Facepalms. "Modern Safety" Yeah, even though ABS and ESC has originated from the 80's and have been equipped on certain cars until further on you'd find them in every car. Also a car battery suddenly dying is highly unlikely unless the battery is damaged, but even then it should be very obvious with the car having a hard time to crank or any electrics to even work at all for a car to be able to drive and have such a thing to happen. All cars have alternators which charges the battery and keep the electrics running as the engine is running. If the battery was totally flat, then the car wouldn't have been able to start in the first place. Also, if you seriously think that if the battery in your car dies, and you lose brakes, then you don't know jack shit about cars at all. ABS may be disabled, but the brakes themselves are hydraulically operated, and there's several fail-safe features to keep the brakes operational regardless if the engine is running or not. If your engine dies, and you are unable to even coast the car off to the side of a highway or road, Stay in the car, and call for emergency services. Even though you'd be a sitting duck in traffic, you're better off being safe inside the car than trying to scramble to the side of the road. Also, any car, no matter what it is, will not withstand the forces of a semi truck collision, but this is a 50/50 chance depending on speed, and semi truck drivers are more alert and monitor the road more than an average driver. The only cases, I could think of accidents like this, is either the driver is distracted/impaired or bad road conditions. Or before you even go somewhere, check the fucking car. You'd have to be thick to not notice obvious signs of a dying battery, or something not being right with the car as you're driving along. I mean, when you're taking your tests to get your driver's license, they should've tought you all this shit. And if you seriously think that you don't have to pay for parking just because you watched that Top Gear episode with Clarkson going to work in one, then you're seriously mistaken. The only reason he was able to do that was because it was literally all for entertainment. Or prove to me that you can bring a Peel P50 inside an office building or any other place and see if they allow it to ride elevators or drive indoors with a gas engine spewing out 2-stroke exhaust. Again I will say this. DO YOUR FUCKING RESEARCH I can't fucking stress this more clearly.
RE: Smart car. Being just as slow as you'd expect wasn't its only problem. Its handling was utterly terrifying, its fuel economy was shockingly poor for such as small, weak car, and its mandatory automatic transmission was horrible. It was practically the worst new car available during its time and got hilariously low satisfaction scores even from the kind of people who read Consumer Reports. I'm not sure if the new one is much better, but the previous generation barely even deserved to be called a car. RE: Peel P50. You might not be able to drive it indoors with the nasty 2-stroke exhaust, but it's easily light enough to pick it up by the back end and wheel it about; if you make friends with the custodian he might let you stash it in a broom closet somewhere.
That's the stupidest thing I've read today. When the engine is running it's used to power the electronics so even if something happens to your battery while you're driving, which is very unlikely, you'd be still ok. Only problem is if the alternator fails but as someone said before me - there are many failsafe features and the brakes themselves can still be used. And there once was a crash test between an S class w140 and a Smart car and the Smart faired pretty well. And looking at your post about the Corvette, I don't think you get the point of this topic. Anyway.. for me the definition of a useless car is any SUV. I don't get why would anyone sacrifice looks, ride comfort, fuel economy and performance for having a taller, bigger vehicle that isn't particularly good off-road. Hell, who would take their $100k asphalt queen in the woods and mud. I cringe every time when a tuner like Mansory and Hamman take an overgrown "car" like that and put even bigger rims, lower suspension and lower bumpers. Making it even more "practical". I suppose the whole craze around SUVs is that some people just like being a little bit higher and look down on less immortals with their ordinary cars. And how not to mention the fake sense of safety. Not when you have to brake suddenly or have to quickly avoid something and end up rolling a few times.
The Lexus Lx570 is actually very capable off road, comfortable and extremely reliable. Gets about 12 MPG though.
Yes, I meant modern SUVs. Old ones like these aren't useless at all. Especially now, when they're cheap so you don't have to worry you're gonna scratch the paint etc. They are also more reliable than most modern crap.
Range rover sport for example, Price - porsche Comfort - any standart german car Offroad capability - lada niva :b
nivas are better than you think actually anyway i would say the bugatti veyron you will never reach 200mph on a highway/motorway except the autobahn and you cant put any shopping or luggage in th car
You quote a AMG G63, lets not forget that AMG is Mercedes' PERFORMANCE brand, that is a street prepared vehicle. G wagon's are extremely capable offroad. Theres a huge difference between a performance SUV and a offroad SUV.
I did because that perfectly illustrates my point. Street version of an offroad version wtf? How to make your expensive, delicate SUV that nobody drives offroad, more useless. The original G class was a briliant, simple work horse but they've completely missed that with the latest ones.
You can still get a non AMG G-wagen, but even still it's a G550 with a bi-turbo V8. So finding any lower end model like the older ones brand new is pretty much impossible unless the dealership has, at best a couple "pre-owned" ones.
In my opinion, factory performance SUVs might be in the "should not exist" category. Homebuilt hot rod SUVs are one thing (I've long wanted either a tuned-up C5 Blazer or a lowered, blacked-out Ramcharger), but factory-built luxury versions smack of uncoolness and idiocy to me. Luxury versions (M and AMG SUVs, to some degree the Grand Cherokee SRT8) are worse than more pedestrian versions (Trailblazer SS), and both are worse than sports trucks as far as I'm concerned.
*tiny bump* The Potniac Trans Sport. It has little power, looks ugly, and even in the 2nd generation, got safety complaints. This was definatly one of GM's flops. The second generation also may have a 3.4 liter V6 compared to the first generation's 3.1 liter V6, but that is not an improvement. There are better family carriers to buy than this one.
