Is the US ready for Small Cars?

Technocrat

Is the US ready for Small Cars?

jay car

Mon May 21 14:37:59 -0700 2007

(in reply to Is the US ready for Small Cars? )

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I would LOVE a really small car. I'm a really small person, so it would fit me just fine. Unfortunately, I live in the Phoenix, AZ area of the US, and not only are there a lot of semi trucks to watch out for (lots of construction around the Valley), but SUVs, Hummers, 4-wheel-drive pickups. And then there are winter visitors (Snowbirds) that arrive from fall till springtime, that drive motor homes (Winnybagels? ; ). Added into that mixture is approximately one out of every five drivers that packs a gun...this is still the Wild West in many ways. Road rage is common, shootings are common, it's especially bad during the Christmas season and the hot (hot hot) summer months.

So, itty-bitty cars are little more than bumps in the road for most drivers out here to run over.

Then there's the heat. Most small cars don't have the engine power to handle AC without bogging down. In many places having AC might be a luxury, but out here, where the temps hover between 105 and 115 degrees, daily, for most of the summer months, an AC is a necessity for survival.

Maybe in other parts of the world they wouldn't be so bad, but out here, between the aggressive drivers and the heat, a tiny car has a high potential of being a death-trap.

Is the US ready for Small Cars?

Uncle Entity

Mon May 21 16:42:10 -0700 2007
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Road rage is common, shootings are common, it's especially bad during the Christmas season and the hot (hot hot) summer months.

What? There's something like one or two road-rage shootings a year, you make it seem like you need body armor to get to work.

Then there's the heat. Most small cars don't have the engine power to handle AC without bogging down.

Modern AC systems take something like 3hp to run.

Maybe in other parts of the world they wouldn't be so bad, but out here, between the aggressive drivers and the heat, a tiny car has a high potential of being a death-trap.

You seriously can't be that scared, how do you function? I used to ride my motorcycle all over the Phoenix valley, no helmet, and never got shot or ran off the road. There's no reason to think Phoenix is any different than any other metro area and base your car buying on some imagined threat to life and limb. So just admit you're too scared to drive without being encased in 5000lbs of steel and quit trying to justify your fears by bashing little cars.

Is the US ready for Small Cars?

jay car

Mon May 21 21:50:58 -0700 2007
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"I used to ride my motorcycle all over the Phoenix valley, no helmet, and never got shot or ran off the road. There's no reason to think Phoenix is any different than any other metro area and base your car buying on some imagined threat to life and limb."
.............................

You obviously haven't been here for a while. I've lived here for over 40 years, grew up here, raised kids here. I don't think you realize how things have changed on Phoenix roads and freeways. Between the population explosion during the late 90s and the vast expansion of the cities surrounding Phoenix, it's a mess. No need to take my word for it, the stats aren't hard to find.

By the way, I don't have an SUV, and I wasn't bashing little cars, I was just suggesting why people in this end of the world probably won't accept them as fast as people in other parts of the world might.

I'm also not scared of driving, just not stupid enough to assume I'm invincible, like most twenty-somethings who think they own the streets and can't be bothered to wear helmets when riding motorcycles. : )

You can just write me off as a grumpy old granny whose opinion doesn't count. S'okay, I'm used to it.

Is the US ready for Small Cars?

Richard Young

Mon May 21 18:16:47 -0700 2007
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I ended up with a compromise. I bought a Honda CRV. It's fuel economy is twice as good as my old V6 Toyota Camry, the entire family can fit in, and I can take it on unsealed roads (Handy for the Mountains where I live). The air conditioning is more than capable of dealing with the Australian Summer, so I think it would cope with yours.

I regularly drive from Sydney to Canberra on a half tank of fuel (About 350 KM).

Its eclipsed by my Wife's Holden (GM) Astra 1.8, but then its a lot bigger than the Astra!