Yeah the shit’s out of control in the US. People don’t need goddamn huge cars.
Europe used to laugh at American big cars, but recently the cars on our roads get bigger and bigger too :-(
Yeah I am glad at least that a number of countries are taking measures to de-car city centers. They’re a blight. Especially these big stupid SUVs.
Biggest misnomer in the Auto industry. They are neither sporty nor utilitarian.
They are essentially a rebranding of minivans. Minivans were seen as soccer mom vehicles, but were incredibly practical. So they rebranded them to SUVs, raising the height, reducing cargo space, increasing blind spots, and over all making them less functional, but they sell much better.
Yeah, it’s “mom car creep.” First sedans were mom cars, then station wagons, followed by minivans. Somehow the stupid huge SUVs are avoiding the stigma so far.
Also, the Tesla model X is literally a minivan, not an SUV. I know that’s off topic but I had to say it. :-)
Unpopular opinion, but I want station wagons to come back. They were a super useful car that didn’t look too bad.
Seconded. Wagons were the shit
I had a VW Passat wagon that I loved, so I won’t disagree.
My primary exposure to station wagons is the organ trail, a zombie parody of the oregon trail. And that car got me to oregon!
I was about to say that you could still buy an Outback but it looks like they morphed them into SUVs. 😒
Best car I ever drove was a Toyota Sienna. Would have driven around the whole world with it
rebranding of minivans
Except minivans are at least good at the one thing they’re made for, hauling people and their stuff. SUVs try to do everything, so they do everything badly.
SUVs don’t really try to do anything good except being tall sedans…
Minivans actually sold really well. And apparently the most searched-for car on automobile websites is still “Honda Odyssey.”
My understanding is that car companies started pushing SUVs over minivans due to threading loopholes in CAFE rules or import tariffs. Minivans get classified as “big cars” while SUVs can get classified as “small trucks.” It seems like these loopholes are being abused and should be closed but the car companies lobby to keep them open.
They have, but it’s still nothing compared to the US. I drive a Nissan Qashqai. It’s quite a big car in The Netherlands. There are bigger of course (like the big Volvo XC 70 and 90) but I’m definitely on the bigher size on the road. But my car would be tiny in the US. It would be like driving an old Fiat 500 over here.
Oh, I am sure American cars are even bigger, but that does not mean we should like the trend.
They just stripped the light freight classification for trucks for private persons over here. Sales dropped by half.
People will look me dead in the face and tell me they need the SUV because the kids have hockey practice, I wouldn’t understand. As if my dad didn’t take me to hockey practice in a Toyota Terecel.
My leaf and my neighbors 90s pickup are more than enough for all of the rural farm shit we need them for so city folk really got no fuckin excuse
Unfortunately, the US Environmental Protection Agency (emphasis on mental) has rules in place regarding emissions per unit length of vehicle which effectively penalize manufacturers who make small vehicles.
Well we cant be bothered with actually changing rules and laws to change things and potentially make rich people change how they make money so we just have to keep pandering to fascists and swift fans for votes
There’s a lot of Americans that have been bamboozled by the auto industry. Canadians and Mexicans too. Big American trucks are a status symbol in a lot of Mexico. It just shows how effective advertising can be. Basically they are selling a kind of identity or self-image.
Worse is those who don’t know how to drive them. I hear all the time ohh that massive vehicle is like any other car. New money seems to be most of who buy huge vehicles in US. Got to show off in front of the poor people…actual remember news it is a metric of how the economy is doing. As old money buy affordable and reliable.
Cycle to work every day, 3 miles one way, I know in my bones from repeated experiences that the bigger the vehicle, the less likely they see you
That one picture of even front-end visibility always stuck with me. It’s something stupid like 15 kids in a line and the driver can’t see them. You could drive into a classroom worth of children and not see it.
If it’s the same one I’m thinking of, a couple/few of the biggest trucks have less visibility than an M1-A1 Abrams TANK…
To be fair I’m pretty sure Abrams (and most other modern western tanks) have really good driver’s/commander’s sights compared to any vehicle at all
I’m talking the old version that didn’t have the fancy helmets to see through the tank. The commander may have some good sights, but the drivers didn’t.
Oh, gotcha
I had a guy in a pickup drive right into my 8ft long trailer when I as stopped at a light. He pulled up to me while I was stopped fine, but then he couldn’t see my trailer and 30 seconds later started rolling forward while the light was still red and hit it. I was very annoyed and when I talked to him he said he forgot it was there and couldn’t see it. I was speechless.
