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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".
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.
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!
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.
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
Perhaps. But he is writing in Swedish.