Spyke
Nepherreply
lemm.ee

That infographic fascinates me. It's obviously not made by an American because never received a car branded as the Qashqai which should have been labeled as the Hyundai Kona. Same as the CX-8. We have the CX-9 here. With those said, the detailed drawings of the cars are beautiful!! I am a bit shocked at the Maverick, being Ford's "tiny" truck sitting so low on the list.

42

I'm just loving the fact a fucking tank has better visibility then a few of those trucks

40
lemmy.world

I think it's an error. It's should likely be Nissan Quashqai. Or Hyundai ix35/Tucson.

14
Syldonreply
feddit.uk

Nissan builds the Qashqai. Source I am an owner. Nissan also used to build ford Mavericks in the 90's.

5

I knew that. I messed up. Rarely see the schematic type sketches of cars and seeing the body lines from the side like that made me think it was a Kona or i35. The front end is definitely a Nissan.

3

The Nissan Qashqai is the Nissan Rogue, and I think it's what's shown in the drawing

3
lemm.ee

Au contraire. We Americans think easily in both Imperial and SI. In terms of units we’re bilingual. It’s you 10-10-10 types whose brains have been scrambled by your over-easy conversions and estimates.

-24
lemmy.world

What the stink are you talking about

The only Americans I know who know any proper amount of metric converting are folks in technical fields that require it. The layman knows that metric exists, most don't learn how to convert, and I've even met a couple different people who were proud of not using metric.

17

This is a weird argument to be having, but I think I agree with the person above, minus the smugness. I haven't run into a situation in the US in many years where someone didn't use both. Especially in a global economy where we ship things all over the world, metric is everywhere in the US.

0
lemmy.world

But if I don't have a truck the size of a locomotive how will people know that I absolutely do not have a micropenis?

139
lemm.ee

Excuse me ladies. Just thought I’d mention I ahem don’t have any vehicle all.

44
Neatoreply
kbin.social

I've pivoted. I don't think it's the size of the penis. Plenty of people with below average penises are great in bed and their partners are happy.

The people who feel the need to compensate know they are weak and cowardly and would never stand up for themselves against anyone stronger than them. And it emasculates them so they feel the need to compensate outwardly to other men. "I'm big and strong and tough!" In reality they'd back down from any other person, authority figure, or institution that they didn't feel like could beat or bully.

32
lemm.ee

This is what I think of people who look for excuses to hate on strangers.

-2
Neatoreply
kbin.social

I can see from your post history you don't even have to look.

5

Nothing wrong with having a small penis. Definitely some things wrong with the way people choose to compensate for their insecurities. Such is life.

5

Can't buy a small truck because EPA regulations made it easier to make the trucks bigger. Let's remove that failed regulation so small trucks actually exist.

-1
kbin.social

Regulate the market? What are you, some kind of communist?

100
mander.xyz

Meanwhile, builds the largest highway network in the world, many even in cities; maintain shitload of free parking; also enforces minimum parking requirements, all at the expense of tax payer.

People without cars are literally forced to pay to make everyone's life worse.

FREEDOM!

61
lemmy.world

Don't forget the Freedom™ zoning laws that make sure it's illegal for any American to build any filthy communist multi-family homes on their own private property! It's communist to grant private citizens freedom and property rights!

33
programming.dev

And even when they can build stuff on their PRIVATELY OWNED TERRAIN, they damn better follow the rules and make their house look EXACTLY EQUAL to every other house on the street. Now that's real red-blooded 'murican capitalism'n freedom, baby!

16

You know it's freedom when you're not allowed to express yourself or be unique in any way whatsoever! Creativity is communism! I ain't no special snowflake who needs to be unique and special like those dang woke libs commies!

12

When I found out about this after Climate Town's video on the subject, I was so furious!!!!

5
mander.xyz

In some state, yes, if by "most" you mean "more than 50% of road expense is paid by toll and car related taxes".

But that is still a huge percentage not covered by tax for car users, requiring other foundings to cover them. The highest percentage paid by user tax and toll is not even 70% in all the U.S. states.

Not to mention many state dont even cover 50%; some only cover as low as 19% or even 12%.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/mapping-how-u-s-states-pay-for-roads

9
lemm.ee

Well, we all benefit from the road system even if we ourselves don’t drive, so I guess it’s fair.

