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or just climb a tree and chill there like the real og’s
The solution to cars being shit isn’t old cars. It’s bicycles and trains. Lots and lots and lots of trains and bicycles.
Not everyone can ride a bicycle. I propose a shitton of tricycles, too, maybe some powered by solar-battery assist for those that have other physical issue with pedaling.
It can probably be assumed that by “bicycle”, they meant the full array of pedal-powered vehicles including variants with all the kinds of accessibility options.
Correct!
bicycle cars! best of both worlds… oh wait///
Velomobiles!
VeloSUV
Well that’s not going to work either. Am I going to take a train to the grocery store? I’m not going to ride a bicycle to the grocery store I have to go up and down no less than three hills to get there. And these aren’t small hills these are cardiac arrest inducing hills. So we do need cars we just need better ways to power them. And I don’t mean batteries or gas.
I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of cars entirely but better city planning and better laws (depending on country) would help the reduction of cars in towns and cities. Make it more inviting for people to use alternative transport.
Most of my food shopping I do on my ebike. Little and often, but I happen to be in a town with nearby shops and quite good cycle route options. If we do use our car we usually do shopping at the end of a longer trip while returning home.
S-Pedelec, cargo bike, also, delivery services
I’m not doing a Costco run with a cargo bike and I’m not letting a delivery service pick out my produce.
That is of course your choice.
What I do is have heavy, bulky and durable stuff delivered in bulk. Cleaning supplies, toilet paper, tins and pickles, pasta, grains, legumes, things like that, you get the idea. This way the delivery cost amortises nicely.
Fresh things like vegetables and fruits I then buy myself using an ebike. Since it makes no sense to buy a lot of that at once (it’d only spoil) everything fits into a backpack.
Smart fortwo is all most need. 4door is for afyer kids
Not with those crash safety test results. I’ll take a modern sedan if I’m going to have a car
As a full time walker and bicyclist, what I have learned is that virtually no one is up to the responsibilities of operating a car or truck. Humans do not deserve to drive, and the sheer volume of traffic accident deaths every year is a reminder of that (let alone the far greater volume of traffic related animal deaths).
I mean this clearly shows how rectangular cars were back then, which is not great for collisions. They should at least stay round.
Also i read a discussion recently about how EVs are heavier due to their battery (and that’s supposedly bad for pedestrians when they get into a crash with the car), and i immediately had to think of how enormously overweight SUV vehicles are today, and people don’t complain enough about how enormously overweight SUVs are. In fact some people praise it and say that the heavy mass is good for the car-driver of the SUV because when they get into a crash, they’ll take less damage (while everyone around them takes more, btw).
Really shows how arguments are twisted and turned around when it’s the oil lobby that stands to profit from it.
In the case of SUVs, it’s not primarily the oil lobby, it’s car manufacturers. Put simply, they get to charge way more than the extra materials costs, for a “premium” vehicle. They’re making bank out of this shit.
Yeah, “cost plus” pricing strategy (link) means that you make a fixed percentage of profit. When you sell a vehicle for $200, you make $20 in profit (at a 10% markup rate); But if you sell a $400 vehicle, you can make $40 in profit. It’s crazy to me that they’re not just selling the same $200 vehicle for $220 to make $40 profit ($180 manufacturing cost), but that’s apparently the world we live in: People accept that companies can make more profit on higher-cost items.
It’s worse than that actually.
It’s not the same markup rate for a higher priced product. It’s a higher markup rate. Crossovers in particular aren’t much bigger than sedans and wagons. It’s only actual SUVs with off-road equipment (lockable diffs, 2 speed transfer case, etc) that cost significantly more to manufacture than regular cars.
I had an suv for most of the 90s.
But was it that big? I don’t think so.
The early 90s 4 Runner wasn’t exactly small. By far and away the largest vehicle I’ve ever owned.
Im in love with cars in Bud Spencer movies. Small, neat. The Beatle and Bully of VW. So cute and compact
And don’t forget Herbie, the love bug.
Imagine if speed limits were variable based on a car’s weight and lethality. Only small cars are allowed to go fast.
It’d be a difficult calculation to make. Bigger cars usually have better brakes and wider tires and in sporty trim levels of premium cars those can even help them stop faster than smaller cars.
Audi RS4 with it’s sporty brakes, stops 1800 KG down from 140 km/h to 0 in 65 meters. Corolla 1.8 hybrid will do 130 to 0 in 66. Weighs about 1400 KG. Yes I cherrypicked it, but that’s the point.
