'twas a time when wagons roamed the Earth. Spacious American iron was in every driveway, like the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, which "That 70's Show" very informatively let us know could be used to 'cruise the vistas'. Or the Buick Roadmaster, which our friend, the regular car guy has recently spoken about. Anyway, here is the problem: I rented a Hyundai Sonata and drove it from Newark to Bloomsburg. The Sonata is a perfectly acceptable rental car. Not particularly exciting, but decent ride quality, moderate noise levels, reasonable sounding music system and even with the N/A 2.0 litre engine, enough torque to take the I80 into the Pennsylvania hills without concern. In other words, a perfectly acceptable daily driver, if ever there was one.
And then, of course, I had to move a box. Specifically, a large box, built to hold a futon. And there was no way in heck this would fit inside a Sonata. And that brings me to my question - why have Americans abandoned the practicality of having a liftgate on their vehicles? Is the mental anguish of driving a vehicle you associate with your elderly parents too much to bear? Someone please explain the sad demise of wagons in the US. Sure, you might point out that the wagon has just decided to wear platform shoes and now calls itself the crossover, but a crossover is not really a wagon. A decent wagon is supposed to ride on the same suspension as the sedan - and hence have the same driving dynamics of a sedan. I, for one- do not particularly like the way SUVs drive and especially, behave in turns. And I strongly dislike that carmakers are jacking up their sedans to just create extra ride height and ... nothing else. A proper SUV is supposed to be a ladder-frame truck chassis. Oh, and all crossovers also have a sloping roofline. Why, you fu**faced auto designers, why? When you do provide a liftgate, do you have to render it mostly useless by drooping the roof until all you can squeeze into the back are grocery bags? What if I have a sofa to move? Are you trying to build a Kammback on a bloody grocery-getter?
All my unhappiness would have disappeared if I had access to this (looks like a gorgeous piece of art and can haul stuff. What more can you ask for?):
Anyway, much deep anger aside, I simply solved the problem by picking up a rolled-up mattress which inflates when the plastic sheath is ripped off. This is a perfectly good place to drop down in the living room. When paired with the very bare-bones coffee and end tables that I assembled, the room looks quite acceptable. I believe people with culture would call this minimalistic.
And then, of course, I had to move a box. Specifically, a large box, built to hold a futon. And there was no way in heck this would fit inside a Sonata. And that brings me to my question - why have Americans abandoned the practicality of having a liftgate on their vehicles? Is the mental anguish of driving a vehicle you associate with your elderly parents too much to bear? Someone please explain the sad demise of wagons in the US. Sure, you might point out that the wagon has just decided to wear platform shoes and now calls itself the crossover, but a crossover is not really a wagon. A decent wagon is supposed to ride on the same suspension as the sedan - and hence have the same driving dynamics of a sedan. I, for one- do not particularly like the way SUVs drive and especially, behave in turns. And I strongly dislike that carmakers are jacking up their sedans to just create extra ride height and ... nothing else. A proper SUV is supposed to be a ladder-frame truck chassis. Oh, and all crossovers also have a sloping roofline. Why, you fu**faced auto designers, why? When you do provide a liftgate, do you have to render it mostly useless by drooping the roof until all you can squeeze into the back are grocery bags? What if I have a sofa to move? Are you trying to build a Kammback on a bloody grocery-getter?
All my unhappiness would have disappeared if I had access to this (looks like a gorgeous piece of art and can haul stuff. What more can you ask for?):
Anyway, much deep anger aside, I simply solved the problem by picking up a rolled-up mattress which inflates when the plastic sheath is ripped off. This is a perfectly good place to drop down in the living room. When paired with the very bare-bones coffee and end tables that I assembled, the room looks quite acceptable. I believe people with culture would call this minimalistic.
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