It irritates me that there are practically no real commuter cars. The four-two is the closest they come, but even that's not a real "commuter car".
I'm your average driver. I drive by myself about 90% of the time, and the most cargo I haul is a backpack. If I could have any car at all, I would pick a
VW L1. Unfortunately this jewel of a commuter car will almost certainly never make it state-side, even as a niche vehicle. Even though it's so small it could probably be shipped here by standard means, the taxes on the import would make it too expensive to be feasible.
As far as other commuters go, the volt isn't much more than a publicity stunt, it's too expensive to be accessible to the wide majority. The economy tango would be great if someone could actually fund it. It looks like the only real hope for a good commuter in america is the Tesla bluestar, but even then that's years out and with service centers being so few and far between (and limited investors willing to adapt to "quick charge" stations), it won't take off unless there are some major changes, which there probably wont be.
Commuter cars are the way to go to improve the serious automotive issues this country is facing. Suppose you have four people, who drive 1000 Miles a month by themselves. They also take a monthly 50 mile trip all packed into the same car. Assume they all have cars that get 30 mpg.
Thats [(12,000 miles * 4 vehicles) + (50 miles * 12 months)]/30. That's 1620 Gallons of gas used per year.
Now suppose they are driving commuter cars that can average 60 MPG, the only difference is that on their monthly trip they have to take two vehicles.
So you have [(12000 * 4 vehicles) + (50 * 12 months * 2)]/60. That's only 820 Gallons of gas used per year.
This may be an oversimplification but the point remains, If commuter cars were made then the end consumer, the environment, and the sustainable market would ALL receive a huge bonus, but americans have this stupid idea that they need at least 3 extra seats at all times. I can't blame Car companies for catering to this idea, it's their job to make a profit.
People are just too short sighted to see how they are giving themselves the shaft. No one cares about sustainability or the environment, and when oil prices (and by extension the price of EVERYTHING) just keeps rising they want to point fingers at the government, at the oil companies, and the gas stations, at the car companies, but never at themselves. If they would be willing to sacrifice that vroom vroom engine they would be doing themselves a great service. I assure you, it would not be that hard to put a bluetooth module in an l1, and it wouldn't be hard to put a sound system in it either if that's your thing. It's just this stupid mentality that "I HAVE TO GET THERE RIGHT NOW" that people have.
/rant
I Think I might just have to save up and build a *****in' electric tadpole trike. It may be the only way to get a decent efficient commuter vehicle. Back to the original topic of the thread, no it doesn't irritate me that New SUVs and trucks are getting better gas milage, in fact, I'm thrilled, but it's like putting a band-aid on the bleeding stumps where there used to be feet.