Ep. 20 The Malaise Era Part IV: The Aftermath of the American Automotive Industry
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- Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
- A classic car connaisseur discusses the aftermath of the Malaise Era, and shows what effect it had on the American Auto Industry.
This is, sadly, part four, and the last part of a what was going to be a three-part episode!
Link to the first part 'The Downfall':
• Ep. 20 The Malaise Era...
Link to the second part 'The Darkest Hour':
• Ep. 20 The Malaise Era...
Link to the third part 'The Revival':
• Ep. 20 The Malaise Era...
Remember to like, subscribe and share if you want more of this!
You can follow me on Instagram: edsautorevi...
You can always email me at:
edsautoreviews@gmail.com
Enjoy! 
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At last! Part four! A lot of 'Why's?' in this video, and please don't take it too personal. It intrigues me to no end what this American love affair with the big car is. So, why? Why do you drive a pickup/SUV/crossover? What's its appeal? Let me know!
Can you do an episode on utes/pickup?
Finally!
I'm driving a twelve-year-old European mini-mpv, but the next car will be a crossover. If the automakers offered the same mini-mpvs or good old compact estates ... but they don't. They killed the estates altogether, and then they banned sales of mpvs in my country. If the buyer wants more cargo space than a Picanto... it's gotta be a crossover.
@@jmi5969 where do you live, sounds horrible to have such laws in place, not to mention the fact that all euro carmakers still make estate versions of their compact and midsize models, so I'm not sure where you need to be not to get those...because I understand that that IS a big shame.
In my case, it comes down to a stigma held by others. My mom would never let me get a midsize sedan to take to college, but was all ears on SUVs and some trucks for the "practicality." I never bought it, so we settled on a Subaru Outback, the last true wagon left in the U.S. for average buyers (not counting the RS6). We've been brainwashed to think that the point of our big trucks and SUVs with luxury interiors is to flex on others how successful we are. I will not give in to the SUV and crossover trend
Conclusion: The malaise era never ended.
Right. Then they just gave up on making boring family sedans altogether.
Malaise is the modus operandi of the entire US car industry to me. "Good enough" has been the name of the game for decades. Problem is, everybody else is doing a lot better than that.
-Wait we are still in a malaise era?
-Always has been.
This is a garbage take. Modern full size American trucks are awesome. If you think otherwise you clearly have never driven one.
@@digitalgulby For us Europeans they are not awesome. Way too big and thirsty. They physically don't fit our traffic environment.
Coming soon: "Ep. 20: The Malaise Era Part V: I told you."
I'm in for part V!!
Part V: ”ah shit, here we go again”
Honestly, I really hope not.
Dont be shy .. let's go .. -) ...
@@EdsAutoReviews I say the same thing after every economic crash. But it goes back to the same problems.
I was stationed in the Netherlands with the US Air Force back in the 80's. Love your beautiful country and its people. Fell in love with the 80's Era of European Hot Hatches. And that never really left me. But it is almost impossible to find a proper Hot Hatch today in the US. There is the VW GTI and well not much else. I have a 2019 VW GTI for my fun car and 2015 Nissan Juke S base model 6 speed as my daily. Surprisingly it is a sleeper Hot Hatch. Albeit WEIRD looking one. I mean, it a catastrophic mess of lines going everywhere and nowhere at once. A concophoney of bulges, curves and swoops. But I love the damned thing. Plus, it is a blast to drive and throw around.
As an American, you nailed it 100%. It's bizarre how our car industry has developed in this country. It seems 90% of cars on the road that aren't imports are full size trucks or SUVs or a Dodge Charger.
More lethal than ever for everyone outside of a SUV or Truck or Charger.
U. S. President Jimmy Carter gave a speech to the American people on July 15, 1979, in which he said we were living in an Era of Malaise. The speech is known as his 'Crisis of Confidence' speech. President Carter is the one who "coined" the term The Malaise Era. Thank you for this series, Ed!! As a citizen of the U. S., and a certified car enthusiast, you are so spot on. I was coming of age during the Malaise Era, so I lived through it, and I do believe it lasted until the mid-90s.
