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Can we just bring back the Brat? A compact 4wd pickup truck with a pair of jump seats in the bed. Pickup trucks are great, but they're only available in "behem

Can we just bring back the Brat? A compact 4wd pickup truck with a pair of jump seats in the bed. Pickup trucks are great, but they're only available in "behemoth" size in the US.

danans 11mo ago
Something like that: https://www.telotrucks.com/ https://www.telotrucks.com/
- everdrive 11mo ago
  If they ever build it I might buy one. Heavily depends on if it has an always on mobile connection and the car is full or screens and stupid garbage.
  - officeplant 11mo ago
    I desperately want the Slate[1] truck to success because it completely lacks infotainment. I hate Jeff Bezo's but I hope his funding helps them actually create a product. [1]https://www.slate.auto/en https://www.slate.auto/en
bluedino 11mo ago
> Pickup trucks are great, but they're only available in "behemoth" size in the US. Not all trucks are 1/4 or 1/2 ton in the USA. There's things like the Honda Ridgeline, Hyundai Santa Cruze, and the Ford Maverick Subaru had the Baja for a little white but they only sold a couple thousand per year.
- throwway120385 11mo ago
  Wouldn't you need to flag a sheet of plywood in the back of a Maverick? My old '06 Canyon doesn't require that and it's actually a smaller truck than the Maverick.
  - fragmede 11mo ago
    you’d need to flag a sheet of 4x8 in quite a few of the full sized pickups after you get the extended crew cab which shrinks the bed and makes them more of an SUV than a truck. THeres a platonic ideal of a truck bed holding 2x4 and 4x8 sheets, but it’s more of an ideal sometimes.
    - AlexandrB 11mo ago
      The overall problem is that the ratio of vehicle size to carrying capacity has gotten way larger. Small 2-seater pickup trucks could comfortably carry this stuff in the 80s and 90s and were not that much bigger than a sedan. Modern trucks are enormous and can't even carry as much unless you choose options that make them even bigger. Then compare this to something like a Kei truck and it's really quite pathetic.
      - commandar 11mo ago
        >Then compare this to something like a Kei truck and it's really quite pathetic. I will forever be sad that Canoo was wildly (possibly fraudulently) mismanaged and went bust before they ever built any of their planned pickup trucks: https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/features/canoo-pickup-truck-profile?onepage https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/features/canoo-pickup-tr... They were going to be built on the same platform as their vans and the best way to describe them is "Kei truck upsized and uppowered enough to be safe on US roads." They had neat party tricks like a compact bed for daily driving that could expand out to fit full size ply and fold out workbenches on all four sides of the truck. I'm not even a truck guy and I desperately wanted one of these things. Just such a cool concept.
        ljf 11mo ago
        Thset is really sad - I'd seen a review of an early model on YouTube and it seemed like a brilliant idea - really hope someone else can make something similar work.
        deltoidmaximus 11mo ago
- AlexandrB 11mo ago
  All of these trade bed space for seating space, and they're still larger than my stepdad's 1990s-era Sonoma. As a sibling comment pointed out, you can't carry 4x8 sheet goods easily in these.
- everdrive 11mo ago
  The Ridgeline and Maverick are actually quite large compared to a 90s Ranger. Yes, not everything needs to be as big as a modern half-ton, but everything has shifted towards huge.
  - deleted 11mo ago
    [deleted]
- pengaru 11mo ago
  Sure, but the OG Brat is a tiny truck by modern US standards. It's like the Miata of trucks. Even my 01 Forester will look big parked next to the OG Brat. Despite looking diminutive next to most modern vehicles here in Cali... It's super annoying how big ~everything on the road has become.
- alistairSH 11mo ago
  The Ridgeline is closer to a 1/4 ton like a Tacoma or Ranger. I own one. It's great for what it is, fits my outdoor lifestyle well (towing a small travel trailer, a few mountain bikes, and a large cooler). The Maverick, Santa Cruz, and the currently-vaporware Slate are much smaller.
- tristor 11mo ago
  The current model year Santa Cruz and Maverick are roughly the same size as the Tacoma, and the Tacoma is now the same size as a Ford F-150 was in the 90s when the Ford Ranger came out as a successful small pickup and the Tacoma was sized the same as the Ford Ranger. The vehicle size bloat in the last 30 years has been insane.
- munificent 11mo ago
