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For trucks I’m with you 100%, but my knees hurt just thinking about climbing out of that low-ass car.
We’re getting there, Dual Income no Kids make that pretty easy.
Even having one kid isn’t too bad.
It’s that road-tripping with 2 kids to distant destinations that makes it hard to go in a sedan.
Sedans and wagons can handle 2 kids on a roadtrip no problem, especially once you’re past the stroller age (until then a sedan might have trouble but a decent wagon won’t). The driving part and the fitting things in the car part, anyway. Wagon cargo space is so OP, they’re comparable to their equivalent SUVs. The BMW 5 series Touring has 570 liters with all the seats up, the X5 has 650. Not too different honestly. The X5 also costs more, requires more fuel and is less engaging to drive due to its extra weight and worse aerodynamics (so probably nice enough floating at 90 km/h, but less awesome on curvy roads or high speeds like on the autobahn).
But I have a toddler that’s not quite able to climb into the car seat and do up the belts yet and there have been many times I’ve wished for an SUV. Still driving my trusty old wagon, but… A nice SUV would be the same width x length and be nicer to my back and knees. There are actually pretty nice ones that are shorter than my old A6 Allroad. The Porsche Cayenne is technically smaller though I haven’t noticed it being smaller inside. 300 kilos heavier (for the second gen; first gen is even worse since it has a proper 2 speed transfer case) and poorer visibility though, compared to my current car. So those are not things I’m a huge fan of.
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 was hit by a car a few years ago. I actually died and needed CPR to keep my heart going a few times. If it had been an SUV, there’d have been nothing to do. I would have just been gone.
I say that, but, at the same time, I think being tall requires an SUV. Little sedans are too close to the ground, and they’re too hard to get out of them. The whole world is designed around someone who is 5’5". Its a struggle to fit into that as someone who is almost a foot taller than that. Getting off of short furniture is difficult on my knees (especially as I get older), so I could only imagine getting out of a sedan that is so close to the ground like the one in the picture. The SUV (even for all its environmental wastes in its usage) is something that a tall person can easily fit into.
It’s almost like the world was designed backwards: we need taller furniture (something I use more often than a car) but more efficient cars.
Oh well . . …
it’s not very Fuck Cars, but you can find smaller cars that handle taller people in the front. I’m 5 11, Chevy cruise isn’t too bad. You really need to find stuff that has manual seats with height adjustment, they usually go a couple inches lower.
Also stay away from anything where the headliner has an indent on the drivers side to “make room” that already lets you know it was designed too small and made concessions.
I drive a volt (same as the cruise) and it does fine, my wife drives a monster 2010 Pilot whenver i’m in the thing, I wish it has a front facing camera so i could see what’s below the hood.
Also if just looking to get a lower and lighter car without necessarily wanting a shorter car, full-size sedans can fit people much taller than you or I. I could sleep in my Chrysler 300M when I had it because the seat could recline all the way back.
Currently I have an A6 Allroad (C6 generation, I like 'em well depreciated) and it fits me just fine. If we’re doing imperial units here, I’m 5’10 and 280 lbs. I could still move the seat much further back and lower the backrest further if I was taller or heavier. I have no trouble climbing from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat and back when I park myself into my small garage with the driver’s door blocked in due to doing some work on the other side of the car.
Not with those crash safety test results. I’ll take a modern sedan if I’m going to have a car
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.
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!
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
bicycle cars! best of both worlds… oh wait///
Velomobiles!
VeloSUV
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.
Imagine if speed limits were variable based on a car’s weight and lethality. Only small cars are allowed to go fast.
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!
Is it possible to restrict communities geographically? This allergy to anything that fits more than two people is very US-focused. There are people with families that need more than just a coupe.
The small car has 5 seats, you can fit a family in it
Congratulations, you can read the brochure. Spoken like a true single person.
Ha I wish. Currently rocking a crying newborn’s pram with my foot. We don’t need a yank tank either
Same. I don’t mean tank. Just something that has three rows. When both kids are in the car - mom can’t fit in between them. And when the littelin starts crying - mom’s going crazy, cuz she can’t help him.
So. Four of us, front passenger seat is useless, mid rear seat is useless. Need a third row.
You need 3 rows of seating for 4 people?
Wild.
Most people in the US hate each other and their children, so they need a huge house and a huge car to be “with” them while also staying as far apart as possible.
I do admit my house is huge by most standards but I run a basement studio/jam space out of it. My hobbies take up a lot of space…music recording, retro gaming etc
Some of my best memories of my siblings are from being crammed in the back seat of a car during a road trip with our Gameboys, trading pokemon and playing through Zelda : Legend of Time/Seasons and swapping catridges on the way back.
Again - this is not US. I really wish you stopped making shit up.
Did I stutter? Is something in my write up not clear?
The writing was clear. The logic is questionable at best.
You are somehow doing this wrong. I have a small hatchback and can fit two kids and two tall adults just fine. I think this is a matter or perspective. MOST of the world does not use giant SUVs.
I have the 3 door variant of the car in this picture and it was just fine using it when my son was born. My wife would always forget to turn the headlights off because there’s no audible alert when getting out so would get a flat battery often.
Maybe. But I’m 197cm - I think that’s about 6’5 or 6’6. We’ve got a 5 series and when I drive there’s very little space behind me. The 4 yo does not fit without me moving forwards quite a bit, while the reverse newborn seat makes me barely able to drive. I also think you’ve conveniently ignored half of my post.
Meanwhile me back in University:
Sell me a Station Wagon with third row seating, or damn-near-anything that seats three in the front row today. You can’t.
It is so hard to tell how big those american cars are, because all the other cars around them are huge too, so everything is in proportion.
This really puts in perspective though. Seriously WTF
I don’t understand what American cars have to do with this photo. The only American vehicle in that UK parking lot is the white Tesla in the background to the right.
These are British. Cars in the US are bigger still
I used to drive an early 90s Nissan Sentra. Great small car. Recently had a rental for a few days that’s was a new Nissan Sentra. The new one is absolutely huge compared the old car.
These are neither American cars nor is this parking lot in the US so Idk what you’re talking about
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).
You’ll never convince me that SUVs don’t exist solely to sell what is effectively a minivan to deeply insecure men.
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.
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.
