Urabanism, environment and those stupid trucks

[epronovost]

I didn't really know where to put this, but I think this video (and channel in general) makes a great job at explaining how SUV and trucks are extremely dangerous for people and the environment. To me those points hit home. I lived for a good while in a sub-urban area filled with SUV and giant trucks that were never used to do anything different than tiny cars. I find the idea of agressively marketing stupid, dangerous vehicles to entitled assholes and guillable idiots particularly insulting.

[Inkubus]

Well aye, but we've known this for decades. Rich wankers devoid of imagination.

[Dom]

Don't just judge everyone though. I drive an SUV, it helps to keep my trips into town at a minimum. I can load twice as much stuff into it (if not more) and save myself at least one trip. It saves me time, wear and tear, and gas and is the practical thing to do for me. So, be careful about judging without knowing details.

[Rhythmcs]

If I want a new version of the suv I already drive I need to be willing to part with 75k. The sheer cost of these vehicles is going to drive the number of them on the roads down. At that price the thing should fly and drive itself. I could get a cesna cheaper.

[Fireball]

I have a 3/4 ton 1970 Chevy truck that I use to pull my travel trailer and carry heavy stuff from the lumber yards, etc. It is dwarfed by the newer trucks. And, yeah, if I hit you, you're gonna get hurt. I'm a careful driver, haven't hit anyone yet. Got it free (inherited) and will never turn loose of it for something newer. It doesn't get driven much.

[epronovost]

Don't just judge everyone though. I drive an SUV, it helps to keep my trips into town at a minimum. I can load twice as much stuff into it (if not more) and save myself at least one trip. It saves me time, wear and tear, and gas and is the practical thing to do for me. So, be careful about judging without knowing details.

Except SUV have a comparable carrying capacity than sedans and much lower than station-wagons which are safer and consume far less fuels. SUV are big, but they don't carry much.

[Dom]

Don't just judge everyone though. I drive an SUV, it helps to keep my trips into town at a minimum. I can load twice as much stuff into it (if not more) and save myself at least one trip. It saves me time, wear and tear, and gas and is the practical thing to do for me. So, be careful about judging without knowing details.

Except SUV have a comparable carrying capacity than sedans and much lower than station-wagons which are safer and consume far less fuels. SUV are big, but they don't carry much.

I can fit a Great Dane, a Llama, a human passenger, a dozen feed bags and 4 weeks of groceries for two in my car.

I have done this when I needed to take one of the Llama's to the vet. I folded the back seat down. Oh, and I have one of the smaller SUV, not the big old ones.

[Fireball]

Except SUV have a comparable carrying capacity than sedans and much lower than station-wagons which are safer and consume far less fuels. SUV are big, but they don't carry much.

I can fit a Great Dane, a Llama, a human passenger, a dozen feed bags and 4 weeks of groceries for two in my car.

I have done this when I needed to take one of the Llama's to the vet. I folded the back seat down. Oh, and I have one of the smaller SUV, not the big old ones.

Bolding mine. Holy cow, you missed a great career in Packaging Engineering! 

[Dom]

I can fit a Great Dane, a Llama, a human passenger, a dozen feed bags and 4 weeks of groceries for two in my car.

I have done this when I needed to take one of the Llama's to the vet. I folded the back seat down. Oh, and I have one of the smaller SUV, not the big old ones.

Bolding mine. Holy cow, you missed a great career in Packaging Engineering! 

Actually, I do have a very good eye for space and how to fit things in it. Must have inherited that from my engineer dad. 

Llamas "kush" when in cars. They fold themselves in a unique way. He took no more space than the Dane, except for the long neck.

[Fireball]

Bolding mine. Holy cow, you missed a great career in Packaging Engineering! 

Actually, I do have a very good eye for space and how to fit things in it. Must have inherited that from my engineer dad. 

Llamas "kush" when in cars. They fold themselves in a unique way. He took no more space than the Dane, except for the long neck.

I looked up "kush", because I've never seen the word before. It seems to always refer to marijuana.

[Dom]

Actually, I do have a very good eye for space and how to fit things in it. Must have inherited that from my engineer dad. 

Llamas "kush" when in cars. They fold themselves in a unique way. He took no more space than the Dane, except for the long neck.

I looked up "kush", because I've never seen the word before. It seems to always refer to marijuana.

Yes, the weed folks stole it. And I should have spelled it with a c - maybe I have too much weed in my life.

When a llama lays down with its legs neatly tucked beneath its body, this is referred to as “cushing”. This is a common position taken when the animal is chewing its cud.

Llama Behavior Llamas Alpacas Camelids | Actforlibraries.org

[GenesisNemesis]

I'm not gonna drive an SUV or truck ever, but this is such a niche issue that most people probably aren't going to care besides those already convinced. Same deal with gas stoves.

[epronovost]

I'm not gonna drive an SUV or truck ever, but this is such a niche issue that most people probably aren't going to care besides those already convinced. Same deal with gas stoves.

A flat bed truck is useful if you need to carry a lot of heavy and dirty material like in a construction site or on a farm, but the overwhelming majority of flat bed trucks are used by regular people to do stuff they could do with a two door car let alone a good old fashion sedan. 

As for SUV, considering that, despite their size, they don't not actually have more interior and transport space than most sedan let alone minivans or station wagons; they are completely useless. They are just bulkier, higher off the ground regular cars with four wheel drives. 

