Cars should be taxed based on weight.
The end of cool small cars
91–100 of 198 posts
Re: The end of cool small cars
#92Ughhhhh -- yes, I constantly dream of a pickup truck on a car-size chassis, and often mentally hack off the back of cars on my jogs to imagine what they'd look like as trucks (my version of imagining girls naked ;-)) * The Auzzies had an old version of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ute_(vehicle) * There's an awesome Tesla pickup truck mod that I'd buy long before the Cybertruck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=…
Auzzies? That would be ''Aussies'', mate, and the market for the ''ute'' is alive and well to this day there and in New Zealand. Australian car buyers have also tended to prefer 4-door sedans to 2-door coupes.
Re: The end of cool small cars
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very defensive reply. Many people use Range Rovers to simply drop their kids off at school, to drive to work, or to transport groceries. If you're really for people leading active lifestyles, maybe those such people should get their kid to walk to school.
and you probably use an extremely overpowered device for checking your email, but perhaps you also use it to do other things?
Using a MacBook Pro to check email (or any other non-intensive task) does not endanger the lives of other's checking their email on "lesser" devices, nor school kids.
Re: The end of cool small cars
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
I recently had my car written off (a small SUV) and due to lack of availability of replacements I replaced it with a similar sized hatchback. Now I find myself thinking why on earth I had an SUV - I'm unlikely to purchase another one as the hatchback is cheaper, roomier inside and handles much better.
There are small 'subcompact' crossover SUVs that get the best of both of those worlds. I've owned a Nissan Kicks and Honda HR-V. Both are marketed as SUVs but really function as roomy hatchbacks (lightweight, tight handling, front-wheel drive), along with others in the category. Very practical compromise between cost/efficiency and size/utility. Generally the only thing that cars in this class don't do is tow.
So apart from being a bit higher up - what is the benefit of the SUV?
Edit: It's a question I keep asking myself, my wife still has a SUV...
Re: The end of cool small cars
#95I've always driven a small car and it's what I prefer to drive. They're easy to handle, I like being able to not worry as much about navigating tight curbs, and fit into smaller or "small car only" parking spaces, etc.
But man, sometimes I pull up beside one of these absurdly huge modern trucks and I'm basically just staring at their wheels. It's terrifying to think if I collided head-on with one of these, they'd probably just run me over. Or the entire truck body would shave off the top of my car, along with my head.
It makes me want to upgrade to a stupid big vehicle too, just for my own safety.
Re: The end of cool small cars
#96This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azI3nqrHEXM explains why small pickup trucks can't really be sold in the USA anymore. This explains the drive to larger pickups, but I don't know what explains the drive from cars to trucks/SUVs. We were considering a wagon when we bought our last vehicle, an SUV. The ability to occasionally carry more than five people was the deciding point. I believe crash standards preven…
There aren't even wagons for sale in America anymore. There are a few crossover-wagon options, with lifted suspension and plastic cladding a la Subaru Outback; there are a few overlarge hatchbacks, e.g., the Honda Civic; but, look for a normal wagon with traditional four-pillar proportions and normal car handling and styling and the only option you'll find for sale here is the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo, which is…
[deleted]
Re: The end of cool small cars
#97Yes, but also there's nothing wrong with the Yaris.
Except that the Toyota Yaris has been cancelled entirely in the US market, along with the Prius C, the Honda Fit, the Nissan Versa hatch, the Ford Fiesta (and all Ford cars except the Mustang), the Fiat 500, the Smart Car, the Mitsubishi Mirage, and every small hatchback except the (overpriced and controversially styled) Mini and a couple of electric models.
Sure, the US has a weird problem that the article talks about.
I'm disagreeing with the "(ew)" aimed at the Yaris in the article. It's no worse than the Honda Jazz, Ford Fiesta, VW Polo, etc.
Re: The end of cool small cars
#98This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azI3nqrHEXM explains why small pickup trucks can't really be sold in the USA anymore. This explains the drive to larger pickups, but I don't know what explains the drive from cars to trucks/SUVs. We were considering a wagon when we bought our last vehicle, an SUV. The ability to occasionally carry more than five people was the deciding point. I believe crash standards preven…
There aren't even wagons for sale in America anymore. There are a few crossover-wagon options, with lifted suspension and plastic cladding a la Subaru Outback; there are a few overlarge hatchbacks, e.g., the Honda Civic; but, look for a normal wagon with traditional four-pillar proportions and normal car handling and styling and the only option you'll find for sale here is the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo, which is…
To me, the North American passenger car manufacturers' changeover from ladder-frame to unibody construction was the death knell for the kind of station wagon you've described, with four-pillar proportions and normal car handling and styling. With the 1970s fuel price crisis, those giant dinosaurs were terribly impractical, but a full sized mid-1970s ladder-framed station wagon could pull a large trailer without being twisted into a pretzel from the forces at play. Nowadays a full-sized pickup truck or SUV with proper towing ratings is needed for the same.
Station wagons in North America were hit with a stigma about carbon monoxide poisoning in the rear seats. The term ''Station Wagon Effect'' is still used in relation to industrial and residential ventilation systems as well as in boating and of course the automobile industry. When mini-vans surged in popularity starting in the 1980s they had better ventilation at the rear, and today any wagon would need to stringently protect against CO inhalation. Still, the stigma remains.
Re: The end of cool small cars
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bigger means like a Ford Focus or so, not a fucking SUV. Nobody ever needs an SUV. If you need more space to move stuff just get a van.
A lot of SUVs are more or less the same thing as a minivan. The minivan, like the station wagon is a casualty of its own success. Both became synonymous with boring domestic middle class family life.
My thoughts on the demise of the North American station wagon:
Re: The end of cool small cars
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
There aren't even wagons for sale in America anymore. There are a few crossover-wagon options, with lifted suspension and plastic cladding a la Subaru Outback; there are a few overlarge hatchbacks, e.g., the Honda Civic; but, look for a normal wagon with traditional four-pillar proportions and normal car handling and styling and the only option you'll find for sale here is the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo, which is…
To me, the North American passenger car manufacturers' changeover from ladder-frame to unibody construction was the death knell for the kind of station wagon you've described, with four-pillar proportions and normal car handling and styling. With the 1970s fuel price crisis, those giant dinosaurs were terribly impractical, but a full sized mid-1970s ladder-framed station wagon could pull a large trailer without being…
My family had at least one station wagon--Jeep Wagoneer, Ford Falcon, Ford Ranch Wagon--for most of the 1960s and 1970s. I don't remember ever hearing a concern about carbon monoxide. When did this start being talked about?