this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
1139 points (96.5% liked)

Fuck Cars

9379 readers
1671 users here now

A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

Rules

1. Be CivilYou may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.

2. No hate speechDon't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.

3. Don't harass peopleDon't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.

4. Stay on topicThis community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.

5. No repostsDo not repost content that has already been posted in this community.

Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.

Posting Guidelines

In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:

Recommended communities:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1139
Fuck SUVs in particular. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
68 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

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, 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.

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

https://youtu.be/azI3nqrHEXM

Here's an excellent video explaining why.