Small-car sales have been a rare pocket of strength for the slumping auto industry in recent months as Americans sought relief from sky-high gasoline prices. But many buyers are sticking with mid-size or larger vehicles and choosing a smaller engine instead -- saving money on the sticker price and at the pump without downsizing their ride.This should put the lie to the notion that Americans guzzle gas because they like powerful, fast, muscle cars. Maybe in the days of 1950s hot rods; but no longer.
Big cars in America are all about aggression. It's an arms race on the road - the bigger and heavier your car, the less worried you are about a collision. That lets you bully people out of your lane, or avoid being bullied. Why do people buy giant extended-cab pickups that are useless for hauling? Because the truck bed is an invincible metal ass that can sweep away anything in your blind spot. And of course the angry, protective soccer mom has to respond by getting an SUV big enough to protect her kids, and the arms race escalates.
Don't believe me? Just check out the following quote by right-wing talk show host G. Gordon Liddy:
I commute in a ¾-ton capacity Chevrolet Silverado HD...Four-wheel drive, off-road equipped, extended curb pickup truck, powered by a 300hp, overhead valve, turbo supercharged diesel engine with 520 lbs-feet of torque ... It has lights all over it so everyone can see me coming and get out of the way. If someone in a little government-mandated car hits me, it is all over – for him.Good fences don't make good neighbors after all.
But V4s are not going to be enough to alleviate the pain of $4 gas (to say nothing of $5 or $6 gas). The tank armor is going to have to go. And cities are going to have to become denser, with more public transit. All of which means that Americans are going to have to relearn how to tolerate each other's company without killing each other.
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