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Yeah the shit's out of control in the US. People don't need goddamn huge cars.
Europe used to laugh at American big cars, but recently the cars on our roads get bigger and bigger too :-(
Yeah I am glad at least that a number of countries are taking measures to de-car city centers. They're a blight. Especially these big stupid SUVs.
Biggest misnomer in the Auto industry. They are neither sporty nor utilitarian.
They are essentially a rebranding of minivans. Minivans were seen as soccer mom vehicles, but were incredibly practical. So they rebranded them to SUVs, raising the height, reducing cargo space, increasing blind spots, and over all making them less functional, but they sell much better.
Yeah, it’s “mom car creep.” First sedans were mom cars, then station wagons, followed by minivans. Somehow the stupid huge SUVs are avoiding the stigma so far.
Also, the Tesla model X is literally a minivan, not an SUV. I know that’s off topic but I had to say it. :-)
Unpopular opinion, but I want station wagons to come back. They were a super useful car that didn't look too bad.
They have, but it's still nothing compared to the US. I drive a Nissan Qashqai. It's quite a big car in The Netherlands. There are bigger of course (like the big Volvo XC 70 and 90) but I'm definitely on the bigher size on the road. But my car would be tiny in the US. It would be like driving an old Fiat 500 over here.
Oh, I am sure American cars are even bigger, but that does not mean we should like the trend.
They just stripped the light freight classification for trucks for private persons over here. Sales dropped by half.
People will look me dead in the face and tell me they need the SUV because the kids have hockey practice, I wouldn't understand. As if my dad didn't take me to hockey practice in a Toyota Terecel.
My leaf and my neighbors 90s pickup are more than enough for all of the rural farm shit we need them for so city folk really got no fuckin excuse
Unfortunately, the US Environmental Protection Agency (emphasis on mental) has rules in place regarding emissions per unit length of vehicle which effectively penalize manufacturers who make small vehicles.
Well we cant be bothered with actually changing rules and laws to change things and potentially make rich people change how they make money so we just have to keep pandering to fascists and swift fans for votes
Worse is those who don't know how to drive them. I hear all the time ohh that massive vehicle is like any other car. New money seems to be most of who buy huge vehicles in US. Got to show off in front of the poor people...actual remember news it is a metric of how the economy is doing. As old money buy affordable and reliable.
There's a lot of Americans that have been bamboozled by the auto industry. Canadians and Mexicans too. Big American trucks are a status symbol in a lot of Mexico. It just shows how effective advertising can be. Basically they are selling a kind of identity or self-image.
Cycle to work every day, 3 miles one way, I know in my bones from repeated experiences that the bigger the vehicle, the less likely they see you
That one picture of even front-end visibility always stuck with me. It's something stupid like 15 kids in a line and the driver can't see them. You could drive into a classroom worth of children and not see it.
If it's the same one I'm thinking of, a couple/few of the biggest trucks have less visibility than an M1-A1 Abrams TANK......
To be fair I'm pretty sure Abrams (and most other modern western tanks) have really good driver's/commander's sights compared to any vehicle at all
I'm talking the old version that didn't have the fancy helmets to see through the tank. The commander may have some good sights, but the drivers didn't.
Oh, gotcha
I had a guy in a pickup drive right into my 8ft long trailer when I as stopped at a light. He pulled up to me while I was stopped fine, but then he couldn't see my trailer and 30 seconds later started rolling forward while the light was still red and hit it. I was very annoyed and when I talked to him he said he forgot it was there and couldn't see it. I was speechless.
Can confirm, for me about 10 miles one way and the bigger the car the more likely they don't see you or don't care.
I’m getting really annoyed by these articles about saint Hidalgo. Resident parking ie for people who live within the city parish limit won’t be subject to these new prices. But it is the people with really high income who live in the 8e and 16e who drive around Paris in Range Rovers and Audi Q7, alone in their cars, not the cleaning people from La Courneuve and Saint Denis who works in the offices and uses the RER B to commute to work. Not your regular office people as they either commute or bike to the office. And for those of us who decide to move further away from the first ring of surburb, we do have cars but use public transit if we need to go to Paris, either for work or leisure as it’s a lot faster and far less expensive.