  Agreed, they aren't all huge, but they are all pretty big and the few that aren't huge sacrifice a lot of bed size. I'm going through this now because I'm looking at upgrading from my ancient 2002 Tacoma Xtracab. Here's compared to 2025 models: Vehicle Length Bed ---------------------------- -------- ----- 2002 Toyota Tacoma (Xtracab) 202.9" 74.5" 2002 Toyota Tacoma (2Dr) 184.4" 74.5" 2025 Maverick 199.8" 54.4" 2025 Honda Ridgeline 210.2" 64.0" 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz 195.7" 52.1" 2025 Toyota Tacoma Xtracab 213.0" 73.5" My Tacoma wasn't even the shortest you could buy back then and it's still shorter than half of the "small" trucks you can buy today. And unlike those, my truck has a full 6' bed. A Maverick is shorter than mine, but the bed is also nearly two feet shorter. I honestly don't see the point of a bed that's less than five feet long. At that point, it's just an SUV with a trunk that isn't weather-sealed. Now, granted, it's not like you get nothing in return. These new vehicles (except the new Tacoma Xtracab) all have four doors and full-sized back seats. I can fit a kid in my jump seats but anyone older than that has a bad time. I'm sure they're safer for everyone in the truck too. But if you really do want to prioritize bed size and still want a short vehicle, that option is just no longer well supported. I accept that my use case is probably a narrow one: * Live in a dense city with a lot of parallel parking so don't want a long vehicle. * Kayak fish a lot so want a long bed I can load a kayak in. * Can get away with a two-seater because we can use my wife's car when there are passengers. But it's definitely not as well served as it used to be. I'm probably going to end up with a short-bed Tacoma and rely on a bed extender to keep the kayak safe.
  - kjkjadksj 11mo ago
    Why get rid of your perfectly fine truck? People would be lining up around the block for your truck. As you say they don’t make them like that anymore. Here in socal there are still 70s-80s era ford and chevy trucks in service. Those old f150s look tiny today. And in major demand even if they aren’t prestine.
    - munificent 11mo ago
      The answer is sad. Last year, I destroyed my left ankle when I slipped in a puddle while biking to work. Even after three surgeries and tons of physical therapy, the joint is falling apart. I drive a stick and it hurts every single time I push the clutch pedal in, so I've accepted that I have to move to an automatic. > People would be lining up around the block for your truck. You're not lying. I'm the only owner and it's got barely over 100k miles on it. Every few years, I find a note on it from someone asking if I'm interested in selling. The kids joke that I love that truck more than them. It has been a really amazing vehicle and I've had a ton of fun in it. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that it would be nice to have, you know, anti-lock brakes and a back-up camera.
- olyjohn 11mo ago
  Regardless of the capacity, the Ridgeline is not a small truck. There are no small trucks anymore. The Ranger and Colorado are not small trucks, they are mid size. Compare them to the pre-2019 Ranger, and the pre-2011 Colorados and S10s. Sure, the Maverick is kinda small. But and does fine for most people, but it's not really built like a truck. For some reason, I can't handle this thing, because it's replaced real small trucks. It's just an Escape under the covers, and nobody considers the Escape to be a workhorse. Yet, I can give the Baja a pass, because it was honest in the fact that it's a car with a bit of a utility bed.
officeplant 11mo ago
Blame the chicken tax. Ruining small trucks in America for decades.
mc32 11mo ago
You can’t have passengers in jump seats like it’s 1970 anymore —unless you’re on your own ranch somewhere.
- whartung 11mo ago
  We used to travel with folks in the back bed in beach chairs. It was quite comfortable, and you could fit four in a small Toyota truck bed. We would face each other, and talk, and it's was a fun and social way to travel. Six adults in a short bed Toyota, with 2 in the cab. With just two of us in the back, we'd have the chairs against the cab (like the Brat did). Riding backwards in a vehicle is surprisingly relaxing. You can't see the traffic ahead, so you have absolutely zero interest in where the car is going, how fast, how close, missing exits, etc. You're just cognitively out of that loop. Even as a normal passenger, even if we stay silent, we're all firing off those "back seat driver" neurons a bit. But riding backwards, where it's all out of sight and out of mind, it's a noticeable reduction in that. On one trip, we're heading to the mountains, my friend and I in back of the truck. Suddenly, the truck is braking very hard. We, of course, have no idea what's happening. I said "Well, this is it, good knowing you." "Yup! You too!". Obviously nothing happened, but it was a curious incident to say the least.
  - mc32 11mo ago
    Definitely not a place to be during a rollover. Same reason they don’t have seats at the rear of cars facing back. Not best place to be when getting rear-ended even though it’s a great place to be as a kid watching traffic and making faces to passers by…
    - olyjohn 11mo ago
      The Tesla Model S has an optional third row that faces backwards.
- stickfigure 11mo ago
  Why not? Jeeps are basically the same when you remove the top. The original Brat had a faux rollbar but you could integrate a real one into a new design.
whalesalad 11mo ago
I got my eye on the Slate - https://www.slate.auto/ https://www.slate.auto/ It answers the question, what if Framework made cars?
1970-01-01 11mo ago
The roof rack is the new small pickup for US market. Put a good roof rack on your Subaru Outback and call it a day. https://sherpaec.com/products/olympus https://sherpaec.com/products/olympus (no affiliation)

