Thursday, July 27, 2023

Americans and their Big Cars



Americans tend to drive large vehicles. We like our cars to be roomy, powerful, and safe like a tank. There's also something to be said for having a car that you can load up with furniture or building supplies when you need to. And of course, there's the idea of conspicuous consumption, because a gas guzzler indicates you can afford a lot of gasoline, and a bigger truck looks both expensive and manly. But it's not just pickup trucks and luxury cars that are taking over America's streets. The rise of the SUV over the last few decades means that economy cars are dwarfed by big cars even at the grocery store or the school pickup line.

But the trend toward trucks and SUVs was not all due to consumers. Vox looked into the history of SUVs and found that a combination of government regulations and auto manufacturers moves in response led to the development of the SUV and a massive surge in sales of larger vehicles. Once the market was established, SUVs gave way to crossovers. And since fuel efficiency has risen across the spectrum, and US gas prices are lower than in most of the rest of the world, these big vehicles may be here to stay. (via Digg)

6 comments:

  1. I don't know where she's from but back in the 50s and 60s small town New England half the driveways in town had a pickup truck.
    It's a shame the minivan was murdered by character assassination labeling it the soccer-mom vehicle. I guess to do that today it would be labeled the "Karen Car".
    I'd be curious to know why she chose a diesel VW?

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  2. The concept of actually "choosing" a car is foreign to me. In the last 20 years, every vehicle I've owned has been either given to me or else my husband managed to find one that was affordable when we needed it.

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  3. One thing we can say for certain is that these large gas guzzling vehicles and low gas prices are NOT here to stay ... the writing is on the ashes.

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  4. I have a Ford Expedition, simply because I cannot fit comfortably in anything smaller. Before that I had a Ford F-150. My wife has a Honda CRV Touring model, which I have to squeeze to get into and I cannot drive it simply because I can't fit in the driver's seat. When I rent a car, I usually get a full-size sedan, with NO guarantee that it will work out. And I'm not even that big - 6'3", 225 lbs.

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  5. I bought a Prius (slightly used) and it has plenty of headroom and space, and it gets 40 miles to a gallon. It's called a subcompact, not an SUV, but it rides high up - nearly the same.

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  6. I've driven a van (now a mini-van) because
    (1) I need the space to be able to transport my bicycle(s) when I'm en route to events – I refuse to carry them outside of the vehicle for several reason I don't feel I need to elaborate on here; and
    (2) I tried using a smaller car like a Camry once, and watching me try to get myself out of it was like watching Dick Van Dyke in the center ring of a circus trying to unfold himself out of a Ringling Brothers clown car.

    -"BB"-

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