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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 11:46:19 +0200
From: "Mark Gerritsma" <flat-sixnopsamet.nld>
Subject: Re: gas prices


"Bob" <uctraingLOWSPAMnopsamanet.com> schreef in bericht news:c23bbus1kr49s5lrpp66vvsqtfcd1hbkjmnopsamcom... > >Small trucks are also > >very popular in the US, why? They have terrible petrol consumption. I think > >they sell more trucks in the US than ordinary cars. Which at about $ 1.00 a gallon wasn't a problem. But now things are starting to change. > They still sell more cars, but trucks and SUV's are capturing an ever > increasing share of the market. Most of the buyers do not need a > truck, but they buy one anyway. Some of the reasons are "status" > oriented. Mostly, though, it's an old tradition. You see, back before > the 70's, bigger cars were always better cars. After all, bigger > is always better, right ? Big car, big house, big boat, etc. But, > when cars started to get smaller, you had to buy smaller. What was > macho guy to do ? (Those of us who drive sport "forin cars" were > looked on as un-macho freaks with a screw loose in their head). But it is also the thought of a bigger car just having to be safer. Well it isn't. Comparing an average SUV to for instance a 9-5, I don't have to tell you which one is the safer car. That coupled to the fact that you probably wouldn't even have had the accident in the 9-5 because of it's better brakes and road-holding, totally putts that thought to shreds. But well, the US is a big country. They just needs some time before they also realise this. But the interesting theory is, that all the big cars in the US were in essence caused by the second world war. Because the US never had any combat on it's own soil, it never had a rebuilding period. So it had plenty of resources left for building big cars after the war, which we didn't have in Europe. Plus there is an historic difference. Most major cities in Europe have been around for a few hundres years and were never 'designed' to accomodate that much vehicles. At the time the cities in the US started to develop they had learned from these experiences and so that they could set up their cities very spacious. > Well, the answer for some was to buy a pickup > truck - big boys have big toys. But, a pickup truck was totally > impractical for most daily use (unless you really needed a truck, > lets leave those folks out). But then, someone put a cap on the > pickup truck, the manufacturers introduced these bastardized > trucks with rear seats, and it caught on. Soon we had luxury > creeping in, and everyone wanted one ! Few of these SUV's go off > the road or do anything truck like. I'll admit that there are > some folks that actually use it to tow something or haul something, > but they are the exception, not the rule. Same thing for what we in Holland call a contractors-van. They used to be econo-vans with an extra row of seats. Now they more resemble a VIP-transport with an increased loading area. Which is not to the liking of the government, so thay probably will be ending those practices soon. > The only consolation is that folks have started to realize how > impractical these vehicles are for most drivers. The latest > trend is to a vehicle halfway between a station wagon and an > SUV (think like Subaru). So, eventually this SUV trend will die, > and the status will be a 4WD/AWD vehicle with some reasonable > semblance of handling and gas mileage. What is so impractical then? You can park your SUV with more ease than we can park a Suzuki Alto. The only major impracticallity is that vortex in your fuel tank. The handling problem can be solved be adjusting your driving style. I was actually amazed at how docile NY traffic was. A NY cab driver driving in and around Amsterdam would run away screaming in a matter of minutes, when he would be driving there. Some images from London make me think, that the situation there is even worse. Mark

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