SlippyCliff76How the heck did we get here? Most best selling "cars" are now superzied pickups and SUVs.
The headlights can be angled downwards but fuck it, it’s not themselves they’re blinding
Naja KaouthiaI’ve stopped driving my wee little Subaru at night because of these asshats with 900 lights on at roughly supernova levels of brightness.
MyFairJulia(eyes burnt to crisps) What do mean? I drive a 2012 Renault Twingo and i’m not complaining.
Stop buying bigger and bigger cars.
I drive a station wagon because I need to fit two dogs in the booth plus and entire family in the same car. But this is a transitory need. At some point I’ll either get a small van, for carrying the dogs, or a small hatchback and have the backseats always folded down.
You should buy according to your true needs not market pressure.
Or buy whatever the fuck you want, because why not make one part of your miserable life slightly more pleasurable by driving something that makes you smile. In the US, 99% of us need a vehicle to commute because we don’t have access to decent public transportation, so why not drive something you enjoy? Do I need a 500hp Mustang to get me to work and back? Hell no, but it sure does turn that commute into a few precious moments of happiness before I start the 9-5 grind.
You could also change your life in a way that sitting in traffic is not your day’s highlight, but you do you
Yeah because moving is so viable and affordable for everyone these days. It’s not like there’s a housing crisis with massive inflation.
Oh I forgot I’m in fuckcars, aka one of the most delusional places on the internet.
Those who want, find ways. Those who don’t want, find reasons.
Why is it, that most poor people live in cities and not in suburbia, when it’s so impossible expensive to live in the city?
That’s a very privileged take.
That’s a very privileged take.
If you could truly enjoy it. Stuck in traffic, a Mustang is little more than eye candy and ego soothing.
theneverfoxDoes it actually add that much to your life?
There’s a big external cost, but if you spend your weekend taking it to car shows or working on it, then I get it - some people play MMO games just for the fishing minigame. If having a mustang is a big part of your reason for being, fine. Mine is to build things for the sake of learning how to build them… Does the world need an AI agent specifically made to be have a strong personality? Not really, most people aren’t even ready for that so I’m not planning on releasing it publicly. But I’m burning the time and resources to make her, because the act of creation brings me joy
If it’s for your quality of life… Say, your job is to drive around all day, and mustangs strangely have seats that keep you from having back pain… Fine, that job shouldn’t exist but we have the system we have, and I can’t blame someone for minimizing their suffering
But really ask yourself - is this actually something that makes your life better? Or does it just fit the idea you have of success created from a lifetime of exposure to marketing?
If that’s the case, I’m sure you felt joy in buying it, and you feel like it’s a sign of social status… But that attitude is poison. It’s like burning a forest because causing destruction helps soothe the anger you have at a world that sucks because of the lack of green spaces… Sure it might soothe your suffering a bit, but it’s ultimately hurting humanity in aggregate far more than it helps you. And what’s worse, is it feeds the system that caused the suffering you seek to soothe
As someone with one forward facing and two rear facing kids right now - this is so frustrating. I feel like there are so few vehicles that can hold them without busting at the seams and even our minivan makes it hard with getting kids hooked in if they are in the very back.
I can’t wait until they are all forward facing and I can open up what cars we can have.
I don’t even consider a station wagon a big car anymore. And I bet the vast majority of station wagon owners actually need the space. No shot the average SUV owner needs the weight for anything other than to feel “safe” in their tank.
I think shifting baselines is a real issue with car bloat. It should be going the other way where a Focus is seen as a mid-size and the like of the Fiesta a compact rather then sub-compact.
" everyone should do thing!
But not me, I have a particular circumstance that means I need to exempt myself from the logic!
I plan to stop in the future but for now am certain!
"
Everyone buying these cars has some reason that matters to them. They all believe they need it.
Myself included (similar reason, dogs, kids, family out of state that we need to help often), but I have no illusions that I took the dirty way.
The key words here are “matters” and “need”.
I bought the car I have today because driving my small 4 door hatchback was no longer a feaseable endeavour when wanting to move the entire family all at once. It was an objective need, not something it mattered.
You can reply I didn’t need to get a family or the dogs. You’re right. But that actually mattered to me, regardless if it was an objective need.
As I said, I’m in the same spot.
My point is that 99.9% of large car owners have what to them seems like an objective need. Humans are super good at justifying our actions, especially to ourselves
There are like 2 station wagons on the US market. I'd love one, but I'm not into VWs and the Volvo PHEV wagon is only available as a $75,000 performance wagon and no one makes an EV wagon.
The Kia Niro and the Hyundai Kona are both basically station wagons and they have EV models.
Not really, they’re closer to hatchbacks. I also won’t trust Kia anymore. They got better for a while and then suddenly got much worse.
I hardly ever see a real station wagon in the US anymore. For whatever reason they just stopped selling them here.
You don’t have access to Stellantis FIAT line? The Doblo and Scudo (short chassis model) are pretty affordable and decently compact.
The Audi A6, Mercedes E class and VW Passat are available I believe. I have seen A6es and E classes in the USA.
The Passat is discontinued in the US and I don’t think they ever had a wagon version of it here. Not recently at least.
The newest Passats I’ve seen in Canada are mk5s I think (2005-2010 or something like that). Most common is the previous gens, which is not common at all.
It’s much, much easier to find and afford a small SUV/crossover than a station wagon body style in North America.
I hate to break it to you, but small to medium SUVs replaced station wagons, just taller. According to my insurance company, my “SUV” is a station wagon
I am the world’s last sedan enjoyer.
