Lars Wilderäng is a Swedish author and blogger. Quick overview: his topics generally revolve around defence policies (Russia bad, moar defence), economics (low interest rates bad, housing market speculation bad) and since the war started, the war in Ukraine (send Ukraine moar weapons). He hates Elon Musk but loves his Tesla. He hates ICE cars.
He’s unfortunately one of the “EVs will solve everything” people, which annoys me greatly, but today I saw a small car-related comment on his blog that actually made me laugh.
Oh and sorry for the misspelled “cyclists”.
? Unclear
Lmfao
Weird phrasing, yes. Probably makes more sense in the original.
It doesn’t really, it’s just his way of writing very sarcastically.
I guess what he’s trying to say is that it generally boils down to some macho attitude when you think you “need” an SUV.
yeah he’s basically saying “who knows?”
it’s a fairly normal expression in swedish
There are tons of hilly or mountainous regions in the US with terribly rutted unimproved roads where you need a high-clearance 4WD. Does it need to specifically be an SUV? No, but if you were in a car it would need a lift and bigger tires. Battlecars. A lot of the crossovers are just lifted wagons anyway.
I live on a hilly dirt road in Vermont and we get by fine with a Toyota Yaris and a 2007 GMC canyon with 4wd. There’s maybe 2 or 3 cumulative weeks a year when the Yaris can’t handle the road conditions, and on those days, it’d be better if everyone who could stayed home anyway.
Even my truck, which gets used for lots of construction and farm chores, is smaller and has a lower clearance than most modern SUVs. I challenge any SUV or truck owner who claims they need something bigger than I do to compare our vehicle usage. I moved a baby cow in the Yaris just yesterday. In fact, I literally bought the smallest used truck I could find. I’d buy a smaller truck tomorrow if I could.
Also, while I’m here, my tiny town of a few thousand people has a train station with service to NYC and even DC, but it takes way, way longer than driving, and it only runs once or twice a day. All these little towns in Vermont ALREADY HAVE TRAIN STATIONS but no one can use them because the service is worthless. If the train was even somewhat regular and as fast as driving, I would use it all the goddamn time.
First off - God bless the Yaris.
Anyway, this is exactly the point. Most people with huge trucks do not need huge trucks. That doesn’t mean no one does, but most people with huge trucks or SUVs are living in suburbs or whatever. They claim to need them because “road bad once a year” or “I move a chair sometimes”. It’s simply just mental gymnastics to excuse the real reason which is “I am insecure of my manliness”.
You live a life where people actually might have use for a huge truck. Yet you still moved a baby cow in your Yaris (which is so awesome btw I laughed out loud) because it worked just fine.
The right tool for the right job, and most people don’t need the truck. The few who do, great, get one.
EDIT: Just looked up the GMC Canyon. I first googled “GMC Canyon”. Then I added “2007”. What the fuck. What happened. It’s so obvious it’s just an arms race of who can build bigger.
Yeah I totally agree.
I think about this a lot for obvious reasons, especially the, as you put it, “road bad once a year” mentality. I think it’s part of this underlying capitalist pathology that we must continue to be productive no matter the weather or physical conditions. It’s as if the economy is more real than the world being covered by a foot of snow, which is an inconvenience that we must overcome, rather than a reality that we should accept, and maybe stay off the roads for the day if we can. People shouldn’t have to drive to their fucking office and retail jobs when it’s shitty out, nor should they expect the world to be fully open for business. We have this underlying assumption that we are above nature instead of a part of it. It is this extraneous thing that we have the duty and the right to overcome anytime no matter what, so we buy this giant F150 man-van, which not coincidentally contributes to the destruction of nature, because we shouldn’t be inconvenienced by nature ever
Also, not a good pic, but here’s the calf in the car!
What a mooving image!
Vermont is a little more developed overall than a lot of places in the wild parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado, Utah etc. It isn’t usually about the steepness of the road but the condition. I have a Subaru Crosstrek with all-terrain tires & a 2" lift so I’ve got a little over a foot of clearance. I have still bottomed it out a handful of times just this year, and really utilized that extra clearance dozens of times. And trains? I haven’t lived somewhere with access to a train since I lived in Europe.
I’m sure there are some places in the US that are worse, but at that point it’s some very extreme edge cases. My canyon can be loaded up with hay and driven around icy, wet, steep, and rutted out pasture without a problem, but it’s always the smallest truck with the lowest clearance on the road. Your roads have to be completely fucked if they’re worse than my pastures in mud season. I’m sure those roads exist, but it’s pretty rare.
edit: for reference, this classic VT meme template was actually taken nearby
Then by all means, if you live in rural Colorado or whatever, get a truck. But it’s not like they are the majority of Americas population.
If you think Vermont is “a little more developed” than the “wild” parts of Tennessee and North Carolina you’ve obviously never been to Vermont. Or maybe you were only there in the summer.
