Its nowhere near a Silverado. Its only 69" wide - 5" slimmer than a Tacoma, and over 10" slimmer than a Silverado. So its about the same as a Colorado.
http://www.mahindrana.com/pdf/specsheet.pdf

 

The Tacoma may be great. Evidently, however, most truck buyers are attracted to the superior space, power, capabilities, features, safety, and so forth offered by the full sizers.

Does the Tacoma outsell the Tunrda? The Tundra never really caught on (which is just dandy IMO) the way Toyota wanted with the '07 redesign, whereas Toyota has been known for a while for their compacts.

Even with compact cars being nicer and nicer on the inside, most people will gravitate toward larger models. They are safer, they ride better, they often are better looking, and they can actually haul people and stuff in comfort.

I've ridden in a Ridgeline a few times (even bigger than the Tacoma, I'm pretty sure, except in bed length). No way would that interior be a substitute over a full size.

If fuel prices were Euro-high, I can see more gravitating toward much smaller trucks. But right now, it's worth it for most people (apparently) to not only pay more for the truck, but also pay the fuel penalty of getting 15-17 mpg instead of 17-20 mpg.

At 6'2", I'm really looking forward to upgrading to a fullsize (GM, Ford, or Dodge). I'll be looking used, in the 2000-2003 model years, most likely.

As an aside, I just drove my buddy's '97 F150 supercab 4x4 (with offroad package). With 185k miles, it still feels damn solid and sturdy. And the cabin is SO much more spacious than my Colorado.

 

Buyers apparently are attracted to full size trucks and thats fine. My point was that they dont NEED those superior capabilities because 99% of owners never need more than the capabilities of a modern day midsize truck.

Superior safety?

Safety again? Do you really think fullsize trucks are any safer than a midsize truck?

You have a good point about interior space. If that is the main attraction to 1500's, then why not make a lighter, more fuel efficient 1500 with similar space to the current trucks. This coud be done through weight savings accomplished by giving the truck a reasonable towing capacity (7 or 8,000lbs.) and power and shrinking a few dimensions.

Cool, I hope you are happy with it. I am thinking about buying my wife's truck off lease and using it as my commuter and 2nd family hauler to keep the Camaro resting nicely in the garage.

Oh by the way, I am 6' 230lbs. and fit very comfortably in the Tacoma. I routinely take my wife, and buddies (6'4" 260lbs., 6'2" 210lbs., and 6'1" 200lbs.) downtown or wherever in the Tacoma. It isn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but no one complains. Keep in mind the Tacoma is 5" wider than your Colorado.

 

Bring back (or over ) something of similar size, and call it the El Camino. And there you have it, a smaller truck type thing that won't necessarily be directly compared to its bigger brother Silverado.

 

Slimmer? Yes. But check out the length and height.

 

Well sure if you compare a regular cab short bed Silverado to the Mahindra which only comes in one "long" wheelbase.

 

The point being, when originally discussed we were talking about small trucks... not trucks the size of the current Colorado or larger. As I said... I want something the weighs less than 3000 lbs and is the size (or smaller) than a Chevy Luv.

 

With CAFE, why wouldn't you have alot of small cheap efficient trucks to help bump up the average. I haven't read every post in the thread but I would be all over a small truck that's the equivalent of cobalt.

 

I have been paying attention, for the most part, and I don't think that point has been brought up, excellent point. I only see fuel prices going up (duh) in the future, so when my S-10 starts getting up there in mileage a few years from now (115K now) I'd like another "small" fuel effiecient truck to take it's place.

I've actually never owned a car. I've only ever owned trucks. I've owned a 58 Chevy Apache (my dad has it now), a 67 C10 (still have), 86 Toyota truck (wrecked, 100% my fault, no other vehicles involved), 86 Toyota truck (drove a few years and parted out), 86 Toyota truck (see a theme? drove to college and sold in 04 when motor blew), 2000 Silverado (still have), 2005 Tacoma (sold in November) 99 S10 (still have).

I did "own" an 86 T Top Z28 for a year back in 04 when my 86 Toyota died, but it was really my uncles car, it was in my name for a year, but I "gave" it back to him when I bought my Z71.

 

Haven't you been listening to me? I've been talking about a Delta II based mini-truck for some time. I even suggested a unibody truck version based off of the Chevy Orlando concept.

 

I don't want a unibody truck though, yuck I'd only consider a unibody HHR, only because they look so cool. Every other unibody truck I've ever seen either looks too much like a car, or it looks like a goofy truck. I do not like the GMC concept either.

I'm not sure what you mean by "mini truck" but I don't want anything smaller than a 1st gen S-10.

I've been hoping for a GMT900 quality S-10 sized Coroado (again, enough with the name changes GM, Colorado is a cool name for a truck) for a couple years now (I even hoped it would "look" like the Tahoe/Burb/Avy styling)...

If not Colorado... call it a C-10

 

Have you seen the Dodge M80 concept?

 

Yuk

I would never buy that truck.

 

I always thought that was pretty neat.

 

Eh, not my cup of tea.

That said, I really like small trucks - at least the 4 cyl 5 sp variety. I've had 2 Rangers (ok, one was a Mazda) with that setup, and though they are rather underpowered, they are GREAT daily drivers, IMHO, and much better around-town MPG than any full size truck. I'd have one now in place of my Ram if I didn't need the full size truck to pull the car trailer.

Agree with other comments that although the smaller truck is easier to get around in, its kind of a mute point if it doesn't get significantly better gas mileage - which unfortunately pretty much rules out the V6.