Is the car culture dying?

[Max Rockatansky]

I've noticed something  about a lot of Millennials as an extra-late X'er that's been into cars and racing for over 20 years. They'll watch a lot of car videos on the internet, hang out on Jalopnik and its sister sites, play Forza/Gran Turismo/NFS, talk about Ken Block but won't buy a cool/fun car even if they can afford it. They still drive some boring stock Civic/2000s pickup truck/hand-me-down-from-grandma 2000s Impala/Scion or not even own a car and take transit or walk. So they have knowledge about various car models but don't participate.

Pretty much this in my case, but there's an additional reason: utility. There's no way I'm packing everything I own into a Mustang or Camaro. So my next vehicle will be a pickup truck (but NOT something as new as a 2000), a van, or a larger SUV like a Suburban.

That's the thing...I got a kid and a wife and I STILL don't understand why everyone needs a honking huge truck, SUV, CUV or mini-van.  The Sonic, Focus, Fiesta, Camaros and Challenger have always been adequate for the task.  I carry a crap ton of emergency gear in the Sonic and it still has plenty of room and cargo weight capacity to go even with two extra bodies...sometimes a dog.

[Darkchylde]

I've noticed something  about a lot of Millennials as an extra-late X'er that's been into cars and racing for over 20 years. They'll watch a lot of car videos on the internet, hang out on Jalopnik and its sister sites, play Forza/Gran Turismo/NFS, talk about Ken Block but won't buy a cool/fun car even if they can afford it. They still drive some boring stock Civic/2000s pickup truck/hand-me-down-from-grandma 2000s Impala/Scion or not even own a car and take transit or walk. So they have knowledge about various car models but don't participate.

Pretty much this in my case, but there's an additional reason: utility. There's no way I'm packing everything I own into a Mustang or Camaro. So my next vehicle will be a pickup truck (but NOT something as new as a 2000), a van, or a larger SUV like a Suburban.

That's the thing...I got a kid and a wife and I STILL don't understand why everyone needs a honking huge truck, SUV, CUV or mini-van.  The Sonic, Focus, Fiesta, Camaros and Challenger have always been adequate for the task.  I carry a crap ton of emergency gear in the Sonic and it still has plenty of room and cargo weight capacity to go even with two extra bodies...sometimes a dog.

Frequent long-distance moves have taught me the value of having a vehicle large enough to literally throw everything you own into.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've noticed something  about a lot of Millennials as an extra-late X'er that's been into cars and racing for over 20 years. They'll watch a lot of car videos on the internet, hang out on Jalopnik and its sister sites, play Forza/Gran Turismo/NFS, talk about Ken Block but won't buy a cool/fun car even if they can afford it. They still drive some boring stock Civic/2000s pickup truck/hand-me-down-from-grandma 2000s Impala/Scion or not even own a car and take transit or walk. So they have knowledge about various car models but don't participate.

Pretty much this in my case, but there's an additional reason: utility. There's no way I'm packing everything I own into a Mustang or Camaro. So my next vehicle will be a pickup truck (but NOT something as new as a 2000), a van, or a larger SUV like a Suburban.

That's the thing...I got a kid and a wife and I STILL don't understand why everyone needs a honking huge truck, SUV, CUV or mini-van.  The Sonic, Focus, Fiesta, Camaros and Challenger have always been adequate for the task.  I carry a crap ton of emergency gear in the Sonic and it still has plenty of room and cargo weight capacity to go even with two extra bodies...sometimes a dog.

Frequent long-distance moves have taught me the value of having a vehicle large enough to literally throw everything you own into.

Right...but I'm on my 9th state and even with the last move from Florida a couple years back everything fit pretty well into a car that was 173 inches long.  Everything else just went with the movers, I think that I had 6,000 pounds I want to say which included another car.  Maybe this is me just living a spartan existence since I move so much? 

[Darkchylde]

I've noticed something  about a lot of Millennials as an extra-late X'er that's been into cars and racing for over 20 years. They'll watch a lot of car videos on the internet, hang out on Jalopnik and its sister sites, play Forza/Gran Turismo/NFS, talk about Ken Block but won't buy a cool/fun car even if they can afford it. They still drive some boring stock Civic/2000s pickup truck/hand-me-down-from-grandma 2000s Impala/Scion or not even own a car and take transit or walk. So they have knowledge about various car models but don't participate.

Pretty much this in my case, but there's an additional reason: utility. There's no way I'm packing everything I own into a Mustang or Camaro. So my next vehicle will be a pickup truck (but NOT something as new as a 2000), a van, or a larger SUV like a Suburban.

That's the thing...I got a kid and a wife and I STILL don't understand why everyone needs a honking huge truck, SUV, CUV or mini-van.  The Sonic, Focus, Fiesta, Camaros and Challenger have always been adequate for the task.  I carry a crap ton of emergency gear in the Sonic and it still has plenty of room and cargo weight capacity to go even with two extra bodies...sometimes a dog.

Frequent long-distance moves have taught me the value of having a vehicle large enough to literally throw everything you own into.