0

It depends, in a country where the road system makes sense, sure. In rural area where every road serves a purpose: connecting business to transport goods, sure.

But excessive roads in cities and suburbs? No. Many roads in city and suburbs of the U.S. should be closed for cars, and be bike, bus, and emergency vehicles only. Since cars either don't use them that much or just don't have good experience on them because of the congestions. This also saves road maintainance, enables a smoother experience in transport and emergency vehicles, controls emission, and encourage a health life style in general.

It is again about the right tools for the job. A loaded van to transport fruit to the local farmer's market, emergency vehicles, these are times where cars are the right tools. On the other hand, F150 is not the right tool to get a Mcdonald's drive through for one.

2
Pipocareply
lemmy.world

Ironically, trucks have gotten larger precisely because of regulation. In particular, emissions standards are tied to vehicle size. So if you make your vehicles bigger and bigger, you don't have to make them more efficient.

Also, regulation makes it difficult to import small Japanese kei trucks, and regulation is the biggest reason that the Ford F series truck is the single most popular model of vehicle in the US. In particular, we've taxed foreign-built trucks at 25% since the mid 60s, so there's dramatically fewer models of truck than SUV or cars.

23
fiahreply
discuss.tchncs.de

In particular, emissions standards are tied to vehicle size

this definitely goes on the short list of "most idiotic laws ever", courtesy of your local car industry lobbyist

25

Yet more evidence of how effective big government is when regulatory capture is a thing.

1

the difference between regulation and jokes passed off as regulations

6
lemmy.world

And the Hilux isn't available in the US. I use one as my daily driver. Seats four, has a useable bed, hauls anything I throw at it, gets car MPGs, and is narrower than a Camry. It is as much pickup truck as pretty much anyone really needs.

3

The Hilux and the older Tacoma are basically the same truck with different trim packages.

1
gruereply
lemmy.world

This shit is the direct consequence of regulation, not lack of it!

I'm talking about both CAFE standards that encourage manufacturers to build big vehicles to fit in the "light truck" loophole, and (infinitely more importantly!) the zoning regulations that led to all the car dependency in the fucking first place!

2
Zaktorreply
lemmy.world

The problem is that the regulations drop off in this one particular niche that requires/encourages larger vehicles, not that the regulations exist in the first place.

2

What part of...

and (infinitely more importantly!) the zoning regulations that led to all the car dependency in the fucking first place!

...did you and the idiots who upvoted you not understand?

1
Raxielreply
lemmy.world

I'm in the UK, yesterday I saw some guy with an imported F150 in a local supermarket car park. Even in a parent and child space it didn't fit and he looked like an absolute knob head.

27

I hope someone said "You can't park there mate" to him.

Imagine that thing coming down one of the many narrow hedge lined country lanes at you.

15

Whoops, that was me for a while because I was too stubborn to sell it before moving to England. It mostly sat in the driveway because it was such a pain to park anywhere and wouldn't fit through the garage door. I've since shipped it back to the Southwestern US where it's average sized.

4
pHr34kYreply
lemmy.world

It's becoming an issue in Australia. Most people drive cars that are twice as big as they need to be.

I was in Tokyo last week and the majority of cars were small. The most common had 660cc engines and weighed less than 1000kg.

26

I saw a person driving an OG (civilian) hummer when I was in Japan several months ago. The juxtapositions between it and a sea of kei cars was hilarious.

9

It is crazy and undermining years of progress towards reduced emissions and better road safety. I have no idea why these don't attract a massive tax.

9

I'm seeing more and more large vehicles in Japan. I don't think it will become an issue as much as it is in the West due to less car dependency, small roads and the weak yen making fuel rather expensive right now, but just around Kyoto I keep seeing those stupid Mercedes G Wagon things and some kind of large Jeep all over the place. There is also a large Toyota Land Cruiser thing that I see from time to time, but it's less popular.

Smaller car SUVs are fairly common though, and just the other day a friend drove me to a barbeque in his SUV thing that he got to replace his perfectly fine and nice previous car. It seemed really unwieldy on many of the country roads he was driving, and he frequently had to pull over to the side of the road in order to pass cars coming the other way. When I asked about it, he said he got it because he often has to drive business customers around, so he mostly just thinks having a stupid big car looks classy and respectable.

7

"But that would hurt businesses who rely on these vehicles to get work done!"

