• Soup@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Good thing comedy isn’t mandatory. Also fuck car-centric societies that enable the nonsense this strip is parodying.

    • Ephera@lemmy.ml
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      15 days ago

      Yeah, I was expecting it to be a joke like:

      • Introducing Longtrucks. 🚌
      • Impress even more strangers of the superior person-hauling capabilities with 32 seats.
      • Includes a light-up sign 🚍 so you can proudly show to strangers where you’re headed.
      • Access a world-wide network of pick-up bays 🚏 for you to pick up strangers from.
    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      15 days ago

      Yeah, nobody wants wide cars. Manufacturers are making them wider to make it easier for them to meet NHTSA’s CAFE standards.

      The standards require year-on-year MPG improvements. The problem is that they require proportionally more improvement on the smallest, highest economy cars, and less improvement on the largest, lowest economy vehicles.

      The standards are based on the “footprint” of the vehicle: the rectangle between the contact patches of the tires. The larger the area of that footprint, the larger the vehicle, and the less MPG increase it needs to have.

      So, they are pushing the wheels toward the corners, and widening the wheelbase, approaching a square to maximize their footprints. They are making cars bigger and boxier so they don’t have to make them more efficient.

      Fuel economy of the cars on the road is actually falling, because manufacturers are effectively prohibited from continuing to make their smallest, most efficient vehicles. They are compelled to either discontinue those vehicles, or embiggen them to fall in a larger class.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    15 days ago

    American culture in general:

    “Remember: There is no society - only YOU and the freedom to do whatever you want!”

    … the chef’s kiss was in parking your monstrosity next to a Big Sad Box … a beautiful summary of the general North American society we’ve created. Millions of years of evolution to get to the point of selfish ignorantly following a life style to park next to a big sad box and buy an overpriced couch you can’t afford made by Vietnamese children.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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      15 days ago

      And to boast that it’s the absolute Pinnacle of society. It’s the only version they’ve seen but they’re convinced there are zero improvements

  • GluWu@lemm.ee
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    15 days ago

    I can tell this is a old meme because $119k is “a lot”. Lol

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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      15 days ago

      Not a cheap vehicle, but that’s a medium truck with presumably a pretty incredible tow rating. Not really a passenger vehicle.

        • lad@programming.dev
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          15 days ago

          I’m guessing larger than medium are the ones that transport containers, trees, houses, and the like

      • GluWu@lemm.ee
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        15 days ago

        To be fair that is the largest consumer model and essentially the most expensive OEM package you can get. And it is very powerful and capable tow vehicle, but the majority of people just use them as passenger vehicles and maybe tow their rv a few times a year(which can be done with was less of a truck).

        If you know modded trucks, whether that’s purpose built towing or just mall crawler, there are way more trucks over $200k than you would realize. If you ever see a welding truck, big 4x4 lifted trucks with custom beds, those are an easy $250k. But they are being used. Those guys make a easy 6 figures while living in hotels with nothing else to spend it on.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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          15 days ago

          This comment has been made before, and the feedback from people who actually drive them is nobody is driving a dually for fun, the suspension just isn’t set up to be driven empty. Also, they’re massive vehicles even by US standards.

        • vulgarcynic@sh.itjust.works
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          15 days ago

          Can confirm, I have an EV for daily use and a F150 platinum for towing a 8.5k trailer, project work for my house, band equipment, etc… The trim package is where a lot of that extra cost goes (didnt really need heated, massage seats but we have a family member that was our sales guy and it was used so waaaaaaay less than MSRP). It is surprisingly fuel efficient when my partner is out of town and I need to run errands. I also live in a rather rural area so I’m not generally clogging up the roads. Also make it a conscious effort to park way out in the back 40 so I’m not creating a shit show for other drivers in the parking lot. The bonus is, that’s usually where the cart returns are so its less steps to get them back to the store!

          Additional note, it’s completely stock aside from a good tonneau cover and some roof racks for kayaks. Lifted pavement princess rides gross me out.

    • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      I passed a Lamborghini SUV on the road the other day. I checked and it retails for about $250,000. Motherfucker really dropped a quarter of a million dollars for a RAV4-looking vehicle to haul the kids to soccer in.

      EDIT: Lamborghini Urus

  • JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Artist nailed it outlining people’s obsession with personal freedoms versus society’s rights as a whole.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Thats how we view American cars, especially pickups that nobody needs and SUVs that have never seen a path that needed 4WD here in Europe.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Pickups, SUVs, and Vans in America are getting unreasonably large because of poorly-written environmental regulation.

      In the mid-2000s, automakers were classifying everything as a “truck” to skirt CAFE (fuel economy) standards. The tilling point was the PT Cruiser being regulated as a truck. So, starting in 2012, CAFE standards started to be based on vehicle footprint.

      Ever notice how all the little trucks like the S-10, Dakota, and the old-style Ranger all had 2011-ish as their last year model?

      Suddenly, small trucks became effectively illegal, and as fuel economy standards get tougher every few years, the automakers have learned it’s easier to just make the footprint bigger than it is to make the fuel economy better. They’ve since re-released the Ranger, but now it’s bigger than the F-150 used to be.

      And now it’s hit the vans. CAFE outran the small cargo van footprints, so the Nissan NV200, Ford Transit Connect, and RAM Promaster City have all been discontinued in the last 2-3 years because they can’t make cargo-hauling vehicles that size any longer.

      New York City’s Taxi Fleet changed to NV200s a few years back to improve accessibility, and now they can’t buy replacement vehicles without either dropping the accessibility and going small or moving to fuck-you-sized vehicles.

      The one neat thing though is the Ford Maverick. It’s a small 4-seat truck with a half-size bed that comes standard as a hybrid (trafitional ICE is an “upgrade” so it meets CAFE) for like 25 grand. The only real problem is buying one since they only made like 4 of them.

  • MalReynolds@slrpnk.net
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    15 days ago

    In all honesty, the wideness of modern cars may actually be their downfall. I live in a suburban area (Not US, but that doesn’t matter it’s become everyone’s problem.) and the roads were designed for cars to be parked on either side and two, narrow lanes in the middle where people could, slowly, get past each other, with a certain amount of tolerance (i.e. space).

    Then came an EPA ruling in the states (late 90’s I think) and trucks were immune to sensible laws and all the car companies made trucks that were immune to being too wide (among other things). They became objects of desire. Cars followed, because everyone wants a thick phallus I guess, or maybe needs to see the road when there’s a fat car next to them, or one with tinted windows, and I’m nowhere near to a legal solution in a global economy.

    Practical upshot, local roads are only one lane wide because of fat cars parked on either side with no regard to practicality, add endless renovation because property development is the one true way to richness /s, even though rich people already own the good land, and control their local environment.

    TLDR, fat cars break suburban roads.