City Life

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All topics urbanism and city related, from urban planning to public transit to municipal interest stuff. Both automobile and FuckCars inclusive.

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What's going to happen to all of these SUVs? (self.citylife)

submitted 1 year ago by Kwikxilver to c/citylife

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I live in the UK and I drive an Astra. It's a four door hatchback style car from the late 00s, I bought it used and still runs fine even if it's getting on a bit. I know it won't last forever, so I'll probably buy another used car.

Right now, it seems like every new car for sale is a SUV - maybe a crossover which is more moderately sized, but basically an SUV. Buying a new car like my Astra feels niche, I don't think I have ever seen one at a dealership in the last 5 years.

What's going to happen to all of these SUVs in 5-10 years? The used market is going to be filthy with them and people are going to buy and drive them because they'll be cheap - regardless of the fact they are unsafe, costly to run and damaging to road infrastructure. I don't think we will see any car other than a SUV style car, or a van, on the roads in 5 years.

Does this not terrify anybody else? Something has to change here - either a shift to micro mobility scooters and e bikes or a massive increase in transit investment - or we are headed towards an even bigger disaster. Anybody else feel this way?

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[–] suddenlythequietrose 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well you would be wrong on the last part, tradesmen are very often just as (in my experience sometimes more) superficial and short-sighted regarding their choice of vehicle. 90% of jobs people think they should buy a truck for would be far better suited with a van.

[–] greenteadrinker@midwest.social 2 points 1 year ago

There’s new construction near my house and I much prefer the guys in shit box cars, minivans, and actual work vans. The trucks seem to belong to the LARPers on-site and always have the cover on their bed, because almost all the materials hauled in are on flatbed trucks

I like seeing when tradesmen pull up in their beat up 600k mile Scion xB or a white van. It makes me think that there was more thought put into the purchasing of their tools than looking at ads/marketing. They were also chill people to work with too

[–] Kwikxilver 1 points 1 year ago

It's a status symbol. I used to live next to tradies who would laugh about a guy turning up on the worksite with a cheap Ute or an automatic transmission. Having a big, powerful muscle car is - as Nick Offerman describes it - like having a carapace for these men to hide in and feel protected.