The End of Car Culture?

[lordherald]

it was a 1955 Messerschmitt KR 200

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by lordherald

it was a 1955 Messerschmitt KR 200

Thanks! Brazil was a brilliant film. Predicted several things about the Post Cold War culture quite well in its symbolic use of a variety of disgusting absurdities: the growth of plastic surgery into almost a norm, the ubiquitous presence of "terrorism", the unending celebration of Christmas, plumbing as a symbol of the abuse of the concept of intellectual property, and torture of a harmless man mistakenly identified by a callous and error-prone bureaucracy ...

You could I guess add the "demise" of "car culture" to the list of things the film presaged, but I'd suggest this forum and the way in which it celebrates a car like this:



... is a sign that Gilliam was too cynical. In the film, that car was meant to suggest that the joy would be squeezed out of motor vehicles. Instead, we think, and the guys in the photo appears to think, it's pretty damned cool. That's the thing about culture. It's often about meaning, not metrics.

[botsapper]

The end is near, when it starts here. That's Right, Los Angeles Is Giving Up Car Lanes for Pedestrians - Eric Jaffe - The Atlantic Cities

[Big Dave]

On a related note. Cars (not necessarily pickups or SUVs) are getting smaller.

Last weekend I went on my yearly look at new cars. I have a 13 year old truck and a 17 year old car and sometimes they remind me of that age. so I looked at cars.

They have all shrunk. This is bad. Phil Knox has seen me and knows I earn my moniker. Most cars these days I cannot even get into. Unibodies and the drive for torsional stiffness has led to a massive lowering of top sills. Since people in general don't like reclining and driving peering through their moustache (like I did my old Camaro back in the day) cars have had to control frontal area (for better MPG) by getting narrower. so I have to drive leaning to the center with my head cocked over. Not acceptable. Even a Benz S-class wound up being a $113,000 midget-mobile.

I suppose if you are under 5'7" and 140 lb all is well, but I came to the conclusion my Impala might very well be the last car I ever own.

[sendler]

The Fiesta and Spark have really high roof lines. Focus and Cruze, not so much.

[lordherald]

The car talk guys used to recommend the new VW bug before this current redesign. They thought that it had the most headroom and side to side room for the driver.

[suspectnumber961]

It's demographics?



Due to the overweighting of boomers (in numbers not pounds?)....economically things are unlikely to pickup until 2022? This is due to people spending less after a certain age...uptick around 2022 will be from the younger generations reaching peak spending years.

By this time of course....Google or Microsoft will have found a way for humans to reproduce over their cell phones...obviating the need for physical contact. If the earth is lucky...the human population will decline due to these new cyber-families that will only exist in the cloud.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Lbar

With populations growing, less and less people in the city want to deal with a car and I understand that. In some cases it can't be afforded. A relative of mine pays $40,000 a year for a single spot in a parking garage in NYC.

Cars are not the problem, their cost is. Well, that's why many folks would rather get a motorcycle if they really need a motor vehicle.

Recently I went to visit a cousin of my deceased grandpa near the Uruguayan border. This cousin used to have a VW Beetle, and now he's car-less altough he lives in a place that is basically far from everywhere, so a motor vehicle could be considered more a necessity than a luxury. His son, who is somehow afraid of motorcycles, got quite impressed with some tricycles we saw in Uruguay because of their comparatively low operating cost relatively to the cargo capacity. Basically, it leads to a conclusion that a motor vehicle culture won't fade away so soon, but costs might drive people to different and more efficient vehicles.

[Prophecy99]

might have been mentioned already but you can buy almost anything online now a days so that has got to be a part of a decline in miles driven also.

if a store can ship something to me for "free" why would I drive and waste time and money to go pick it up my self.

[101Volts]

Is it just my view on things or are a lot of cars today too luxurious? I prefer hand-crank (Manual) windows and not too much luxury; The more luxury there is to a car, The more there is to go wrong or that's how I look at it; Take the power windows, Power seats and air conditioning for examples and you might know what I'm talking about. I'm not saying "Let's all drive '49 Chevys", Just that to have new cars with fewer options would be nice. I haven't gone browsing brand new cars either, So do take my reply here as what it is and not necessarily holy; I'm just a guy posting on the internet.