Nice Things

[julian-wolf]

4 minutes ago, jkbrwn said:

120-130 damn son 😅 I've never gone over 90 lol and even that is just overtaking downhill

I obviously would never suggest it on any public road with other cars, it intersections, or just about any interesting features…but America’s really, really big, and most of Utah and Wyoming and Nevada are completely empty

[Double 0 Soul]

I'm not saying you should drive 41000 miles in a 1L Loop @jkbrwn  but i'm sure there must be something in between that and the SUV.

It wasn't always this way, the US must have plenty of older cars on the market, you don't have to listen to those pesky marketeers forcing you to buy what they tell you to buy.. i appreciate (lithium mining aside) an EV is more environmentally friendly but the carbon footprint of an old car has already happened.

6 hours ago, AlientoyWorkmachine said:

 But @Double 0 Soul I'd invite you to the US here to try to talk to my wife, my mom, my mother in law, my step mother in law, or frankly most of my friends to tell them why they should put aside their valuation of safety (even if only perceived) and convenience 😃 In spirit, I'm with you - it feels a runaway problem, but like, we've got to pick our battles. The SUV we have now was actually the result of me persuading my partner to go down in size from what she wanted, which was a response in part to the driving of the Fit and feeling unsafe in the tin box in snowstorms on the highway etc. There are a lot of buyers decidedly not into cars that literally are just looking for safety and convenience and the industry has decided on pitching this for a long time now.

 

How have y'all become such fearful road users? folks are living through war zones and y'all scared to drive to work unless you're cocooned in a tank, when i was a kid, we didn't even wear seat belts as a 5yr old, i would straddle the transmission in my dads old Land Rover and change gear for him while our whippet stuck it's head out the window.. which incidentally, he drove back from South Africa.. so distances, through geographical sparseness are indeed possible in cranky old cars, or they used to be before the motoring industry convinced us otherwise..

My safety, my wife, moms or boys safety is equally as important to me / them but it seems, these^ fears are being played upon.

Edited October 18 by Double 0 Soul

[jkbrwn]

Because we see it day in day out over here. Huge SUVs crushing fellow cyclists, pedestrians, smaller cars and so on. I saw a hummer EV driving at what must’ve been 70mph dodging in and out of lanes. The gross weight of that vehicle is monstrous. Road deaths/traffic incidents directly coincide with the increase in vehicle size. Of course I’m going to drive something that’s not tiny or an old shit box that doesn’t have crumple zones. 
 

My CX-30 is a small car. It’s sold all over the world. Plenty of people want small cars here. The compact crossover segment has become incredibly popular. Seems like you may have an incorrect preconceived notion about how many people here drive Cadillac Escalade’s and Chevy Tahoe’s. It’s the minority for sure. 
 

When I go home to see my folks, I’m reminded immediately how small cars are in the UK. They just wouldn’t be safe over here. 

Edited October 18 by jkbrwn

[Double 0 Soul]

But they would be safe if everyone was driving the same size car, it’s the disproportionate size between vehicles which is causing the danger.. which was my exact point 20 posts ago 

[beautiful_FrEaK]

Guys, I drive a Toyota Aygo to commute on the German Autobahn (if you ever hear about a traffic jam, that's me in front of the crowd!).
Ok, the main reason is that Sara has the bigger car to transport the kids but I am totally with @Double 0 Soul and I hate this SUV trend (is it still a trend if it is present for over 10 years?!). I literally can't see shit when I'm behind them, it makes overtaking them more challenging

We are looking for a new car soon to replace the Toyota and it's the same situation: we want a smaller car for commuting but car companies really mainly focus on oversized stuff.

[beautiful_FrEaK]

21 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

But they would be safe if everyone was driving the same size car, it’s the disproportionate size between vehicles which is causing the danger.. which was my exact point 20 posts ago 

Yeah so it is basically an "arms race".

[Maynard Friedman]

@Broark really started something here… 😆

[Double 0 Soul]

1 hour ago, beautiful_FrEaK said:

Guys, I drive a Toyota Aygo to commute on the German Autobahn (if you ever hear about a traffic jam, that's me in front of the crowd!).
Ok, the main reason is that Sara has the bigger car to transport the kids but I am totally with @Double 0 Soul and I hate this SUV trend (is it still a trend if it is present for over 10 years?!)

I think it started in the 80s, as folks point out, America is big but from my knowledge, it’s always been big even before the 1980s 

I remember seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger driving a Hummer when I was a kid, I think this was the first crossover from military vehicle to road.

[Maynard Friedman]

Isn’t a Volvo 240 estate quite a big car?

