Comment by FirmwareBurner | Hacker News Reader

Comment by FirmwareBurner | Hacker News Reader

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>“I want a car that will ‘win’ if I get in an accident”

That's not at all an American exclusive. I live in Europe and everyone parrots the same line when they justify why they're getting a SUV even though they live in the city and never go off-roading.

A work colleagues who just got a baby recently told me he had to get a SUV even though he wanted a sedan because his wife pushed for the SUV with the same argument: "I feel safer in one." What's a guy to do? Do you want to risk for your wife and child to "feel unsafe" because you're too cheap to buy your family a SUV? Same with my cousin, she just got a baby and pushed her husband to get a SUV for the same reason, so I'm definitely seeing a pattern in my circles as well as on the streets.

The estate/station wagon and the mini-van were the traditional vehicle of the family here but now SUVs and the jacked up cross-over abominations are flying off the shelves here. Just look at Volvo's UK line-up[1], it's 8 SUVs and 1 crossover. WTF?!

Justified or not, consumers are noticing this arms race, and manufacturers are more than happy to market and sell you bigger and taller cars for you to "feel safer" in, if you've got the cash.

[1] https://www.volvocars.com/uk/

IME it is often the female pushing for the bigger vehicle. My ex-wife kept pushing to upgrade our Subaru Outback to something bigger and we only had 2 dogs and no kids in the suburbs. Similarly, my wife hated my Chevy Bolt because of its size. I think folks stereotype big vehicle purchasers as males looking to compensate for feelings of inferiority, but from what I've seen(beyond just the examples given) is that this isn't really true. I'm sure it sounds good to folks looking to denigrate people with vehicles that are deemed excessive but is trite and silly.

We seem to be conflating different vehicles/demos in these comments. SUVs and pickups.

Large SUVs for sure are appealing to women.

The negative stereotypes of male compensation etc though are associated with large pickup trucks not SUVs no?

When we think “large SUV” we think soccer mom.

When we think “large Pickup” we think male ego compensation/etc.

I'm saying the same thing about both SUVs and pickups. Many times it's the women who want the bigger vehicle.

In my experience, people in huge vehicles are either bad drivers or drivers who lack confidence (or both).

I'm pretty sure females in general have less confidence than males. At least in my family.

I don't think it's just about superiority or safety in the event of a crash. I almost always buy Coupes for my personal vehicles, but was hired to drive an F150 pickup truck to transport materials throughout the city. It had two advantages. One was being able to see what's behind me and estimate with high accuracy the distance from me things were, but that's less relevant. The other major advantage was that my head was higher than almost everyone else on the road, allowing me a much better 360 view of what's around me. However, I was also obstructing the view of every other driver, which is why only a complete douchebag gets one for a personal vehicle.

Yep. I like smaller cars, but when I moved out of the bay area I rented a big truck that sat high and had excellent visibility. I loved it. I wouldn't buy a truck based on that, but I see why people do.

People want the wrong things damnit! They should want to be in a bus or on a scooter so that everything can be easier to plan. Instead they want to be happy, safe, and comfortable!

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