Australians are driving bigger, heavier, dirtier cars and it’s alarming both climate and road safety experts.

A decade ago, sedans and hatchbacks were the most popular cars in Australia. Today, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and American-style utes dominate new car sales and advertising.

  • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, well, sedans and hatchbacks don’t tow my caravan into the Victorian High Country.

    I’ll gladly switch to an EV offroader once I know it’s capable of getting my family and I to where we’re going, and home again.

    • Ilandar@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      This, or something similar, is what many people think. I wonder how many days in a year these vehicles are actually seeing that intended use, though. So many people seem to buy these large, inefficient vehicles with the intent of using them off-road and/or on family holidays, but what they actually end up using them for 99.9% of the time is just daily suburban commutes. It makes zero sense.

      • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com
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        1 year ago

        I can’t speak for others, but I definitely do use mine for off-roading as much as I can.

        Is it as much as I’d like? No - I have to earn the money to afford the hobby. But it’s absolutely worth it, especially when I get to show my daughter some of the awesome things we have to offer.

        The reality is that we’re a rough, tough country, and getting to see lots of it requires special vehicles.

        The reason this seems so recent is because, previously, 4WD vehicles were either purpose-built, or expensive if they were tricked out to be daily drivers. That made them uncomfortable or expensive.

        With the death of our local car market, it’s opened up a much wider, cheaper, more refined set of offerings, so more people can afford to get into the hobby.