Automobiles

[robin3mj]

It’s crazy how RAV4’s are now the size of the second Gen 4Runners.

[Saab2000]

It’s crazy how RAV4’s are now the size of the second Gen 4Runners.

And how today’s BMW 3 Series is practically the same size as a 5 Series from not that long ago.

[Scott G.]

That pickup is so Berlin 1960s.

6208036608_c1becc95eb_b.jpg

[claritycycler]

Visited my son in Felton(near Santa Cruz) last week, saw this, first glance looks like a Jeep sized vehicle.....



....nope, this was huge and completely dialed in, the humungous tires make it look way smaller than it is, compare it to the height of the gas pumps and paper towel dispensers, $6.39gal for diesel, ouch!

[Saab2000]

Probably among my favorite cars in the world.

[caleb]

This looks like a $70,000 parody.

[bertiewhang]

This looks like a $70,000 parody.

That is effin ballin'!

[Marvinlungwitz]

Visited my son in Felton(near Santa Cruz) last week, saw this, first glance looks like a Jeep sized vehicle.....

....nope, this was huge and completely dialed in, the humungous tires make it look way smaller than it is, compare it to the height of the gas pumps and paper towel dispensers, $6.39gal for diesel, ouch!

]

At the 2007 (or so) gasoline price surge, there was a shift to small vehicles.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...on-2007-levels

Now there’s zilch demand even as we whine over the cost of a gallon. And then there’s that global warming thing that no longer seems deniable.

I guess a lot changed in mindset over the past decade and a half.

[j44ke]

...

This must be a thing, because I have now seen at least 3 different similar non-off-road SUV type vehicles done up like this tootling around town repeatedly. People own these and just you know, drive to the grocery with all this crap on it (the rear mounted jack is fcking hilarious.) I see one at the hardware store almost every time I go, so it must be an employee's vehicle. Never muddy. Doesn't even look scratched. Immaculate. There is another one living somewhere on our street. I honestly cannot tell the brands apart any longer. These all look the same - except for Kia which seems to have ripped off the Rivian truck look or vice versa. Well you do you, I guess. But talk about peacock behavior.

[j44ke]

At the 2007 (or so) gasoline price surge, there was a shift to small vehicles.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...on-2007-levels

Now there’s zilch demand even as we whine over the cost of a gallon. And then there’s that global warming thing that no longer seems deniable.

I guess a lot changed in mindset over the past decade and a half.

America needs a car large enough to be a truck in order to carry their super big gulp pumpkin spice latté safely in the bucket holder between the seats.

[echappist]

At the 2007 (or so) gasoline price surge, there was a shift to small vehicles.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...on-2007-levels

Now there’s zilch demand even as we whine over the cost of a gallon. And then there’s that global warming thing that no longer seems deniable.

I guess a lot changed in mindset over the past decade and a half.

Singapore seems to be doing this correctly.

Salient points from the article, most important of which I emphasized below.

To own a car in Singapore, a buyer must bid for a certificate that now costs more than $106,000 (S$145,000), equivalent to four Toyota Camry Hybrids in the US, as a post-pandemic recovery has driven up the cost of the country’s vehicle quota system to all-time highs.

Singapore has a 10-year “certificate of entitlement” (COE) system, introduced in 1990, to control the number of vehicles in the small city-state, which is home to 5.9 million people and can be driven across in less than an hour.

The quota, offered through a bidding process, has made it the most expensive city in the world to buy a car, with the certificate for a large car more than quadrupling from 2020 prices on Wednesday to a record S$146,002 ($106,376.68).

Including COE, registration fees and taxes, a new standard Toyota Camry Hybrid currently costs S$251,388 ($183,000) in Singapore, compared with $28,855 in the US. A small, government-subsidized flat in Singapore costs about S$125,000.

The median annual household salary in Singapore is S$121,188.

IIRC, the cost of a flat (government subsidized) with enough BRs for a family was around 250k-300k USD.

So price of a car is out of the reach of many, but a domicile isn't. All in a country that has high population density.

To be honest, I'd much prefer this than a situation where one can readily afford cars but is priced out of a domicile (either due to high purchase cost or ever increasing rent).

[sk_tle]

Vehicules should definitely be taxed by weight, possibly pondered a bit on EV, as the road damage increase dramatically with it.

I saw this chart a few years ago. Left column is damage ratio compared to the average car at the time. I guess the reference is cost of repair the damages.

[caleb]

At the 2007 (or so) gasoline price surge, there was a shift to small vehicles.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...on-2007-levels

Now there’s zilch demand even as we whine over the cost of a gallon. And then there’s that global warming thing that no longer seems deniable.

I guess a lot changed in mindset over the past decade and a half.

I've had several conversations this summer and fall with acquaintances who very readily volunteer the opinion that gas prices are way too high and the economy is a wreck right before or after telling me about spending like a drunken sailor on a ginormous new vehicle.

My best guess is that people are anxious about the transportation economy, but they aren't really feeling any pain yet.

[bertiewhang]

This must be a thing, because I have now seen at least 3 different similar non-off-road SUV type vehicles done up like this tootling around town repeatedly. People own these and just you know, drive to the grocery with all this crap on it (the rear mounted jack is fcking hilarious.) I see one at the hardware store almost every time I go, so it must be an employee's vehicle. Never muddy. Doesn't even look scratched. Immaculate. There is another one living somewhere on our street. I honestly cannot tell the brands apart any longer. These all look the same - except for Kia which seems to have ripped off the Rivian truck look or vice versa. Well you do you, I guess. But talk about peacock behavior.

Peacock behaviour is what most cars are about.

[bertiewhang]

Sad but true. We were actually good at them, back before our eyes wandered from the Roadmaster to the Suburban. Buick drove a stake through the heart of this monster, just one year before its 50th birthday:



Even Consumer Reports gave it decent marks.

The Buick Roadmonster Is a Beautiful, Memorable Dinosaur
The Boss Wagon is alive and well in a very unlikely way with the final Buick Roadmaster.

I had two, a '94 and a '96. Great cars, especially the latter. One of the last off the line, bought it from an orthodontist whose father worked in the plant. Maroon with tan leather, must have taken half a herd of cows. Towing package. CD changer. I once put over 100 2x4's in the back.

This is awesome.

[rwsaunders]

[Scott G.]

You know we have reached peak SUV when the G-Wagen crowd moves on to the next big thing.
Unimog, the SUV of the future.

gj-unimog-1.jpg

[Too Tall]

You want to start a fight? Talk about trucks at a campground ;) The default truck is a 3/4t high zoot diesel. Almost nobody needs this in order to tow a 10K lbs trailer but hey it's religion not facts sigh.

I have to walk away when they bemoan cost of ownership.

[robin3mj]

You know we have reached peak SUV when the G-Wagen crowd moves on to the next big thing.
Unimog, the SUV of the future.

gj-unimog-1.jpg

Our family friends own a cool burger restaurant (Stirling Hotel; Stirling, NJ) and the owner used to have an old Unimog fitted out as a mobile kitchen. It was pretty cool, if not very practical.

[darkmother]

The default truck is a 3/4t high zoot diesel. Almost nobody needs this in order to tow a 10K lbs trailer but hey it's religion not facts sigh.

I have to walk away when they bemoan cost of ownership.

Come on! How else are they going to tow their RV at 80 mph uphill?