| Can a pickup do what a smaller ATV can do? | | | | pickup to use as a car, but not so good if you want |
| Certainly the small ATV has slipped into a rather large | | | | a cheap work vehicle. |
| niche. The Kawasaki Mule and the long growing line of | | | | If you can find an older small truck that has been |
| competitors now make up a class of vehicles that | | | | cared for, you have a strong alternative to an |
| people a few years ago didn't even dream that they | | | | expensive ATV. Now granted, the pickups will be |
| needed. Now it seems that these vehicles are | | | | hard to find in 4 wheel drive but not impossible. Of |
| everywhere. Here are ways older options may work | | | | course in most cases 4 wheel drive is seldom if ever |
| just as well. | | | | needed anyway. |
| Until the invention of the Kawasaki Mule and similar | | | | What you get with pickups includes several |
| vehicles, what did people ride? How could you do | | | | advantages over the ATV. |
| maintenance work or farm and construction work | | | | You get a street legal vehicle useful for any kind of |
| without an ATV? Well there were and still are other | | | | work. That includes hauling feed or fertilizer as well as |
| options, much cheaper ones too. | | | | use just like any car. What's more, you don't have to |
| One viable option for many uses is the small pickup | | | | haul it to the shop with a trailer. In addition, often |
| truck. By that I don't mean the used mini-trucks | | | | maintenance work on a pickup costs you less than |
| which cannot be street licensed. I mean small | | | | work on an ATV. |
| conventional pickups. These are rather recent | | | | Don't forget the weather-proof pickup cabin which |
| inventions too. Only since the late 1960's did this class | | | | may just include a fully functioning heater and maybe |
| of vehicle make an appearance in the US market. At | | | | even an air-conditioner. Imagine that. |
| that point Toyota, Datsun/Nissan, Mazda and | | | | Then, in addition, some older pickups came with |
| Mitsubishi all brought in trucks made in Japan. Then | | | | virtually bullet-proof engines and transmissions that |
| the US auto makers brought out their versions. | | | | hold up for decades and cost little to keep going. |
| The Japanese trucks were in general built to work | | | | Don't forget the difference in price either. A good |
| and were small but heavy duty. Many of these older | | | | used small pickup may cost only a small fraction of |
| Japanese trucks are still on the job. The earlier | | | | what you pay for a new ATV. You skip the |
| versions of the trucks tended to be cheap, no-frills, | | | | depreciation cost and get a vehicle that does most |
| work type trucks. As time passed, all the small trucks | | | | of what the ATV does plus does a lot of other |
| evolved into larger vehicles with more options and | | | | things far better than a little ATV. |
| more car-like features. That's good if you need a | | | | |