-idiots forgetting that no work will get done if our planet becomes uninhabitable

2

That was an interesting read. I'm from Europe and unfortunately the trend of bigger and bigger cars has made it's way here too. Not as much as in the US but still. It really encroaches on both space of pedestrians and cyclists when a dozen of them are parked in a narrow alley/street. Also makes it very hard to see children weaving through the gaps. I think consumer vehicles that are too big should simply be zoned out in inner cities where space is limited as is. Every year the cars grow bigger but the streets stay the same.

2

Europe also got infected with the tiny peewee syndrome. Or at least Belgium has. I see Dodge Rams almost every day. For years you could buy a pickup in Belgium and pay less road tax than someone with a small hatchback. This year they finally changed the rules but the damage is done. And the pickups that were already registered continue to pay the low tax.

8

I love driving my Renault Zoe into a Costco bay. I can swing the door all the way open and not even come close the car next to me 😂

6
lemm.ee

that's a weird way of phrasing "the industry took advantage of regulatory capture to carve out a loophole for larger trucks"

21

If all the regulators are captured, then it seems rather redundant to state that everytime I talk about something regulators did.

0
AA5Breply
lemmy.world

I know someone who works for one of the American car manufacturers who claimed they couldn’t afford to make small trucks. They are more complex because of the tighter regulations so they couldn’t make them much cheaper than big ones. Who’s going to buy a small truck when a big one coasts only a little more?

I don’t know how much of that is true, but the effects of looser regulations for bigger vehicles are pretty clear

4

Although I have to say I do see more oversized trucks in the UK than on the mainland.

But then again, many people here would argue they don't live in Europe.

2

It has been explained that tow and payload capacity is mostly due to regulations by the NHTSA, but the boxy shape and lifted (by factory) of these new trucks are all american stupid machismo.

1
lemmy.world

I see those very tall vehicles as high chairs for the big baby behind the wheel.

51
lemmy.ml

I believe the technical term for an excessively big car is "compensator."

7

I call them "pavement princesses" since they're driven by office types most often who have no interest in offroading, which is the original intended use for lifted rigs. They're all rich sissies that want a giant truck for taking their fifth wheel to the lake because they're scared of driving a bus

5
kbin.social

I have no idea why F-150's keep getting bigger. Do people really like that shit? Old trucks are so much better, from design to MPG.

49
justhachreply
lemmy.world

It has to do with new standards for fuel effiency being based on the size of the vehicle.

In the Obama era, Edmunds explained, fuel economy regulations “changed from just a straight average across the board to what’s called a platform-based fuel economy standard. So your fuel economy target for a given vehicle is based on its wheelbase and its tread width, which is the width between the tires left to right. So if you multiply that you find the area of that rectangle and there’s a table that shows what your fuel-economy target is. The bigger the vehicle, the smaller the target.”

In other words, the regulations put in place to get better mileage out of vehicles also led to an increase in truck size. “There was kind of an incentive to maybe stretch the wheelbase a couple of inches and set the tires maybe an inch [farther] apart, because you get a bigger platform and slightly smaller target,” said Edmunds. “Now, the bigger vehicle would be heavier and might use more fuel, so it’s not as easy as just doing that. But certainly there was a feeling that if they did need to make it bigger to accommodate more passengers, the fuel economy target wouldn’t be onerous. They could do it.”

Basically, it was easier to make bigger trucks than it was to build more efficient engines, so we have this gargantuan trucks pushed on us and then they go "ITS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT" because there are literally no other options besides these giant trucks if you want something with a bed.

Like, even the "small trucks" like the modern Rangers and Colorados are about the same size as the 90s F150s and Silverados. Its nuts.

40

And even still, if you're not looking for 4 doors you're doubly SOL. You can have the fleet vehicle, poverty-spec or you can have crew cabs.

10

Regulations are not the issue. Short sighted regulations with loopholes you could drive a new F150 through are.

6
Jarmerreply
slrpnk.net

I think there's a huge percentage of truck drivers who never use their truck for truck stuff. It's simply a status symbol to them which is pathetic. And bigger equals better in their feeble minds.

I have a 13 yr old Tacoma and it's tiny compared to even the modern "small" trucks. When this thing finally dies, I have no idea what I'll get. I love the size of it though. Maybe a Ford Maverick, but those are on backorder for years I heard from several friends who tried to get one.

