It barely fits in the bloody car park. So bad for pedestrians and the environment.

  • Faceman🇦🇺
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    2 years ago

    The F150 isn’t even the worst offender, I’m sitting in my office looking out the window and there is a lifted wankerado in the carpark. it’s hood is up to my shoulders and I’m 5’11. They’re not a good off roader why lift them like that?

    How the fuck is that even legal.

    I used to drive an ND MX5, and when one of these cunt-mobiles was behind me I always tried to get off the line as fast as that little thing would let me because I was certain some the drivers had no idea I was there.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      52 years ago

      Mate I know the feeling. Biggest I’ve seen, I couldn’t even see over the hood and I’m 6’3 🫠

      • Sternhammer
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        22 years ago

        Are we calling bonnets ‘hoods’ and boots ‘trunks’ now? When did that happen?

        • @[email protected]OP
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          2 years ago

          I use them interchangeably… guess it’s all the yank media rubbing off on me. I don’t say trunk though, that still feels wrong.

          • Sternhammer
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            32 years ago

            It creeps in doesn’t it? The one that gets me is “y’all”, which I see more and more. I prefer the good old Aussie “youse”. 🦘

            • @[email protected]OP
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              32 years ago

              I started saying y’all ironically to make fun of Americans and now I catch myself using it unironically every now and then. I also prefer youse but for some reason it feels less formal than y’all (even though they’re both informal??). When I’m in work chats I’m more likely to use y’all but with mates I say youse. Funny stuff.

              • @[email protected]
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                32 years ago

                As far as work text chats go ya’ll fills a gender neutral inoffensive spot so is getting plenty of air time at the moment.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 years ago

      I drive a nc mx5, another issue is that their headlights (which are always bright white and far too bright even on low beams) shine directly into my side mirrors (and often the rear view as well) due to the height at which they are placed. Also, they are often are too close when high beams turn on automatically, which presents further problems for road awareness.

    • Ragglemcsnics
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      12 years ago

      I agree with you for the most part. However I could never let go fully because I marvel at the ingenuity of the internal combustion engine.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      132 years ago

      100%. I’d go one further and say stop buying cars altogether but our infrastructure is woefully underprepared for that.

    • Ragglemcsnics
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      12 years ago

      I agree with you for the most part. However I could never let go fully because I marvel at the ingenuity of the internal combustion engine.

    • @[email protected]
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      82 years ago

      I would love to go electric, but I can’t afford an eutectic car and I live in an apartment with no chatting stations.

      On top of that, I still have misgivings due to the longevity of current battery technology. Current Li-ion batteries have a pretty strict life span. Combine that with the fact that I will probably never be able to afford a new car meaning any car I do own in going to be running on an already old battery box and replacing the battery box is very expensive. Also most electric vehicles are artificially rendered unrepairable by the user, requiring “licensed repair technicians” to repair them, at a premium price of course. It’s just not in the cards for poor people. Not to mention the environmental and humanitarian impact of li-ion battery manufacturing.

      Electric vehicles could be part of the solution to our environmental problems, but capitalism is crippling then at their knees.

      • SeaJ
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        42 years ago

        Lifespan is not really a huge issue. You might lose 5-10% of the battery after 100k miles. Tesla’s degradation after 200k miles is 12%. There is much less maintenance that needs to be done on them overall. It is indeed a larger cost up front but even with our cheap gas here in the US, it can pay for itself after 6 or 7 years.

        But you are correct that access to them for poorer people. We do need to make a push to at least get level 1 chargers in apartment garages.

        As far as environmental impact, cobalt is the worst of it but that is being passed out. Lithium mining is done where there is no life at all. A large chunk of the lithium in our batteries is from the Atacama Desert which has large portions that have no recorded instances of rain. Regardless, it is still significantly better than using fossil fuels in internal combustion engine.

      • @[email protected]
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        62 years ago

        For what it’s worth, here’s my anacdotal experience.

        I traded in a Hybrid Camry for a Hyundai Ionic Electric almost exactly 3 years ago.

        The Electric version was $40k (it was a demo so about $5k cheaper than brand new) and about $8-10k more than the petrol only model.

