Americans in most of their country are besieged by massive SUVs and pickups.

Driving a tiny little Japanese/Chinese import in, say, Oklahoma is asking to get literally run over.

Loughla 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I get the trucks and SUV's where you need them. I live in a rural area and without ground clearance and 4x4, I literally wouldn't be able to visit my parents. But my daily driver is a Honda Civic. Because 75% of my driving is done on paved roads that are well maintained (except in the winter).

What kills me are the MASSIVE vehicles in the suburbs though. Why do you need a 3 ton suburban to drive around 2 kids on very clear, very well maintained streets? Why would you buy a 4x4 truck when the most off road you'll do is driving over wet leaves on your cul-de-sac in the fall?

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trashb 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Modern (suburb) SUV's spectacularly suck at most tasks, you have been falsely advertised to.

A 2010 Toyota Corolla is most likely a better offroader, a 1.8t VW Passat is a better tow truck.

If not for the tax benefit these SUV's enjoy they are useless.

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0_____0 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

CAFE regs made USian hugecars relatively profitable, and car makers got USians to demand them via savvy marketing. That's what I reckon anyway.

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rudhdb773b 11 hours ago | parent [-]

The word "American" already unambiguously describes people of the USA. You don't need to make up a new word.

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0_____0 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

1. Synonyms exist in language.

2. You're on a site with a bunch of programmers who regularly use weird words for stuff that already has a name. Reading through HN is wading through a swamp of made up names and tech neologisms, you're just used to it already. I once told a software guy that our team's SWEs had migrated away from React and Node to Stork.JS and Blackadder. He nodded like that meant anything.

3. I like it and you can't stop me.

	▲	mbernstein 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Stork.JS is a really well written piece of software, though.

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defrost 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The word "American" has many sub entries in the Oxford English Dictionary - not all of those meanings are "citizen of the USofA".

So much for unambiguous.

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nxm 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Towing a boat or camper is quite common - not gonna get a second vehicle just for that.

	▲	defrost 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You can tow a boat, caravan, etc. with a smaller Holden Rodeo crew cab at 1.5 tonne (and / or many other vehicles that are not massive over sized yank tanks).

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mikkupikku 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've got a Mazda 3 and I don't worry about SUVs or trucks running over me. Drive sober and watch the road, don't use your phone. Do this and you reduce your risk of an accident by something absurd like 1000x.

The reason people love massive vehicles is because they're shitty drivers, they know they're shitty drivers, and they have no intention of changing. They want to text while driving and they want it to be the vehicle's responsibility to keep them alive when they go off the road or get run over by a train, or drift into the opposing lane. Keep your eyes peeled for these morons, keep your head on a swivel. If you're attentive you're already in the 90% percentile. Paying attention is better safety than even a seat belt.

	▲	cyanydeez 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I love minding my own business and not having to worry about driving through narrow roads, etc. People definitely drive SUVs so they can try not to care about other people.

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ehnto 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't disagree with your first statement but there is a huge range of cars in the Japanese market. They make the Toyota Land Cruiser and Nissan Patrol after all, smaller by American standards but the biggest cars most other countries will see.