💯💯💯
about all Jimmy did - was our worst president - until the last 3
Carter...the malaise President...
Carter was right. The Malaise never ended. Just cause the cars got big and fast doesn't mean America isn't in decline.
Maybe the Hummer is cyclical, and the appearance of the Hummer indicates a looming recession or depression.
Or just another abundance of stupidity
I can see it as a good thing for EVs, ICE on the other hand, well pretty much everything within the past 5 years been indicating their time is coming
You may not be far off. I have heard that one of the warning signs of a big economic downturn is when world records are being broken for tallest skyscraper, etc. This could be along the same lines.
It's America. Bigger is always better to them, and they'll always find a way to make it work with the times.
@@milfordcivic6755 Yep
As an American from Lansing, MI, home of two GM final assembly plants and over 120 years of auto manufacturing heritage, I approve of your criticism of our auto industry.
I don't know. It seems like Americans are buying this stuff and companies are making a lot of money with SUVs, so it seems like the most reasonable thing to produce oversized vehicles (from the perspective of a car company). It would not make sense for a car company to produce cars with less revenue who sell less.
@@xijinpingpong4426 My problem isn't so much with the size or type of vehicles being made but with the quality. Their casual attitude towards electric and autonomous vehicles doesn't bode well either.
Munch, I'm also an American from Lansing, MI - after working for GM for seven years - and was forced out of work during the Roger Smith "downsizing" - for Olds, but not Roger Smith's paycheck - best thing that happened to me? Nothing good would have happened if I continued working for GM - it was the biggest blessing I ever had! . I still bought GM cars but after the 1994 Seville - decided that was it - bought foreign from that time on - now I'm driving VW.
@@baltic1904
Yeah, I had family members who worked at GM their whole lives, I could see the grind of factory work wasn't for me. My dad had some bad luck with some 70's and 80's era GM cars, I think a brand new 80-something Sunfire that he eventually returned to the dealership was his last straw, I inherited that mistrust from him and now drive mostly Toyotas.
I would argue we are gonna enter a second malaise era
"the all new electric...m..m...m I can't even say it" 🤣🤣 loving the videos! Look forward to part V of this
I love your stuff Bud, straight up. I was a car crazy kid my whole life, as far as north Americans I rode/drove in some of the best and baddest. My age group 16 in 1980 was right smack dab in the malaise era. in '84 to 86 I owned a 70/71 Torino GT, passed everything on the road but the gas stations.
Your assessment of the Hummer brand is spot on. I worked as a Chevy/Hummer technician and the H2 was nothing but a bigger, heavier, boxier Tahoe.
Chris ....Your correct... In fact ... The Hummer IS based on a modified Chevy Tahoe platform in the end you are just paying for more bells and whistles (, expensive bells & whistle), different body style and ... Of course.. The HUMMER name 😅😅
I'm from st.thomas where we have formet we makde there frames and all gm product truck frames and frames for general dynamics I started in the summer in the student program 2 months before my 16th birthday and I worked on the brand new hummer line I had no idea what I was doing I was a kid lol I've seen so many quality issues over the years with what we sent to gm in the beginning tolerances and welds were good and tight a few years later they didn't care what they sent gm
It's funny he brings up GTA IV. The Mammoth Patriot looks like it was meant to be an H2.
@@andrewduong2740 Tonka toys look better than any Hummer!.
@@rodferguson3515 and probably less capable than a Tahoe with its faux H1 styling and extra weight.
Dude, I'm about as American as they come, and even *I* could never take the Hummer seriously. I still roll my eyes every time I see one prancing thru suburbia. "Does your mommy know you're out playing soldier?"
The Hummer was a caricature and most Americans never wanted one.
💯
The Hummer was inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The H1 was cool. It’s hilariously impractical, but so is a sports car.
The H2 is one of the lamest cars to ever be made.
