You must log in or # to comment.
I had an suv for most of the 90s.
Smart fortwo is all most need. 4door is for afyer kids
As a full time walker and bicyclist, what I have learned is that virtually no one is up to the responsibilities of operating a car or truck. Humans do not deserve to drive, and the sheer volume of traffic accident deaths every year is a reminder of that (let alone the far greater volume of traffic related animal deaths).
Not with those crash safety test results. I’ll take a modern sedan if I’m going to have a car
The solution to cars being shit isn’t old cars. It’s bicycles and trains. Lots and lots and lots of trains and bicycles.
Not everyone can ride a bicycle. I propose a shitton of tricycles, too, maybe some powered by solar-battery assist for those that have other physical issue with pedaling.
It can probably be assumed that by “bicycle”, they meant the full array of pedal-powered vehicles including variants with all the kinds of accessibility options.
Correct!
Well that’s not going to work either. Am I going to take a train to the grocery store? I’m not going to ride a bicycle to the grocery store I have to go up and down no less than three hills to get there. And these aren’t small hills these are cardiac arrest inducing hills. So we do need cars we just need better ways to power them. And I don’t mean batteries or gas.
I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of cars entirely but better city planning and better laws (depending on country) would help the reduction of cars in towns and cities. Make it more inviting for people to use alternative transport.
Most of my food shopping I do on my ebike. Little and often, but I happen to be in a town with nearby shops and quite good cycle route options. If we do use our car we usually do shopping at the end of a longer trip while returning home.
S-Pedelec, cargo bike, also, delivery services
bicycle cars! best of both worlds… oh wait///
Velomobiles!
VeloSUV
Im in love with cars in Bud Spencer movies. Small, neat. The Beatle and Bully of VW. So cute and compact
And don’t forget Herbie, the love bug.
I mean this clearly shows how rectangular cars were back then, which is not great for collisions. They should at least stay round.
Also i read a discussion recently about how EVs are heavier due to their battery (and that’s supposedly bad for pedestrians when they get into a crash with the car), and i immediately had to think of how enormously overweight SUV vehicles are today, and people don’t complain enough about how enormously overweight SUVs are. In fact some people praise it and say that the heavy mass is good for the car-driver of the SUV because when they get into a crash, they’ll take less damage (while everyone around them takes more, btw).
Really shows how arguments are twisted and turned around when it’s the oil lobby that stands to profit from it.
In the case of SUVs, it’s not primarily the oil lobby, it’s car manufacturers. Put simply, they get to charge way more than the extra materials costs, for a “premium” vehicle. They’re making bank out of this shit.
Yeah, “cost plus” pricing strategy (link) means that you make a fixed percentage of profit. When you sell a vehicle for $200, you make $20 in profit (at a 10% markup rate); But if you sell a $400 vehicle, you can make $40 in profit. It’s crazy to me that they’re not just selling the same $200 vehicle for $220 to make $40 profit ($180 manufacturing cost), but that’s apparently the world we live in: People accept that companies can make more profit on higher-cost items.
It’s worse than that actually.
It’s not the same markup rate for a higher priced product. It’s a higher markup rate. Crossovers in particular aren’t much bigger than sedans and wagons. It’s only actual SUVs with off-road equipment (lockable diffs, 2 speed transfer case, etc) that cost significantly more to manufacture than regular cars.
For trucks I’m with you 100%, but my knees hurt just thinking about climbing out of that low-ass car.
We’re getting there, Dual Income no Kids make that pretty easy.
Even having one kid isn’t too bad.
It’s that road-tripping with 2 kids to distant destinations that makes it hard to go in a sedan.
Sedans and wagons can handle 2 kids on a roadtrip no problem, especially once you’re past the stroller age (until then a sedan might have trouble but a decent wagon won’t). The driving part and the fitting things in the car part, anyway. Wagon cargo space is so OP, they’re comparable to their equivalent SUVs. The BMW 5 series Touring has 570 liters with all the seats up, the X5 has 650. Not too different honestly. The X5 also costs more, requires more fuel and is less engaging to drive due to its extra weight and worse aerodynamics (so probably nice enough floating at 90 km/h, but less awesome on curvy roads or high speeds like on the autobahn).
But I have a toddler that’s not quite able to climb into the car seat and do up the belts yet and there have been many times I’ve wished for an SUV. Still driving my trusty old wagon, but… A nice SUV would be the same width x length and be nicer to my back and knees. There are actually pretty nice ones that are shorter than my old A6 Allroad. The Porsche Cayenne is technically smaller though I haven’t noticed it being smaller inside. 300 kilos heavier (for the second gen; first gen is even worse since it has a proper 2 speed transfer case) and poorer visibility though, compared to my current car. So those are not things I’m a huge fan of.
We packed my 4dr chevy to the roof to do a 12hr 1 way week long trip
4 suitcases and a cooler in the trunk. By the time we bought a few things for the kids we were nesting in our things on the way back. Wagons are slowly becoming slightly longer hatchbacks. :(
Imagine if speed limits were variable based on a car’s weight and lethality. Only small cars are allowed to go fast.
