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Originally Posted by SuperTrooper
When you compare the dimensions the Ranger is within a couple of inches all the way around.
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You must be looking at a different Ranger than the ones I've seen. The Toyota (and its Datsun counterpart) that I drove in the '70s were a lot smaller than the Ranger the guy down the street has. Even my '88 Toyota is smaller.
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Those older Toyotas were rust buckets made from recycled steel. In any climate other than the dry western states they no longer exist.
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But I live in one of those western states :-) And questions of materials, manufacturing quality & durability are entirely separate from form factor. I do remember from my childhood in the northeast that pretty much all cars rusted out within a few years, so it's hardly a problem unique to Toyota.
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Anyway, the Ranger is the CLOSEST thing to the small pickup available today. Given the demands of the modern truck owner there is limited interest in the basic cab/box on wheels. Ford Supercab Rangers outsell standard cabs 5 to 1.
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You've got a circular argument going there. If the Ranger is the smallest thing available today, it's pretty hard to determine what the market would be for something smaller - especially after a couple of decades of advertising the pickups on steroids that Detroit wants to sell, but can't when gas is heading to $4.50. I know I'd have bought a smaller pickup with better fuel economy if one was available (used, of course). I imagine that for instance fleet managers would be happy to send service people out in smaller trucks, if it'd save them money.