Vermont and New Hampshire have literally the most brutal weather in the US as far as roads go. You’ve got four full seasons, complete with scorching heat and subzero (F) temperatures with roads that go from below sea level to ~3,000ft and regular, 100MPH gusts of wind (due to all the mountains) which take out road signs. Then there’s rockslides/random boulders, endless organic debris that needs to be removed/cleaned up (e.g. those red and golden leaves in autumn and lots of random branches that get blown down by the random winds), blizzards, occasional hurricanes, random out-of-season lake effect freezes, occasional ridiculous heavy rains, and tourists mixed in with New England drivers.
People have seriously steep driveways in Vermont which they intentionally don’t pave because otherwise they’d never get up them in the winter. Not because of snow but because of the regular freezing rain. At the top of those seriously steep driveways you’ll see plenty of regular cars (not just Subarus).
Um yeah I’ve been to Vermont. Maybe I haven’t found my roads there yet though, I love rough roads. I wish it was closer. But there is a lot more money in Vermont than rural NC so yeah even with the weather the roads get more attention.
Now that the SUV has been invented, the settlers can finally move into these harsh landscapes, which were unaccessible before.
This also explains why this phenomenon emerged in the US, because other continents simply don’t have hilly or mountainous regions.
Sarcasm aside, most of these vehicles are used for short trips on well-maintained city roads, to get to office and buy groceries. They aren’t even very useful for offroad tasks, no improvement on existing vehicles. Even worse, they are not useful to get around in cities.
But I really, really need that SUV to transport my 144 weekly loo rolls needed to sustain my 100% protein shake-only diet! Think about the gains man!
My sister used to live in a rural area with a very bad dirt road. She had 2 SUVs and insisted it was the only way to drive there.
I visited her often with my estate and countless tradies would reach the area with vans
Fun fact…both the death of wagons and the birth of CUVs, in the US, are due to CAFE.
Station wagons drag down the fleet average MPG for passenger cars. Crossovers, though, benefit the fleet average MPG for trucks. Even though they are just tall unibody vehicles.
IMO, that should be the delineation for CAFE (unibody vs. body-on-frame), instead of wheelbase.
Exempt vehicles should either require farm plates or a CDL. If you’re not using the vehicle for work, it should follow common-sense emissions requirements.
But to be fair ,the fact that we’re still selling fossil cars in 2023 is insane, anyways.
Nah. I went cross-country and climbed mountains in my hybrid sedan. Only once did I shy away from taking a road and it was because the snow was too deep. (approach to a trailhead for a Colorado 14er)
Oh I’ve done that too. Good driving can go a long way. But I also have been towed out. And I have driven roads that a sedan wouldn’t get 50 ft up. It’s what I do.
Perhaps. But he is writing in Swedish.
One reason I never even thought of until recently is that some people have difficulties seating themselves in a low vehicle. Most notably elders (arthritis) and obese people.
Still not a fan of the SUV invasion, but at least it makes a little more sense.
Yeah I find it hilarious that rather than work to lose some weight (for their health, but also their dignity) these same folks go and buy SUVs to maintain their dignity and comfort.
Unless you are genetically predisposed to such things, obesity is a choice (or a long line of poor ones).
I am the first my family has seen that isn’t borderline obese(in generations) the only difference is I eat a balanced diet and exercise.
I’m absolutely disgusted that the obesity rates have been climbing to a shocking degree for decades, the fatdemic has even begun to spread to Australia.
I can understand and empathize with the elderly aspect of SUVs, however regarding obesity it’s just an enabler. The amount of times I’ve nearly died on the road here, to some fucking SUV with a fat fuck driving (while eating no less, also a crime here as it counts as distracted driving) are incalculable.
Getting into the car, driving position, visibility, ground clearance…
SUV is the best car format for many, if not most people. My last car was an SUV. If you need a car at all, those are good properties for the car to have.
Currently, I don’t have a car at all and I’m very happy because of that. But if I really needed one it would be an SUV.
Worse aerodynamics, worse stability, more prone to roll over, will more likely kill the driver of another car in a crash, will more likely kill a pedestrian. Etc etc.
It comes with a cost.
“My driveway is steep but I have a car, you don’t need a car bigger than me.”
99% of SUV owners do not, no. His point is not that no one needs a car with high ground clearance because of course some people do. His point is that the vast majority of people do not. He lives in an area where people often claim they “need” SUV:s, but he does not own an SUV and it works out fine.
I mean, what is an SUV even? Is a Subaru Outback a SUV? How about a Mazda CX-5? (Built on the Mazda 3/6 platform)
Are you only counting truck frames or any large hatchback?
Fair enough of course, stuff needs to be defined. I wouldn’t call an outback an SUV personally. That car is more like a station wagon with a slightly higher ground clearance.
Sure just ignore the actual reasons people like them. You all get so pissed over the reality on cars.
For literally every reason except height and some very limited accessibility uses, we had station wagons and they worked fine. The real reason is an arms race over height. People liked being able to see over other cars. Except then everyone got an SUV, so the advantage was erased and everyone who didn’t buy an SUV was screwed, and the only people who actually gained anything were the ones making more expensive SUVs.
“Reality” is whatever reasons you can make up to want an SUV.
The reasons people like them are extremely vain and dangerous
