as they had a carrying capacity of at least
1,000kg.

Cue the luxury crew cab models we see today with names like Animal.


Where do they go next? Predator, Psychopath, Megalomaniac, Rapist?

Personally I would not be seen dead driving an Animal or similar.

Apart from the obvious challenge due to lack of mortality?



--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

In message ,
newshound writes
On 25/01/2016 16:54, David wrote:
Back in the day it was realised that pick-up trucks could be bought by a
company without attracting VAT (and other taxes?) and then double as a
company car - as long as they had a carrying capacity of at least 1,000kg.

Cue the luxury crew cab models we see today with names like Animal.


Where do they go next? Predator, Psychopath, Megalomaniac, Rapist?

Personally I would not be seen dead driving an Animal or similar.

There's a bright red one locally with 'Raging Bull' written all over it
in large font - flaming edges and all. Driven by a 5 foot 8 inch tall
moustachioed overweight introvert. The uvver arf tells me she wants one
with 'Stroppy Cow' on it instead.
--
Nick (=----)

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

David wrote:
Back in the day it was realised that pick-up trucks could be bought by a
company without attracting VAT (and other taxes?) and then double as a
company car - as long as they had a carrying capacity of at least 1,000kg.

Cue the luxury crew cab models we see today with names like Animal.

All good stuff, but I'm casting my eye over them at the moment and the UK
ones all seem to have engines of 2.5 litres or less. I also remember this
from when I was last looking around 2000/20001.

Non-UK versions by the same manufacturers seem to have at least 3.0 litre
engines.

Does anyone know why?
Funny tax rules perhaps?
Initial Google searches get loads of adverts but not much information
otherwise.

TIA

Dave R


Most of the UK ones are turbo diesel. People don't want the
10-14mpg of the 3L+ petrol units. The long wheelbase crew cab plays
havoc with the turning circle. Hence the popularity of the short
wheelbase versions. The truck bed is too short on many to easily carry
8 x 4 sheets. IME the ride is always crap. I suspect a Transit is a
better proposition.

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car. The Mazda 5 in the US is 2.4L petrol,
here it is 2L diesel.

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and cheerful"
by some standards.

Tim

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.



Go on then, which new 5L V8 engined cars are cheaper?

Tim

Tim

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

On Monday, January 25, 2016 at 8:21:52 PM UTC, Capitol wrote:
David wrote:
Back in the day it was realised that pick-up trucks could be bought by a
company without attracting VAT (and other taxes?) and then double as a
company car - as long as they had a carrying capacity of at least 1,000kg.

Cue the luxury crew cab models we see today with names like Animal.

All good stuff, but I'm casting my eye over them at the moment and the UK
ones all seem to have engines of 2.5 litres or less. I also remember this
from when I was last looking around 2000/20001.

Non-UK versions by the same manufacturers seem to have at least 3.0 litre
engines.

Does anyone know why?
Funny tax rules perhaps?
Initial Google searches get loads of adverts but not much information
otherwise.

TIA

Dave R


Most of the UK ones are turbo diesel. People don't want the
10-14mpg of the 3L+ petrol units. The long wheelbase crew cab plays
havoc with the turning circle. Hence the popularity of the short
wheelbase versions. The truck bed is too short on many to easily carry
8 x 4 sheets. IME the ride is always crap. I suspect a Transit is a
better proposition.

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car. The Mazda 5 in the US is 2.4L petrol,
here it is 2L diesel.

Apart from the ride quality the knee room for the back seat might suit Toulouse Lautrec but that's about it

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and
cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.

And it's very uncomfortable and crap to look at, just like the
current Camaro.

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and
cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.



Go on then, which new 5L V8 engined cars are cheaper?

All that shows is that there is no car which
is cheap and cheerful in that class of car.

All the cheap and cheerful cars are somewhere else.

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

In article ,
Capitol wrote:

Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and
cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.

And it's very uncomfortable and crap to look at, just like the
current Camaro.

Yebbut: the marketing department have done an outstanding job on making
it (and its new stablemates) look "cool" and "must-have", so they'll
sell enough.

How much does does this selling a new Mustang in the UK have to do with
the fleetingly transitory low fuel price? I think the car industry --
more than anyone else -- know the value of the adage of there being one
born every minute. In fact imho they completely depend on it.

J.

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and
cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.



Go on then, which new 5L V8 engined cars are cheaper?

All that shows is that there is no car which
is cheap and cheerful in that class of car.

What class is that? £34,000 IS cheap for a 5L V8. "Cheerful" is obviously
subjective put I think driving one would put a smile on most people's
faces.

Tim

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

Capitol wrote:
Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and
cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.

And it's very uncomfortable

Quite possibly

and crap to look at, just like the
current Camaro.


Well it looks like an American muscle car, which is what it's meant to look
like.

