this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
513 points (93.5% liked)

Australia

3588 readers
154 users here now

A place to discuss Australia and important Australian issues.

Before you post:

If you're posting anything related to:

If you're posting Australian News (not opinion or discussion pieces) post it to Australian News

Rules

This community is run under the rules of aussie.zone. In addition to those rules:

Banner Photo

Congratulations to @[email protected] who had the most upvoted submission to our banner photo competition

Recommended and Related Communities

Be sure to check out and subscribe to our related communities on aussie.zone:

Plus other communities for sport and major cities.

https://aussie.zone/communities

Moderation

Since Kbin doesn't show Lemmy Moderators, I'll list them here. Also note that Kbin does not distinguish moderator comments.

Additionally, we have our instance admins: @[email protected] and @[email protected]

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

It barely fits in the bloody car park. So bad for pedestrians and the environment.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Why do people even like inefficient, huge cars if they're not going to use most of its features, not even in the foreseeable future? Such a bloated design for an everyday car, and even more potentially dangerous at that... those Japanese cars have a more elegant and sleek design, as well as efficient. Well, I would like good public transportation too.

No matter how you look at it, all the pros of those kind of cars turn into cons when they're used as cars for everyday personal transport.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In America they are mostly bought because of consumerism and fragile masculinity.

Where I live trucks are at around half the vehicles. My wife and I play a game where we try to spot a truck hauling something that they actually needed the truck for. Most trips I'll see dozens of trucks and zero being necessary.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you see them on the weekends when they're hauling their 4 wheelers, boats, or motorcycles? You probably don't make it to the outdoors much, but there's good reasons to have a pickup.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A Chevy Bolt EV hatchback can tow right sized utility trailers, boats, campers, bicycles, cargo boxes, motorcycles, ride on lawn mowers and ATVs. With the roof rack it can move kayaks. Before someone chimes in to say it can't, I own one, I live in a rural area, I do these things and have done them for part of the last 150,000kms.

If the little ol' bolt can do it, think about all the larger vehicles that could do it too. The idea that you need a weekday driver pick up truck to have enough utility for weekend fun is a myth told by truck salesmen and people trying to justify the unnecessary purchase they made.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I looked into if it would be possible to tow a small trailer with the Bolt, but it's not rated for any towing load so it's an insurance liability. Is your model rated for towing, or are you just accepting the insurance liability?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My insurance company tells me that when a trailer is attached it's covered under liability, no different than a cargo box on a hitch. Rated capacity never factored into the discussion, just don't overload the OEM hitch that I have installed.

But now we're talking about differences in people's specific insurance coverage, which may vary by country, state, province, provider, and legislation and not the overall point which is that owning a daily driver pick up truck just because you occasionally tow is more an excuse than a nessecity for many , many truck owners.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

How heavy are these towed things. Some boats are well over 1000kg and small towballs aren't rated for enough down force to properly handle them. Plus a large enough trailer will start pushing you around if you don't have enough mass in the tow vehicle.

[–] INHALE_VEGETABLES 13 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] TinyBreak 5 points 1 year ago

As your wallet implodes though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As a big dude I can't comfortably fit in a lot of smaller vehicles. I used to love my truck. Now I've settled on a Crown Victoria, the thing is a boat made for land.

I live in America so it's far from the worst offender.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think I can understand that, it's just that some people just get the biggest car they can find only as a status symbol and think of nothing else about it, then when they get an inconvenience they don't even think that it's the cost of having that design. Not to mention the environmental impacts. But if I were in your situation, I certainly don't want to feel cramped in a car, especially if it's in America where you'll be driving fora significant portion of your day. I mean your car could be inefficient, but it's probably because efficiency wasn't accessible for you in the first place.