Seeing a Hummer is always a mood palate cleanser for me because I laugh for 10 straight minutes.
I lived through a big portion of the malaise era, and remember thinking how much more refined and futuristic the European and Japanese imports looked in comparison to many of our domestic cars of the time - especially our poor attempts at compact cars. We had so many opportunities to match what the Europeans and Japanese were doing, and certainly had the means to do it. There were several "blank slate" cars like the Chevy Citation that started a whole new platform with unique engines but failed miserably due to lack of vision and horribly restrictive budgets. The Pontiac Fiero was a great example of this - a very futuristic design that had loads of potential, but was completely destroyed by executive decisions and budget restraints. We ended up with a jury rigged Chevette/Citation chassis and the horribly outdated and underpowered 2.5L Iron Duke engine and the mediocre 2.8L V6 from the X body cars. It had horrible snap oversteer, oil fires from the first Iron Duke cars, and couldn't match performance numbers of the Toyota MR2 - especially the 160HP supercharged version.
@@liberals_destroy_everythin2497 It depends on the car. Some were just fine in that department.
Some, people bought them because they were relatively cheap ... and didn't maintain them very well because they didn't value them as much, or just didn't have much money to spend on car maintenance.
Some (like my dad's early-'80s Subaru) were fine, but just rusted way too quickly.
Some _were_ money pits due to design issues. (I forget if Renault had issues with this during their AMC alliance.)
And some were money pits because they grew their "problem" cars' sales faster than they built out their service and parts network. Heck, VW _intentionally_ limited how many cars they sold in the US in the '50s, simply to _avoid_ selling more cars than they could service. The Japanese automakers did much the same as VW, just in the '60s.
Though speaking of VW, _their_ "malaise era" in the US was more the mid '80s to mid '90s. Lackluster marketing, poor Americanization options* that annoyed their earlier customers while not attracting enough new customers ... and tougher competition from US automakers that had recovered from the US Malaise Era. VW turned around again in the mid-to-late '90s, with new models and _much_ better marketing that both played to their strengths. (Though these days their marketing is almost indistinguishable from any other car company, at least judging by their US ads...)
* like automatic transmissions that really hurt the performance of Golfs and Jettas (though automatic Passats were all right), or a serious lack of cupholders in all models (remedied easily enough though with aftermarket cupholders)
The ev1 is another good example of what could have been. That was a neat little car. Seemingly well made, I got a chance to look at one in Phoenix when they were on the market. They just gave up on it. Sure it had battery problems, it was just a matter of time and they would have sorted it out. Or at least gotten us to except the fact that we can only go 200 miles on a charge.
@@paul5683 IIRC GM killed the EV1 project so they could start making the Hummer. :D
@@liberals_destroy_everythin2497 90% of the time it was the fault of lazy American customers and their poor service record. When the handbook describes a oil change every 5000 km, doesn't mean it was a suggestion.
in my opinion the main reason is that cars since 20 years not longer constructed and developed by "car guys" rather by computers and "money guys". the shareholder value is the most important thing in carmakers universe and fancy accessoires or connectivity with your cellphone on wheels is cheaper to implement than light and smart cars with high efficiency.
Really fantastic series. Well done.
I suspect with recent skyrocketing gas prices, the neo-malaise era for the US industry is just around the corner.
Start storyboarding part 5, 6 and 7.
From personal anecdotes, I've heard that some people prefer larger vehicles because they "feel" safer and have a better viewpoint since your head is higher.
The problem with "safety" is that if everyone is in big cars, then everyone is worse-off.
A long time ago Jeremy Clarkson wisely pointed out that SUVs are like nuclear weapons since once somebody had one for 'safety' then everybody else had to get one too.
And it's true.
I don't like large cars but large trucks are definitely a plus if they're used reasonably often for their intended purpose.
Ever notice many police went from Crown Vics to almost exclusively SUVs?