19
edricreply
lemm.ee

Even the new Tacoma is still smaller than those F-150 monstrosities. The only other small pickup other than the Maverick is the Santa Cruz, but it isn't really a utility truck if you actually need to haul a ton of stuff.

3

Despite being a "smaller" truck, that's still bigger than many 2010 Tacomas. In Ford's lineup, only the Maverick is under 200" long, less than 70" tall. Despite being a "teeny tiny truck", it's still bigger than a 1995 Ranger by a fair margin.

4
gruereply
lemmy.world

When this thing finally dies...

...you swap a replacement engine into it and keep going anyway.

3

my main concern is frame rust - it doesn't get many miles, but it does live outside. I should probably build a carport for it.

2
Bison1911reply
sopuli.xyz

I discovered this hack and I'm never buying a new vehicle ever again. I have a 25 yr old truck and a car nearly as old. On the car I've long since ditched the old head units to get bluetooth and Android Auto, cleaned up the minor surface rust on the frame and got a protective coating sprayed on, had the seats reupholstered, and upgraded brakes and suspension.

All that cost me less than a new car including the cost of the car and I didn't have to either pay a massive lump sum all at once or go into debt to buy it.

2

I drive similarly old vehicles (my oldest is 33; my newest is 18). The other reasons for it are:

  • I avoid the exploitative misfeatures of new cars, such as privacy-violating "telemetry" and property-rights-violating "subscription features"

  • I get features that are hard or even impossible to find these days, such as manual transmissions even on my SUV and pickup truck.

2

Already the shortages have subsided, I can find Mavericks on the lot for $25,000 now. Slightly desirable cars from all manufacturers that released during the shortages are now generally easy to find/order if you really want one.

In fact, there seems to be a glut of the various models right now. Dealers lots that were practically empty last year are now overflowing with the cars that people were backordering like crazy. A dealer near me got too used to selling all the expensive models they now have mostly $70k+ models on the lot and seem to be stuck unable to sell them anymore.

2

I use my truck for hauling stuff and camping.

For hauling big is objectively better. Without a doubt.

And for camping it’s nice that I can sleep in the 6.5 foot bed of my truck with the camper on it, and also fit my camping supplies in the back seat of my full sized cab. I only put maybe 300 miles a month on it. So it’s not like I’m driving it as my primary. But yes, it’s huge.

Driving to the coast, pointing the back of my truck toward the ocean, and laying in the comfy queen sized bed with a roof and windows, reading a book, with my my wife is one of my favorite weekend activities. And having the instant privacy is very nice.

My other car is a tiny Honda. Which is great for everything else.

2
lemmy.world

Toyota Stout is on the way. It should be the same size as the old Tacomas.

1

Exactly. I wanted a pickup for the convenience of the bed for the occasional project I might work on but 98% of the time it will just be me in there going to and from work.

I ordered my hybrid Maverick September 2022 and it's finally scheduled for production. On the one occasion every year or two that I need the power of a full size pickup, I'll just borrow it or rent some from Home Depot for a few hours.

1

They have a higher profit margin because they are less regulated than standard size cars. So auto manufactures are incentivized to shift production to larger vehicles and market them to consumers.

People don't actually want them, car companies have just convinced them they do.

7
lemmy.world

I recently got hit by a truck on my bike. I'm not sure if it's because I wasn't visible or if it was a general douchebag.

In any event, you can generally tell how big a douchebag someone is by how large their truck is. Douchebags don't usually drive Datsuns.

37

Because I love making generalizations based on personal experience: most of the bad drivers I encounter on the road are either pickup trucks, BMWs, or rusted out junkers.

The trucks have no regard for others' safety, because they know if they get in an accident they will squash a smaller vehicle. They take this to the point of just swerving into your lane, counting on you to break or get out of the way.

BMWs are simply unskilled, unpredictable, selfish drivers. They are too self-obsessed to cater their driving to anyone else on the road. They will take up lanes they don't need to be in and do illegal maneuvers to correct their mistakes, because they believe they are above the law.

The junkers are just batshit methheads or something. They have no regard for anyone's safety, including their own. They have a drug deal they are trying to get to.

4
kbin.social

ugh. my sister at one point had one of those H3's and gushed about how safe it made her feel for her and her children. Yeah safer for you!

