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The end of cool small cars

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Re: The end of cool small cars

#21

Post by FridayoLeary »

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…

Instead of punishing the middle class by slapping ulez on them, it would be far more effective and fair for the london mayor to offer free school buses like they do in some parts of America.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#22

Post by grunder_advice »

I don't believe that it is the end. Because small cars make more sense than big ass SUVs from a whole lot of angles: safety on the roads, energy efficiency, parking, traffic in cities, cost for the consumer.

It is a policy failure that we ended up in this situation, a hard one to fix, but I still think that it is inevitable that we will revert to smaller vehicles, eventually.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#23

Post by rocgf »

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…

> you're an idiot helping to accelerate the problem as this now becomes a weapons race on the road

This is a very harsh take for something that is legal and widespread everywhere across the world (at least Western world).

You have to try really hard to pretend you don't understand why this is happening. It's a race to the top of the safety spectrum, and for good reason. Traffic accidents are among the single biggest sources of preventable deaths and grave injuries, and getting a bigger car is one of the single most important aspects you can control in this equation. It's actually super simple.

If this is truly a problem, and I guess it is, then there should be some form of legislative intervention against it. The people buying them are not the problem, the environment which encourages this is.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#24

Post by dybber »

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…

Often these big cars even have a quite small trunk, e.g. compared to a station wagon.

Soon though, a few car makers will release electric station wagons (e.g. Peugeot e-308). Many danes already drives station wagons, so I hope people will start buying those kind of cars instead of SUV's.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#26

Post by kolektiv »

Stranger43 wrote: post #16
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 hu…

I've got a Tesla Model 3, which a) has a perfectly decent range, up near the top of the general class, and b) isn't a huge car. It's not a small car but a sensibly mid-sized car - significantly smaller than the ridiculous SUVs I weave in between.

Electric is a non-factor here; in fact, one of the fundamental things that Tesla gets right, which other manufacturers of electric vehicles studiously ignore, is aerodynamics (not all, clearly). The very worst size and shape for an electric vehicle is "huge and brick-like" as it is for all vehicles - it's much more apparent with EVs, though, where the range is so easily comparable.

(N.B. I got it before Musk went so spectacularly off the deep end, it was a motoring choice not a political/fandom one).

Re: The end of cool small cars

#27

Post by globular-toast »

pjmlp wrote: post #18
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.

If only. Unfortunately cars are considered sacrosanct in most places, for some reason. Your own body is worth less than a car and the safety of cars is high on police priorities. If cars don't fit down a road they'll just destroy the foliage or verge and we'll pay to widen the road.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#28

Post by FranzFerdiNaN »

rocgf wrote: post #23
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…

> you're an idiot helping to accelerate the problem as this now becomes a weapons race on the road This is a very harsh take for something that is legal and widespread everywhere across the world (at least Western world). You have to try really hard to pretend you don't understand why this is happening. It's a race to the top of the safety spectrum, and for good reason. Traffic accidents are among the single biggest…

> This is a very harsh take for something that is legal and widespread everywhere across the world (at least Western world).

No, he is absolutely right. 99% of all people do not need a bigger car, they need better driving skills. But hey, its capitalism so of course we solve our issues with money

Re: The end of cool small cars

#29

Post by kolektiv »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #21
Aromasin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Instead of punishing the middle class by slapping ulez on them, it would be far more effective and fair for the london mayor to offer free school buses like they do in some parts of America.

I'm not sure the middle classes are likely to be hit by ULEZ anyway - it hits vehicles older than a certain age, primarily - not many of those Chelsea Tractors are likely to fall foul of it. While I agree with ULEZ, I will admit it's quite regressive - the people with old/polluting vehicles are, in many cases, those least able to afford anything better and/or the charge. Public transport should be much better, but that's way beyond the scope of something the mayor can quickly impact.

Re: The end of cool small cars

#30

Post by tsss »

rocgf wrote: post #23
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…

> you're an idiot helping to accelerate the problem as this now becomes a weapons race on the road This is a very harsh take for something that is legal and widespread everywhere across the world (at least Western world). You have to try really hard to pretend you don't understand why this is happening. It's a race to the top of the safety spectrum, and for good reason. Traffic accidents are among the single biggest…

I highly doubt that safety is on the mind of SUV and truck buyers. Perhaps that is the reason they give after the fact, but really it is all about looks.
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