Stupidest idea ever

[dmaze]

The Zipcar du jour was Eva, a Ford Escape living in the Alewife garage. This is a vehicle whose rear-view mirror doesn't allow you so much to see the cars behind you as to see over the cars behind you, a vehicle with the general aerodynamic properties of a Borg Cube. It was, I'll grant, a fairly comfortable ride, particularly through the questionable pavement of Harvard Square. But the negative-zero-emissions-vehicle aspect of it seems contrary to the Zipcar environmental bit. Given that these are expensive vehicles, that are expensive to operate, they're kind of dangerous (both in the "roll over" and the "greater risk of putting your bumper through someone else's windshield" senses), why are SUVs so popular?

Comments

Hey!

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

They still sell lots of station wagons!

Loooooooooves my wagon I does.

Re: Hey!

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Huh, cool. I never see them, but it's nice to know they're still out there.

Re: Hey!

[eichin.livejournal.com]

The Magnum in particular seems popular around cambridge, or maybe it's just "what's that supposed to be" distinctive. And the smaller BMW X-series, and the Toureg/Cayenne, that sort of thing, are more "tall station wagons" (remember the AMC Eagle, from the late 80's?) than anything really Sport or Utility.

Another thought: tall vs. long gets you cargo volume without costing you the ability to *park*...

Re: Hey!

[arcanology.livejournal.com]

I would have called Toureg/Cayenne "offenses against god and nature" myself. I mean, the VW one is bad, but doing that and calling it a porsche... so wrong... now I feel dirty just thinking about it.

Re: Hey!

[iabervon.livejournal.com]

I think people just don't recognize station wagons without the fake wood. Of the cars that tend to park on my short block, there are four Subaru Outbacks, including the one I often drive, and I was still thinking that they didn't make station wagons these days. It's easy to think of modern ones as oversized hatchbacks if you grew up with the old wood-grain boxy station wagons as your prototype.