35
Kecessareply
sh.itjust.works

At least it wasn't the H2! One of the worst vehicles I had to drive when it comes to visibility (second only to the F650) and I probably have driven a thousand different models in the 10 years I was a valet!

12

youu know it might have been. I don't really know the vehicle. it was the "smaller" one outside of the original behometh.

3
lemmy.world

I had a student lose their life like this, and I'm sure if the person wasn't driving such a big vehicle, they would have seen the student in time to stop.

20
BombOmOmreply
lemmy.world

In the college town near me, students walk directly in-front of cars and bikes. Nearly hit oblivious pedestrians stepping into the road on multiple occasions while on my bike. Some people put very loud horns on their 2 and 4 wheeled vehicles, which is pretty funny anytime they get used.

-15

Yeah, my student is forever 8 and a shortie for their age. They were crossing in a crosswalk and the driver was turning right. It’s not the same.

8
lemmy.world

If you don't want people stepping into the road then stop putting roads everywhere. They built a road in between my home and work and I hate it, I want to get rid of the road and go back to the good old days.

2
biddyreply
feddit.nl

I hope you are more careful in the future

1
lemm.ee

BombOmOm was plenty careful as evidence by successfully avoiding collision with an unexpected obstacle.

1

I don't believe there's such a thing as "careful enough" when people's lives are at stake. If they were more careful they may have avoided nearly killing someone.

1
lemmy.world

Yet it is the EPA regulations on emissions by vehicle wheelbase that have led manufacturers to continuously increase size rather than reduce emissions. Great job...

19

That's because the auto industry realized there was a lucrative loophole in the regs and has since successfully lobbied to keep it in place. Basically it's a type of regulatory capture.

2
visakreply
lemmy.world

It's not that simple. In the US at least it's more of a case of standards that created an accidental loophole, which could have been closed quickly, but because car manufacturers found it so profitable they have fought ever since to keep the rules from being revised. When the original cafe standards were passed trucks were actual utilitarian vehicles and CAFE did a lot to raise average mileage. It's time to stop exempting trucks and SUVs.

35

It’s always some particular thing, but the pattern is clear. Government lacks the agility to correct its own mistakes, and they get carved in stone and last for years or decades before the mistakes are corrected.

Government is like a child who places his hand on the stove, and then must get consensus among every neuron in his brain before removing the hand. Someone then says “government tends to burn its hands on the stove” and someone else says “yes but only because of how stupidly the reflex was handled”.

In reality, a child who puts his hand on the stove benefits from the decentralized nervous system. The decision to whip the hand back off the stove is made at the spine, before the brain is aware.

Excessive government regulation mandates not only constraints and goals, but methods of implementation. And again, and again, and again, our society ends up with third degree burns as a result of government ordering the hand onto the stove, then lacking the efficiency to bring it back off again.

2
lemmy.one

Are you saying government regulation as it is now is a problem, or are you suggesting that in a truly free market the car companies would stop making giant trucks despite it being their bestseller?

26

Generally speaking, government regulation has the property of producing problems like this one: it slices the world into categories, and those get set as rigid law.

But real world success comes from real time modification of categories, the merging and splitting of categories into whatever’s most useful. To kitchen designer, a cabinet is either a wall or a base cabinet. To a gunfighter, a cabinet is either solid cover or insufficient. To a cat, a cabinet is either rough enough to hook his claws into and climb, or not. To a kid, a cabinet is either a good place to hide during hide-and-seek, or not.

Categories need to be variable based on the goals at hand.

This thing with the truck design forced to fit a local maximum of value within the constraints created by those categories, is yet another example of the same thing happening.

In simpler terms, people need to be free to make decisions in order to produce value and things that work well. Excessive government regulation prevents those choices or makes their context artificial. The result can be absurdity at best, and utter failure and ruin at worst.

1
programming.dev

You're partly right. The implementation of government regulation is a problem. Lawmakers are, for the most part, absolutely incompetent when it comes to making effective regulation.

11

So perhaps the idea that government regulation will go as expected is what’s wrong.

Perhaps when new regulation is considered, one should try to imagine ways it could go wrong, if implemented by fallible people in chaotic organizations.

0

It is, but largely because money in politics and regulatory capture have made the machine work against the people.