Can confirm, for me about 10 miles one way and the bigger the car the more likely they don’t see you or don’t care.
The front ends on the newest full-size SUVs and pick-ups look like 18-wheeler front-ends from the ‘70s.
I’m getting really annoyed by these articles about saint Hidalgo. Resident parking ie for people who live within the city parish limit won’t be subject to these new prices. But it is the people with really high income who live in the 8e and 16e who drive around Paris in Range Rovers and Audi Q7, alone in their cars, not the cleaning people from La Courneuve and Saint Denis who works in the offices and uses the RER B to commute to work. Not your regular office people as they either commute or bike to the office. And for those of us who decide to move further away from the first ring of surburb, we do have cars but use public transit if we need to go to Paris, either for work or leisure as it’s a lot faster and far less expensive.
It’s just a damn smoke screen as Parisians won’t be affected.
Translation for non-Parisians:
- Hidalgo is the current mayor of Paris, who has an (arguably false?) reputation for promoting urbanist policies
- 6e and 18e refer to two districts («arrondissement») in Paris populated by rich people
- RER B is a transit line connecting central Paris with Parisian suburbs
Thank you. As a non-parisian dude, I wanted to ask that, and your comment was just in time to answer my curiosity.
Peut-être les automobilistes parisiens seront-ils affectés dans un second temps?
J’ai beaucoup de doutes sur ça. Elle a beau dire qu’elle souhaite protéger les gens de petite couronne avec cette votation, jusqu’à présent ses actions ont été en faveur des parisiens et contre les banlieusards. Ça m’étonnerait qu’elle ait changé sa vision d’un coup, elle en a juste assez de se faire taper par les élus d’IdF pour ses décisions non-concertées donc elle s’ajoute un polish « altruiste ».
Sur le principe, je suis d’accord avec limiter l’usage des SUV, nos infrastructures ne sont pas faites pour mais soit c’est tout le monde qui prend soit personne.
Et comment tu continues une politique d’urbanisme si t’es pas réélue ? Sa mesure reste positive, et introduit l’idée qui sera sûrement appliquée à la fois ailleurs, et plus tard à Paris même.
Pour habiter Paris même, je suis complètement d’accord avec ta dernière phrase. Les parisiens représentent l’essentiel du problème, ils n’ont pas besoin de voiture pour la plupart sauf s’ils font le trajet que celui que tu décrivais plus haut.
People in Slovakia keep buying them more and more and they don’t even fit into the parking spaces…
Aw what? I’m trying to move to Slovakia partially because I want to escape this nonsense (though also because my grandfather’s family is Slovak-Hungarian and I like Slovak language), this is devastating news for my distaste for being crushed by large objects travelling at fast speeds
But ma big ride!
Le big ride
Royale with Wheels
“Mah ride”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
No, I’m not talking about the mad rush for Wegovy, which is selling so swiftly that Denmark has to remove data relating to manufacturers Novo Nordisk to measure (the rest of) its economy properly.
The individual logic makes sense: would you want to drive on the same highway as Mr Tinydick’s 7,000lb (3,175kg) Dodge Ram if you’re in a Mini?
The measure, which would include hybrids and electric vehicles over a certain weight limit – though with an exemption for Paris resident parking – would affect roughly 10% of the cars in the city.
And beyond Paris, Tesla’s 6,800lb (3,080kg) Cybertruck probably won’t be coming to Europe at all, because at that weight, it requires a trucking licence to drive (I write this with a sigh of relief).
Hidalgo’s administration has pitched the increased parking fee as a form of social justice (taxing the owners of expensive cars) as well as a way to encourage use of public transport.
The next time I go back to the US, I wouldn’t be surprised to find someone driving an actual tank down the street, probably on their way to Krispy Kreme.
The original article contains 829 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Tesla’s 6,800lb (3,080kg) Cybertruck probably won’t be coming to Europe at all, because at that weight, it requires a trucking licence to drive
The maximum gross weight allowed for a “car“ driver license is 3500kg.
The cybertruck has a gross weight of 4300kg, which highly exceeds the 3500kg
In my country, for electric cars, they raised limit (gross/max. weight) to 4250 kg. Probably by the car lobby.
Also because, otherwise, electric workvans are impossible
I mean, i agree. The amount of American sized cars i see in the netherlands nowadays is a lot.
But they are pretty awesome cars so i get why someone would want one.
I really have a hard time understanding what is “awesome” in these cars ? They are clearly not built to be efficient to drive in old European cities, and (even though that is very subjective) they aren’t nice to look at either.
