SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - Have people changed their attitude to cars?

Max2147 · 07-16-09, 10:35 AM

I don't quite get the whole "I need a big car to carry stuff around."

I've got a Mini, one of the smallest cars on the American market. I can pack anything I need into it. Two hockey players, plus hockey bags/sticks, plus me as the driver? No problem. All my worldly possessions for a cross-country move? Easy - I could have taken twice as much stuff. I've had the car for 5 years, and I've never felt like it didn't have enough room.

I also hate how SUVs drive. One of my parents has a big SUV that I drive on occasion. I absolutely hate it. I don't feel like I'm in control. I'm so high off the road that I don't feel like I have any connection with it. The steering has zero feel, and the car goes where all the electronic gizmos tell it to, not where I tell it to. I feel like I'm navigating the car, not driving it. It's even worse in the snow. It's heavy and lumbering, and I can't feel when it's sliding. In the Mini I feel everything, and the car is so light I can control it without any trouble. Even though I'm in Wisconsin, I've never needed snow tires.

Then there's the safety issue. The awful handling makes me feel unsafe in the SUV. People say that an SUV is safer in an accident, but the safest accident is the one you don't have. I was once following an SUV on the road when the car in front of the SUV slowed suddenly. The SUV simply plowed into the back of the car, and if I'd been in an SUV I would have followed them. But since I was in a small, agile car I could simply swerve around it without any trouble at all.

07-16-09, 10:35 AM	#10
Max2147 Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 714 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I don't quite get the whole "I need a big car to carry stuff around." I've got a Mini, one of the smallest cars on the American market. I can pack anything I need into it. Two hockey players, plus hockey bags/sticks, plus me as the driver? No problem. All my worldly possessions for a cross-country move? Easy - I could have taken twice as much stuff. I've had the car for 5 years, and I've never felt like it didn't have enough room. I also hate how SUVs drive. One of my parents has a big SUV that I drive on occasion. I absolutely hate it. I don't feel like I'm in control. I'm so high off the road that I don't feel like I have any connection with it. The steering has zero feel, and the car goes where all the electronic gizmos tell it to, not where I tell it to. I feel like I'm navigating the car, not driving it. It's even worse in the snow. It's heavy and lumbering, and I can't feel when it's sliding. In the Mini I feel everything, and the car is so light I can control it without any trouble. Even though I'm in Wisconsin, I've never needed snow tires. Then there's the safety issue. The awful handling makes me feel unsafe in the SUV. People say that an SUV is safer in an accident, but the safest accident is the one you don't have. I was once following an SUV on the road when the car in front of the SUV slowed suddenly. The SUV simply plowed into the back of the car, and if I'd been in an SUV I would have followed them. But since I was in a small, agile car I could simply swerve around it without any trouble at all.