You see them. The “cool” people, stuck in gridlock every day along with everyone else, clogging the expressways. They refuse to take public transportation, refuse to carpool, and insist on being the only passenger in their gas chugging smog factory. Yet, for years, they’ve been fuming about the cost of gasoline, having done nothing at all but fuel the problem at the rate of under 20 miles per gallon combined city/highway fuel economy. Here’s a quick primer on how to spot them, the ones that are still living in the 80s!
1980s Cool: Dual/Quad Exhaust
2010s Cool: No Exhaust
1980s Cool emblem:
2010s Cool emblem:
1980s cool under the hood:
2010s cool under the hood:
1980s commuter cool:
2010s commuter cool:
1980s Cool: Racing between stops, going nowhere fast.
2010s Cool: Pulse and Glide!
1980s Cool: Practical for where they told you that you’d drive it
2010s Cool: Practical for where you actually have to drive it:
1980s Cool: Family hauler, supposedly rides “like” a car
2010s Cool: Family hauler, actually IS a car!
1980s Cool: Seats 7. Can tow. 2WD. 15 combined mpg. Starts at $41,995.
2010s Cool: Seats 7. Can tow. AWD. 28 combined mpg. Starts at $39,970.
1980s Cool: Seats 7 or 8. 16mpg. Good Crash Ratings. 24.6% Rollover Risk. $63k+
2010s Cool: Seats 8. 22mpg. Best Crash Ratings. 12.7% rollover risk. $28k+
1980s Cool: Sport Sedan. 0-60mph in under 6 sec. Seats 4. 19mpg. Starts at $72k.
2010s Cool: Sport Sedan. 0-60mph under 6 sec. Seats 5 or 7. 95 mpg. Starts at $62k
1980s Cool: Compact Car. Seats 4. 16 combined mpg. Starts at $60,100
2010s Cool: Compact Car. Seats 5. 33 combined mpg. Starts at $14,200
The 1980s was the decade of excess, of big hair and of popped collars. So, other than dressing up like Madonna or Weird Al at a costume party, you generally avoid trying to look like you’re living in the 80s, right? So why drive like you’re living in the 80s?
Europe, Japan and most of the world somehow have managed for decades with extremely few full size vans, full size pickups, full size SUVs or even full size sedans on the road that suck gas like there is actually no tomorrow. Why does it seem like Americans can’t possibly figure out a way to do without these pollution factories that still get less than 20 miles per gallon combined fuel economy, but seem to dominate showroom floors and consumer preferences anyway?
Top to bottom cool cars for this decade: Nissan Leaf, hybrids, Honda Fit EV wagon, Chevrolet Volt, Ford C-Max, traffic (cool to emit no fumes while stopped!), Mazda5, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Honda Odyssey, Tesla Model S, Ford Fiesta.
Thank you again for visiting and I think your response was very fair and most likely shared by other readers, too. I think you can look forward to more on-topic, factual blogs for the next couple weeks! Plus, I just realized that I should have included a high MPG clean diesel vehicle in my list, that was definitely an oversight, sorry!
Hi Darren,
Thanks for the reply – I have been thinking maybe I went overboard in my response initially, so I apologize if I came across too harshly.
Also, it’s not a matter of disagreeing with you – I’ve owned a 45MPG Jetta TDI that I loved and ran my Cummins Dodge on B99 BioDiesel for 3 years straight – I guess I’m just reacting to the seeming need of every media outlet, blogger, facebook friend, etc. to post their opinions on every possible subject under the sun all day every day. It’s opinion overload! 🙂
When I found this site I guess I was just hoping it would be a good place to sit back and read about carseats in that excruciating detail that we CPSTs love without being bothered with all of the other “white noise” (like that EE reference?) that seems to be so pervasive on the ‘net these days.
Anyway, thanks for hearing my opinion, and sorry you had to be the one on the receiving end! I look forward to reading more posts like your recent one about the death of LATCh that’s what’ll keep me coming back for more …
Dependence on foreign oil is a major detriment to child passenger safety, and general human safety.
