Quote:
Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob
In a meeting of generally "green" folk who still drove the average mix of cars I asked why. None could remember the last time they had filled four seats or needed more cargo room; they just liked having the options. Making two trips, picking up a trailer, or renting something bigger on occasion did not seem to occur to them as possibilities. I do suspect that there is an instinct at play, wanting the ability to keep the family together while fleeing a disaster, or showing off.
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I do have a small flatbed trailer that can haul a few sheets of drywall with my car.
When the pandemic hit the rental places ended up without hardly any vehicles, for whatever reason. I couldn't rent a van or pickup at the local Uhaul when I needed one. I also couldn't rent a passenger van or even a mini van from the car rental, the closest one that had one was over 200 miles away. And that was even trying to find one several months away, they just no longer existed.
Rental vehicles are back, but I don't see them as a reliable option anymore.
We have an emergency plan in place for picking up all family and other friends and meeting points even in other states, along with how we would communicate if the phones went out. We all keep our fuel tanks at least 1/2 full. If need be would could fit more than the legal 5 in our sedan. One time in Mexico we fit 8 people into our '93 2-door Mazda 323. Having a plan is better than just buying a big vehicle and hoping it'll be useful.
The number one reason I hear why people by the cars they do, which are nearly always SUV's or pickups or crossovers, is that they feel safer in them.
Doing the opposite
I did go clear to the opposite end of practicallity once when I bought a used Nissan Leaf. The idea was that some 95% of my driving (on the guess-o-meter, not actually measured) was around town and within some 15 miles from my home. The other 5% we could rent or just wait at charging stations.
In the end it just seemed to hard to pull off. Once we finally needed to call a tow truck I decided that that was the end of that idea. I sold the Leaf and we got the Avalon.
My conclusion
I feel that where I went wrong is when I decided to stray away from the ol' 1985 VW diesel Golf. That car was extremely economical and just didn't want to die. I was a bit diswaded to keep the car because it did leave huge plumes of black smoke everywhere I went and I was a little concerned about the safety of that vehicle. But I think if I could do it all over again I'd just have kept the Golf until it no longer was feasible to fix.