I've lived in the US my whole life and even _I_ think America's car culture is bananas. Here are a couple of loosely-related rants.
Almost everywhere in the world, cars are a means to get around and occasionally carry things. But in the US, cars are status symbols first and transportation second. We're conditioned to buy as much car as we can afford via advertising, cultural pressure, and low-interest loans. Or even to buy cars when we don't actually need them. (If you live in a city with a subway, you don't actually need a car, you just want one. Your family probably does not need a car for every member of the household. Etc.)
Our mass transit is in a shambles because of the insanity of car culture. Except for a few HCOL cities, mass transit is essentially considered to be a service for the poor.
Gas prices in the US are embarrassingly low. They are subsidized by the government in various often invisible forms, at the behest of the oil and auto industries. The auto industries have an interest in keeping gas prices low because it means they can convince buys to pony up for ever-increasing vehicle sizes. The "true" price of gas nowadays is somewhere north of $7-8 a gallon and that's not including the inevitable cost of cleaning up the atmosphere, whenever we decide to get serious about that.
Where I grew up in the 80's and 90's, you were either a Chevy or a Ford person. Weirdest form of brand loyalty ever. I didn't even know foreign brands sold cars here until after I graduated high school and started seeing more of the country. I never moved back but I visit every few years and there are still no foreign dealerships outside of the major cities.
I really want to like electric cars (and trucks, sure) but I don't like that you don't really "own" them. I don't know of any that you can buy that don't require signing up with the manufacturer and having to install an app on your phone, or have the car permanently connected to the cloud via mobile network, just to drive and charge the damn thing.
> Almost everywhere in the world, cars are a means to get around and occasionally carry things.
This is as incorrect as it gets. Cars are considered status symbol almost universally. Look at Bentleys, high tier BMWs, Mercedes, Lexuses etc etc etc of the world.
Occasionally you may see funny things, like France's disregard for car paint and bumpers, but almost everywhere sports car, large premium suv or luxury sedan are very often status symbols.
I live in a city (Portland, OR) with an extensive public transportation system, and I own and drive a car for my daily commute. Whenever there are presidential visits or public holidays the public transportation system often grinds to a halt, leaving people late for work by hours. The public transportation system here also exposes people to secondhand smoke from hardcore drugs and also exposes people to violent crime. Commuters and families are often witnesses to public drug scenes. Last year more than a few people were violently assaulted on our public transportation. I am someone who very much likes to take the train or the bus or even ride my bike to work but I recognize that public transportation often fails at the margins. I am a person who values reliability and consistency - public transportation just doesn’t have the uptime or resiliency that I require. Because I live in the northwest and like to enjoy the great outdoors I need a vehicle to get me to trailheads that buses and trains cannot access. I also need a vehicle to carry my large art supplies I take into the wilderness.
> I really want to like electric cars (and trucks, sure) but I don't like that you don't really "own" them. I don't know of any that you can buy that don't require signing up with the manufacturer and having to install an app on your phone, or have the car permanently connected to the cloud via mobile network, just to drive and charge the damn thing.
That's not an electric car problem. All cars are going to end up that way.
We love cars because when we travel, we want privacy. Mass transit might be good but it is something which goes against American individualism. I don't want to smell someone else's body odour throughout a 5 hour journey.
Lived in the US my whole life and somehow escaped this. My 2 cars are an ‘03 and ‘04. Purely functional and bought with cash. I’d be blown away to learn someone actually thought better of someone based on what car they saw them driving.
> But in the US, cars are status symbols first and transportation second.
I really don’t believe this is true for the majority of buyers. I think most people are primarily buying based on the features they want: performance, comfort, space, technology, etc. Status is inextricably linked to what kind of car you drive, and it matters for some people more than others, but I don’t think it’s the foremost concern for most. At least not for myself and most of my friends and family.
Yes, people often buy more car than they actually need, but that is because they spend a lot of time driving and it makes them happy.
Almost everywhere in the world, cars are a means to get around and occasionally carry things. But in the US, cars are status symbols first and transportation second. We're conditioned to buy as much car as we can afford via advertising, cultural pressure, and low-interest loans. Or even to buy cars when we don't actually need them. (If you live in a city with a subway, you don't actually need a car, you just want one. Your family probably does not need a car for every member of the household. Etc.)
Our mass transit is in a shambles because of the insanity of car culture. Except for a few HCOL cities, mass transit is essentially considered to be a service for the poor.
Gas prices in the US are embarrassingly low. They are subsidized by the government in various often invisible forms, at the behest of the oil and auto industries. The auto industries have an interest in keeping gas prices low because it means they can convince buys to pony up for ever-increasing vehicle sizes. The "true" price of gas nowadays is somewhere north of $7-8 a gallon and that's not including the inevitable cost of cleaning up the atmosphere, whenever we decide to get serious about that.
Where I grew up in the 80's and 90's, you were either a Chevy or a Ford person. Weirdest form of brand loyalty ever. I didn't even know foreign brands sold cars here until after I graduated high school and started seeing more of the country. I never moved back but I visit every few years and there are still no foreign dealerships outside of the major cities.
I really want to like electric cars (and trucks, sure) but I don't like that you don't really "own" them. I don't know of any that you can buy that don't require signing up with the manufacturer and having to install an app on your phone, or have the car permanently connected to the cloud via mobile network, just to drive and charge the damn thing.