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‘Seismic shift’: driving unaffordable for many in US amid push toward SUVs
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2024
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Repeal CAFE standards, or just delete the entire catagory of "light truck". If it doesn't have a bed, its not a fucking truck. This entire fucked situation is literally just automakers not wanting to be bothered to make fuel efficient cars when you can call everything a fucking truck and be mostly exempt from having to comply with the far stricter regulations around smaller passenger vehicles MPG standards.
And the automakers give zero shits since they make so much more selling these larger utterly pointless vehicles rather than smaller, more economical ones.
tax light trucks heavily unless the owner can prove they use it for business purposes, like construction or farming
Light trucks is kinda a crazy category. It's lighter vehicles that
Vans, minivans, SUVs, and crossovers are mostly categorized as light trucks. Most vehicles on the road are light trucks; they outsell cars right now 3 to 1
And pedestrian fatalities are are on the rise for some reason. Can't imagine why
Not to "make rules for me" but I do think minivans should get a category of some kind - it puts all it's points in function, and none in sport/SUV, is the most efficient user of space, and generally reasonable hood height. Plus I'm not buying one to brag or strut my stuff.
I used to haul my four wheeler around in the back of my mom's town and country in high school. It was crazy easy to load and unload since the rear deck was so low. Just pulled the seats out, put a tarp down, setup the ramps and pushed it in since it was such a shallow angle. Worked great, did it a couple dozen times.
Minivans are more useful utility vehicles than most modern trucks and I'll die on this hill. The bed height on modern trucks alone is kind bogglingly idiotic.
I'd love something between an Astrovan and a traditional minivan.
There's one flaw in the design: frontal cross section. They sit as low to the ground as a sedan, but are as tall as a crossover. This makes their aerodynamics terrible.
I'd still prefer one over a crossover, because we haul things on a regular basis and a minivan with the rear-most seats out would be more practical for us. Nobody makes an EV minivan yet, though. Closest thing is the Ford Transit EV, but it's only sold to commercial customers, and its range is limited.
What? Volvo's 100k electric minivan that isn't sold in the US isn't enough for you? Gosh...
My grandma had to get a rental vehicle temporarily while her minivan was getting repaired. She asked the rental place for a minivan and they gave her a giant SUV. That thing was terrifying and barely fit in the garage
They did change up the rules for trucks in 2011 following the PT cruiser getting classified as a truck, but they made it worse.
Now CAFE standards are based on vehicle footprint, which encourages giant vehicles. It also killed the small truck category of vehicles, which is why a Ranger today is the size of an F-150 from before, and an F-150 is the size of a small moon.
On the plus size, it's also why the base-model engine on the Maverick is the hybrid with the traditional engine being the "upgrade."
Require a business license for pickup trucks. And tax by weight.