        The first year of driving it I saved a minimum of $4k in petrol compared to the old hybrid and that is with the electricity costs factored in. Though it was closer to 4.5 when solar was taken into consideration.

        This year I saved a bit more due to higher petrol prices and was a minimum of $5k saved compared to the hybrid, and again closer to 5.5 with solar.

        Both years I did about 25,000kms. So after 2 years the difference in price has paid for itself, though we still have a loan for the car in theory the extra savings from not paying for petrol will help to pay the rest of the loan off. Though it’s mostly being eaten up by inflation.

        We are lucky enough to be in a position of semi- owning our own home so we could install power in the carport and solar. If we were renting we certainly wouldn’t have done that which makes a huge difference. Also if we couldn’t charge at home it’d be a massive hassle to charge away from home, which I’ve only had to do 5-6 times in the last 2 years. We only have a travel charger at home it is 2.2kw and very slow but we don’t, and haven’t needed a faster charger.

        For battery life, my car has I think, an 8 year warranty on the battery having at least 90% capacity remaining. My range is typically 330kms on a full charge. If I get down to 90% capacity and still have 300kms off a charge I won’t notice the difference.

        I worked out the rough difference of my car compared to the petrol in terms of carbon emissions from making the battery just using global averages for making batteries. My car hit even with the petrol at about 70,000kms, after that it significantly drops off on the carbon emission side even when using 100% grid power from only coal power while petrol cars keep producing.

        For the global average driver at 10,000kms a year it’s obviously about 7 years to break even, for myself it’ll be the end of year 3 in theory.

        I can’t say much on replacing batteries even though currently it is very expensive, battery technology and capacity keeps getting better, so one would hope that would mean in the future it would cost less to replace and give you more range. But then how will the shareholders reap the benefits of record profits every year.

        I never really did the serving on my hybrid, but I’ve found the service costs pretty comparable. The last 12 month service was $360 and that includes 22months of roadside assistance.

        I want to also mention it is the smoothest car I’ve ever driven which is nice on long trips.

        I know there’ll be people who will not care about any of this and others will still consider electric cars bad because of {insert small inconvenience or difference to petrol cars}, but don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. They’re a good start for individuals to make the change if they have the means, but the largest corporations are the biggest polluters which need regulations and rules put in place before they will start doing there share.

        Apologies for rambling.

  • @[email protected]
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    22 years ago

    Maybe it makes me a bad person but I’d love one, even just for a few years.

    I ride 20km to uni each way, eat less than 1 meat meal a week on average and am highly interested in solar/renewable energies but fuck me I’d love a big truck… specifically one bigger than everyone elses.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      52 years ago

      They do appeal to some carnal desire ngl. I wanted a Cybertruck when it was first announced just because it was big and garish (and I didn’t yet know Elon that sucks). Thank god it’s taking so long to come out or I might have actually bought one.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 years ago

        only a 4 cylinder so no v8 noises

        gvm so high you’ll need a light ridged license and a BAC of 0.00.

        Your not going to earn the respect of all the blokes down at the pub if you go to show off your new truck and only drink raspberry lemonade.

        • BNE
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          12 years ago

          I’m sure they’ll be fine, lmao.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    Bought my first pickup a few years back and it’s by far the most fun vehicle I’ve ever owned. Hard to imagine ever going back to a normal car.

    I use it to haul construction material quite regurlarly so it’s just not for fun too. It’s a real pickup too and not one of those with a cab longer than the bed. Seats two people.

  • @[email protected]
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    232 years ago

    These are showing up all over the place in The Netherlands, a country that is not built to accommodate these Emotional Support Trucks. Most are bought by business owners who would be served far better by vans. Even a small van has more usable cargo space than these behemoths, and will actually fit in parking spaces, but for some stupid reason these can be had for cheap by companies because of tax rules (that’s what 20 years of right-wing government does for you). It really is beyond infuriating.

    • @[email protected]
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      82 years ago

      Those same tax rules are why they’re proliferating here too. Since they can count as “work vehicles”, they’re not subject to our Luxury Car Tax.