Especially SUV… The space for your stuff ist often less than in a station wagon.
I don’t understand that part. I’ve got a 20-year-old f150, and it’s roomier than my parents’ new Highlander. That thing’s fuckin’ cramped compared to other stuff. Hell, the legroom in our 1991 Previa van is enormous compared to nearer~ newer Toyota shit.
I am 6’ in freedom units and I was fine in 98 of 100 cars legroom wise, especially for distances within the city. And having a f150 because of legroom in a European city would really be antisocial behavior. You’re a handyman, ok…but as a private person? My point is that people have a BMW SUV because I need the space for my kids soccer training , but a VW Passat station wagon would give the same space, steal less space from other people, an accident would be less likely be deadly for others involved and less gas consumption. There are people needing big cars, but most ppl do not.
Prolly could’ve put it better. Nit that I didn’t understand your point, but I don’t understand how fuckin’ cramped the new shit is now, despite being so goddamned chunky.
And I didn’t want to sound rude to you.
I think I understand your point now
Oh, you didn’t! 's’all good.
They have PDD and they either get a massive truck or a motorcycle that is as noisy as possible.
Piddly Dick Disease?
And those are usually still small versions of the ones they actually sell in the US
The US is full of SUVs because of CAFE law. SUVs are trucks and thus have lower mpg requirements. Look at what’s sold in the US. Almost all cars are tiny and grossly underpowered if more than 1 adult is in it. So our choices are a truck, SUV, or minivan.
I get the feeling you’ve never been outside North America if you think cars here are small.
I think he’s talking about all non-suv or trucks in the US being small or underpowered. Not other country cars being small.
Well, except the article is about Paris and cars in the US are not small or underpowered… at all. Kind of a ridiculous statement, actually. The average car in Europe is much smaller than those in the US with a much smaller engine. For example, the most popular car in France in 2022 was the Peugot 208 with a 1.2L engine with around 74hp and a length of 4m, while the most popular car in the US, the Camry has a engine options ranging between 2.4L-3.5L, around 208hp and a length of 4.8m (almost 3’ longer for you yanks).
I mean, they have to be. European fuel prices are double or more and most countries/cities have proper transit and were not built for US size cars (or any cars for that matter).
I can go on vacation for a month with my family of four in my 2008 Prius
I’ll take the roof!
I also have a small sedan. Power is worse than the small sedan I had 20 years ago. At least it’s safer.
Little weirdos are obsessed with the US. Buy whatever you want, why they gotta try to make this about America when this is just about European buying habits?
As an American living in Europe that travels back and forth every year, I can assure you that this trend is absolutely led by the Americans.
Do you honestly think they care about the US? They are just saying no to big cars. That’s it.
Not many people know the US even has a habit of buying bigger cars than in Europe.
It’s in the article, isn’t it? If they weren’t writing American flame bait, it would just be about European buying trends. You don’t have to say they are rejecting anything.
Neither of the SUVs I’ve owned were American. The Germans were happy enough to make and sell one of them while the Koreans made the other.
I’m just tired of articles being written like it’s a rejection of American ideals when it probably isn’t a factor on anyone’s mind at the time of purchase. Rage bait, pure and simple.
Peoples reaction to my post kinda demonstrates why it works, though. They are so anti-american that being called on the unnecessary inclusion of us in the headline gets people upset. Don’t let your media turn us into boogiemen for the cars that some people buy. We do enough real shit to get mad about without making up stuff.
The Guardian is making this about the American… The Paris vote was framed around big cars (“SUV”).
We love many great trends from youe coumtry: your music, your TV shows,… Some of us also love some not so great trends like your oversized cars. You don’t have to get on your high horse to spite us, we can do it ourselves.
It needs to absolutely be regulated. I don’t really want to get an SUV, but I might for my own safety when 3/4 of other cars on the road are monsters.
How about a Sports Utility Bicycle?
estonia is slowly
What a terrible article headline. Had to scroll through three paragraphs before it finally got to the damn point. Alternative headline: “Paris enforces higher parking fees for oversized vehicles”
We’re still very far from US sized cars.
It’s mostly to remove the vehicles responsible for the most emissions.
Well I see more and more morons who are certainly not farmers drive around in Dodge RAMs and Ford F150s
This should be an easy fix for France (or any country). Don’t make dumb laws.
Dumb laws or laws smartly written by the automobile industry themselves?
Oh no, how would small dick rich parisians even compensate with that law in place?!