Tim

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

On 26/01/16 11:47, Tim+ wrote:
Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and
cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.



Go on then, which new 5L V8 engined cars are cheaper?

All that shows is that there is no car which
is cheap and cheerful in that class of car.

What class is that? £34,000 IS cheap for a 5L V8. "Cheerful" is obviously
subjective put I think driving one would put a smile on most people's
faces.

Tim



A long time ago US manufacturers realised that a big engine doesn't
actually cost much more than a small one. OK there is more metal in a
big engine/car/gearbox/transmission but the amount of work is highly
similar.

Which is why dirt cheap V8 trucks used to be everywhere.

Muscle cars simply go fast in a straight line.

Drag racing was born in the USA.
Go figure



--
Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have
guns, why should we let them have ideas?

Josef Stalin

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

On Mon, 25 Jan 2016 20:21:55 +0000, Capitol wrote:

David wrote:
Back in the day it was realised that pick-up trucks could be bought by
a company without attracting VAT (and other taxes?) and then double as
a company car - as long as they had a carrying capacity of at least
1,000kg.

Cue the luxury crew cab models we see today with names like Animal.

All good stuff, but I'm casting my eye over them at the moment and the
UK ones all seem to have engines of 2.5 litres or less. I also remember
this from when I was last looking around 2000/20001.

Non-UK versions by the same manufacturers seem to have at least 3.0
litre engines.

Does anyone know why?
Funny tax rules perhaps?
Initial Google searches get loads of adverts but not much information
otherwise.

Most of the UK ones are turbo diesel. People don't want the
10-14mpg of the 3L+ petrol units. The long wheelbase crew cab plays
havoc with the turning circle. Hence the popularity of the short
wheelbase versions. The truck bed is too short on many to easily carry 8
x 4 sheets. IME the ride is always crap. I suspect a Transit is a better
proposition.
snip

Further information :-)

Firstly I am looking at Japanese cars imported into NZ - in fact the
majority of vehicles in NZ now seem to be Japanese because they are RHD
and not valued highly in Japan. Enormous trade in shipping used cars from
Japan to NZ.

Secondly the new Japanese cars for sale in NZ have the larger engines.

Thirdly they are also all turbo diesels (apart from the Dodge RAM which is
not AFAIK Japanese in manufacture). Hmmm...could be some Holdens as well
with big petrol V8s but I am possibly the wrong demographic....

Always possible that the Nissan, Toyota etc. are RHD versions of ones
manufactured for the US market - haven't looked at the USA yet.

I just have an abiding memory that all the UK pickup trucks were specified
with a 2.5 litre engines when elsewhere in the world you could get the
equivalent vehicle with a larger engine. I just can't remeber if it was
legislation or "enlightened" marketing.

With reference to the Transit van - one part of the plan is to launch and
recover a boat on a trailer from a sandy beach so high ground clearance
and 4WD are on the list. I know this doesn't sit with most of the use in
the UK where there is a big market for mock off-roaders. Acknowledged that
for comfort, economy, load carrying and general on-road manners the
Transit is a much better option. However if I am lucky I may get to ford
streams on unmade tracks in the middle of nowhere so again high ground
clearance and 4WD look a sensible option.

Cheers

Dave R


--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

David wrote:


I just have an abiding memory that all the UK pickup trucks were specified
with a 2.5 litre engines when elsewhere in the world you could get the
equivalent vehicle with a larger engine. I just can't remeber if it was
legislation or "enlightened" marketing.

With reference to the Transit van - one part of the plan is to launch and
recover a boat on a trailer from a sandy beach so high ground clearance
and 4WD are on the list.

Ford used to do a high ground clearance Transit, the "County" I think.

An example here.
http://retrorides.proboards.com/thre...sit-county-4x4

Looks like a handy vehicle. Still just a 2.5L diesel though.

Tim

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

On 26/01/2016 11:47, Tim+ wrote:

Orange wrote:

I see wodney is out of the box again...



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Well OT - pickup trucks
 

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Orange wrote:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2016-01-25, Capitol wrote:

[30 lines snipped]

It now seems almost impossible to buy a larger capacity cheap and
cheerful petrol engined new car.


http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/newmustang

Fails on the cheap and cheerful.



It's all relative. £34,000 for a car with a 5L V8 is "cheap and
cheerful"
by some standards.

That new mustang is nothing like cheap and cheerful in its class.



Go on then, which new 5L V8 engined cars are cheaper?

All that shows is that there is no car which
is cheap and cheerful in that class of car.

What class is that?

Larger capacity petrol engined new car.

£34,000 IS cheap for a 5L V8.

But there are much cheaper and cheerful other cars.

"Cheerful" is obviously subjective put I think driving
one would put a smile on most people's faces.

Depends on where you try to drive it.
It wouldnt in London inner city traffic.