Darren,
I just recently discovered your blog and was quite excited about it as a fellow CPST (and, coincidentally, a stay-at-home dad with an electrical engineering degree), but I’ve got to say I’m pretty disappointed in this post. What exactly does this have to do with Child Passenger Safety? I highly respect your opinion on car seats after reading some of your reviews, but I honestly couldn’t care less what you think is a “cool” car.
As a safety advocate, I also can’t believe you’d actually recommend a Honda Fit or Ford Fiesta – please take a look at http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr041409.html to see what actually happens in a collision between an average sedan and a “minicar” class vehicle.
Also, if you’re trying to convince people to “go green” I think you’ve failed because when I read this all I see is a load of smug self-worship, not an honest attempt to influence people’s opinions.
What’s really gotten under my skin about this and prompted me to post a response, is that this is going to color my opinion of every future review or blog post you write – that’s what really disappoints me.
Anyway, I hope you take this as constructive criticism because I do appreciate all of the effort you put into promoting CPS – I just think straying off-topic like this is counterproductive.
Hi AK CPS Dad,
Thank you for your comments. I do want to note that not all of our blogs are related to transportation safety. We do sometimes publish blogs on parenting, technology, autos and other topics from time to time. Sometimes, there just isn’t enough material on the topic of child passenger safety for a constant stream of content. Plus, we do try to change topics and even throw in a humourous post now and then to keep things fresh. The great part of the informal nature of blogs is that it lets us post opinions and content that won’t necessarily elicit 100% agreement from our readers. I would liken it a little more to an editorial page, rather than a front page that simply has news releases and factual reporting. I can certainly appreciate your point of view, though. On the other hand, if I had a bad opinion of every publication that ever published something that I didn’t like or any that offered an opinion with which I disagreed, then I suspect I would have very little to read!
This particular blog was supposed to be somewhat more light-hearted than our normal fare. I apologize if it came across as smug to you. I will admit that I am a supporter of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, along with all the environmental, economic and political problems that our thirst for gasoline causes. I know that not everyone agrees with this point of view, but that’s the beauty of having some freedom of expression in our society. We generally do not censor responses to our blogs, so we do invite polite rebuttals to our opinions as well. We also find that some of our most popular blogs are those that are a bit more controversial than average. Thank you again for your time and your constructive criticism!
This brought flashbacks of my brother in his Firebird, jetting around, changing lanes rapidly, scaring everyone around him and in the car, and saying, “Yeah! I love trains and buses! They get people off the road so I can drive to work faster!” He claimed toll bridges were a conspiracy by the oil companies to increase idling time and thus increase gas sales, too. And wore blublockers http://www.blublocker.com/products/2-black-original-aviator-blublockers
But, Darren, I’m still holding out for a hybrid minivan (and the funds to purchase it. sigh.). I don’t NEED 6 cylinders of pure minivan power to drive a couple of surface street miles to work and kids’ activities, but the good ol’ 2003 Ody keeps cranking along. If I coast to stop signs I can get almost 20mpg, at least.
Well, in terms of excess, your Freestar is a lot more sensible than the Cadillac Escalade shown in the photos above, for just one example! Plus, its EPA rating is a respectable 21mpg combined, according to fueleconomy.gov. Not bad at all for 7 passengers and lots of cargo space back in 2005! So, yeah, you’re actually a 2010s cool kid and didn’t even know it:-)
Yeah, real world numbers may be lower, but just imagine the typical real world numbers for something that gets 16mpg combined fuel economy according to the EPA! It is cool to see that expensive gas guzzlers are quickly becoming a symbol of embarrassment, rather than a symbol of success.
Great post, Darren! Now I’m going to hang my picture on the wall of shame since I’m still driving my ’05 Freestar Limited with the 4.2 L engine that gets 15 mpg. In my defense it was the only minivan with the safety features I wanted (ESC, curtain airbags, etc) that we could afford when I needed to replace my Taurus 7 years ago. If someone wants to gift me a Leaf, or a Volt, or a Tesla – I would love to be one of the new cool kids! Unfortunately, I’d still need to keep my minivan for the carseat shlepping that I do on a regular basis. I have 16 seats loaded into the back of my van as I type this! That’s not going to happen in anything you mentioned besides the Ody.