Comment by Loughla
5 days ago
I get the trucks and SUV's where you need them. I live in a rural area and without ground clearance and 4x4, I literally wouldn't be able to visit my parents. But my daily driver is a Honda Civic. Because 75% of my driving is done on paved roads that are well maintained (except in the winter).
What kills me are the MASSIVE vehicles in the suburbs though. Why do you need a 3 ton suburban to drive around 2 kids on very clear, very well maintained streets? Why would you buy a 4x4 truck when the most off road you'll do is driving over wet leaves on your cul-de-sac in the fall?
CAFE regs made USian hugecars relatively profitable, and car makers got USians to demand them via savvy marketing. That's what I reckon anyway.
The word "American" already unambiguously describes people of the USA. You don't need to make up a new word.
1. Synonyms exist in language.
2. You're on a site with a bunch of programmers who regularly use weird words for stuff that already has a name. Reading through HN is wading through a swamp of made up names and tech neologisms, you're just used to it already. I once told a software guy that our team's SWEs had migrated away from React and Node to Stork.JS and Blackadder. He nodded like that meant anything.
3. I like it and you can't stop me.
2 replies →
The word "American" has many sub entries in the Oxford English Dictionary - not all of those meanings are "citizen of the USofA".
So much for unambiguous.
2 replies →
> Why do you need a 3 ton suburban to drive around 2 kids on very clear, very well maintained streets?
Safety.
I’m expecting and looking to get a full size SUV instead of the current crossover I drive.
It will be a pain to park in some areas/situations, but the safety it provides to the child is much more important to me.
Modern (suburb) SUV's spectacularly suck at most tasks, you have been falsely advertised to.
A 2010 Toyota Corolla is most likely a better offroader, a 1.8t VW Passat is a better tow truck.
If not for the tax benefit these SUV's enjoy they are useless.
Towing a boat or camper is quite common - not gonna get a second vehicle just for that.
Something like 10-15% of US households own a boat or camper. Over 60% of cars sold today are SUVs, and a ton of those would not be great to tow a boat or decent sized camper.
The vast majority of people I know who daily drive SUVs and trucks do not own either a boat or camper.
You can tow a boat, caravan, etc. with a smaller Holden Rodeo crew cab at 1.5 tonne (and / or many other vehicles that are not massive over sized yank tanks).