The extra weight actually helps grip so that cancels it out somewhat.
And yes, you’ll be hurt more if you’re hit by a bigger car at the same speed - but speed matters more (energy equals mass times velocity squared after all) and if the bigger car is able to stop faster, that means it’s more survivable, assuming the driver or some driver aid system does indeed try and slow down the car - if not, then the heavier car is for sure more dangerous.
Bigger cars do WAY more damage. To pedestrians, the impact is higher on the body and far more lethal; and to other vehicles, well that’s obvious.
I think you’re right though, with simplified physics the additional traction does cancel out the additional momentum.
But wider tyres and expensive brakes actually don’t make a difference. More contact with the ground just reduces the traction per area, total traction hasn’t changed (assuming a smooth road). As for brakes, as long as they’re strong enough to lock the wheel, that’s enough. ABS helps a little, but expensive designs are only useful if you’re in a race.
Yet, performance cars with wider tires and bigger brakes (that don’t overheat and fade quickly) stop quicker than economy cars.
If they do that’s probably softer tyres and aerodynamics. Maybe suspension and weight distribution. Many factors anyway.
Montana does this actually. Cars can do 60 for example, semis must go 50. Granted its not divided up for bro trucks and huge SUVs like it should be. Every state should. And speed limits slow down at night!
The proper big brodozers (F350 at least, not sure about 250) are legally limited to 90 km/h in my country because if total weight (that includes the legally allowed cargo + passenger capacity, but not towing capacity) is over 3500 KG, it’s considered a heavy truck and same regulations apply as for a big ass lorry lol
Thats good at least. They should be illegal for normal joes IMO. Or have to be used for work once a week.
I do have a truck myself. Only used for work. 8 ft bed. No ac or radio. A real work truck, not some fluffy bullshit Cadillac mom truck. And, my “truck” is still smaller than any of those pavement queens.
Bring back wagons!!!
My contribution - 1990 Volkswagen Vanagon. It is pretty large, but hilariously it’s still smaller than a Chevy Tahoe lol.
And it probably fits more stuff!
Hi, it’s me your long lost cousin!
In a surprising reversal, the meme got it right (SUVs, 90s) and the title did not (SUV’s).
Even when dealing with acronyms and numbers, " 's " indicates possession.
I don’t see SUV’s much, but I frequently see 90’s (or other decades).
A thousand times this.
You used to look through the car in front of you to see the traffic in front of that car
To be fair, those cars with huge windows and great visibility handled rollover accidents by crushing the heads and necks of everyone in them.
Everyone driving SUVs to get to the office is dumb, but we don’t want to go back to the days where the passenger cabin is the primary crumple zone either.
Hey how stupid are the companies that make SUVs and the stupid people who built the office they work in. Actually, the idea of mechanized transport in general is sub human right!
Sure, driving to work in a city in an SUV is perfectly sensible, there’s no other way.
I’m reading this sentence over and over. I’m beginning to think that the whole idea expressed is not particularly the sum of the words. I am an empath, btw
I remember being annoyed by a noticeable increase in the diameter of the cabin pillars of new cars that happened in the mid-late 00’s until I found out it’s because before then rollover protection was akin to prayer and new standards were the culprit for the change. Never complained about the reduced visibility since.
A young lady I worked with for a while was in a wreck years ago, before I met her, that resulted in a rollover in an older vehicle. It absolutely flattened the top of the cabin and pinned her inside with a badly shattered femur. From memory she said it was 4 hours before someone found her. Frankly; fuck that. Give me a new car with a bunch of safety considerations, thanks.
The factory window tint that’s now standard is also incredible for making getting into a parked car on a hot day so much more bearable
You’ll never convince me that SUVs don’t exist solely to sell what is effectively a minivan to deeply insecure men.
Deeply insecure men buy pickup trucks with hoods I can barely see over. SUVs and their perception of “safety”, storage space, and ride height are why women are the primary purchasers.
SUVs exist because they cost roughly $1,000 more to make but consumers are willing to pay $3-4,000 for an SUV than a car. That’s it. As always. The answer is our Lord, and savior - Money.
AFAIK, they only sell full-size minivans in the US. I don’t think I’ve seen any smaller ones since the Mazda 5 was discontinued.
The availability of crossovers in every size category means you can get the size you want.
Meanwhile me back in University:
I hate the huge SUVs you see all over the roads, I have a 2021 Seat Leon FR PHEV hatchback, and around here the Kia EV9 is really popular.
