this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2024
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[–] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 67 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Pff, car users dont need society to get around, everyone knows road and bridge and fuel infrastructure are natural parts of the word that are just there on their own already! /s

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[–] Hello_there@fedia.io 55 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Simpsons did it. Canyon Aarow

[–] BlueLineBae@midwest.social 40 points 2 weeks ago

12 yards long, 2 lanes wide, 65 tons of American pride, Canyonero!

[–] jewbacca117@lemmy.world 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Smells like a steak and seats 35!

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 27 points 2 weeks ago

Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts.

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fixed url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI_Jl5WFQkA

What some folks may not know is that at around the same time, Ford had problems with tires imploding on SUVs. While not called out in the Canyonero spoof, I always thought it captured the public vibe about big trucks at the time in light of this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_and_Ford_tire_controversy

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[–] fishos@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

It's also literally the motto for the Pontiac Grand Prix.

"Wider is better"

[–] geissi@feddit.org 8 points 2 weeks ago

And that was in 1998

[–] GluWu@lemm.ee 53 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I can tell this is a old meme because $119k is "a lot". Lol

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Not a cheap vehicle, but that's a medium truck with presumably a pretty incredible tow rating. Not really a passenger vehicle.

[–] GluWu@lemm.ee 17 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

To be fair that is the largest consumer model and essentially the most expensive OEM package you can get. And it is very powerful and capable tow vehicle, but the majority of people just use them as passenger vehicles and maybe tow their rv a few times a year(which can be done with was less of a truck).

If you know modded trucks, whether that's purpose built towing or just mall crawler, there are way more trucks over $200k than you would realize. If you ever see a welding truck, big 4x4 lifted trucks with custom beds, those are an easy $250k. But they are being used. Those guys make a easy 6 figures while living in hotels with nothing else to spend it on.

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[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Not really a passenger vehicle.

You say that, but I see four doors on it.

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[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 4 points 1 week ago (3 children)
[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm guessing larger than medium are the ones that transport containers, trees, houses, and the like

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[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I passed a Lamborghini SUV on the road the other day. I checked and it retails for about $250,000. Motherfucker really dropped a quarter of a million dollars for a RAV4-looking vehicle to haul the kids to soccer in.

EDIT: Lamborghini Urus

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 35 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

American culture in general:

"Remember: There is no society - only YOU and the freedom to do whatever you want!"

.... the chef's kiss was in parking your monstrosity next to a Big Sad Box .... a beautiful summary of the general North American society we've created. Millions of years of evolution to get to the point of selfish ignorantly following a life style to park next to a big sad box and buy an overpriced couch you can't afford made by Vietnamese children.

And to boast that it's the absolute Pinnacle of society. It's the only version they've seen but they're convinced there are zero improvements

[–] Roopappy@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I often see a car in a crowded parking lot that is too wide or too long to fit in a parking spot, and I have to wonder if the person driving that vehicle is a complete idiot or a complete asshole.

How stupid are you that you chose a daily driver that doesn't work? That you take up so much space that everyone else needs to actively avoid you and curse you because you are so bad at making choices?

Do you regret your choice? Do you constantly think "Fuck everyone else around me, I do what I want.", or do you legitimately not notice how everyone else hates you?

[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Do you regret your choice? Do you constantly think “Fuck everyone else around me, I do what I want.”, or do you legitimately not notice how everyone else hates you?

It could easily be all of those things. Regret turns to coping poorly through projection^1^, followed by just ignoring the problem.

Re: idiots and assholes. The Venn diagram for those groups have a rather large intersection.


1. Clinically known as "acting like an asshole". In this case, it's the decision that it's everyone else who is encroaching on their space, while driving a vehicle that is slightly smaller than a shuttle bus.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

That requires introspection. Instead they say things like “the idiot that built this parking lot made the spaces too small.”

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

Artist nailed it outlining people's obsession with personal freedoms versus society's rights as a whole.

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 17 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I hate this about newer car models. Many are unnecessarily wide. Lanes don't get wider though.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 28 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It is "necessary" for them to be that wide.

CAFE standards are based on "footprint" which is basically the rectangle of the tire contact patches. If you're a car manufacturer who can't meet the NHTSA's MPG requirements for the size of car you produce, you can increase the size of your cars, so they fit in a larger class that requires less of an MPG improvement.

The most effective way to increase the footprint is to widen a narrow car, increasing its footprint toward square.

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Am I understanding you correctly? There is a standard somewhere that says you can't have tires of a certain width on a car unless the car is also broad?

