Here are 13 reasons you might want to ditch your American pickup truck for the European SUV alternative.
One of the most defining features of the United States Of America is the prolific, almost outrageous, amount of pickup trucks driving the roads. Here in America, we love our home-grown, American-made pickup trucks. From Ford to Dodge Ram, from GMC to Chevrolet, you'll find huge amounts of these no matter where you go in the great US of A. Last year, over 2.8 million trucks were sold, full and mid-size in the US alone. That means over six thousand trucks are sold every single day. That's a lot of pickup trucks. According to thedrive.com, "the Ford F-series consistently break records year in and year out, beating even commuter cars in terms of units moved." For a lot of people all across America, it's not even just about trucks being practical. A lot of pickups sold probably aren't used to their full potential. Especially these days, with how powerful pickup trucks can be, and capably rugged. Most of them might not even see a dirt road, or haul a 2-ton load somewhere, and that's kind of sad. For a lot of America, having a pickup truck is just a lifestyle. It's the "cool" kind of car to have and own. There's another option, the kind of option most Americans wouldn't think of: The European SUV.
QUALITY
One of the biggest drawbacks for me when it comes to pick up trucks is the quality of product and manufacturing. It's actually a drawback of most American made vehicles.
While the capabilities of pickup trucks have constantly been increasing, the quality of materials used, especially when it comes to things like paint, accessories, interior, and gadgets, are subpar at best, wearing out after a few short years.
European SUVs by and large are made with exceptional quality, not just with performance and capability, but down to every detail of the interior, designed to last for a very long time.
FUNCTIONALITY
When it comes to overall functionality of an SUV versus a truck, an SUV tends to have more. This 2014 BMW X5 clearly has a lot of room. Tons, even. If you were to head to the hardware store to pick up some big things for your house, this clearly would have room for just about most anything.
The best part is, these fold back into seats, seven total to be exact, which prove to be very practical if you have a family or friends, or if you do ride sharing. Typical pickup trucks, which even though have bigger cabs than ever before, usually only seat five at the maximum, and usually a lot less.
COST
Now, this one people might find a bit surprising. When you think of a European SUV, you think of a luxury car that yes, is probably nice, but costs way too much money to be able to afford. And while that's not inaccurate as European SUV's tend to be fairly pricey, the fact of the matter is that American made pick up trucks are also very pricey.
Take for example a Ford F-250. It has a base price of around 35-40,000 dollars, but with upgrades, whether basic upgrades or the whole works, it'll end up running closer to 60, even 70,000 dollars.
Which is a price tag at which you could buy almost any European SUV.
LUXURY
I think it's fairly safe to say that European SUV's have got American pickup trucks beat when it comes to luxury. European SUV's have been designing their cars with only luxury and practicality in mind for decades now, and only in recent years have the pickup giants like Ford and Ram started making their cabins more luxurious.
Trucks will always have to perform like trucks as well, which means some areas of performance and ride and so on will be compromised in order for it to still function like a pickup truck. This is not the case with an SUV, which is designed in every aspect to be comfortable and luxurious.
OFF-ROADING CAPABILITY
European SUV's tend to set the standard for all SUV's across the globe. When it comes to off-roading, most models do fairly well off the tarmac. In the case of Land Rover and Range Rover, they've got the rest beat by a long shot. They've especially got American pickups beat.
Now you can make a solid argument for pickups and their off-roading abilities. They can handle their own off the road really well, especially the top of the line models. It's partially what they were designed for. But the truth is that pickup trucks were never designed for true off-roading. SUVs have a lot of their roots in off-roading. Can't argue with that.
HANDLING
The thing about SUV's, especially European SUV's, is that they have racing in their blood. And that's a two-part statement, because not only is that part of their criteria, but they are also usually made by the likes of Porsche, Bentley, Maserati, BMW, Audi, and so on. Which means when they're designed, they're designed with handling in mind, along with many other things.
American pickup trucks, on the other hand, are not designed with handling in mind, only with hauling and carrying. So they tend to lack, a lot, in things like handling, turning radius, responsiveness in steering, etc, etc.
STYLING
A lot of people love the way pickup trucks look, even if I don't. But come on, just look at the styling of that European SUV! It's exceptional, the lines and geometry flow, fluid from front to back. It draws the eyes along it's length, while simultaneously remaining one contiguous whole, nothing is out of place.
There's so much room for individuality and customization Pickup trucks have to always have a bed, and the most you can do to modify that is to make it look boxier by putting in a topper.
Which at that point, you might as well have an SUV.
OPTIONS
If you want an American pickup truck, you'll find yourself a bit limited on options out of the gate. Yes, you can buy a gazillion aftermarket mods, lift kits, crazy tires, and smokestacks, but at the end of the day, you've still got a truck.
With an SUV, you'll find a myriad of options available right away. Whether you want a sporty SUV, an efficient SUV, a luxurious SUV, an off-roading SUV, etc, etc, you can find it. Even styling-wise you'll have a lot more variety, from a compact Citroen SUV to a big behemoth like this Mercedes.
FEATURES
It's clear that in the past 5-10 years, American pickup truck manufacturers have started to up their game considerably when it comes to features available in their vehicles. Trucks not too long ago used to be bare-bones hauling and hauling only machines.
Now they come equipped standard with quite the array of features, from Bluetooth to air-conditioned seats, from sound insulation to customizable floor lights. Although, that's nothing compared to the available features of European SUV's, especially SUV's made by Mercedes Benz, where the list of available options and features will blow your mind.
DURABILITY
One of the things you might first think of when it comes to American pickup trucks is the word "durable," but the fact of the matter is that European SUV's by and large are significantly more durable. While a pickup truck might be able to take quite a beating being used for what it's designed for, American pickups wear out a lot faster than European SUV's.
They break down sooner, have more design issues, and manufacturers cut corners on things like the interior, quality of paint, and other standards. For the most part, this isn't the case with European SUV's, which will run smooth, stay classy, and look new even when they're over a decade old, even longer for a lot of them.
PRACTICALITY
The types of items you can haul in the open bed of a pickup truck means that the practicality of it is quite limited because of things like wind, rain, bumps, the elements, or theft.
You also have to worry about strapping things down, making sure they are perfectly secure, or you run the risk of losing everything in the bed of your truck.
You can't haul people, or dogs, you can't haul your grandmother's heirloom furniture, you can't haul 100 pounds of potassium in case it rains, you probably wouldn't haul any amount of Monet's paintings, and probably not a pallet of rice paper, but at least you could make an ingenious swimming pool.
SEAT ROOM
Seven seats in a car is pretty incredible, especially in the case of European SUV's, because they're so reasonably sized compared to American pickup trucks. On top of that, they're comfortable to sit in, with plenty of room for all passengers.
The cab of most four door pick up trucks these days will hold five people, and because of how massive they are, everyone will be comfortable.
Although, to be able to fit more people in less space with arguably more all around comfort is pretty impressive, and just one of the many reasons to consider trading in your American pickup for a European SUV.
PERFORMANCE
The European SUV doesn't really have an aspect that it doesn't do well. Overall performance across the board of brands proves to be exceptionally, well, exceptional.
European SUV's are extraordinarily practical and spacious, they are fast, speedy, handle well, accelerate well, and get great gas mileage, which means they're efficient and eco-friendly.
They're also great off-road, and have impressive towing capacities. Trucks can cover a lot of those bases, especially now that truck companies are trying to cover the perks of other classes of cars, but they fall short compared to European SUV's.