Before there were airbags and crumple zones, there was big American steel. I ran my ‘83 Accord into the back of a ‘67 Plymouth Grand Fury. That land yacht was 8ft wide and 20ft long and weighted 3 tons. I lost 20 inches (30cm) from the front of my car and all that happened to the Plymouth was little bits of my car that he had to brush off of his chrome bumper. Not even a scratch. That was the mindset of Boomers and their kids in the 70’s and 80’s. Big cars were safe (and gas has always been so cheap here).
@@lookbovine I helped order police cruisers for my agency in the 2000’s. Crown Victorias ruled as cruisers because they were body on frame construction and were very durable and comfortable. Some departments run cruisers 3 shifts a day; 24/7. Regular cars like Impalas and Tauruses literally fell apart in 8 months (60k miles) under those conditions. And disability payments to officers with back problems from bumpy rides and 20 lb utility belts are very expensive. American agencies have to buy American made vehicles that are durable and ride smooth, so that only leaves SUVs
Im a Yank and a mechanic, you are so spot on it makes me feel like an amateur. This is the best evolutionary documentary I’ve watched. Thank you.
As an American who loves pick up trucks and SUVs I can tell you why I personally love them. I’m on the taller side over 6 foot. I grew up in the country. I grew up around pick up trucks. When I got big enough to get my first vehicle. I bought a pick up truck. My favorite vehicle I have ever owned was a pick up truck. The reason being is they are so spacious on the inside. I’ve never felt fully comfortable in a compact car but in a pick up truck I have enough space to feel completely comfortable and then some. Plus my children do too. Also pick up trucks are built tougher than cars. At least they used to be until recently. So I go into the mountains camping and doing some light off roading. The pick up truck deals with it like a champ hauls my firewood and then on the highway I pass other cars and SUV‘s with ease because of the v8 under the hood and the 10 speed transmission. I also like stepping up into a vehicle and not feel like I’m dragging my butt on the ground. Also when all the other vehicles are big around you being a compact car makes you feel like a small bug waiting to be squashed. I lived in Europe for three years and having a big pick up truck like that makes no sense. But in America I feel like they make a lot of sense very practical although not on gas. Also a sidenote growing up in my country community we didn’t have paved roads. Growing up my family had an Oldsmobile 88, Ford focus, a Toyota minivan, and they Nissan versa and they all fell apart within a few years due to the rough roads and the sun that just beat down on them. The truck we had on the other hand we had a Chevy Silverado and a Ford F250 lasted over 20 years and didn’t complain much.
No, they like them because they're VULGAR. As vulgar as Americans themselves.
Europeans don't seem to understand the concept of unpaved roads
We perfectly understand; You have no choice but to buy pick-up trucks, because your country/culture sucks.
@@The_Ballo i mean we have some but even those are fairly well off and we dont really have those large stretches of thinly onhabited land
@@vega2270 uninhabited? What does unpaved roads have to do with that?!
The best part of this series is the transparency and self assessment. Those are the best parts of a content creator.
Ed; “Germany is a large country”
Me in a Texan accent “wait till he see’s Alaska”
Me in Australian accent "wait till he sees Western Australia" :D
@@person.X. LOL!!
Let’s be blunt we have a huge country. Some states have more real estate, than all of Europe.
@@terranempire2 Which ones?
@@swordfish1986 it was hyperbole
I'm so glad you made this , I'm American and you really hit the nail on the head ; I grew up with the big rear drive V8 cars and have owned a number of them ; all we kept hearing about was the phony energy crisis and they kept downsizing those wonderful cars only to replace them with semis. The market is crazy here , just as you said ; it's either a two door that will blow past a Bugatti Veyron or a vehicle so huge it makes a dump truck look petite , it's insane.
I am an American and love my American cars but you are spot on, my friend. I truly love your videos. Keep them coming!