It’d be a difficult calculation to make. Bigger cars usually have better brakes and wider tires and in sporty trim levels of premium cars those can even help them stop faster than smaller cars.
Audi RS4 with it’s sporty brakes, stops 1800 KG down from 140 km/h to 0 in 65 meters. Corolla 1.8 hybrid will do 130 to 0 in 66. Weighs about 1400 KG. Yes I cherrypicked it, but that’s the point.
The extra weight actually helps grip so that cancels it out somewhat.
And yes, you’ll be hurt more if you’re hit by a bigger car at the same speed - but speed matters more (energy equals mass times velocity squared after all) and if the bigger car is able to stop faster, that means it’s more survivable, assuming the driver or some driver aid system does indeed try and slow down the car - if not, then the heavier car is for sure more dangerous.
Bigger cars do WAY more damage. To pedestrians, the impact is higher on the body and far more lethal; and to other vehicles, well that’s obvious.
I think you’re right though, with simplified physics the additional traction does cancel out the additional momentum.
But wider tyres and expensive brakes actually don’t make a difference. More contact with the ground just reduces the traction per area, total traction hasn’t changed (assuming a smooth road). As for brakes, as long as they’re strong enough to lock the wheel, that’s enough. ABS helps a little, but expensive designs are only useful if you’re in a race.
Montana does this actually. Cars can do 60 for example, semis must go 50. Granted its not divided up for bro trucks and huge SUVs like it should be. Every state should. And speed limits slow down at night!
The proper big brodozers (F350 at least, not sure about 250) are legally limited to 90 km/h in my country because if total weight (that includes the legally allowed cargo + passenger capacity, but not towing capacity) is over 3500 KG, it’s considered a heavy truck and same regulations apply as for a big ass lorry lol
Thats good at least. They should be illegal for normal joes IMO. Or have to be used for work once a week.
I do have a truck myself. Only used for work. 8 ft bed. No ac or radio. A real work truck, not some fluffy bullshit Cadillac mom truck. And, my “truck” is still smaller than any of those pavement queens.
Bring back wagons!!!
I was hit by a car a few years ago. I actually died and needed CPR to keep my heart going a few times. If it had been an SUV, there’d have been nothing to do. I would have just been gone.
I say that, but, at the same time, I think being tall requires an SUV. Little sedans are too close to the ground, and they’re too hard to get out of them. The whole world is designed around someone who is 5’5". Its a struggle to fit into that as someone who is almost a foot taller than that. Getting off of short furniture is difficult on my knees (especially as I get older), so I could only imagine getting out of a sedan that is so close to the ground like the one in the picture. The SUV (even for all its environmental wastes in its usage) is something that a tall person can easily fit into.
It’s almost like the world was designed backwards: we need taller furniture (something I use more often than a car) but more efficient cars.
Oh well . . …
it’s not very Fuck Cars, but you can find smaller cars that handle taller people in the front. I’m 5 11, Chevy cruise isn’t too bad. You really need to find stuff that has manual seats with height adjustment, they usually go a couple inches lower.
Also stay away from anything where the headliner has an indent on the drivers side to “make room” that already lets you know it was designed too small and made concessions.
I drive a volt (same as the cruise) and it does fine, my wife drives a monster 2010 Pilot whenver i’m in the thing, I wish it has a front facing camera so i could see what’s below the hood.
Also if just looking to get a lower and lighter car without necessarily wanting a shorter car, full-size sedans can fit people much taller than you or I. I could sleep in my Chrysler 300M when I had it because the seat could recline all the way back.
Currently I have an A6 Allroad (C6 generation, I like 'em well depreciated) and it fits me just fine. If we’re doing imperial units here, I’m 5’10 and 280 lbs. I could still move the seat much further back and lower the backrest further if I was taller or heavier. I have no trouble climbing from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat and back when I park myself into my small garage with the driver’s door blocked in due to doing some work on the other side of the car.
I guess what I was trying to say was: as much as I hate cars (and I hate cars a lot because I needed CPR and to be airlifted because of one), I more dislike getting into sedans because its painful to get in and out of one, especially as I get older.
I will try out your point about full sized sedans.
Meanwhile me back in University:
In a surprising reversal, the meme got it right (SUVs, 90s) and the title did not (SUV’s).
Even when dealing with acronyms and numbers, " 's " indicates possession.
I don’t see SUV’s much, but I frequently see 90’s (or other decades).
My contribution - 1990 Volkswagen Vanagon. It is pretty large, but hilariously it’s still smaller than a Chevy Tahoe lol.
And it probably fits more stuff!
Hi, it’s me your long lost cousin!
You’ll never convince me that SUVs don’t exist solely to sell what is effectively a minivan to deeply insecure men.
SUVs exist because they cost roughly $1,000 more to make but consumers are willing to pay $3-4,000 for an SUV than a car. That’s it. As always. The answer is our Lord, and savior - Money.
Deeply insecure men buy pickup trucks with hoods I can barely see over. SUVs and their perception of “safety”, storage space, and ride height are why women are the primary purchasers.
AFAIK, they only sell full-size minivans in the US. I don’t think I’ve seen any smaller ones since the Mazda 5 was discontinued.
The availability of crossovers in every size category means you can get the size you want.
