Technology

So I live in the cousin-fuckingly-deep south where 90% of what's on the road is trying its best to be a monster truck... I drive what looks like a pregnant rollerskate by comparison cuz I don't want to send half my paycheck into the gas tank.

It's funny-sad how the folks in the giant trucks get offended just by seeing my tiny car. Every day there's always at least one asshole in an F-350 or some shit that likes to ride up on my ass cuz I guess it makes them feel powerful? I just drop a mph every couple seconds until either they fuck off or get annoyed enough to pass.

Anyway, moral of the story is that stupid-big vehicles are here to stay in the US, at least in the regions occupied by Y'all Quaeda. Their trucks are one of their few sources of self esteem.

...I'm really tempted to find one of those rubber testicle things that the cowboys like to put between the rear wheels of their trucks, but like a comically tiny one, color it like the trans flag, and hang it on the back of my tiny car just to annoy the rednecks on the road. ...although here, that'd probably get my car or myself shot.

Bold idea here, but maybe if we stopped fucking subsidizing SUV's, people wouldn't goddamn buy so many of them. Just a thought.

It's time for Americans to stop spending so much time in their cars. Emissions from burning hydrocarbons are destroying the planet.

Americans need to embrace public transit. We need trains that don't completely suck in both speed and schedule reliability.

We're never going to convince a lot of folks to leave their lifted F-150 or massive Suburban behind for a small car. But quality, affordable public transit that is not only efficient but saves money over owning a car would actually make a difference. We're more likely to be able to get people to just leave the F-150 in the driveway and eventually move away from it.

Much better for the environment, too, and reduces traffic / congestion, etc. I agree smaller cars would be good, but the goalpost should be getting away from the automobile.

Here we have higher taxes for cars more than 4m long, so there are lots of small cars. Also, a lot of 3.99m cars.

CAFE is killing the smaller vehicle. Vehicles are getting super round and boring for aerodynamics. Wheel base is getting longer. Track is getting wider. There's no such thing as a small truck. Everything is am SUV ("truck") or crossover (hatchback / station wagon). CAFE allows for less fuel efficiency for wider track and longer wheelbase and trucks over everything else.

Remember how VW got caught cheating on the mileage tests? Remember how every other major manufacturer was caught too?

The govt has set far too high of a standard for mileage, so car companies are making giant ass cars to meet (cheat) CAFE standards. The manufacturers have done everything they can but still can't meet the standards.

In California, America's largest state by population, our #1 selling vehicle is the Honda Civic. And driving on our roads, Civics, Corollas, Accords etc... dominate the roads. And even the biggest selling SUV the CRV gets like 30+ to the gallon.

Small cars sell in places where small cars work.

It's time for Americans to embrace bicycles and ebikes and, gasp, walking

There was a time back when gas prices got kinda high when I thought Americans would finally shift down to slightly smaller cars, but now it's practically a cultural thing for half the country to burn as much fuel as possible, so I suspect even if gas prices here hit Europe levels it wouldn't cause them to budge much.

It does feel really odd, though, going somewhere like a school and just being absolutely surrounded by huge SUVs and pickup trucks that you know damn well like 90% of the drivers aren't actually utilizing.

Double-sucks because it's becoming more and more difficult to find a small car. Everything new, even most cars, are huge.

Or, please, trains.

Increase the gas tax. Set registration fees per pound of car.

We know how to do this. We also know how scared politicians are of angering anyone.

I mean, yeah. Small electric cars, more trains, more public transport.

That's going to be a hard job. Cue the ones willing to die for their god given right to drive a car the size of a van to the shops they can see from their front door.

I drive a 2015 Chevy Spark, the gas version. The ev version was discontinued in 2016, the gas version was discontinued in 2022. The Chevy Sonic, a similar, but slightly larger model was discontinued in 2020. The Chevy Bolt, an ev and larger, but still compact model and a successor to the Spark and Sonic was discontinued this year. It's become apparent that most Americans do not like small cars. I don't think much can be done to make small cars likable here, I'd love to be able to drive a car like the Honda E, but there's no market for it here.

The author notes that he would like to see more people take public transportation, and I’m all for that. There’s one problem for me: In Michigan where I live there is no public transportation that really gets you around Detroit, or gets you from the suburbs to Detroit. There is the joke of a QLine that goes no where and the People Mover that also doesn’t do much, but other than that nothing. Convincing people that have private transportation (read: cars) that they should invest/have their taxes used for public transportation is a no-go. Convincing the rich that they should pay more than $0 a year in taxes is even harder. This is probably the case a in several states around the country, but definitely in Michigan (and believe me, we tried with a bus system). So while I get that smaller cars can be and maybe should be thing, I think public transportation, as the author points out, could also be a thing. However, trying to get anyone, especially millionaires and billionaires, to pay a cent more than they are forced to is like pulling teeth.

Won't happen. That country is obsessed with being seen wearing its big boy pants, to the detriment of everything. Their entire culture is built around the myth of American exceptionalism and it inhibits any potential for learning or even just rational decision making. It is in their DNA to be offensively stupid and contrarian at every opportunity.

Cars have gotten bigger externally, but internally it seems storage space is actually going down. My 2014 Nissan Note has a 10% larger storage capacity than a 2023 Renault Espace, even tho the latter is 50cm larger in all three dimensions and is literally called 'spatious'.

Even in Europe we can't, since they replace them with fat Crossovers.

I'm all for smaller more efficient cars, easier to drive too

Ford F150/Chevy 1500 and bigger just keep getting bigger every style change. I call them pavement tanks.

The main reason is manufacturers make more money off of larger cars. The cost of making cars doesn't vary that much, but larger cars can be sold for much more, so the profit margin is greater. That, and costs for parts tend to be greater, also.

How about one of these bad boys?

https://www.motor1.com/news/680166/third-generation-honda-n-box-debut/

They're actually pretty roomy inside. Not aerodynamic, and I wouldn't want to be driving over 55 in one, but they're pretty neat.

I like my Smart EV. From the outside, it is as long as most cars are wide, can U-turn as right as a Tesla Cyber truck, if not tighter, and can get me from A-B daily, charging overnight off a regular household outlet.