this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
660 points (92.5% liked)

Degrowth

776 readers
5 users here now

Discussions about degrowth and all sorts of related topics. This includes UBI, economic democracy, the economics of green technologies, enviromental legislation and many more intressting economic topics.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 117 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Phones have gotten way bigger again

[–] [email protected] 74 points 5 months ago (2 children)

There was a very quick 180 on phone size when folks figured out they could be used for porn

[–] [email protected] 58 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I would agree, if the aspect ratio for those big phones was still 16:9, but its not. These long ass phones are made for doom scrolling.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

Doom scrolling porn?

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 66 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Things we hold get smaller. Things we fit inside get bigger.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 5 months ago

That sounds like a double entendre

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

Like your mum.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Except the inside of today's monster cars is just as small as ever.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 57 points 5 months ago (10 children)

This is comparing a 3 series sedan with an SUV though. The closest modern analog to the E30 would be the 1 series, and while it’s larger and heavier it’s also more fuel efficient, faster, and safer.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 5 months ago (2 children)

The closest equivalent to the 3 series would be a 3 series since it showcases how much bigger got.

Though a lot of that size increase is due to better safety tech, better crumple zones, so OP isnt very intelligent with this critique, the ford F150 comparisons are more apt.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Yes but the image is of an X3 I think so certainly not an apple to apple comparison.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

This is what I would expect to see. This graphic is a crap comparison.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] [email protected] 41 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What? Theywent from portable PC/phone to even more portable PC/phone. The same way they went from shit car for assholes to more shitty car for assholes.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago

That old e30(?) Is a badass car. Yes BMW are generally wankers, but don't hate the Chariot.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Not only are modern cars huge, they're fuckin' ugly as well. I can't stand the "aggressive" look every car, truck, and SUV has nowadays. Sorry, but Mom's minivan does not need to look "aggressive". That thing is lucky to even reach a high speed to warrant such a look. The shapes of cars nowadays look like hideous blobs, especially most SUVs. Taillights taking up the whole rear end, weird headlight placement (who the fuck designed the Nissan Juke?) and other design choices that make the car look uglier every generation.

I know it's because of studies showing people like "aggressive" cars (because people are fucking stupid, it isn't aggressive if every car is aggressive) and aerodynamics are why cars look like blobs, but I sure miss when cars actually looked like cars. That died out in the late 90s/early 2000s.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Vision 74 (just a concept for now)

These 2 look really nice.

The i20 looks nice 2 in my opinion and my Hyundai i40CW is probably the best looking car of it's generation in its category

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 months ago (5 children)

In reallity we all want smaller phones though

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Exactly the image I thought of.

Bless you, and all your generations to come, oh wide and sagacious one!

[–] Zipitydew 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I've got big hands. Phones are great the size they're at now.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago (2 children)

The US has to fix the fuel efficiency laws so that small trucks don't have huge environmental fees associated with them. So many contractors and others who need a truck but don't want a modern behemoth would benefit.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

You mean like a Kei Truck?

I think they're so cute. Like they are out of a Lightning McQueen manga.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

YES PLEASE. You can even make it electric. I just want a small truck with a full size bed. I don't need all the other shit these overpriced monstrosities come with.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

But they're essentially illegal. CAFE standards are based on vehicle footprint since the late 2000s (you know - when they suddenly quit making small trucks). As the standards get stricter they just make trucks bigger to keep from failing to meet CAFE.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Ok, besides comparing wrong things (for comedic effect no doubt), what tf is that laptop from ... 1999?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Mac air was start of 2010s iirc

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Wouldn't knowledge about crumple zones and need for space for things like airbags, make cars bigger?
Not saying that is the main reason, but size reduction may not be a factor to focus on its own, right?

[–] You999 50 points 5 months ago (2 children)

No, vehicles have gotten larger because of the same problem as most of the issues in the United States: politics!

You see automobile manufacturers have to meet an average fuel economy across their entire fleet under the CAFE (Corporate average fuel economy) act of 1975. CAFE was a good idea as it forced the auto industry into actually improving on fuel economy year after year throughout their entire fleet or be met with steep fines for ever 0.1mpg off the target.

In 2011 CAFE was changed which directly caused the auto market we have today. See in 2011 the formula on how you'd calculate your fleet's avarage MPG got changed to now factor in vehicle footprint as a variable which auto manufactures quickly caught on to mean the larger a vehicle is the smaller their entire fleet's MPG has to be.

On top of that in 2012 "medium-duty trucks" was added as their own category with a lower MPG requirement meaning if your truck or SUV fell into that category then you would have a smaller MPG target for your entire fleet.

Now put yourself into the shoes of an early 2010s auto manufacture, would you rather design small and light vehicles that require you to meet a pretty high fuel economy level across your entire product range or would you inflate the size of your vehicles and move all R&D into finding ways to get your entire fleet classified as a medium-duty truck/SUV with a smaller MPG requirement? Of course you are going to take the latter.

The changes to CAFE in the 2010s killed small vehicles as we knew it. Ensured light duty trucks stayed dead domestically built or chicken tax be dammed. Caused the explosion of crossover SUVs to flood the market. All while making vehicles more dangerous and worse for the environment.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Thank you.

I am not from North America. I'm in India.
Here, the average car has generally increased in size a bit, but doesn't seem to be going too big. There are larger cars and they are indeed increasing in number, but due to our mixed traffic and high traffic density it is not that popular.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

See in 2011 the formula on how you’d calculate your fleet’s avarage MPG got changed to now factor in vehicle footprint as a variable

I was wondering why every new car I see is too long and wide

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Nah, we still make compact cars similar in size with the same safety features to econoboxes from 40 years ago. Like houses, people want more room in their vehicles than they had with the smaller cars plus some other misinformed choices like thinking bigger and taller means safer.

Plus along with the older small cars we also had the giant boats that got single digit mpg. It wasn't like they were all small in the past.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Pretty stupid to compare a sedan and an SUV. Not a good way to get people to see your point.

[–] Evehn 13 points 5 months ago

Many normal car models are now SUVs though, at least in Europe.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (8 children)

Aren’t modern vehicles more fuel efficient though, despite being bigger? Imagine if we kept them the same size and still improved their efficiency.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Imagine if we kept them the same size and still improved their efficiency

Well, we did! In Europe.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Depends, many oversized SUVs here in Germany unfortunately.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Fuck_u_spez_ 9 points 5 months ago

And I'm pretty sure the selection of compact BMWs has only grown in those years.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] MeDuViNoX 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

The penis got smaller in the last one. /s

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] blackstampede 6 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Man, I want that chunky laptop.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

not only does it have a larger battery... it also uses up that battery 10 times faster while doing 100 times less work :')

I would really like to have modern laptops at like double/triple the size for more battery space though, why can't we have a normal laptop that lasts like a week on a charge?

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

What I'm about to type might come as a nitpick and missing the point so let me say this upfront: This post is very much true. Cars have gotten way too big and the loopholes in government laws and environmental regulations that allow this shit to happen need to be closed. Consumers should also be smarter and more diligent with their purchases.

With that said, there's a small disparity with the car example. The car on the left (BMW 3 Series E30, I think) would be classified as a sedan. The car on the right (BMW X series, don't know which specifically) would classified as an SUV, more specifically the (abysmal) crossover category.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Are you implying they didn't have minivans in the 80s, lol?

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›