Can we just bring back the Brat? A compact 4wd pickup truck with a pair of jump seats in the bed. Pickup trucks are great, but they're only available in "behemoth" size in the US.

danans 11mo ago

Something like that: https://www.telotrucks.com/ https://www.telotrucks.com/

everdrive 11mo ago
If they ever build it I might buy one. Heavily depends on if it has an always on mobile connection and the car is full or screens and stupid garbage.
- officeplant 11mo ago
  I desperately want the Slate[1] truck to success because it completely lacks infotainment. I hate Jeff Bezo's but I hope his funding helps them actually create a product. [1]https://www.slate.auto/en https://www.slate.auto/en

bluedino 11mo ago

> Pickup trucks are great, but they're only available in "behemoth" size in the US. Not all trucks are 1/4 or 1/2 ton in the USA. There's things like the Honda Ridgeline, Hyundai Santa Cruze, and the Ford Maverick Subaru had the Baja for a little white but they only sold a couple thousand per year.

throwway120385 11mo ago
Wouldn't you need to flag a sheet of plywood in the back of a Maverick? My old '06 Canyon doesn't require that and it's actually a smaller truck than the Maverick.
- fragmede 11mo ago
  you’d need to flag a sheet of 4x8 in quite a few of the full sized pickups after you get the extended crew cab which shrinks the bed and makes them more of an SUV than a truck. THeres a platonic ideal of a truck bed holding 2x4 and 4x8 sheets, but it’s more of an ideal sometimes.
  - AlexandrB 11mo ago
    The overall problem is that the ratio of vehicle size to carrying capacity has gotten way larger. Small 2-seater pickup trucks could comfortably carry this stuff in the 80s and 90s and were not that much bigger than a sedan. Modern trucks are enormous and can't even carry as much unless you choose options that make them even bigger. Then compare this to something like a Kei truck and it's really quite pathetic.
    - commandar 11mo ago
      >Then compare this to something like a Kei truck and it's really quite pathetic. I will forever be sad that Canoo was wildly (possibly fraudulently) mismanaged and went bust before they ever built any of their planned pickup trucks: https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/features/canoo-pickup-truck-profile?onepage https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/features/canoo-pickup-tr... They were going to be built on the same platform as their vans and the best way to describe them is "Kei truck upsized and uppowered enough to be safe on US roads." They had neat party tricks like a compact bed for daily driving that could expand out to fit full size ply and fold out workbenches on all four sides of the truck. I'm not even a truck guy and I desperately wanted one of these things. Just such a cool concept.
      - ljf 11mo ago
        Thset is really sad - I'd seen a review of an early model on YouTube and it seemed like a brilliant idea - really hope someone else can make something similar work.
      - deltoidmaximus 11mo ago
AlexandrB 11mo ago
All of these trade bed space for seating space, and they're still larger than my stepdad's 1990s-era Sonoma. As a sibling comment pointed out, you can't carry 4x8 sheet goods easily in these.
everdrive 11mo ago
The Ridgeline and Maverick are actually quite large compared to a 90s Ranger. Yes, not everything needs to be as big as a modern half-ton, but everything has shifted towards huge.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
pengaru 11mo ago
Sure, but the OG Brat is a tiny truck by modern US standards. It's like the Miata of trucks. Even my 01 Forester will look big parked next to the OG Brat. Despite looking diminutive next to most modern vehicles here in Cali... It's super annoying how big ~everything on the road has become.
alistairSH 11mo ago
The Ridgeline is closer to a 1/4 ton like a Tacoma or Ranger. I own one. It's great for what it is, fits my outdoor lifestyle well (towing a small travel trailer, a few mountain bikes, and a large cooler). The Maverick, Santa Cruz, and the currently-vaporware Slate are much smaller.
tristor 11mo ago
The current model year Santa Cruz and Maverick are roughly the same size as the Tacoma, and the Tacoma is now the same size as a Ford F-150 was in the 90s when the Ford Ranger came out as a successful small pickup and the Tacoma was sized the same as the Ford Ranger. The vehicle size bloat in the last 30 years has been insane.
munificent 11mo ago
Agreed, they aren't all huge, but they are all pretty big and the few that aren't huge sacrifice a lot of bed size. I'm going through this now because I'm looking at upgrading from my ancient 2002 Tacoma Xtracab. Here's compared to 2025 models: Vehicle Length Bed ---------------------------- -------- ----- 2002 Toyota Tacoma (Xtracab) 202.9" 74.5" 2002 Toyota Tacoma (2Dr) 184.4" 74.5" 2025 Maverick 199.8" 54.4" 2025 Honda Ridgeline 210.2" 64.0" 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz 195.7" 52.1" 2025 Toyota Tacoma Xtracab 213.0" 73.5" My Tacoma wasn't even the shortest you could buy back then and it's still shorter than half of the "small" trucks you can buy today. And unlike those, my truck has a full 6' bed. A Maverick is shorter than mine, but the bed is also nearly two feet shorter. I honestly don't see the point of a bed that's less than five feet long. At that point, it's just an SUV with a trunk that isn't weather-sealed. Now, granted, it's not like you get nothing in return. These new vehicles (except the new Tacoma Xtracab) all have four doors and full-sized back seats. I can fit a kid in my jump seats but anyone older than that has a bad time. I'm sure they're safer for everyone in the truck too. But if you really do want to prioritize bed size and still want a short vehicle, that option is just no longer well supported. I accept that my use case is probably a narrow one: * Live in a dense city with a lot of parallel parking so don't want a long vehicle. * Kayak fish a lot so want a long bed I can load a kayak in. * Can get away with a two-seater because we can use my wife's car when there are passengers. But it's definitely not as well served as it used to be. I'm probably going to end up with a short-bed Tacoma and rely on a bed extender to keep the kayak safe.
- kjkjadksj 11mo ago
  Why get rid of your perfectly fine truck? People would be lining up around the block for your truck. As you say they don’t make them like that anymore. Here in socal there are still 70s-80s era ford and chevy trucks in service. Those old f150s look tiny today. And in major demand even if they aren’t prestine.
  - munificent 11mo ago
    The answer is sad. Last year, I destroyed my left ankle when I slipped in a puddle while biking to work. Even after three surgeries and tons of physical therapy, the joint is falling apart. I drive a stick and it hurts every single time I push the clutch pedal in, so I've accepted that I have to move to an automatic. > People would be lining up around the block for your truck. You're not lying. I'm the only owner and it's got barely over 100k miles on it. Every few years, I find a note on it from someone asking if I'm interested in selling. The kids joke that I love that truck more than them. It has been a really amazing vehicle and I've had a ton of fun in it. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that it would be nice to have, you know, anti-lock brakes and a back-up camera.
olyjohn 11mo ago
Regardless of the capacity, the Ridgeline is not a small truck. There are no small trucks anymore. The Ranger and Colorado are not small trucks, they are mid size. Compare them to the pre-2019 Ranger, and the pre-2011 Colorados and S10s. Sure, the Maverick is kinda small. But and does fine for most people, but it's not really built like a truck. For some reason, I can't handle this thing, because it's replaced real small trucks. It's just an Escape under the covers, and nobody considers the Escape to be a workhorse. Yet, I can give the Baja a pass, because it was honest in the fact that it's a car with a bit of a utility bed.