While not as large as the stupid Ford F-150s, the EV9 is fucking huge.
The bonnet of an EV9 reaches almost up to my Leon’s roof:
https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/seat-leon-2020-5-door-hatchback-vs-kia-ev9-2023-suv/
It should be illegal to have a car with the headlight at the eye level of a driver of a standard WV Golf type car.
Bonnet height for private vehicles should be tightly regulated, they are a key contributer to lethality in car accidents yet increasing every year. I could imagine some steep increase in taxes (at least at purchase if nothing else) the further you deviate from a defined reasonable height. People do care about money, make lethal asocial choices more expensive.
I recently inherited an older Toyota Sienna and it’s made me realize the current crop of 3 row SUVs and gigantic trucks is mostly sold to people who would absolutely love a minivan but just don’t know it.
- I’ve got more cargo space than any truck I pass on the road made in this century
- I can fit my entire family plus drag along multiple friends and still have space for everyone’s bags
- I can stand and walk through the interior if desired, even climbing to the far back from the front seat
- the sliding doors mean you can get in and out of the vehicle from any parking spot without a door in the way
- it’s got a turn radius so short that I can do a full U-turn without reversing on any road or parking lot
- the high seat+low nose means I can nussle up within inches of a vehicle in front of me and still see the bumper
- the engine is has enough power to be comparable to some small locomotives.
I would never have bought a minivan on account of the gas milage (~20mpg just ain’t great, and filling up the 25 gallon tank every week hurts the pocket book way more than my crossover that I got before I knew snow tires were a thing) but holy crap having this much space for people/stuff is incredible and I thoroughly enjoy playing bus/truck with it for all of my friends and family. For anyone who’s considered a truck/3-row SUV to be a requirement, they need to do themselves a favor and try out a minivan
It’s exactly why I just don’t understand how these trucks are getting so fucking popular in Europe including in Germany! There’s been a culture for many decades of the multifunction vans, Volkswagen multivan but also mercedes Sprinter, that one fiat model etc. They are incredibly versatile yet manageable vehicles. You need a bed to go camping : sure. Need to move a couch: no problem. Need to go somewhere with up to 7 people: gotcha! Park in tight spot in underground garage: mostly no issue… Compare with the stupid RAM etc trucks any of those vans on anything except “coolness” and the vans will always come out on top! They need an extra trailer to move a bicycle for gods sake. RAM and similar are just an enormous waste of space and fuel by comparison. These damn trucks need to be forbidden in EU asap. Minimum bonnet height/angle/visibility would be a good way to get there.
Trouble is, trucks are considered cool. Vans aren’t.
my work have a Hilux, it’s horrible to drive, it’s like being on a boat.
The commercials I see for Ram trucks make me cringe so hard I want to escape my skin. The fact that that marketing strategy must work is absolutely bananas to me.
Have you got a link to the one you’re talking about?
https://youtu.be/RJ1qV0izPw8 like this
…minivans are fantastic purpose-designed suburban utility vehicles; crossover SUVs are small-dick-energy rejection of suburban identity…
Like I said, I got the crossover before I understood what actually gets you safely across unplowed roads and unpaved farm driveways in the winter, but I at least knew just enough that I went for a crossover and not some disgusting oversized SUV or truck like plenty of other folks around me go for.
Now that it’s been totaled (cosmetically) by hail damage it’s simply not fiscally reasonable to replace it until it’s entirely worn out so that’s just a past decision that I’m going to have to live with for the next decade or so
…oh i’m not giving you a hard time, especially these days when most manufacturers have discontinued cars entirely to offer only crossovers or trucks; i’m just pointing out how stupidly the market evolved over the past three decades, largely in reaction to the success of the minivan…
…what’s particularly ironic is that the minivan’s whirlwind success was driven by a similar backlash against station wagons, and now modern crossovers have essentially evolved into overwrought bloated wagons…
Oh I see what you’re saying! Does make me wonder how long until it cycles around again (assuming vehicle opinions do cycle around over time like fashion/design language preferences tend to)
WV
Ah, the Wolksvagen.
I drive a 2001 Toyota MR2. My 7 yo step daughter is taller than the entire car. When I’m next to most vehicles, the top of my car is below their windows.
Even drive thrus I’m usually lower than the window.
I love my little car, it’s more capable than people think. I can easily get all the groceries I need, I’ve picked people up from the airport with their luggage in it. (I have a luggage rack on the back.) But I am concerned about people seeing me and am wary of it.