5

More and more of these are coming into Australia. They carry extremely small dick vibes. They are fucking annoying how much road space they take up. It's comical watching them drive around a car park. My friend bought a RAM and his personality changed with it in that he actually belittles our cars and kind of acts like we are weak?! He works as a corporate job and has absolutely no need for such a car apart from helping his inferiority complex. Now I can't help but dislike anyone who has one of these.

18

They're popping up here in the UK too. Our winding pre-industrial roads really aren't big enough for these road tanks, they constantly get in the way. They're even too big for a lot of parking spaces, you see them spilling over all the time.

6

Great video, and fully agree with its message. I really don't understand why people buy these and am always amused (and a wee bit irked) when I see one trying to maneuver on a tight street. Want more space? Get a hatchback. Got kids you need to carry around and need more space? Get a longer hatchback (or station wagons as the guy says in the video). Plus, you look cooler in a car the closer you are to the ground.

3

Thing is, the size is already regulated. The bigger the car is, more emmisions are allowed.

This cars are getting bigger because of regulation.

4

Ahah love the pic u linked of one blocking a tram. The regulators would surely be on their ass for blocking stuff like that.

Sad thing is as these become more common they'll pressure the right people to change the infrastructure around their bigger cars.

1

Depends i see, every suv as needlesly huge. And you definitly see them everywhere

1

American perspective: The RAM fits just fine, shame that that railcar doesn't fit.

1

I recently moved to a state where there are so many giant vehicles, and I drive a compact car. The front of the hood of an f-150 is as tall as my entire car. I feel like I'm the closest to the ground out of all the cars on the highway. You see all these big trucks and SUVs having a hard time maneuvering in parking lots. Why do all these people need such giant vehicles? Gas is expensive enough in my little tiny car, is the worse mileage even worth it?

14
lemmy.one

Bring back the station wagon 😭 I want a hybrid wagon, but the Volvo is is prices so no one can afford it lol... I really don't want to get the Chrysler van...

14

This. So much this. I own a compact pickup truck, and a few SUVs, and really wish I could have station wagons instead, but the used market is the used market, there really isn't anything available.

4

I feel like there's some hidden message in here about gun control, but gosh darn it I just can't see it over the hood of my F150.

12

There are a few minibuses that my local transit provider operates for suburban routes, the kind that's a bus cabin bolted to a modified Ford truck body or van. Something I noticed riding those buses is that the operator sits lower and has a smaller engine compartment obstructing their view than a lot of five-seater SUVs.

12

One thing that always strikes me is once you* notice how many giant ass vehicles are on the road...you can't unnotice it lol.

12
Cianalasreply
lemmy.world

It's because EPA under Obama changed emissions regulations from average across vehicles sold to tables by wheelbase (in order to try and tighten mpg on larger vehicles instead of sedans just getting better to average it out). So now, as MPG requirements go up, they just build bigger cars to bump into the next size instead of hitting MPG targets for the current size. This is also partly why there's few sedan models and everyone has just moved to crossovers.

Every potential regulation/deregulation has unintended consequences that should be explored to figure out if the consequences may be worse than current. Instead everyone just does it by throwing darts and assuming everyone will just go along with the intent. When that doesn't work, they go about blaming the other side for loopholes before repeating the process to try and close those loopholes up.

19

When the mods of this sublemmy were deciding the rules, I asked some clarifying points to ensure the rules wouldn't have unintended consequences. Someone yelled at me and said I should just assume good intentions and that the mods would never ban anyone who meant well.

Absolute blind trust in even the smallest authority. Nobody's perfect.

4

Should be required by law that all new cars have Pedestrian crash avoidance mitigation (PCAM) systems. In the same way that seatbelts and rear cameras are required. Would be surprised if it’s nit required by 2030.

11

Don't give any Republicans any ideas. They might consider this seriously.

8
kbin.social

Trucks are commercial vehicles. You need them for towing, hauling and other construction related activities. License, permit and tax them as such. If you have a huge boat or RV you need to tow, get and pay for a permit. Have the taxes be based on mileage so the more they're used, the more expensive it is. We invented weigh stations to make trucks compensate for the additional strain they put on roads. Same for these trucks. That'll help prevent them from being daily drivers.

8
lemmy.world

This is literally what the gas tax is for - it's something like 40 cents per gallon in NC. The worse your gas mileage, the more you pay.

