The end of cool small cars
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The end of cool small cars
1–10 of 198 posts
Re: The end of cool small cars
#2I'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 nearest town and there are no roads, only swamp, marsh and desert between you and the grocery, or you haul around your pet cow all day.. Good, have your car, you need it.
In every other case. You don't and you're an idiot helping to accelerate the problem as this now becomes a weapons race on the road, nobody with a normal-sized car will want to drive it surrounded by idiot-cars, as they're simply too dangerous to be around in anything besides an idiot car.
Re: The end of cool small cars
#3Some 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!"
Re: The end of cool small cars
#4Some 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!"
We never said it would be a good education ;)
Re: The end of cool small cars
#5Don'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.
Re: The end of cool small cars
#6I'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…
[deleted]
Re: The end of cool small cars
#7I'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 needs to own anything that large anywhere. This isn't the US, where pavements/sidewalks are a pipedream for anyone outside of New York. Nobody should be solo operating tanks just 5m away from someone walking their dog or on their way to school.
[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wimbledon-ca...
Re: The end of cool small cars
#8Don'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.
Source?
Re: The end of cool small cars
#9Don'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 think the real reason is it's very hard to make money on a small car.
Re: The end of cool small cars
#10A lot of the analysis on this issue relates to the supply side of the market - manufacturers maximising margins and increasing safety standards - but the demand side plays a role too. For the past fifteen years, we've lived with negligible interest rates and (for most people) stagnating wages. This encourages consumers to cut back on small-ticket items but splurge on items bought on credit (mostly houses and cars).
This environment is crumbling: many older people went into retirement (or were forced into it) during the pandemic, and many working mothers found that the cost of childcare exceeded their contribution to the household finances; this reduced labour pool coupled with increasing interest rates (in part a response to that smaller labour pool) will push car buyers to be more thrifty. I expect to see smaller cars return to dealer forecourts in the next couple of years, especially in Europe.