officeplant 11mo ago

Blame the chicken tax. Ruining small trucks in America for decades.

mc32 11mo ago

You can’t have passengers in jump seats like it’s 1970 anymore —unless you’re on your own ranch somewhere.

whartung 11mo ago
We used to travel with folks in the back bed in beach chairs. It was quite comfortable, and you could fit four in a small Toyota truck bed. We would face each other, and talk, and it's was a fun and social way to travel. Six adults in a short bed Toyota, with 2 in the cab. With just two of us in the back, we'd have the chairs against the cab (like the Brat did). Riding backwards in a vehicle is surprisingly relaxing. You can't see the traffic ahead, so you have absolutely zero interest in where the car is going, how fast, how close, missing exits, etc. You're just cognitively out of that loop. Even as a normal passenger, even if we stay silent, we're all firing off those "back seat driver" neurons a bit. But riding backwards, where it's all out of sight and out of mind, it's a noticeable reduction in that. On one trip, we're heading to the mountains, my friend and I in back of the truck. Suddenly, the truck is braking very hard. We, of course, have no idea what's happening. I said "Well, this is it, good knowing you." "Yup! You too!". Obviously nothing happened, but it was a curious incident to say the least.
- mc32 11mo ago
  Definitely not a place to be during a rollover. Same reason they don’t have seats at the rear of cars facing back. Not best place to be when getting rear-ended even though it’s a great place to be as a kid watching traffic and making faces to passers by…
  - olyjohn 11mo ago
    The Tesla Model S has an optional third row that faces backwards.
stickfigure 11mo ago
Why not? Jeeps are basically the same when you remove the top. The original Brat had a faux rollbar but you could integrate a real one into a new design.

whalesalad 11mo ago

I got my eye on the Slate - https://www.slate.auto/ https://www.slate.auto/ It answers the question, what if Framework made cars?

1970-01-01 11mo ago

The roof rack is the new small pickup for US market. Put a good roof rack on your Subaru Outback and call it a day. https://sherpaec.com/products/olympus https://sherpaec.com/products/olympus (no affiliation)