RickRussell_CAWithin the “truck” class of vehicles, EPA fuel efficiency standards are based on weight. It’s easier to build heavy trucks and SUVs that meet those standards, than light trucks.
Effectively, the US government legislated heavier trucks and SUVs.
Why We Can't Have Small Trucks Anymore - Blame the EPA
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Thanks Obama!
Probably Bush more likely. Oil 🛢 fanatics
Probably? You know you could actually look it up, it’s well documented. Obama’s EPA rules are responsible for this. They’re well intentioned but poorly designed
They were poorly designed on purposes tho
That's how all laws in the US come out after lobbies get done editing them for their benefit as expense of the taxpyer.
This is what I hate about politics. The opposition entirely guts legislation then down the road they go “tHaT gUY rUiNeD it.” Fucking hypocrites.
Lolol bruh i could care less about unenforced EPA “regulations”. I said “probably… more likely” as a continuation, not a disagreement. Why don’t you research personal conflicts of interest for my point first that I was even talking about?
Ya’know what ill help you out: earthisland.org/…/oil_and_the_bush_administration…
Ofc they’re both guilty, they are the establishment and two sides of the same coin. Doesn’t mean one can’t have more vested interest potentially. Also lol what EPA rules did Bush even try to pass tho? Besides opening the Arctic for drilling primarily.
I guess that’s what happens if you call everything smaller than a Hummer “death machine”
Partially because people are selfish narcissistic cunts, and partially because being a selfish narcissistic cunt has become normalised.
BakkodaThat’s where the market led us. We have to accept some responsibility but I can’t just build my own car when I don’t find one I like.
People have always been, and will always be, selfish narcissistic cunts. That’s why the concept of regulation exists.
Everyone, including you, is such a cunt. It just depends what issues really matter to us.
A huge chunk of it is because the USA has a huge tax incentive for car manufacturers to make bigger cars. When fuel efficiency standards started coming in, trucks were exempted because farmers needed their trucks for farm work, it’s a loophole that encourages the manufacturers to build bigger vehicles to avoid these taxes. These massive vehicles are unusually cheap in the USA. If these loopholes regarding fuel efficiency were closed out people would be financially incentivised to buy smaller cars. Unfortunately, money talks. People aren’t all selfish, they’re just doing what makes sense for them.
i just want an EV Honda Acty truck
Legislation and consequences of regulation
Trucks have been bestselling models for literally decades.
It’s because there’s a 25% tariff on importing trucks. It was put in place nearly 60 years ago by Lyndon B Johnson; it’s called the “chicken tax” because the excuse for passing it was as a retaliatory tariff against France and Germany taxing American factory farmed chicken.
Because of the chicken tax, fairly few foreign car companies in the US sell pickups.
And because being a “best selling” model is good marketing, truck makers generally sell very few models of truck. For example, the best selling vehicle right now is the Ford “F series”. So that’s the F150, F250, and F350, in all of their assorted trims. There’s a couple other models they sell - the Maverick and the Ranger - but most of the trucks Ford sells are F series.
So a truck driver has been much more likely to drive a F-series for decades than a car driver was to be driving a Civic.
Don’t forget the insane fuel efficiency calculation that rewards larger, less efficient trucks over the smaller more efficient ones we used to have. It’s the reason even an f150 is gargantuan compared to ones of the past.
Hello Hotel
These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us
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I just don’t understand why the tariff applies to foreign cars that don’t compete directly with US cars in terms of form factor
Because it’s designed to protect Ford etc. from foreign competition.
Mind if hijack your comment to clarify a doubt I have?
In the early 2000’s I had an acquantaice move to the US, somewhere in California.
After driving a typical american car for about six months, that person came to Europe, bought a hot hatchback, bolted on it every aftermarket part available for the car, had all the mods approved by the manufacturer and imported it, which awarded them a very high power/low consumption vehicle when compared with the standard american market, and I was told all the money spent was recouped in a few years.
Would this still be valid today?
People (Men especially) think their status in life depends on their vehicle. They just can’t get over the idea that bigger is not always better. It’s how you use it that matters.
In all seriousness, vehicles have been a status signifier ever since they were created and everyone loves to say that they are better(richer) than the Joneses next door. Being bigger and taller than others is viewed as good in society and in vehicles.
@centof @SlippyCliff76 I mean there's a reason they're considered "compensation"
Its not exclussively their fault. There have been years of propaganda from big auto corporations where the only way you can be a productive and resourceful man, is if you own a pick up truck. One truck commercial basically claimed if you buy their truck you immediately become more dependable, resourceful, and attractive, which ulitmately implied it would increase your chances of finding a partner.
I_Miss_DanielIn Australia you have to pay registration per vehicle even though you can only drive one at a time. This means people will buy a big vehicle that they might need occasionally instead of having a big one and a small one.
Do you mean you can only have one vehicle registered at a time that you can drive even if you own more than one vehicle?
No. I just mean that it would make more sense to pay a fee to drive any car rather than rego for each. That way you could have a small car for around town and a bigger car for when you need to go further afield without having to pay two lots of registration fees.
US you have to pay an annual registration for each vehicle also, and of course insurance on every vehicle
Same issue then I guess. Makes owning a second car expensive, so you'll just get the biggest one that meets all your needs.
This logic is usually beat out by the existence of rental services. Is a couple hundred bucks a year to rent a truck when you need it really more expensive in the long run than owning and fueling $50,000+ truck year round?
Superzied sounds pretty sweet