Why I Drive A Little Car

 

This nice graphic from the EU shows how large a segment vehicle transport includes. The numbers are higher for the U.S. Graphic by permission of copyright holder, Wikipedia

For most of my life, except for a few brief years, I have driven a small car. First, it was because it was what I could afford, but now it is because it is the right thing to do. I have never really understood the desire to drive a vehicle the size of one of the 1950s farm trucks I drove as a kid, which is size of the outsized SUV s and pickup trucks of recent years. Unless you have a huge family or need to haul and tow as part of your job, you are just throwing the difference in cost out the window as you drive and spoiling the planet at the same time. I like driving a small car because it is comfortable, does the same job as a larger car with everything from oil to tires being cheaper, uses less of everything, and gets up to 40 mpg on a good day. Add to this the fact that while all vehicles are hard on the environment, their footprint is smaller. Though no car, even electric, is without a footprint, small is better. 

 

According to recent statistics, a small passenger car emits just over half the carbon emissions of an SUV and almost half again less than a pickup truck. These statistics track Co2 emissions, yet the emissions and resources that go into building and maintaining vehicles also need to be considered. More oversized vehicles use more of everything, and more of everything creates more carbon emissions. Besides, using more of everything is a big part of the problem. Like the famous Nike logo "Just Do It" there is just too much "doing".

 

One of the crazy disconnects of today is that despite the world quite literally being on fire, SUV sales set another record in 2021. I wonder if it is a consequence of some nonsensical primitive drive in people's minds to keep their families safe in increasingly fraught times. A bigger vehicle is a safer vehicle only because there are so many bigger vehicles. Is it a case of induced demand like the phenomenon of building wider roads to relieve traffic congestion leading to more congestion and yet wider roads?

 

I get looks and sometimes criticism for driving a small car. As an American male, my identity, sexuality and whatever cajones I might have, are supposed to be represented by the vehicle I package myself in. I would love to drive a truck, but the combination of environmental and financial costs keep me from jumping in. The fact that people think driving a small vehicle is odd, shows how far we really are from connecting consumption and climate realities with the everyday lives of people. It is like the predictable and boring climactic fight scene at the end of the standard, repackaged action film that transitions from an engaging cerebral thriller to a stupid ending of apes kicking each other. Do we think a quixotic response is an answer to complexities from which there is no protection but to make rational decisions?

 

According to EPA statistics, transportation emissions account for 27 percent in the U.S., while 57 percent of that total is from our cars, SUVs, and trucks, with medium and heavy trucks accounting for another 27 percent. Interestingly, yet somewhat sad, rail, aircraft, and ships only account for a handful of a percent each. Though air has a massive carbon footprint, rail and ship are better because of their ratio of energy used to cargo hauled. Still, with all transport, consider that each of those vehicles has a carbon and resource use footprint equal to its size, and the numbers are startling.

 

Oh well, I guess.

 

From time to time, I still see one of the hardiest cars ever made still driving around: the Ford Festiva manufactured from 1987-93. I owned a 1990 model and whenever I see one of its thirty plus year old siblings still on the road, I wish I still had it. I sold it to a the son of a friend who promptly wrapped it around a tree. He was ok, but the car was done.

 

 

 I owned a red one just like this. It was a durable, no nonsense car so well made many are still on the road  thirty plus years later. Public Domain photo Wkimedia