Do we hate cars?

BimmsAndBices said:

The Bimms is for BMW, my first and primary love/obsesion. (car guy) I hate unyeilding SUV hags as much as anyone here, and, I am among the small percentage of Americans who know how to drive properly. Is there an exception for the good drivers who respect 2 wheelers or do the anti-car folk hate cars PERIOD? jest wonderin

The thing that you haven't learned as yet is that most people are the center of the known universe and all existance is set forth to glorify their being.
You just haven't figured out how important they really are.

Neither have I! Be patient the way most drive they will die soon...We can only hope they do it alone.

I own one a car that is. Never been an obsession and just really need it to get from point a to point b. I don't hate cars. Cars are object and do no good or evil by themselves. It is only when they become vehicles for a sick person's will that they become hated. Arrogance, self importance, lack of any humility and 5000 to 10000 pounds of rolling steel is not something I wish to be around. Then again they don't do it at me, they do what they do because of their sick thinking.

Cars are a necessary evil I'm afraid. I have one - it's small and it's got 195,000 miles on the clock (not bad for a petrol engine) and so I'm rightly proud of it, despite it being one of the ugliest beasts on the road. I'll drive it till it dies (which won't be long!)

The cars I despise are the souped-up-go-faster ones, the lumbering, petrol-wasting 4x4's, and the goddamn trucks. Man, if we could get these things off the road and the world would be a happier place. Mind you, there'd be a whole bunch of depressed [censored] wandering the streets complaining about there lack of freedom (to drive fast, kill people and generally be a pain in the [censored]).

Boy, I sound angry, twisted and bitter don't I? 😄

I don't hate cars i like to drive

I love cars, things with wheels, shiny things, things that go fast.

It's people that generally annoy me.

wheelist said:

the lumbering, petrol-wasting 4x4's

I agree and I don't at the same time. 😕

Necessity made me buy USED 4x4 suv's. The first year I moved to this area, my local roads would be the last ones to get plowed. That is 4 days after snowfall. And what happened after the 3rd day? More snowfall. And Ice. And ice-rain. That did no good on my high mileage diesel MBenz, and it died in a pothole the size of a driveway.
By that time I was looking for a low mileage subaru wagon AWD. Could not find one in decent shape. Lo and behold, hundreds of Grand Cherokees to be found on all price ranges. We dont drive much, 25 miles a day tops, so Huhenia got one of those.
My other 1982 mbenz diesel was costing too much to keep running, and it was also rusting away - suspension - so it had to go to someone braver/dumber than me.
Lo and behold, someone bought it.
So with 7k in my hand I started car searching. Snow, ice, pothole worthy, deerworthy.
Got a used wrangler. It sucks gas ... but I dont drive it much.

Such is life in some parts of the States, immediate necessity supercedes long term projection on gas consumption. If I had the money to pick vehicles I would have gone with a mid size all wheel drive station wagon, and a small awd convertible.

But that is what I could afford.

BTW .... everytime I get rearended in winter - more than once I mind you - I smile while I hand my duct tape to the poor idiot that could not keep his/her distance, and drive away.😄

First of all I love cars, they are necessary and quite fun. Secondly one thing I have noticed is that people who claim to be good drivers tend to be the worst ones. I also find it amusing when people feel the need to complain about people who have fast cars or bigger vehicles. Lumping everyone who has one of them into a stereotyped catagory. Pretty stupid if you ask me.

Since the entire infrastructure of the USA was built around and revolves around the automobile it really is difficult to get by without one here (in the USA that is). I have a lot of respect for the few Americans that really do live car-free. I own a car and use it a lot more than I'd like to. That said, I don't really hate cars (don't particularly like them either). I do hate idiot drivers though! :o

I love cars. Own several of them, and tinker with some on weekends. But... as a child of the 70's, I was somewhat depressed by the onslaught of gas pigs in the 90's. All the ideals we fought so hard for - economical fuel usage, greater respect for what nature we have left - were being chucked out in this orgy of waste. While gas prices hurt, I can't help but chuckle at the SUV drivers who are parking the darn things. If you can't conserve because it's the right thing to do, you'll darn well do it because you got hit in the wallet. Serves ya right...

Even though I live out in the boonies in KY on a producing farm, I have never owned a SUV, and never will. A collosal waste of fuel and money. Their off road capabilities are laughable, and a decent front wheel car will handle snow as well without sucking up nearly as much fuel. My current commuter, a Mercury Sable wagon, is a darn sight more stable than a top heavy SUV, and gets high 20's mileage on the road. In a rainstorm, I'd gladly take it over an Explorer - it doesn't get knocked around by the wind. And I can fit my bike in the back without taking the wheels off.

I have a friend who is a BMW nut. He has some pretty fast cars. I own a '90 Lotus Esprit. It is a little rocket ship. He keeps wanting to trade me a M3 for my Lotus. Nah. His car is fast. Mine is a head trip.

