• @killeronthecorner@lemmy.world
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    151 year ago

    I’m the city centre where I live, I’m allowed to drive a gigantic petrol 4x4 because it was made in 2021. A friend ours can’t take their 2010 petrol Polo in because they’ll be charged a congestion charge for their emissions.

    A lot of so called environmental legislation is just hidden taxes on the poor masquerading as progressiveness.

    Fuck congestion charges and fuck anyone who thinks that the average person can make a dent on this shit when companies and governments around the world continue to funnel more toxic and permanent chemicals into our environment every day than 1000 individuals will in their lifetime.

  • GreenM
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    191 year ago

    Let’s not point the finger at anyone for having stupidly big cars cough 🤧 US cough 🤧

    • Cosmic Cleric
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      21 year ago

      also interesting is how few car makers even produce normal sized cars anymore, let alone smaller ones.

      From the article…

      SUVs and crossovers were traditionally less fuel efficient and more expensive, but that’s not the case anymore. Engine and technology advancements have leveled those drawbacks. SUVs and crossovers are now just as fuel efficient and offer more hauling capability as similar-sized cars for about the same price in many cases,”

      So, who do I believe?

      • @FeelThePoveR@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        “Engine and technology advancements” can also be applied to smaller cars so that doesn’t really move the needle anywhere.

        I think it’s quite obvious that unless you discover how to break the laws of physics, the smaller car will be always more efficient due to better aerodynamics and lower weight.

        • Cosmic Cleric
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          11 year ago

          the smaller car will be always more efficient due to better aerodynamics and lower weight.

          Be interesting to know how much different the two were, if the difference was minimal, or very large.

          If it’s minimal, and you need the carrying capacity, then it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to own a SUV.

          If it’s not minimal, yeah then it’s better just renting an SUV size vehicle when you need to carry something of large capacity. Unless you need that capacity each and every day, then it would be cost prohibitive to rent versus own.

      • gian
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        21 year ago

        Not really. Even in EU the cars are getting bigger even if not as fast as in the US.
        Some year ago the small city cars were smaller than the today version.

        • @afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Change the laws. If it is a truck you should have to get a CDL, have to go to weight stations, cant drive on the parkway etc. If it is a car it should have to follow the emission rules cars have. There is no point in having standards if we make exceptions so big you can drive a cough…sports utility vehicle…cough through.

          Edit: of course we can pretty much end the pickup market tomorrow if we provide free therapy for men with a micropenis.

          • @random65837@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            If it is a truck you should have to get a CDL, have to go to weight stations, cant drive on the parkway etc.

            Literally the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. You clearly don’t know what a CDL is, don’t understand the function of weigh stations, and for that, actual trucks that require them have had emission systems for a long time now.

            • Cosmic Cleric
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              11 year ago

              You clearly don’t know what a CDL is

              Could you give the rest of us a quick education on what that is?

              • @random65837@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                2 secs with Google would show you it’s a Commercial Driver’s License. Used for Commercial Vehicles which have a gross weight of over 26k lbs, or required to tow a trailer over 10k lbs GVR. But I’m sure you already knew that. Weight stations are for weighing vehicles that qualify as CMV’s and / or that are subject to the FMCSR’s, hence the 3 little red lights in the back of them, but again, you knew that.

                For those that (actually) didn’t know, there ya go.

                • Cosmic Cleric
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                  11 year ago

                  2 secs with Google would show you it’s a Commercial Driver’s License.

                  I’n never sure though that the initials a person is using is for the same thing that comes up as the first item on a Google search, so I like to ask the person instead.

                  But I’m sure you already knew that.

                  I wouldn’t have bothered asking if I did.

                  but again, you knew that.

                  Not sure how I pissed you off, but I really didn’t know.

                  For those that (actually) didn’t know, there ya go.

                  As someone who didn’t know, thank you.

                  You must be lots of fun at parties.

            • @afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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              -31 year ago

              Fine whatever. I will start leaving notes in the bed of gas guzzling pickups that say “sorry about the micropenis you feel you need to compensate for”

              • @applejacks@lemmy.world
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                21 year ago

                that would be a great way to undermine your entire cause.

                some people just prefer larger cars, and pivoting to some bizarre comment about their genitalia is an incredibly stupid way to go about dealing with the issue.

                • Cosmic Cleric
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                  21 year ago

                  and pivoting to some bizarre comment about their genitalia is an incredibly stupid way to go about dealing with the issue.

                  I was just about to say the same thing to the person you were replying to.

                  Immature responses doesn’t convince anyone of anything.

  • UltraMagnus0001
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    131 year ago

    There’s a video that the longer the wheelbase of the vehicle the less stringent it has to be on fuel economy. Something about the 2008 or so cafe laws. Lots of older cars without direct injection get better fuel economy than newer ones that are just taller with the same interior capacity.