Why is that even a requirement? I thought broad tires were safer, why would the width of the car have anything to do with it?

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

No, you're not understanding me correctly. Mostly because I misspoke, so that's on me, not you.

The contact patches I was talking about are the corners of the rectangle. Everything between the wheels is the footprint.

The area of the footprint basically determines the minimum MPG you can have. (The more complicated point is that it is related to all the vehicles you produce rather than a specific minimum, but that overcomplicates the issue. The point is that CAFE standards provide strong incentives for manufacturers to increase the "footprints" of their vehicles. The larger the footprint they can claim, the less MPG improvement they need to make. So, longer and wider wheelbases.

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[–] Odd_so_Star_so_Odd@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

To be brief, some boneheads ages past decided to class vehicles based on footprint rather than simply weight.

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

They’re wider and longer because the EPA uses the area under the tires to determine fuel economy requirements.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

*NHTSA, but yes.

[–] tomkatt@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

😲😳 That explains so much…

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[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 16 points 1 week ago

In all honesty, the wideness of modern cars may actually be their downfall. I live in a suburban area (Not US, but that doesn't matter it's become everyone's problem.) and the roads were designed for cars to be parked on either side and two, narrow lanes in the middle where people could, slowly, get past each other, with a certain amount of tolerance (i.e. space).

Then came an EPA ruling in the states (late 90's I think) and trucks were immune to sensible laws and all the car companies made trucks that were immune to being too wide (among other things). They became objects of desire. Cars followed, because everyone wants a thick phallus I guess, or maybe needs to see the road when there's a fat car next to them, or one with tinted windows, and I'm nowhere near to a legal solution in a global economy.

Practical upshot, local roads are only one lane wide because of fat cars parked on either side with no regard to practicality, add endless renovation because property development is the one true way to richness /s, even though rich people already own the good land, and control their local environment.

TLDR, fat cars break suburban roads.

[–] Wooki@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Nothing wrong with public transport

[–] Emerald@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Lol I don't understand why people want wide cars. There are so many instances where having a narrow car saved me from some dinguses crossing the center line

[–] bcgm3@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

You're stuck in the "defensive driving" mindset -- You gotta go offensive to keep safe. The Chevy Stretch offers significantly greater total mass than even large trucks, and a lower center of gravity. Now you'll be the one crossing the center line, striking fear into the hearts of the sensible!

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[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It's crazy to think that Humvees were designed with war in Europe in mind. They are pretty wide and may have been wider if they didn't have to worry about train tunnels

[–] Zementid@feddit.nl 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Remember the times when Humvees were considered big and stupid to drive in civilian applications?

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

Always have been. H2s were the cybertrucks of their day

[–] CommissarVulpin@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

They were designed so that the wheels would be the same width as the tracks on an Abrams tank.

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Canyonaro is far superior

[–] Anamnesis@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Don't give them any ideas

[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 4 points 1 week ago

This has been plagerized directly from a Tex Avery cartoon from the 1950s...

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thats how we view American cars, especially pickups that nobody needs and SUVs that have never seen a path that needed 4WD here in Europe.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Pickups, SUVs, and Vans in America are getting unreasonably large because of poorly-written environmental regulation.

In the mid-2000s, automakers were classifying everything as a "truck" to skirt CAFE (fuel economy) standards. The tilling point was the PT Cruiser being regulated as a truck. So, starting in 2012, CAFE standards started to be based on vehicle footprint.

Ever notice how all the little trucks like the S-10, Dakota, and the old-style Ranger all had 2011-ish as their last year model?

Suddenly, small trucks became effectively illegal, and as fuel economy standards get tougher every few years, the automakers have learned it's easier to just make the footprint bigger than it is to make the fuel economy better. They've since re-released the Ranger, but now it's bigger than the F-150 used to be.

And now it's hit the vans. CAFE outran the small cargo van footprints, so the Nissan NV200, Ford Transit Connect, and RAM Promaster City have all been discontinued in the last 2-3 years because they can't make cargo-hauling vehicles that size any longer.

New York City's Taxi Fleet changed to NV200s a few years back to improve accessibility, and now they can't buy replacement vehicles without either dropping the accessibility and going small or moving to fuck-you-sized vehicles.

The one neat thing though is the Ford Maverick. It's a small 4-seat truck with a half-size bed that comes standard as a hybrid (trafitional ICE is an "upgrade" so it meets CAFE) for like 25 grand. The only real problem is buying one since they only made like 4 of them.

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