2

Cool. Let's do another for commercial vehicles and apply it to global warming.

1

Further, even if you have your boat or RV, relatively "smaller" vehicles can tow them confidently. A Santa Cruz is sized consistently with the pickup trucks of the past and can tow 5,000 lbs. There's a lot of SUVs about that same size that can tow that much or more, if you don't need a bed.

Further, the biggest reason these smaller vehicles are constrained on how much they tow is the American expedition that you can slap on your 5,000 lb trailer and drive 75 mph down the road. In Europe many cars have significantly higher towing capacities for exact same model as the American version, owing to the speed limits imposed on trailering.

The ridiculous "must look like a semi" pickup truck situation needs to pass. Those trucks have a purpose, but for it to be a likely "default" choice for a household is silly.

1
lemmy.federa.net

idk if it's an American thing, but please stop calling them trucks. Trucks are actual freight hauling industrial vehicles. This is just a family car with a bucket on the back. Call it a ute or whatever.

-6

Truck is just slang for pickup truck. Ute as a term isn't really a thing in the US. Coup utilities like an El Camino or Subaru Baja feel pretty distinct from modern American pickups though. It'd be weird to put them in the same category given how different they are in both form and function.

5

Ute used to refer to a 2 door vehicle with a bed based on a car chassis. Traditional utes are dying out even in Australia and New Zealand.

The American term "pickup truck" is a better term for these new vehicles built on their own oversized "light truck" chassis.

1

They’ll cover them in corporate “crash detection” cameras for which you need to pay a monthly subscription and they take all the data and sell it to cops anyway. It’s a win-win-win for capitalism!

7

I seem to recall seeing a Hummer H2 recently and being astounded that it looked not only "normal", but even a bit on the small side.

7
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Short answer: No.

Long answer: it doesn't matter what fuels the vehicle. The community is called Fuck Cars for a reason. Except for certain situations where they are absolutely necessary (commuting using a personal vehicle is not one of those necessities) should not be a thing. It's a place where most agree 15 minutes cities, bikes, and public transport should be what everyone uses to get around.

17
vapelokireply
lemmy.world

Every time I read these kinds of arguments, my eyes are rolling backwards.

Fuck cars in cities. Yes. But what is about the country side?

What is about the farmer, producing our food, who is depended on a private car to reach the next city? Should he move into the city? And then? What do we eat? Mass produced meat?

What about shift workers in smaller cities?

Not everyone has access to Public transport all the time.

What is about people with disabilities?

Or neurodivergent people? I for my part are on the autistic spectrum. While I can travel shorter times with Public transport, long train rides are a serious problem. To many people and no control over breaks. And there are other people on the spectrum, that have it far worse then me in that regards.

There are many cases, where personal transport via car is the only viable option.

You argument is from a privileged point of view. A privilege that not all people have. Be able to use public transport.

If we want to be taken seriously, we must see the reality, and accept limitations.

And just for completeness: while I would love to have more then 2 busses a day to the next village, and a direct connection to the next train station, i also see that this would be not only a financial issue for the provider, it would also produce much more co2 then the individual transport that it would eliminate. Low passenger count but high vehicle frequency are a bad combination.

8
Phrodo_00reply
lemmy.world

Cars are fine in the country side, they're also fine for people with different necessities such as being disabled or in the spectrum. I haven't anyone seriously say anything to the contrary. That's the most common straw man argument I see here.

Hopefully public transport would work at odd hours even in small city, if only at reduced frequencies.

7

This.

We needed better public transport. We need cities, that are not build around cars.

The argument that cars are never ok slips out fast. And it is fine in many cases. Especially if we are talking about specific scenarios. SUV's are never ok. I go with that. Especially if we are talking about American SUVs. These things are just completely insane.

4

The countryside should have better links much of the countryside is a chicken egg situation. I am sure the town with 50 people is a fringe issue, which I have no solution for other than better designing the town so you don't have to drive if you are shopping locally if needed.

Well the farmer can keep his vehicle to transport his produce into towns, go to farmers markets etc. I have no qualms for that.

Shift workers in smaller cities should be able to get a bus. Should.

You got me on people with disabilities. I did not think about that, but that does go two ways some people with disabilities can't drive and with public transport the way it is they basically get stuck where they are.

There are many cases, where personal transport via car is the only viable option.

