Americans are sold on big engines. We have been spoiled by cheap fuel all of our lives.
I used to work as a consultant to the mining industry. Some friends were working on some gold exploration in Indonesia. Their company truck was a Ford F250 long bed with four doors. It was powered by a 4 cylinder diesel engine with a 6 speed manual and a split rear end. The truck did fine on the terrible roads in the bush. With a smaller engine you just need more gears.
The old Jeep Wagoneers came with the Blue Flame 6 which was something like 180 cubic inches. But they had rear axle ratio of 4.88:1. They had low range and did okay.
