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The end of cool small cars

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Re: The end of cool small cars

#11

Post by sw104 »

Aromasin wrote: post #7
dusted wrote: post #2

I've noticed a large increase in what I call "idiot cars" in Denmark too, these giant monstrosities that seem impractical in every way except for driving through smaller cars and making sure the driver survives whatever incompetence lead them to buy it in the first place. I feel it might be time to legislate this, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to drive a very large car, like, you live 100 miles from the near…

Same in the UK. SUVs and large off-road vehicles are taking over. The Range Rover seems to be the car of choice for every wealthy middle-aged mother on her morning school run. Just recently, one of them managed to careen hers into kids outside their school, killing a number of them [1]. Low emission zone are becoming more ubiquitous, which combats the issue to some regards, but I question why anyone but a farmer need…

Range Rovers are a disease in the UK.

A brand which had it's origins in the military and farming, which has now been repurposed to drop kids off at a school.

It's also the most frequent car I see which is sped around and overtakes with zero concern for other road users. The people driving them seem to not understand the size of their car and either pass over-cautiously or tunnel through everybody else whenever the road is partially obstructed (parked cars in towns and villages).

The modern Range Rovers no longer even work for their original purpose. They're not sturdy enough to last on a farm, just fashion symbols.

When I question if humanity will tame itself and step down from destroying our world in the pursuit of comfort and consumerism at all costs, the first thing I think of is a white Range Rover Discovery.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#12

Post by DoingIsLearning »

Aromasin wrote: post #7
dusted wrote: post #2

I've noticed a large increase in what I call "idiot cars" in Denmark too, these giant monstrosities that seem impractical in every way except for driving through smaller cars and making sure the driver survives whatever incompetence lead them to buy it in the first place. I feel it might be time to legislate this, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to drive a very large car, like, you live 100 miles from the near…

Same in the UK. SUVs and large off-road vehicles are taking over. The Range Rover seems to be the car of choice for every wealthy middle-aged mother on her morning school run. Just recently, one of them managed to careen hers into kids outside their school, killing a number of them [1]. Low emission zone are becoming more ubiquitous, which combats the issue to some regards, but I question why anyone but a farmer need…

The interesting thing to me is that all the 'rational' arguments given by SUV buyers (more storage, easy of entry, larger interior space) are without exception much better in any family MPV instead of SUVs that invariably are also pretty shit off-road vehicles.

Literally just more weight and waste, zero function other than satisfying the buyers reptilian brain.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#13

Post by leokennis »

dusted wrote: post #2

I've noticed a large increase in what I call "idiot cars" in Denmark too, these giant monstrosities that seem impractical in every way except for driving through smaller cars and making sure the driver survives whatever incompetence lead them to buy it in the first place. I feel it might be time to legislate this, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to drive a very large car, like, you live 100 miles from the near…

Same in The Netherlands. In the last year I’ve seen several micropenis-compensating huge RAM and Ford pick-ups appearing in my neighborhood. They don’t fit a standard parking spot. For small businesses they carry less than something like a Ford transit. Horrible noise. Terrible visibility from the wheel. Terrible fuel economy. I’m severely hoping that our government imposes a 1000% tax on them or something.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#14

Post by leokennis »

RamblingCTO wrote: post #5

Don't worry, they are disappearing in Europe as well, mostly (imho) thanks to ever stricter security standards. I read that it's very hard to design a small car that adheres to modern standards.

I love my 2010 Honda Jazz (called Fit in the US). Small, can carry loads of weirdly shaped stuff, roomy enough for two adults and two kids, unbreakable. And on summer holidays I rent a roof box for about €100/week so I can fit all our luggage.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#15

Post by forinti »

leokennis wrote: post #14
RamblingCTO wrote: post #5

Don't worry, they are disappearing in Europe as well, mostly (imho) thanks to ever stricter security standards. I read that it's very hard to design a small car that adheres to modern standards.

I love my 2010 Honda Jazz (called Fit in the US). Small, can carry loads of weirdly shaped stuff, roomy enough for two adults and two kids, unbreakable. And on summer holidays I rent a roof box for about €100/week so I can fit all our luggage.

I have a 2016 Fit and had a first generation Fit before that. They are the most reliable cars I've ever had.

I'm a fan of the Toyota Yaris too. It's such a shame they were discontinued.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#16

Post by Stranger43 »

dusted wrote: post #2

I've noticed a large increase in what I call "idiot cars" in Denmark too, these giant monstrosities that seem impractical in every way except for driving through smaller cars and making sure the driver survives whatever incompetence lead them to buy it in the first place. I feel it might be time to legislate this, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to drive a very large car, like, you live 100 miles from the near…

A lot of this is that anything electric needs to be an order of magnitude heavier and significantly large to achieve any range due to the much lower energy density of batteries.

It's possible to have small electrics but those often have short ranges and most of the big ugly things you see on the roads in DK is kinda hybrids or follows the trend set by the hybrids.

The real way to deal with the SUV nonsense and not hurt the rural areas where you might need range is to just charge double for parking for large cars and cap the speed of large almost trucks to the same as lorries.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#18

Post by pjmlp »

dusted wrote: post #2

I've noticed a large increase in what I call "idiot cars" in Denmark too, these giant monstrosities that seem impractical in every way except for driving through smaller cars and making sure the driver survives whatever incompetence lead them to buy it in the first place. I feel it might be time to legislate this, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to drive a very large car, like, you live 100 miles from the near…

Thankfully there are many European roads where those monstrosities would just get stuck, and would be full of scratches when pulling them out.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#19

Post by geff82 »

expertentipp wrote: post #3

Some say that traveling educates, meantime people coming back from a travel to US immediately turn into "I want big-ass loud intimidating pickup occupying two parking spaces!"

Indeed traveling educated me concerning cars. 1.) When traveling through the US, I understood that giant cars ("rolling living rooms") make perfect sense for the often long distances that have to be driven to get from one place to the other. 2.) When traveling through Italy, I understood why most people have a small Fiat Panda (because villages are so tight that even my moderately sized family car almost feels too big there).

Americans might not all need big cars (or at least one car of the household could probably be a compact), but it is not obscenity that Americans/Canadians have bigger cars.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#20

Post by redeeman »

dusted wrote: post #2

I've noticed a large increase in what I call "idiot cars" in Denmark too, these giant monstrosities that seem impractical in every way except for driving through smaller cars and making sure the driver survives whatever incompetence lead them to buy it in the first place. I feel it might be time to legislate this, there are perfectly legitimate reasons to drive a very large car, like, you live 100 miles from the near…

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