  • @[email protected]
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    82 years ago

    I don’t understand why they’re suddenly getting traction here. These big utes have been around forever but it just feels like you see them all the time now.

  • @[email protected]
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    2 years ago

    Why do people even like inefficient, huge cars if they’re not going to use most of its features, not even in the foreseeable future? Such a bloated design for an everyday car, and even more potentially dangerous at that… those Japanese cars have a more elegant and sleek design, as well as efficient. Well, I would like good public transportation too.

    No matter how you look at it, all the pros of those kind of cars turn into cons when they’re used as cars for everyday personal transport.

    • @[email protected]
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      202 years ago

      In America they are mostly bought because of consumerism and fragile masculinity.

      Where I live trucks are at around half the vehicles. My wife and I play a game where we try to spot a truck hauling something that they actually needed the truck for. Most trips I’ll see dozens of trucks and zero being necessary.

      • Tb0n3
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        -32 years ago

        Do you see them on the weekends when they’re hauling their 4 wheelers, boats, or motorcycles? You probably don’t make it to the outdoors much, but there’s good reasons to have a pickup.

        • Funderpants
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          32 years ago

          A Chevy Bolt EV hatchback can tow right sized utility trailers, boats, campers, bicycles, cargo boxes, motorcycles, ride on lawn mowers and ATVs. With the roof rack it can move kayaks. Before someone chimes in to say it can’t, I own one, I live in a rural area, I do these things and have done them for part of the last 150,000kms.

          If the little ol’ bolt can do it, think about all the larger vehicles that could do it too. The idea that you need a weekday driver pick up truck to have enough utility for weekend fun is a myth told by truck salesmen and people trying to justify the unnecessary purchase they made.

          • @[email protected]
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            22 years ago

            I looked into if it would be possible to tow a small trailer with the Bolt, but it’s not rated for any towing load so it’s an insurance liability. Is your model rated for towing, or are you just accepting the insurance liability?

            • Funderpants
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              2 years ago

              My insurance company tells me that when a trailer is attached it’s covered under liability, no different than a cargo box on a hitch. Rated capacity never factored into the discussion, just don’t overload the OEM hitch that I have installed.

              But now we’re talking about differences in people’s specific insurance coverage, which may vary by country, state, province, provider, and legislation and not the overall point which is that owning a daily driver pick up truck just because you occasionally tow is more an excuse than a nessecity for many , many truck owners.

          • Tb0n3
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            12 years ago

            How heavy are these towed things. Some boats are well over 1000kg and small towballs aren’t rated for enough down force to properly handle them. Plus a large enough trailer will start pushing you around if you don’t have enough mass in the tow vehicle.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      As a big dude I can’t comfortably fit in a lot of smaller vehicles. I used to love my truck. Now I’ve settled on a Crown Victoria, the thing is a boat made for land.

      I live in America so it’s far from the worst offender.

      • @[email protected]
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        2 years ago

        I think I can understand that, it’s just that some people just get the biggest car they can find only as a status symbol and think of nothing else about it, then when they get an inconvenience they don’t even think that it’s the cost of having that design. Not to mention the environmental impacts. But if I were in your situation, I certainly don’t want to feel cramped in a car, especially if it’s in America where you’ll be driving fora significant portion of your day. I mean your car could be inefficient, but it’s probably because efficiency wasn’t accessible for you in the first place.

    • @[email protected]
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      -12 years ago

      In America they are mostly bought because of consumerism and fragile masculinity.

      Where I live trucks are at around half the vehicles. My wife and I play a game where we try to spot a truck hauling something that they actually needed the truck for. Most trips I’ll see dozens of trucks and zero being necessary.

  • Bendersmember
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    32 years ago

    I can’t afford a fancy lift. Sure as hell wouldn’t be going around parking it places though.

  • paNic
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    42 years ago

    These things are so incredibly ugly on top of everything else that’s wrong with them. Thanks for all the brilliant names in this thread though, wankerado is my favourite so far.

  • @[email protected]
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    622 years ago

    Hi American here - please don’t let those things take over your roads, it sucks for all the reasons you think it does