Recycling Please!
Now that all of these SUV's are about to become too expensive to drive even by the most defiantly paranoid social eunuchs, the question arises as to what all of these soon-to-be derelict hunks of metal, plastic, and rubber should be used for? I guess that the best thing would be to separate out the components by material-type, melt them down, and then use them as raw materials for new, useful stuff like inexpensive bicycles, push-scooters, and little red wagons to drag to the grocery store and back.
Posted at 3/05/2008 04:22:00 PM UTC
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4 Comment(s):
As unashamed SUV driver, I must disagree with your description of their owners, and the condemnation of the cars. While such a car is not always suitable for a retired couple or small family, there are good reasons people buy them. They live in the countryside, or have large families and do not want to have a van (Mercedes Viano 3.5 – mixed cycle 11,9, in town 16,3) .
A little bit of research I did when we were buying our SUV. They may be seen as gas-guzzlers, but when you actually compare them to some “normal” cars you’ll be surprised to find that the consumption is the same or less. How about a Renault Espace (Conditions extra-urbaines (en l/100km) 6,6, Conditions urbaines (en l/100 km) 9,5), compared to a Volvo V70 3.2 Geartronic family hatchback (Conditions extra-urbaines (en l/100km) 7,7, Conditions urbaines (en l/100 km) 15,4), against a Land Rover TdV 6 Manual (Conditions extra-urbaines (en l/100km) 8,1, Conditions urbaines (en l/100 km) 11,1). Even a Seat Altea XL can have consumption of 6,7/12,7 for those descriptions.
Agreed you do not need to drive an SUV if you live in London, given that its consumption is high, but then again you do not need a Volvo70 3.2 Geartronic. But the owners of the Volvo do not get insulted because it is perceived as being environmentally friendly (hatchback). Ultimately it’s not the size of the car you should be complaining about but the size of its engine, something you cannot guess from the outside, and an area where some small cars perform worst. Small cars can be worse consumers simply because their owners bought them for speed, acceleration and performance (all of which lead to high consumption), something you cannot accuse most SUV drivers of wanting. So maybe the owners of small powerful cars are really the social eunuchs in need of a penis extension? And maybe that friendly hatchback/family van is clogging your lungs more that your neighbours SUV?
Maybe it's different in Europe, but I would urge you to come to a city here in the States and try to choose between hanging out with one of two groups of people: 1) Urban dwellers that drive enormous four-wheel-drive SUVs and 2) Urban dwellers that drive smaller front-wheel drive vehicles. I guarantee you that it won't be the second group that is using their car as sexual enhancement. Now if with small, powerful cars you are talking about over-powered little sports cars favored by young men and 49 year-olds, then you have a point. Of course those are attempted signs of virility and masculinity, that's what they're for.
But here in my town, men and women in big SUVs tend to be more aggressive drivers than others, they tend to have more pro-war stickers than others, and they to contain one single driver and no one else, regardless of the prodigious vehicle size. Big families in our neighborhood do still tend to drive station wagon VWs, Audis, and Volvos, which I know get much better mileage than any Hummers, Escalades, or other vehicles of that size. Now there are newer, smaller SUVs that get better mileage, and I don't mind those.
Anyway, I think the free hand of the marketplace is about to start determining what's most economical to drive (higher gas prices combined with higher unemployment) so all we have to do is sit back, let the recession hit, and see what gets sold and what doesn't.
Personally, I would like to move to a place that requires that we own no car at all.
Amen to your last statement, Ian.
After totalling my Scion last week
( a great car with excellent safety ratings and incredible gas mileage), we've had a 'family talk' and decided to try living with one less car for as long as we possibly can, maybe permanently. My teenager has a used Saab he drives to work, but that sits parked most of the time; my fiance has a car that he truly needs for his many day-trips to D.C. and NYC, etc. But this is a walkable/bikable city with great train service. And it's my first chance in many years to try out the carless lifestyle. I hope it works.
Of course, my second son wants his license badly...a bridge we'll have to cross soon. His school is a ten-minute walk...
I have to agree totally on the American urban SUV owner 'profile'. But you forgot the ribbons (though I guess that was implied in your pro-war observation) and the 'Ask me about my genius child. I made him. Really!' bumper stickers...
Oh, it's me, PennJen. Can't seem to get this to take my comments unless I sign in as 'anonymous'. I'm such a techno-tard.
Well, here in our sunny luxury enclave, the powers that be have been so busy not catching bombers, that they have not upgraded the public transport infrastucture. If you work outside the capital you either take a bus or a car;otherwise you have to go into town and change buses there, not fun in the morning rush hour. There are not sufficient reasonably placed park and ride facilities.
So car it is, even though all three border crossings and the trafic are blocked as of 7.30 am every morning. 75.000 people cross the French border alone, a further 60k from Belgium and Germany each. Our vilage plays host to 17,500 cars and lorries passing through every day.
And here most SUV drivers (except Porsche Cayenne and some Volvo XC90 owners) just amble along, are polite, curteous and drive carefully. Here it is mostly the BMW, Audi and Mercedes drivers who will zoom past you at 150kmh on the motorway. And those cars are normaly red or silver grey.
BTW, the mister is a fully signed up card carrying member of the bus brigade, thanks to his new job being in the city centre. His BMW has now been reduced from 12,500km per year to under 5,000km. And yes, it normally uses more fuel than my SUV simply due to his driving style (another important factor in consumption). Unfortunatley our government has not seen the light and he still has to pay the full car tax on it.
Car tax here is payable on CO2 emissions, but only for personal cars, not for the public transport, farming vehicules, lorries and government owned vehicules, nor for the 195,000 workers who cross the border every day and pollute our air. And low car usage does not reduce te tax payable.
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