That one is kind of the point of this place a load of people pissed off that car centricity has caused it to be the only viable option.

2

Them's fighting words unless you include "bike-ish things" in that bike category.

My PEVs take up less space than my bike and work much better with public transit.

4

This arms race applies to the vehicles themselves, too. Gotta get a big enough truck so I can see the road around traffic!

0

Literally people feel safer in larger vehicles because of all of the large vehicles on the road. It's a positive feedback loop

3

I'm just black pilled on cars at this point, between the insane level of subsidization they need in order to be viable along with the unhealthy lifestyle they mandate us to live cars are just the worst solution to our transportation problem

14
lemmy.world

For safety features it would be relevant to look at deaths, injuries with lifelong consequences, recoverable injuries, and property damage. Then you can get a good picture as to the cost/benefit ratio.

That said, front sensors are ridiculously cheap right now. Looks like backup cameras have been mandated since May 2018.

10
axsysereply
lemmy.sdf.org

Legally they are. Both SUVs and pickups are legally classified in the US as "light trucks" (or "light-duty trucks").

5
MetaCubedreply
lemmy.world

They both increase the risk of drag under if a pedestrian is hit, and they both have decreased visibility in comparison to a sedan, hatchback, coupe, etc. Etc.

5
WhiteHawkreply
lemmy.world

So do semitrucks, that doesn't mean they're the same thing. Btw I'm pretty sure visibility from most SUVs is significantly better than from an average pickup.

0
MetaCubedreply
lemmy.world

Chevy Tahoe/suburban, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade are all a Chevy Silverado

Ford expedition, Lincoln Navigator > F150

Toyota land cruiser, Sequoia, Lexus LX, GX are all Toyota tundra/tacoma

As for the rest, on average they have a higher ride height, and a taller hood than a sedan/hatchback. These will combine to give a (sub) compact SUV better front visibility than a full size SUV, but it will still have worst visibility than a sedan.

Even in the case that an SUV does have comparable front visibility to a smaller vehicle... It's taller Grille and higher ride height still make them more dangerous to pedestrians.

1
WhiteHawkreply
lemmy.world

I've never seen any of those monstrosities on out roads, SUVs here are hardly bigger than most other cars

1
MetaCubedreply
lemmy.world

Where is "here"

If "here" is Europe, the roadways and regulations make it harder for the suburbitanks to be usable over there but people are starting to import them and it's not good

1

Yes, it's in Europe. There are a few cars of that size here, but they're a real pain to find a parking spot for and fuel is a lot more expensive, too, so I don't see that being much of an issue

1
lemmy.world

There are bigger problems if you are driving your truck where there are children sitting on the ground.

-9
lemmy.world

I won't say they deserve it, but if your idiot kids are sitting in a row on the driveway when a truck is trying to park, they might just deserve it.

-1
puppyreply
lemmy.world

Do you have kids?

Do the kids deserve to die in other ways also? Or is this the only one? How about sticking things in wall outlets? Petting wild animals, how about that one? Playing with knives and scissors? Putting their head in plastic wraps? Jumping in a pool? If kids are dumb enough to do any of those, do they deserve to die from those causes as well? Can you even see what you're suggesting?

Instead of sitting in front of a truck trying to park, how about a parked truck trying to pull away as is likely the realistic scenario from which kids have actually died by their own parents' truck? Did those kids also deserve to die according to your logic?

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/GMA/story?id=128111&page=1

2
lemmy.world

good lord. I thought the sarcasm was dripping but apparently you just need to be outraged.

0
kbin.social

These days, all new vehicles all have detection camera's.

-15
Neatoreply
kbin.social

They don't have any type of warning for running people over. Cameras don't activate if you aren't backing up.

1

Some of them do, and you can activate the cameras in a lot of cars at will that have front and side cameras. Some of them will auto-brake when going toward pedestrians.

Nothing beats also having actual visible sight line, and there's frequently no excuse for the terrible sight lines of modern high riding passenger vehicles, but pedestrian safety systems are available, and based on technology so cheap in the context of a $20,000+ vehicle that it probably should be mandated at this point.

1

A lot of cars do have pedestrian detection these days. Even lower end cars like Toyota Corollas have pedestrian detection as a standard feature. These pedestrian detection features automatically apply the brakes when it detects that you're about to hit someone.

1