[Double 0 Soul]

It is long but it's narrower than a Mini.. and nearly 12" narrower than an Audi Q7 so if 2x Q7s pass on the road, that's 2' less road i have to ride on.. it's not the length that's causing an issue.. said the actress to the... ect

Also, if i look out the window, i can see cyclists, pedestrians, pushchairs, wheelchair users and such because it's also the same height as a mini, not jacked up.

 

Edited October 18 by Double 0 Soul

[Maynard Friedman]

Where I live (and in many parts of London) there are speed humps every 50-100 yards so unless you drive at 10mph you risk bottoming out a car with a lower ground clearance. Also, parking is an absolute nightmare (very little off street parking) so a shorter car is more practical to squeeze into parking spaces. As a family of 5 with a dog, we considered an estate but decided a shorter, taller car makes far more sense for us.

I agree that width of cars is important though, some of them are becoming ridiculous now, perhaps to accommodate the increasing obesity of the occupants!

[Double 0 Soul]

Same for us.. speed bumps and massive pot holes, even though i hardly drive the car, it always fails the MOT with leaking shocks.

We live on a row of terrace houses which pre-date the car so nobody has off street parking or a garage but if every family just had one small car, it could probably cope, alas, folks have 2 .. when we moved there, i hadn't parallel parked for years so it was a struggle.. nowadays it's my forte.

[Maynard Friedman]

Oh yes, the potholes too…

To make matters worse, many of the Victorian and Edwardian houses have been converted into flats and some of those flats have 2 cars. So outside a house that has space for a single car to park, you may now have 4 cars competing for that space! Modern life certainly has its unique headaches!

[Double 0 Soul]

Our house is up a little path away from the road.. the nearest street parking space to our house is 200m away but I’ll often have to park on a neighbouring street so if I had an EV I’d need 30 or 40 extensions to charge it... imagine the trip hazards!

[Broark]

4 hours ago, Maynard Friedman said:

@Broark really started something here… 😆

Next time I know not to ever mention anything about cars here.

[tooth]

Petrol-masculinity is a real thing here in the US.

Edited October 18 by tooth

[LazyS]

4 hours ago, Maynard Friedman said:

Isn’t a Volvo 240 estate quite a big car?

isn't Volvo 240 is the best?

[Double 0 Soul]

Same here @tooth but it’s usually Porsche wankers rather than size conscious.. the types who think a car which can do 0-60 in 3.2 seconds in inherently better than a car which takes a measly 3.4

2 hours ago, Broark said:

Next time I know not to ever mention anything about cars here.

I’d advise the Goldilocks approach in future... not too big or too small, not too fast or too slow not too expensive nor too cheap... juuust right.

Edited October 18 by Double 0 Soul

[Broark]

8 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

I’d advise the Goldilocks approach in future... not too big or too small, not too fast or too slow not too expensive nor too cheap... juuust right.

Problem with this is that everyone has their own use cases and justifications. What’s “just right” for someone in the UK might be entirely impractical for someone elsewhere in the world and vice versa.

[Double 0 Soul]

Jeez.. don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble for one week 

[Broark]

6 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Jeez.. don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble for one week 

I would never.

[rbeck]

Personally, I like big trucks. I think they're really neat. For instance:

[tooth]

@rbeck Is that picture of the 5 or 10 in LA?

[Cold Summer]

9 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

It wasn't always this way, the US must have plenty of older cars on the market, you don't have to listen to those pesky marketeers forcing you to buy what they tell you to buy.

I think a lot of people feel this way and that's why the average car age in the US is at an all-time high. 90s and 2000s cars were generally well made and reliable so I think that's also a big part of why so many are still on the road in the US.

Quote

i appreciate (lithium mining aside) an EV is more environmentally friendly but the carbon footprint of an old car has already happened.

Exactly. Driving and maintaining an old car is better for the environment than building a new electric car. And when you consider that the electricity that powers the EV battery is often generated by methods that aren't great for the environment either, the whole battery-powered car push really does just seem like kicking the can down the road, at best. If people decide an EV is best for their use case that's fine, but the whole societal push to impose them on everybody smacks of ulterior motives.

Forget time travel and hoverboards, the technology from Back To The Future I most want is the "Mister Fusion" car-reactor that turns trash into energy! What a great concept. Maybe any kind of reactor-powered car is a pipe dream but I find it more compelling than battery-powered cars.

The thing that really struck me as crazy when I drove my dad's truck is that it's got this absurdly huge blind spot in the front, the super-tall fenders, big wheels, and ride height all contribute to a massive zone where you just can't see anything in front of you. In my wagon I can easily see anything in any direction, down to the height of a toddler, but in big tall cars the visibility plain sucks. My CR-V fares somewhat better, but it's still not great.

