Utes VS Pickups: Can you really compare them?

While the two vehicles may seem the same but They are far from it. I personally have owned both and this is my conclusion.

Utilities

I like to think of utes as ‘Light Duty’. They have a lower pay load to start with. My Ute is rated to around 700kgs. This is because it is the v6 manual version. The v8 version is even lower due to the sports suspension. The things you generally see a ute carrying is just general things that wont fit in a car. Tools for work, motorbikes, furniture when moving house. I have also carried abit of fire wood and dirt in mine but nowhere near as much as you could fit in a single cab pickup truck.

One thing the ute has going for it is the size of the tub. It is surprisingly big considering the vehicle is only the size of your standard Commodore.

This came in handy when we cleaned the shed. We decided to use my Ute instead of my dads Pickup due to the fact that my tub was bigger than his tray. It was longer and had higher sides which meant you could fit more in it before you had to tie it down so it would not fall out.

Another upside of a Ute is that it is no different to driving a car. The Ute is not overly big and is fitted with a decent sized engine (3.8l v6 in mine but they also came with 5.7l v8s) which means it gets a move on. They also have nice gearing. This means you don’t have to use all 5 gears to get to the speed limit when easing it up to speed. Just makes life abit easier. If i had a choice on which i would drive in traffic, it would be the ute every time.

Pickup Trucks

I like to think of pickups such as the Holden Colorado, Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger as ‘Medium Duty’. They generally have a pay load of 1 ton and a flat tray in the single cab options. This means that you can load a different kind of thing on them. You see these used as work vehicles the majority of the time. They either have tool boxes on the back or are loaded with supplies required for the job. A large majority of them are also four wheel drive which allows for you to load them up and go camping. I did this with my Rodeo.

Because of the tray back, it makes it alot easier to carry things.

When you start looking at the Nissan Patrols and Toyota Land cruisers, i like to refer to them as ‘Heavy Duty’ due to the fact that they are a lot more robust.

As a conclusion, It really depends on what you want to use the vehicle for. If you want something that is no different to driving a car but can carry general things in the back, go for a ute. If you want something abit more robust then go for a pickup. Thanks for reading :)