You mean what used to be considered a normal sized car?
this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2025
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There actually is a great solution for small vehicles to transport one person and a bit of luggage in cities: cargo bikes and (e-)bikes with bike bags.
I have 3 bikes now and even my aliexpress chingchong diy special I'm scared to leave outside and have it get stolen and be in mexico by the end of the week. It was made out of used and ali parts but ended up way cooler than it has any right to be
I mean less car dependency is what i really want but smaller cars are better than thes huge ass SUVs everyone and their parents is buying.
Why do people not use the adjective form of China when it comes to China?
I'm quite sure it would've been "German threat", not "Germany threat" or "Russian threat", not "Russia threat" but for some reason it's "China threat" not "Chinese threat".
How come?
I'm going to say Tung Nguyen (the article writer) probably prefers writing China as in PRC (and ROC, possibly) rather than Chinese as in the ethnicity (covering cars that are designed by Chinese but not in the area)
That makes sense. I thought ethnically Chinese persons from ROC would call themselves Taiwanese. But if they think of themselves as Chinese too them it makes sense
Smaller vehicles ...
Europe has been producing such cars for a very long time.
But they have been growing ever bigger and ever more expensive. There are barely any European manufacturers who build a small, practical, and affordable car.
Dacia Sandero, CitroΓ«n C1?
Yes, two manufacturers, in total two models. Of how many car manufacturers in Europe?
There are more, but I won't search for you, you can do it yourself. Peugeot 107, VW Up, Lancia Ypsilon, Renault Twingo...
Most of them aren't that affordable.
I mean if you are price sensitive then you shouldn't be looking at new cars anyways - they depreciate way too much, let someone else pay for that
That, too, of course, but that depreciation is just a sign of how artificially inflated prices are. New cars are a scam. Even more so if they are enshittified beyond belief.
And discontinued
True. What we need are the likes of the fiat 500, 600, 127, Renault 4 (the 2 CV actually would fall in Microcar territory), and such, but with updated safety design and features. Under 100Km//h, not allowed on highways, size restrictions. A middle ground between automobiles, and microcars. The only compromise that shouldn't be made is in safety.
Those cars did have another big benefit over modern cars. They were very simple and therefore easy to service and repair yourself. A feature virtually lost in modern cars.
Actually all cars from that era were. I drive a 26 year old car (in great shape, well maintained) precisely because of that. OTOH, they were also noisy, underperforming, unsafe, etc. Maybe a law making cars to be mostly modular, and with openly available disgnostics and open shop manuals, could make up for that. Sadly, in this era of subscription features, that's unlikely.
Yes, when it comes to serviceability, the automotive world peaked several decades ago. Enshittification of cars started in the mid 2000s.
Europe doesn't even like kickbikes barely even bicycles or electric bicycls. How do smaller cars fit in to the picture with all the safety fuzz?
We already have them though, in those slow, but still expensive, quadricycles.
Those aren't real cars, they are an obstacle to traffic.
Those arenβt real cars, they have no A/C (yes, I live down south)
They do have the kind of AC you can wind down by turning a crank handle in the door. A/C is nice, but you can live without it.
The actual problem with those moped cars is that they are too slow to not even impede the relatively slow traffic in cities.
A/C is nice, but you can live without it.
That depends on where you live.
It's now 29Β°C where I am (feels like 32Β°), and if you don't find a parking spot in the shade (quite likey, given how coveted they are) entering your car will feel like entering an oven.
Yes, I could survive without A/C (we used to in the olden days), but I am not more likely to buy a car without proper A/C than a Dane is to buy one without heating.
those moped cars [...] are too slow to not even impede the relatively slow traffic in cities
They go 45km/h... how fast do you drive inside the city? (I agree that they are slow and a PITA to encounter outside cities)
around here, the typical limit is 50km/h.
In order to "swim" with the flow of traffic, a vehicle should have some margin above the top speed it's supposed to go.
The EU restrictions imposed on L7e vehicles makes them practically unusable. L7e should be allowed to travel at least 100 km/h and carry four people, so that this vehicle category reaches the masses.
Not really. In Spain these are not allowed in highways, can be driven with a moped license, and are available in micro pickup and van versions, great for city deliveries, and such. If you want larger, more powerful microcars get a Smart, or Toyota IQ, or something similar. The L7e class exists for a reason, and it doesn't preclude a new intermediate class (where I find the safety relax a fucking mistake. Vehicles should have as many safety features as neede and possible in respect to their usage parameters.
I thought only L6e (45 km/h) can be driven with a moped licence. L7e (80km/h) with moped licence is new to me.
Yeah, I may have meant L7e. I'm not an expert in these definitions, but my point is that there is a category of vehicles which pretty much allow for that. Maybe modify that catergory.
Please no. I don't want seven 16 year olds illegally sardined into a shitbox going 92 km/h in the passing lane on the motorway
I wrote about L7e (actual 80/90km/h). 16 years old are in L6e (45km/h), aren't they?
Right. My sentiment is the same though. Mixing cars with lunchboxes on high speed roads is a terrible idea.
And if people won't use their tin cans outside metro areas then there is no need for a can in the first place, because cities and cars are a shit combination. Cycling, walking, and public transport is the right thing. Look at how the Netherlands are doing it, they have it figured out. And it's so, so nice to live there.