 

 

[Dr_Heech]

In comparison to Broark's electric jeep, here's my Nice thing.

 

Ford focus 1.6 which will be 20 years old next June. I've driven her for 13 years and every year the garage says they can't weld it up any more for MOT's but somehow do. It was used for many family holidays in Devon and Cornwall and does a good run down to London no problem. It's got dents from cattle and many scratches and gets cleaned once a year if that - This last part more to do with parking next to a dusty yard full of tractors working etc and cow muck on the roads around the other site where l work. The commutes not bad, a 14 mile round trip up and down cotswold lanes which are steep and narrow, especially the rat runs. Trouble is once there is some roadworks,  the whole commute now seems to grind to a halt. Normally takes me 15 minutes to get home, today it was 25.

Regardless of the deteriorating state of my car l will keep pushing for Mot again and again because it has already been made/constructed and paid for and is as cheap as motoring can be with my current income. Reading the last few pages here l know l am going to be f**ked when l have to decide on a replacement. Although hopefully I'll find a new Ford Focus, one that's only 10 years old haha.

Anyway, carry on..

[Double 0 Soul]

Exactly Chaz.. if we all drove a similar car the world would be a better place for everyone.

I was laughing last week at the outrage from European car makers at the comments from the Uber CEO re Chinese EV's.. it was just sheer protectionism, but he was right, we don't need any of the bollocks which goes hand in hand with modern motoring, heated leather seats, launch control, intelegent parking pilot, it's all bollocks.. if we're going to save the planet, we don't need £100k EVs we need identical affordable metal boxes. Making motoring the preserve of the wealthy is just classist bollocks.. we should all have the right to get around cheaply without the fear of being crushed to death by a massive £100k truck.

Edited October 18 by Double 0 Soul

[the shivman]

Here's my daily commuter. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of anger that some drivers have for those of us who are the most vulnerable on the road. I sometimes wish that people would have to be forced to have to bike for a week so that they could see the kind of shit that we put up with, and why we don't come to a full stop like cars at stop signs.

[reallypeacedoff]

Good chat though!

To weigh in, just look at the size of the BMW M3 throughout the years. Each new iteration takes the size of the previous generation M5. The current M3 is a super yacht. The juxtaposition of making cars larger, adding more electrical nanny's to keep that weight increase manageable—the irony isn't lost on me. 

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

3 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Same here @tooth but it’s usually Porsche wankers rather than size conscious.. the types who think a car which can do 0-60 in 3.2 seconds in inherently better than a car which takes a measly 3.4

I’d advise the Goldilocks approach in future... not too big or too small, not too fast or too slow not too expensive nor too cheap... juuust right.

I was just an hour ago on my bike behind the Rivian R1s (we see a lot of them where I’m at). For US roads, it fits in the Goldilocks spectrum I would say. It might not on your roads. 

Honestly, I think the issue here really isn’t America’s cars but Britains ones, no? We’ve got our own problems, but can’t regulations address this at home? If cars are too big for the road that sounds like an issue for government. (Yes, I’m aware that’s not an inspiring response, but really, it feels like the right place no?)

2 hours ago, Cold Summer said:

Exactly. Driving and maintaining an old car is better for the environment than building a new electric car. And when you consider that the electricity that powers the EV battery is often generated by methods that aren't great for the environment either, the whole battery-powered car push really does just seem like kicking the can down the road, at best. If people decide an EV is best for their use case that's fine, but the whole societal push to impose them on everybody smacks of ulterior motives.

This is again overly cynical IMO. It depends on the car - some cars are pretty awful emitters and getting them off the road is better than keeping them on, and at some point the lower emissions from getting the exhaust off the road is significant. If the battery powered cars kicking the can down the road - what’s the solution? There is no perfect thing, it’s about what’s realistic and significant.  I’m skeptical of this whole “push” to get everyone to drive EV’s. No one is stopping anyone from going to the dealer and buying up a ton of ICE vehicles right now. No one is telling anyone they can’t drive what they want to drive. Some govt incentives for objectively better environmental technology is only that, an incentive. It’s not a push. 

Yes, if you’re charging your EV with coal power you can do better, but that’s honestly fixable and it’s getting relatively easier all the time - whether if that’s by using more renewable energy from your utility (which many are working towards, if too slowly), or putting solar on your roof or whatever. It’s one step in a few that need to be addressed but we can’t wait for them all to happen at once. Basically - what’s the argument to not kick the can down the road, if that’s even possible? 

[rbeck]

3 hours ago, tooth said:

@rbeck Is that picture of the 5 or 10 in LA?

Nope this was from back in February in Cleveland