Right...but I'm on my 9th state and even with the last move from Florida a couple years back everything fit pretty well into a car that was 173 inches long.  Everything else just went with the movers, I think that I had 6,000 pounds I want to say which included another car.  Maybe this is me just living a spartan existence since I move so much? 

Can't afford movers. We hauled close to that in and on the Explorer.

[slorydn1]

This past week was the first time since I got rid of my F-150 more than two years ago that I truly missed my truck. We had a tree that got blown over in a thunderstorm that I needed to to haul off. Luckily, I know the guy that eventually bought my truck and he let me borrow it.

Other than that, I have found that my Mustangs have more than enough room to handle all of my day to day goings on. Every week or so my wife fills her trunk with $500.00 worth of groceries, and she doesn't even remove her "beauty kit" (a Rubbermaid container that holds her microfiber towels, Meguiars Quik Detailer, Ultimate Quik Wax, glass cleaner, etc.) to do that. The rear seats do fold down if we really needed to expand the cargo area but I haven't needed to do that, yet.

[Takumi]

I can fit pretty much whatever I need to into my Preludes. The back seats are more or less useless for carrying people, but my dog fits great back there. Although he would rather be in the front.

[slorydn1]

I can fit pretty much whatever I need to into my Preludes. The back seats are more or less useless for carrying people, but my dog fits great back there. Although he would rather be in the front.

It looks like he's yelling "Hurry UP, Let's GO already!!"

[Max Rockatansky]

I can fit pretty much whatever I need to into my Preludes. The back seats are more or less useless for carrying people, but my dog fits great back there. Although he would rather be in the front.

It looks like he's yelling "Hurry UP, Let's GO already!!"

I use some old bed sheets for mine to cover the back of the front seats so my dog can't get over very easily.  He usually just sits there with his head on the passenger seat to look out the front window.  I try to bring him along as much as possible provided the places I'm going allow dogs, he loves a good car ride.  I've actually moved across the country twice with him in the back seat.

But in regards to cargo capacity...I'm going to run outside here in a minute and get a picture of the Sonic to show what can easily fit even in a small car.

[slorydn1]

Typical shopping trip:

[Max Rockatansky]

This is what I'm carrying in the Sonic:



Basically a lot of this emergency gear carry over from when I was driving 60,000-80,000 miles a year.  Basically I have a full size tire, donut spare, extra coolant, wind shield wiper fluid, a high torque lug wrench, one gallon gas tank, a box of various tools that I might need, a full tool box set, a socket wrench set, snow chains, cold weather clothes/blankets and enough water to last three days.  About the only thing that I don't have that I used to carry back then was a extra 12v battery.  Basically I had about anything and everything happen over those years and a lot of times I was in areas where I was on my own with no cell phone coverage.  Even with all that I'm still under 100 pounds in the trunk and it leaves me a crap load of room for 3/4 four bags of stuff.  So basically even on a "family" trip the Sonic has been more than adequate for the task, there will be no oversized vehicle for daily driving or trip purposes.  So it brings me back to the original point..how many people with an SUV, CUV, mini-van or truck really need them?  The typical argument that it's for "family cargo" doesn't hold weight in most normal circumstances.

[kalvado]

So it brings me back to the original point..how many people with an SUV, CUV, mini-van or truck really need them?  The typical argument that it's for "family cargo" doesn't hold weight in most normal circumstances.

Just a thought.. 2 years ago my better part hit a deer with her CR-V on the interstate. Thanks Geico for footing $7k bill (mostly body work).... Anyway - when I pulled in my civic half an hour later, road service guy who arraigned things to be sorted out (two disabled cars, dead dear, broken glass etc), looked at my car and said "and if she was driving this thing, a deer would fly through the windshield and break her neck". That was a nice touch!   
She is now refusing to ride any sedan...

[Max Rockatansky]

So it brings me back to the original point..how many people with an SUV, CUV, mini-van or truck really need them?  The typical argument that it's for "family cargo" doesn't hold weight in most normal circumstances.

Just a thought.. 2 years ago my better part hit a deer with her CR-V on the interstate. Thanks Geico for footing $7k bill (mostly body work).... Anyway - when I pulled in my civic half an hour later, road service guy who arraigned things to be sorted out (two disabled cars, dead dear, broken glass etc), looked at my car and said "and if she was driving this thing, a deer would fly through the windshield and break her neck". That was a nice touch!   
She is now refusing to ride any sedan...

Yeah I got a sister that is paranoid about crashing and has an SUV for that reason along with ride height.  Never mind the fact that she has about half a dozen speeding tickets over the last 10 years and drives while texting constantly.  I had a elderly parent argue she liked the ride height since she was short which made sense from that perspective.

[formulanone]

If we're going somewhere for 3-4 days with both kids, then we can all fit comfortably in my Scion, with no difficulty closing the trunk. But for 7-10 days, we need the minivan, because there are usually greater distances involved which probably means extended family has bought the kids things, or we're taking home heirlooms/junk.