It’s just a damn smoke screen as Parisians won’t be affected.
Translation for non-Parisians:
Peut-être les automobilistes parisiens seront-ils affectés dans un second temps?
J’ai beaucoup de doutes sur ça. Elle a beau dire qu’elle souhaite protéger les gens de petite couronne avec cette votation, jusqu’à présent ses actions ont été en faveur des parisiens et contre les banlieusards. Ça m’étonnerait qu’elle ait changé sa vision d’un coup, elle en a juste assez de se faire taper par les élus d’IdF pour ses décisions non-concertées donc elle s’ajoute un polish « altruiste ».
Sur le principe, je suis d’accord avec limiter l’usage des SUV, nos infrastructures ne sont pas faites pour mais soit c’est tout le monde qui prend soit personne.
People in Slovakia keep buying them more and more and they don't even fit into the parking spaces..
Aw what? I'm trying to move to Slovakia partially because I want to escape this nonsense (though also because my grandfather's family is Slovak-Hungarian and I like Slovak language), this is devastating news for my distaste for being crushed by large objects travelling at fast speeds
This is the best summary I could come up with:
No, I’m not talking about the mad rush for Wegovy, which is selling so swiftly that Denmark has to remove data relating to manufacturers Novo Nordisk to measure (the rest of) its economy properly.
The individual logic makes sense: would you want to drive on the same highway as Mr Tinydick’s 7,000lb (3,175kg) Dodge Ram if you’re in a Mini?
The measure, which would include hybrids and electric vehicles over a certain weight limit – though with an exemption for Paris resident parking – would affect roughly 10% of the cars in the city.
And beyond Paris, Tesla’s 6,800lb (3,080kg) Cybertruck probably won’t be coming to Europe at all, because at that weight, it requires a trucking licence to drive (I write this with a sigh of relief).
Hidalgo’s administration has pitched the increased parking fee as a form of social justice (taxing the owners of expensive cars) as well as a way to encourage use of public transport.
The next time I go back to the US, I wouldn’t be surprised to find someone driving an actual tank down the street, probably on their way to Krispy Kreme.
The original article contains 829 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 77%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Tesla’s 6,800lb (3,080kg) Cybertruck probably won’t be coming to Europe at all, because at that weight, it requires a trucking licence to drive
The maximum gross weight allowed for a “car“ driver license is 3500kg.
The cybertruck has a gross weight of 4300kg, which highly exceeds the 3500kg
In my country, for electric cars, they raised limit (gross/max. weight) to 4250 kg. Probably by the car lobby.
According to the specs, the AWD trim has max. weight of 4238 kg.
So, no problem with the standard drivers license.
If only ~~Cyber~~Uglytruck gets the EU approval.
In my country, for electric cars, they raised limit (gross/max. weight) to 4250 kg. Probably by the car lobby.
Also because, otherwise, electric workvans are impossible
The US is full of SUVs because of CAFE law. SUVs are trucks and thus have lower mpg requirements. Look at what's sold in the US. Almost all cars are tiny and grossly underpowered if more than 1 adult is in it. So our choices are a truck, SUV, or minivan.
I get the feeling you’ve never been outside North America if you think cars here are small.
I think he's talking about all non-suv or trucks in the US being small or underpowered. Not other country cars being small.
Well, except the article is about Paris and cars in the US are not small or underpowered.. at all. Kind of a ridiculous statement, actually. The average car in Europe is much smaller than those in the US with a much smaller engine. For example, the most popular car in France in 2022 was the Peugot 208 with a 1.2L engine with around 74hp and a length of 4m, while the most popular car in the US, the Camry has a engine options ranging between 2.4L-3.5L, around 208hp and a length of 4.8m (almost 3’ longer for you yanks).
I mean, they have to be. European fuel prices are double or more and most countries/cities have proper transit and were not built for US size cars (or any cars for that matter).
We're still very far from US sized cars.
It's mostly to remove the vehicles responsible for the most emissions.
It needs to absolutely be regulated. I don't really want to get an SUV, but I might for my own safety when 3/4 of other cars on the road are monsters.
How about a Sports Utility Bicycle?