Let's be honest, most of those cars have no practical use or need and could be replaced by their owner with no disadvantages to significantly smaller and more fuel efficient cars. It's like for the one time a flat bed truck or larger car like a van or a station wagon would have been useful you can't simply ret one or simply use a small trailer.

[Inkubus]

Apologies to epronovost and others, I forgot the scale difference across the pond. You folk at times do actually need these SUV things and can put them to work. But Chelsea tractor is what immediately sprang to my mind.

These wankers


I'm too fucked to look but the stats say there are a large numbers of suburban registered SUV's that have never once been in four wheel drive.

[skyking]

Nothing to apologize about. I have a large diesel truck to do jobs. If I am driving it, I can't do what I am about to do with my diesel beetle, which is saying a whole lot.
In this example, the beetle has swallowed the 200 pound transmission from the truck.

I met the transmission overhaul guy half way and it was "fish on" getting it out of there.

A typical loadout to cross the mountains.

I will do what I can to get the ~47 MPG that the beetle does.

This combination weighed in at ~15,000 pounds, and I drove it from Portland to NYC.

It was a whole lot nicer to drive and used 30% less fuel than doing it this way.

[c172]

One of my earliest dream cars was an '87 Ford pickup, possibly a dually, but even a 150 would have sufficed. I'm not sure what drew me to them, besides being utilitarian. I just wasn't a flashy guy. I also liked the '91 VW Golf, which, back then, was very plain jane in its most basic trim. Funny how big, new trucks and this recent wave of Murrican retro pony cars are what the kids with rich dads have nowadays. But back in the day, Jake Ryan picked up Sam Baker in a Porsche 944, which in some way still seems more fancy to me.

[Dom]

I'm not gonna drive an SUV or truck ever, but this is such a niche issue that most people probably aren't going to care besides those already convinced. Same deal with gas stoves.

A flat bed truck is useful if you need to carry a lot of heavy and dirty material like in a construction site or on a farm, but the overwhelming majority of flat bed trucks are used by regular people to do stuff they could do with a two door car let alone a good old fashion sedan. 

As for SUV, considering that, despite their size, they don't not actually have more interior and transport space than most sedan let alone minivans or station wagons; they are completely useless. They are just bulkier, higher off the ground regular cars with four wheel drives. 

Let's be honest, most of those cars have no practical use or need and could be replaced by their owner with no disadvantages to significantly smaller and more fuel efficient cars. It's like for the one time a flat bed truck or larger car like a van or a station wagon would have been useful you can't simply ret one or simply use a small trailer.

When I first moved here from the city, I was driving a dodge of some sort. After getting stuck in mud I don't know how many times, both because the car sat too low and didn't have 4 wheel drive, I changed my ways.

Some roads are just not paved, period, and if you want to visit anyone who lives along a paved road, you will still have to get off the pavement to reach their house. There is almost a half mile of unpaved, un-lit road going to my house. 

Not everybody lives in cities. You can't judge country folk by city standards.

[Rhythmcs]

Find me a sedan that can tow 4 tons with 8 passengers and has a foot of clearance for mud season, and I'm sold. I'm a big fan of rally sedans. I'd trade my old beater in for a bmw or an audi if I could. I'm definitely going to try to convince my daughter that's what she needs. That way she can help me convince the wife. Something like so, whadda you guys think, good first car for my Big Girl?

[c172]

Wow! That's a neat car. Good rally raid material. Without the tire and with kind of lower clearance, if they ever brought back Group B to the WRC, this would be a fun one to see.

[rocinantexyz]

Big vehicles makes sense when you are hauling a bunch of stuff. What I don't understand is people like a friend of mine who buys a fancy new giant truck and never hauls anything significant with it.

[airportkid]

... friend of mine who buys a fancy new giant truck and never hauls anything significant with it ...

Au contraire:  he uses it to parade his oversized pride. 

[Fireball]

*cough* penis compensator *cough*

[skyking]

also, the lifted trucks with the big tires that never get used. We call them PPP's for Pampered Pavement Pickups
Mine was a former logging truck and came pre-scratched for my off roading enjoyment. My wife had not tooled around in the brush so I set her in the seat and folded in the mirrors, and I just giggled when a branch would scratch down the side "Skreeeeeeeee"'.
It looks just fine from 30 feet.

[Fireball]

also, the lifted trucks with the big tires that never get used. We call them PPP's for Pampered Pavement Pickups
Mine was a former logging truck and came pre-scratched for my off roading enjoyment. My wife had not tooled around in the brush so I set her in the seat and folded in the mirrors, and I just giggled when a branch would scratch down the side "Skreeeeeeeee"'.
It looks just fine from 30 feet.

"Forest pinstripes"! 

[Paleophyte]

I've seen both sides of this. I've worked in some pretty remote locations. Dom, I'll see your half mile of gravel road and raise you fifty. Bring a CB because it's an active logging road. You can drive a car in those conditions but it's unwise and you have no carrying capacity, and I really will be needing that.

On the flip side, I live in suburbia. And would dearly love to be elsewhere. It's infested with morons with trucks that have never seen a dirt road. SUVs that will never see a sport more serious than some whelp's soccer game or a utility more important than a grocery run.

To unite both sides of this discussion let's talk about how truck beds are becoming uselessly small because the cabs are expanding to comfortably hold a family of six. How do you spot a true idiot? Look for the jacked up truck with the six foot bed.