In my own defense, I say I'm a good driver not because my record is clean, but because my front wheels are the same color as my rear wheels (no hard braking), I stay 3 car lenghts behind motorcycles and cyclists, use my signals ALWAYS, and stay within the speed limit in my massive 2900 pound vehicle.

love cars - driving and tinkering with them. love trucks too - esp when going between 35 and 40 mph on the flats. they're the best leadouts for sprint training 🙂

I love driving, i love my car, i love motorsport.

I own a 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer.

Used to own a 2005 Evolution 8.

I love Mitsubishi.

I hate female drivers that insist on driving top of the line SAABs, LandRovers and BMW M5s.

John O, you own a 90s Lotus Esprit?

lovely car but i think its officially the worlds second most uncomfortable car (after the Lambo Countach)....tell me it is still stupidly quick!!

uncomfortable seats are a great way to prevent folks from buying them for looks

What will happen when the oil/petrol runs out? Will that be the end of cars? (This appears to be the thinking I've discovered in discussions with a few people)

I rather assume we'll all switch to some other form of (slightly less damaging) energy to enable us to continue with our addiction to the lazy personal transport device we call the car. We're just too godamned lazy to get off our fat asses and pedal anywhere, and the thought that a smaller vehicle would decrease congestion on the roads never even crosses our minds.

We're as likely to stop using cars as we are to stop breeding.

Long live the pushbike, eh? 😕

I love cars and they are necessary.

I find cars a necessary evil in most US cities. I have just the necessary to get me around. The cost of ownership and driving is what I dislike . I rather spend my money on other types of toys. After WWII, the US built its infrastructure based on car dependence. Now, it has become part of the American culture. Is like that gas company commercial where they ask this lady about giving up her car for cleaner enviroment and she says: " I would love a cleaner enviroment, but giving up your car is like giving up chocolate, it'll never happen"! By the way she isn't skinny either.

wheelist said:

What will happen when the oil/petrol runs out? Will that be the end of cars? (This appears to be the thinking I've discovered in discussions with a few people)

I rather assume we'll all switch to some other form of (slightly less damaging) energy to enable us to continue with our addiction to the lazy personal transport device we call the car. We're just too godamned lazy to get off our fat asses and pedal anywhere, and the thought that a smaller vehicle would decrease congestion on the roads never even crosses our minds.

We're as likely to stop using cars as we are to stop breeding.

Long live the pushbike, eh? 😕

Urbanization and lifestyle in the US has to change first. I agree that I would love to have a less damaging, ligther, and capable vehicle for the weather conditions that I described you above. We will not see that coming cheap, since gas price will go up, so prices of alternative motor (any kind) vehicles other than gas guzzlers will go up as well.
The particularities of the regional economics play a role. Concentrated urban areas is the way to go regarding urbanization, since it makes mass transit viable.
The suburban setup that most US cities have is counter productive for mass transit, and it will not change as long as people are willing and able to purchase gas at the given prices.
The other factor is "living large". Meaning: big cars, big houses, big lights, big appliances, big dogs, big eats, big sports, big everything. Making everything in a large scale consumes much more energy than making things smaller.
It is obvious that the makers of oversized goods and services know what are they doing. Selling more metal, rubber, plastic, wood, nails, pet food (just imagine how large horse owners live) or whatever materials will yield a larger profit than selling smaller goods and services. Clothing every season, 15 pair of shoes, 4 TV's, 2 PC's, gas grill,electric grill, big lawnyard, big lawnmower, and everything big wastes strategic resources that should be left alone thinking lighter and smaller.
Think of bodybuilding. How much food goes into building unnecessary body muscle. I know ... I used to have 17 inch arms and growing. I was shocked by my food bill. I dont need 17 inch arms. I dont need shoulders like Lou Ferrigno. No one does. It is a waste of energy. See? LARGE vs. SMALL is a philosophical question.
People keep buying large boats because it is a display of their large ego, large cars to not to get crushed by large SUV's. Large houses to keep up with the neighbours so their kids will not be shunned at school. Tribal prestige is involved in the larger than large culture.

Enough said.

What US needs is another rationing period "WW2" style. Old folks that I know remember that era, and they did live fine in the homefront with just two pairs of shoes and no electric toaster, microwave, and other [censored] that society pushes in order to "belong".

Not a hippy, just too lazy to try to be filthy rich.

BimmsAndBices said:

In my own defense, I say I'm a good driver not because my record is clean, but because my front wheels are the same color as my rear wheels (no hard braking), I stay 3 car lenghts behind motorcycles and cyclists, use my signals ALWAYS, and stay within the speed limit in my massive 2900 pound vehicle.

Like I said the people who make claims like these always seem to be the worst drivers. Just making a generalization like you did in your original post.

On a different note, why did I know the tree huggers would come around telling everybody what to do in this thread. *yawn*

House said:

On a different note, why did I know the tree huggers would come around telling everybody what to do in this thread. *yawn*

Because the thread is entitled 'Do we hate cars?' and the cycling fraternity is by its very nature, full of environmentally aware people, perhaps?

Thanks God we've got some of the 'resource wasting, couldn't give a [censored]' brigade here to balance things up eh?