Too true…
The Travers is still a smallsh car, the suburban is honestly about what I’d say SHOULD be average size, but everyone these days want tiny shitboxes that are so small you’d need a trailer to fit anything of a reasonable size, and what almost nobody realizes is that length of a car has a very little drag increase so it wouldn’t even hurt gas milage that much, and what’s what witch big cars? I’m single, never intend to have children in the near future but I still kind of would want an SUV.
This past sunday I went for a college open house and one of the things their motorsports class is working on is breaking the hybrid world speed record and they were actually doing it with a honda insight. It was quite funny to look in the rear window and see 2 massive NOS tanks in there XD
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The drag increase isn’t the issue, it’s that the longer vehicles tend to be heavier, which does hurt gas mileage a good bit.
And if you live in the city or go to any place where you might need to manoeuver in tightish spots (including many badly designed suburban parking lots) they tend to be a major PITA.
I remember my coworker swearing while trying to park his early 2000s LeSabre Custom at a local pizza place, far in the suburbs.
weight matters mainly for city gas mileage or stop and go traffic, less so for maintaining speed. but as for parking difficulty yeah I guess that would be a problem but that depends more on how poorly designed everything around you is.
Yeah. When I had my Silverado, I had to undergo a trial by fire in parking because it was so long and DC roads are so awful. I had to plan every maneuver in advance. It gets easier with time (I drove it at least every other day, so I learned quickly), but it is definitely daunting at first.
Well still considering I’ve never driven anything that handles much better than a top heavy boat and not much smaller that doesnt seem like too much of a change, terrified to take sharp turns at any speed and having to do 3 point U-turns at times, the most maneuverable vehicle I’ve even driven is a toyota 4runner.
Okay let me stop you right there. No! No no no no no no! The Traverse is not a “smallish” car. Its not even remotely small. Its the exact opposite of small. It is enormous. Gargantuan with borderline monster truck 245/55/R20 tires IIRC. Its the kind of car that almost overflows its parking space even when you don’t park like a dick. Its the kind of car that you could almost accidentally maneuver your Ford Escort underneath if you didn’t check your blind-spot before changing lanes. Its the automotive equivalent of when your mom is cooking Thanksgiving dinner and says “Will a double recipe be enough” and your aunt chimes in saying “I don’t think so. The whole family is here,” at which point your mom remembers that her family is catholic, that she is one of six just in her immediate family, and that recipe in question was meant for at best a family of 6 so she responds, “You’re right; better quadruple it.”
Smallish is more like a Toyota Camry. Calling the Traverse “smallish” is like pissing on your neighbor’s lawn while said neighbor is mowing said lawn and trying to convince them that it was totally your dog. Its just wrong and you shouldn’t even try.
People buy cars to suit their needs. Most people don’t need to haul half a ton of gravel or a full size refrigerator. Most people need a car that hauls themselves and a few friends around town, a job that a small sedan does very well and economically to an extent not possible with larger cars. What’s wrong with that?
Also, don’t be so quick to dismiss the small car. You would honestly be amazed how much shit you can cram into a hatchback / station wagon like a Honda Fit or a Subaru Outback. Plus they get better fuel economy and are safer thanks to lower rollover hazard and unibody construction.
If that is your conception of “average” I am not sure what qualifies as “large”. Panzerkamfwagen VIII? NASA Crawler?
I don’t know how to say this in any way that won’t seem offensive so I will just say it: This is why the rest of the world makes fun of the United States. Take a look at the cars in Europe or Asia; their large cars are America’s midsize cars and trucks are pretty much only for commercial industries. If they can do it, why can’t we?
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If that is your conception of “average” I am not sure I want to know
what qualifies as “large”. Panzerkamfvagen VIII? NASA Crawler?
My idea of a large vehicle would be a F-750 or classic 60’s luxury barge, the suburban is definitely on the larger side but nothing massive
Also, don’t be so quick to dismiss the small car. You would honestly
be amazed how much shit you can cram into a hatchback / station wagon
like a Honda Fit or a Subaru Outback. Plus they get better fuel economy
and are safer thanks to lower rollover hazard and unibody construction.
