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

  • shirro@aussie.zone
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    1 year ago

    For complete fairness to everyone we should tax every vehicle on road or path from scooters and bikes to b-doubles based on the 4th power of axle load to properly account for the impact on road maintenance costs. Then additional levies for disproportionate environmental costs and harm to vulnerable road users. Keep the overall tax amount the same but shift the burden so people with smaller vehicles pay substantially less than they do now. And then add strict liability for anything much larger than a kei car.

    • ephemeral_gibbon@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      Yes, however with that it’d be more expensive to administer taxation on bicycles etc. Than what they’d bring in… So not really worth doing at all.

      • TassieTosser@aussie.zone
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        1 year ago

        Since the amount of damage caused by bikes to infrastructure would be small, the govt could just slap a tax for the cost to the purchase price of every bike. Not saying I’d agree with it but there are ways to make all road users pay their share.

        • itsmikeyd@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Surely human powered transport should have tax breaks in order to encourage adoption by promoting affordability though.

  • 5redie8@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

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

  • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year 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.

  • XiELEd@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year 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.

    • LanyrdSkynrd@lemmy.world
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      1 year 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@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year 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 @lemmy.ca
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          1 year 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.

          • Robert7301201@slrpnk.net
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            1 year 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 @lemmy.ca
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              1 year 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@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year 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.

    • thoughtorgan@lemmy.world
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      1 year 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.

      • XiELEd@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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        1 year 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.

    • LanyrdSkynrd@lemmy.world
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      1 year 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.

  • Zadkine@lemmy.world
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    1 year 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.

    • TassieTosser@aussie.zone
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      1 year 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.

  • 𝐘Ⓞz҉@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    These mofo americans are ruining it for everyone. I have stopped watching hollywood movies as they tend to show these cars and most regulars get brain washed and start buying this shit.

    • cassetti@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Damn! I hope you’re doing better.

      I ride 10 miles daily on my bicycle and drivers scare the hell out of me. I always assume they can’t see me and are going to do the wrong thing because they usually do!

      I had to sell my old coupe to buy a pickup - but it was necessary for the homestead to haul dirt and other supplies for the farm. Although I rarely drive it (I’d rather be bicycling and burning calories while saving gas!). I’m waiting for the EV industry to evolve and then my plan is to buy a nicer older small EV with very limited range so I can scoot around town when needed - something like the BMW i3… but less ugly hahaha

        • cassetti@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Wow! That’s insane. Yeah I had a back injury last month and it’s taken me weeks to feel better - I’m finally back on a bike but not back in the gym yet - still taking it easy lol.

          For sure I love the thought of E-bikes! I’ve been watching the technology evolve quite a bit over the past few years. My goal is to add one to the collection eventually so I can extend my “range” to get into town without being drenched in sweat in the summer time haha

    • Frog-Brawler@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I agree with you mostly, and I absolutely hate these things as well. Here’s the 3 reasons someone might have one of these for personal use…

      1.) Heavily vested in the culture war shit.
      2.) Maybe they own a boat or something that needs to be hauled in a trailer and the engine on a standard size vehicle isn’t sufficient.
      3.) They live somewhere really cold and remote and need to attach a plow to the front during the winter in order to leave home.

      • HelixDab@kbin.social
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        1 year ago
        1. Frequently hauling items that won’t fit inside an enclosed vehicle
        2. Frequently used over rough terrain where high ground clearance and 4WD is necessary.

        I have regular need for a truck to carry lumber to and from home improvement box stores and lumber yards (it’s remarkably inconvenient to carry a 10’ 2x4 in anything that doesn’t have an open bed, and you can’t fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood inside anything smaller than a panel van). But even with that, it’s far, far cheaper for me to rent a truck for a few hours when I need one than it is to make payments on one, pay for insurance, gas, tires (!!!), repairs, etc. It would be nice to have one on the forest service roads around here–I broke 2 motor mounts on a Civic on a forest service road–but that’s uncommon enough that it’s not worth the purchase.

  • qwop@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    It’s just crazy that these things are allowed.

    Ok, let people buy them if they really want, but they shouldn’t be allowed to use them on the roads that other people have to share with them!

    • jaybb3rw0cky@aussie.zone
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      They should be allowed to drive them, but pay a price for them. Tax the absolute shit out them and don’t allow it to be a taxable right off for “business purposes”. But then I also say that should go for all four wheel drivers. 30 years ago the only people who had anything bigger than a station wagon were people that actually used them for recreational use. The argument of “it’s safer for me to drive them” is the same argument people use when the gun debate is used - it’s only safer because everyone else has one is not a valid argument.

      People don’t need four wheel drives - they have them because it’s convenient. If you want that convenience then you should have to pay for it.

      • TiredSpider@slrpnk.net
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        1 year ago

        taxing them wont remove their massive blind spots that make them so dangerous. Even fwds have some use cases but these don’t, to my knowledge there isn’t any thing these stupid things can do that another vehicle cant do better besides maybe running over children, no one needs one of these.

        • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          I’m not a fan and would never own one of these, but I think the usual argument in these threads is that these have a larger towing / carrying capacity.