      • UltraMagnus0001
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        11 year ago

        Big markets influence everyone, just kike California emissions influence America and the world

  • @nutsack@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    anyone who buys an SUV is a stupid fucker. there are other types of cars that have just as much unnecessary seat space in them. if you bought an SUV I’m talking directly to you and I’m calling you an idiot to your face. on the internet.

    • @grayman@lemmy.world
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      31 year ago

      You’re the asshole here. There’s SUVs and crossovers (aka short SUVs), almost zero sedans are manufactured these days thanks to the dumb ass govt and cafe. I don’t even want nor have**** an SUV, but judging people for having something you don’t want is ignorant and foolish. People pick from what is available for the most part. Giant cheap ass SUVs are easier to find than a small sedan that gets 4 mpg better mileage and that’s the govt’s fault.

      • @nutsack@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        it has nothing to do with personal preference. that is your own selfish rhetorical frame. those things are wasteful and dangerous and require shitty hostile infrastructure. they are also a huge scam and you don’t need one. this is why Americans are depressed as fuck.

      • @David_Eight@lemmy.world
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        31 year ago

        Kinda yeah, why not buy a hatchback instead? The Suzuki being taller will inherently have more wind resistance, hence worse gas milage and Co2. Unless you absolutely need the extra ground clearance, which very very few do, it’s stupid.

        • @WereCat@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It is taller but it’s overall still a small car and also very light. It also uses battery to help with acceleration a bit (mild hybrid). I don’t think just because it’s taller it automatically makes it worse. There must be other factors to consider too.

          And the reason I personally don’t like hatchbacks is because I’m quite tall and I don’t like sitting low as it feels uncomfortable to me and makes getting in and out of a car pain in the ass… especially when parking near other cars with little space to open the door.

          • @David_Eight@lemmy.world
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            21 year ago

            I don’t think just because it’s taller it automatically makes it worse.

            It makes it get less mpg/range. Also Less “safe” as the higher center of gravity will mean taking emergency maneuvers “swerving to avoid collision” more difficult and the chance of rollover more likely. These are just facts.

            And the reason I personally don’t like hatchbacks is because I’m quite tall and I don’t like sitting low as it feels uncomfortable to me and makes getting in and out of a car pain in the ass…

            I’m 6’5 and understand where you’re coming from but, your comfort is basically bad for the environment in a small minute way is my point. I’m sure it’s still more efficient then 99% of cars in general by the sound of it though.

      • @bad_alloc@feddit.de
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        91 year ago

        They are a lot more efficient in their class and might convince some ICE drivers to switch. Their range tends to be quite good. Unfortunately they have drawbacks:

        • They require a very large battery. If you don’t find >150kW chargers, you’ll be waiting a long time
        • More batteries per car = worse environmental impact from production
        • Road degradation grows by the fourth power w.r.t. vehicle weight. The big batteries make electric SUVs very heavy
        • SUVs are more dangerous for pedestrians due to their size
        • In a crash SUVs deliver much more energy, killing more people.
      • @nutsack@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        it’s a fucking stupid piece of shit for the same reason the other ones are pieces of shit. you think electricity is magic or something? like it comes free out of God’s asshole? your car sucks ass you fell for a scam

        • GreenM
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          -41 year ago

          People say everything is possible ? Musk, the step father of the modern EVs also said electricity would be free back in the day. Something’s fishy around here.

        • @random65837@lemmy.world
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          11 year ago

          The EV fans tip toe around the fact that not only do they suck the life out of the electric grid, which they fight every step of the way when power co’s want to produce more power , especially nuclear which is as clean as it gets, but that the lithium batteries are incredibly toxic and can’t be recycled. Same goes for the off the chart levels of toxicity that comes from solar panels which dont live long.

          • @nutsack@lemmy.world
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            -21 year ago

            how do you think solar panels and batteries and electrical infrastructure are made do those come from God’s ball of dicks too

    • @CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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      -11 year ago

      I have an SUV thst weighs 2,000 pounds and has a 1.3 liter engine, it seats two, you need to stop being a dumbass and sell your gas guzzling car because it absolutely has more wasted seats and a larger engine.

    • @random65837@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Who said it’s unessasary? You? Speak for your own needs. What about the utility part? Where are you putting large bulky items? How about many bags of top soil? Trash going to a dump maybe?

      It’s amazing how pathetically ignorant you are to think your needs line up with everybody elses. There are FAR more cars on the road than trucks. You’d know that if you actually lived in this country. People buy trucks because we need them, do you think we just LIKE paying more at the pump or something? If I could get away with some hyper fuel efficient thing you don’t think me and my wallet would love that especially at today’s bullshit gas prices?

      My wife’s Small SUV/CUV averages a little over 40mpg, you have zero legit complaint against them. They’re also no bigger than cars ever were, they just sit SLIGHTLY higher. You have no clue what you’re talking about.