Yes you can fit plenty of small items into a hatchback, but what if you need to haul a full sized desk or fridge or something like that? What if someday for whatever reason you end up needing to move a large solid object, then a sedan or hatchback just wont do, There are plenty of unibody trucks and SUVs and as long as you are taking corners slow dont have a 6 inch lift, and aren’t using the roof as extra storage then it would probably be fine, and there are advantages to a body on frame design as well, a bigger vehicle also means more space inside which I feel most vehicles lack, and as for how asians deal with such small cars, well they are smaller people generally, and with Europeans they just have to thanks to their insurance companies and their governments. but one thing you’d notice is that their full sized luxury cars aren’t much smaller than american ones, granted there’s a big difference between a Japanese luxury car and an american on in terms of size but american and European luxury sedans are generally around the same size. Simply put they deal with it because they have to. There’s a reason the United States makes fun of the rest of the world as well.
okay. here’s a question. how often do you NEED to haul that stuff? every day? every week? every month?
i think it makes more economical sense to daily a smaller car, then pay someone to haul something that your car can’t do, when you do need it. rather than just putting up with the running cost of constantly using a big vehicle.
you are WAY overestimating the difference in physical size of asians. i’m one. and i’m about average height. and with most foreigner that i’ve met, the height difference is about 5-12cm at most.
this comment is just proof of your ignorance.
NO FUCKING SHIT -_-
most luxury car makers don’t have much models to sell at different countries. they make several
that can be sold as widely as possible
again. proof please?
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Let me weigh in here for a moment as a fellow American. I’m 300+ pounds and I’m fine with my Hyundai Elantra. I could fit two weeks worth of groceries in this car without a problem, without intruding on the back seats. I’ve fit my fair share of appliances in the car and driven with the hatch wide open because it was the easiest way to get something home. I’m 5’7" and have no problems, other than the one time I tried to sit up in the seat at the same time as I hit the railroad tracks, and smacked my head on the roof.
I dislike SUV’s, for the most part. Trucks carry more stuff than an SUV, and other vehicles can carry more people comfortably. I’m not joking about that last part, I’ve sat in the back seat of a Ford Explorer, and for how massive it is outside, my Hyundai has more leg room in the back seat! Consider that one for a moment: An SUV has less room on the inside for rear seat passengers than a fuckin’ Korean compact!
And if I need to move something large, like a refrigerator or a flat-screen TV, I’ll call my friend with the Ford F-150. I’ve moved my desk in the Hyundai. I took it apart. Most furniture tends to fit in a smaller vehicle in smaller pieces.
Plus, I get to enjoy decent gas mileage, and I fill up on Regular because that’s what the engine takes. If I’m doing plenty of highway miles, I can hit 36 MPG. If I’m just doing my usual stuff, I’ll see anywhere from 28-30 MPG, depending on season.
As for my friend with the F-150, his daily driver when he needs gas mileage? A Honda Civic. Gas is expensive, so don’t waste it.
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Looking on mileage, I do not need to buy a new car. My 1984 Audi usually needs 7,5 L (32 mpg) and its not driven that slow. That is quite good for a car of that age. It has plenty of space eapecially in the back seat. But well, you can’t fold down rear seats, trunk is very deep but strangely short and the safety is something I better do not talk about.
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i agree with the ‘more people’ part abut the comfortably part… i question that 
In any case, a refrigerator isn’t all that heavy, all you need to do is rent a trailer (something easily accessible in the EU and the US) as most cars will have a towing capacity of at least 500kg… unless we’re talking about some 3-cyl supermini like an Up or an Aygo.
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Still probably more comfortable than the cramped back seat of a Ford Explorer.
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well… a trailer is pretty rare out here.
but the renting a pickup truck, with both a driver and some of the labour worker, is common. and it’s still tolerably priced.
or if you’re like my family and have a wagon that have folding rear and middle seat and have a pretty small refrigerator. there’s not much reason NOT to haul it ourselves. we’ve fitted a set of HUGE speakers that are only slightly smaller than a small-ish refrigerator, while hauling a couple of smaller ones.
Then again, in Asia all you need to do is to call up your one friend with the Toyota SUV if you ever need to haul shit. At least that’s how it works in India. If it doesn’t fit on the bike, get a Toyota.
that’s pretty accurate.
but this
nononononono
western world “Trucks” is actually pretty uncommon here
the classic choice is
a suzuki carry
(btw to stay on topic)
when you need everything to fit on nothing with the least power possible (available is 1L, 1.3L and 1.5L)
or the modern one
a daihatsu gran max
the same principle with slightly larger bed.
