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-   -   Mini-Trucks vs Pick-up Trucks (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commercial-vehicles/212362-mini-trucks-vs-pick-up-trucks.html)

Hi Folks,
Today in Commercial vehicle market we have Mini Trucks and Pick Ups available offering similar payloads. I was wondering if anyone could provide insights on factors that a buyers considers while making a decision of Purchase for Mini Truck and Pick Up. For example if a buyer is in market for a small commercial vehicle with 1 to 1.25 T payload, options he has are Tata Ace Mega, Tata Super Ace or can go with Pick Ups like Mahindra Bolero.

Apart from Price, what are the other factors a buyer may consider before choosing Mini Truck over Pick Up and vice versa.

Tata Ace Mega or Super Ace have a payload of 1000/1030 kg while Bolero pickup has payload of 1500 kg. So the payloads aren't same.

If I need the vehicle for intracity transport, Ace shall be fine. But if I have to send the goods over 100-150 km or more, I will prefer Bolero pickup.

If I am buying for a specific known type of cargo (for say own use), I will consider the load density too. For transporting voluminous lightweight goods the load body dimensions matter.

And if the situation needs sturdier vehicle with better life and more resale value, again the Bolero wins.

But if your need calls for Bolero, then you shall compare with Tata 207 and not Tata Ace.

One more point, the Tata Ace type vehicles are hopeless when the roads get even a little bit challenging.
A little mud, steep incline is enough to defeat it.
The tyres are so small, they look like bearings.

I would recommend the Pickups, as they are vastly more capable.

The pick up trucks would score over the Ace kind of vehicles. Pickup trucks with bigger engine and torque helps carry the loads at 80 kmph without much fuss.

However, cost of pick up truck would be higher

PS: I have the Isuzu Pick up truck. Does the load carrying duties without fuss and provides much better comfort compared to the Bolero. Living inside the vehicle is way better than its competition.

Assuming the prospective buyer wants a CV for intra city duties, he might consider resale value and ease of use as foremost factor. That's where vehicles like Tata Ace has a upper hand.

Pickup trucks are gigantic. Maneuvering pickups in and around the city would be a nightmare, considering our cities with lanes barely wide enough for a sedan.

Thanks for sharing your views.

I understand Ace Mega and Super Ace has a different power train, however payloads do not differ much. You also have Bolero Pick Up in 1.25, 1.3 and 1.7T apart from 1.5T.

I wanted to understand more from technical perspective why would a user pick mini truck over Pick Up.

How big role does does the Chassis, Suspension setup play when it comes to selection of Mini Truck vs Payload ?

Pickups have engine with more power and torque; they have stronger chassis and bigger tyres. Their overall width, length and turning radius too is more than the mini trucks.

For the intra city transit, the vehicle is going to be used on level roads having good surface and frequently with part loads. In such case, the above strengths of pickups (for which the user pays more price) are not exploited. So mini truck is a better choice; also it can be manoeuvered better inside narrow lanes with acute turns. Typical usage for example in your (our) city is ferrying from transport godown in Fursungi to point of delivery in Raviwar Peth. Or the workshop to workshop duty within MIDC that frequently involves part loads. In such cases, pickup truck is enough, more convenient and more economical.

Now consider a vehicle going to be used to send say vegetables from the farms to APMC located 100-200 km in a big city. It will be fully loaded and it will have to travel across ghats. It will need to overtake trucks on the highway. In such cases, pickup is better than a mini truck.

Even when a mini truck and a pickup have almost same rated maximum payload, mini truck is meant for less severe duty on terms of load, speed and abuse.

Other than this, it is difficult to quantify the selection criteria technically.

Like many have pointed out, intra-city and inter-city travel is the main difference.

Mini trucks like Ace Mega have engines with nearly half as much as power compared to Pickup trucks like the Bolero though their payloads aren’t too different.

But the Ace Mega is designed for semi inter-city use. A better comparison for this is the Tata Ace Zip mini truck. It has a 11bhp engine with ~600kg payload capacity. So how does a 11bhp engine haul 600kg of cargo? Gear ratios.

The Ace Zip has a top speed of 40kmph. So its designed to be a super economical intra city mini truck. The Ace Mega has 40bhp and has higher cargo capacity. So designed for Semi inter-city/intra city use. The Bolero Pickup truck has close to 70bhp and the higher power allows for the taller gearing required for operating at higher speeds on the highway.

It’s a tradeoff. More powerful engines are required to maintain highway speeds on taller gear ratios. But by lowering the gear ratios, a compact less powerful engine (read 100cc commuter engine) can be used to haul a decent load. Auto rickshaw concept. Hence, nobody uses Auto rickshaws for highway runs.lol:

Thanks for sharing your view.

In terms of power output, Mini trucks are as good as Pick Ups. Eg. Tata Super Ace - 70 hp is comparable to Mahindra Bolero - 63 hp and 70 hp.

In fact, Mini trucks are preferred for higher Power to load ratio compared to Pick Up. I agree to your other points in terms of usage of both type of vehicles.


Does anybody know if there is any regulation governing the Ground clearance max. and min. based on vehicle length ? i am asking this for Passenger cars.