      • @veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        In Not just Bikes video on the subject, they’ve demonstrated that the utility portion of small trucks/ SUVs from all the auto makers have been getting weaker over time (loss of cargo space), and yet people still buy them.

  • Margot Robbie
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    181 year ago

    This is almost an “arms race” situation, since when there are so many gigantic SUVs and pickup trucks on the road, driving in a smaller car becomes a lot less safe in case of an accidental collision with a larger, heavier vehicle, and the only way to reduce that risk is to drive a gigantic SUV/pickup truck yourself and further exacerbate the problem.

    Having this many large vehicles on the street makes driving on the highway dangerous and unpleasant. LA’s traffic is especially terrible.

    • @Cort@lemmy.world
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      111 year ago

      They never last long enough for people to remember the lesson. After a year or two, prices return to ‘normal’. Then 2-3 years after that, car makers release fuel efficient vehicles that nobody wants because fuel prices have gone back down.

    • spyd3r
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      -101 year ago

      I’d gladly pay the extra fuel costs to have a vehicle that’s worth a damn and has actual towing, hauling, and off road capabilities.

      A body on frame SUV (like a Ford Excursion) is quite possibly the most utilitarian and swiss army knife like vehicles available. It seats a huge amount of people, has as much space as a cargo van, has the same tow rating as a 3/4 ton truck, and its 4WD with big tires and lots of ground clearance.

    • @telllos@lemmy.world
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      371 year ago

      The sad part is that Europe is seeing a lot of SUVs too. Not as big as whzt we see in the US. But they are there. We also start seeing american style pick up trucks. Luckily, people pay more taxes for these kind of cars.

    • @scarabic@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I can’t stand those idiot trucks that have a chopped-in-half rear bed so they can cram in an undersized back seat.

      A truck is for moving shit. If you can’t fit a sheet of plywood in the back of your truck, your truck is a candy ass piece of crap powered by 100% small dick energy.

  • @ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    291 year ago

    There’s an interesting corollary to this in the school bus world. Beginning in 2004, the EPA started imposing emissions standards on diesel engines and the standards have become increasingly stringent over the years. The standards govern the allowed amounts of NOx (nitrous oxides) and particulate matter to be emitted, but the units measured are per-horsepower-miles, meaning that an engine with twice the horsepower is allowed to emit twice the NOx and twice the particulate matter amounts, which has led to bus engines that have much more power than their counterparts from twenty years ago did - despite this added power being largely unnecessary for hauling kids around at relatively low speeds.

    And importantly, the EPA diesel engine standards do not in any way govern CO2 output, so today’s school bus fleet is emitting far more of it than twenty years ago.

    • @SmoothIsFast@lemmy.world
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      51 year ago

      More interestingly, the emissions equipment which prevents particulate matter from entering the atmosphere does so by burning more fuel. This makes the engines emit even more co2 than they would without the emissions.

      • @ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        51 year ago

        Are you sure about that? I think possibly you’re thinking of EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) which most engine manufactures used to handle the initial 2004 standards (which did not include particulate matter standards) but which is not really used any more. The main things used today are DPF (diesel particulate filter) and DEF (diesel exhaust fluid).

        I’m not a diesel mechanic or anything, I just know what I know from owning a school bus (from 2003, yay!) and researching the emissions issues.

        • @SmoothIsFast@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yes I am sure about that. When the diesel particulate filters clog up with soot, the ECU triggers post injection events so that extra diesel fuel will burn in the exhaust raising the temperature of the diesel particulate filter and burning the soot out. These events cause your miles per gallon to decrease significantly.

  • GreenM
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    231 year ago

    Someone pointed our interesting loop in US legislative about trucks and how producers are making their cars bigger to escape small trucks hard mile/gas / size quotas + lobbying of car makers to keep the trend going because bigger car = more profit. I wonder how big they can get them before them trucks can’t drive in single line. Is there something similar to SUV by any chance?

  • @spikederailed@lemmy.world
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    21 year ago

    Ive recently replaced the engine, but I hope to keep driving my 08 Speed3 for another decade. It’s annoying having everything else in the road so much larger, but I don’t want anything this size.

    #RejectSUVEembraceMiniVan

    • Final Remix
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      51 year ago

      I enjoy being able to see out my car. 04 impala here. Parents have a 2018 Highlander and it’s a heavy awful low visibility nightmare to drive.

  • @bigmclargehuge@lemmy.world
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    11 year ago

    I work in the auto industry. Besides the standard 4WD, SUVs have almost nothing going for them compared to a 5 door hatch/station wagon/estate sedan.

    I mean, a RAV4 for example, while doing everything it says on the box, and not being an outright bad vehicle, has only marginally more passenger and cargo room than, for example, a Corolla Hatch, while consuming multiple MPG more. Sure, the 4WD contributes to this, but due to the lower weight, better aerodynamics, and smaller engine of a Corolla, it would still be more efficient even if it also had 4WD.