Hey Ed! Awesome job on your coverage of the malaise Era of the American auto industry! You asked what America's infatuation with land barges is. As an American living in the "rural south", I've owned over 200 vehicles. My first was the dreaded 1976 Dodge Aspen (I've owned a total of 2 Aspens and one Volare.) That I honestly loved despite its heavy rust problems. I currently own a 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis that is like driving a leather clad living room, a 1994 Jeep Cherokee 2 door that is more rust than metal, a 1981 Chevy LUV that's been in my family since new, and a 1988 Buick Reatta, possibly the last Halo car Buick has made. I'm roughly 6 feet tall and wear boots daily. While I'm not overweight the larger cars suit my body structure. The Reatta is even large for a 2 seater. We are just so accustomed to the "large and in charge" attitude that we tend to get large battleships. I live all of your videos and you're doing an amazing job man. Keep it up!
1:26 - nailed it. Exactly how I feel with the lack of sedans these days.
Imagine if you like proper wagons how bad it is.
@@Sonny_McMacsson I'm still up for trading my accord for a wagon version if I could find one. People aren't stupid and won't let them go so easily.
The whole world used to have very specific characteristics in their cars in the past. German cars were well engineered, precise machines, Japanese were reliable, practical and quirky, American cars were very comfortable and floaty, perfect highway cruisers, and we had very different options for every taste. Now it feels most cars aim to be good at everything and end up being dull and mediocre.
I drive a mostly mint condition Crown Vic, and it's really all I need in a car. It's comfy, decent on gas cuz it only needs 87, and handles great for its size. Really prefer it to a lot of other newer cars for road trips.
True... Now every car feels like a little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing
Exactly, fantastic comment. People are surprised to learn Chrysler or GM or whoever is ceasing production of sedans, I'm surprised they've even bothered making them for the last 10 years.
... French cars we're quirkiest of the bunch, with emphasis on comfort on any road and catchy looks. Swedish were all in for safety and reliability, Italian cars were all sports and fun, eastern block cars were cheap and practical above anything else
Cars today are nothing but overpriced plastic eggshells on wheels anyway.
@Ed!
Great old-fashioned European humor mixed with sincere and thorough research and knowledge!
keep it coming Ed!
Thank you for making the connection between the old land yachts and SUVs. I bought a forster because it can take snow and weather so well.
Your frustration is my frustration! It befuddles me how, since the mid sixties, US cars are either legendary but completely impractical or just completely and utterly awful attempts at trying to "beat the imports". It does seem like they've given up now to focus on building the blinged up agricultural machinery they seem to find easier to build, so I guess good for them 😕
@Anthony Henning I don't think impractical is the right way to put it, especially when you consider the roads in the US vs Europe, the differing gas prices and how they take different approaches. The American cars did have engines that were in fact much more solidly built and reliable and yet at the same they were also much more simpler than the convoluted engines of the European cars. American roads were long and huge, that is why they took the approach with the brakes and steering not being quite as responsive, and that was around the time when illegal immigrants weren't yet excessively coming in to the country to turn the roads into a nightmare.
The Europeans had no choice but to make their steering and brakes more responsive due to how small the European roads are. The American muscle cars in particular may not have had great gas mileage, but the prices for gas are much much cheaper than it is in Europe, so therefore European cars needed good mileage.
Honestly if you have to put the 'impractical' stamp on anything, it would obviously be the European cars anyways especially when driving outside of Europe. Most if not all have horrible reliability and are way too expensive. None of the European cars are even remotely close to earning their high prices when considering their crap reliability and terrible build quality they have had for a little while.
I mean granted, America's automotive industries have never really had a golden era since the 60s (the 70s and onwards was all downhill), but man do people give European cars too much a benefit of the doubt. Even when American cars were trying to copy the European and Japanese cars, they still had aspects that were better than the European cars. And i am saying this as a man who would completely geek out over loads and loads of European sports cars. Especially the classic ones.
"beating the imports" would also steal sales from higher profit bigger cars. Better to make mediocre domestic small cars and hope a segment of the market is permanently turned off to small cars in general.
"impractical"? Its funny as we, as Europeans dream to have your cars and you dream to have european shit boxes. Anyway, I will take a crewcab f150 over an econo shitbox peugeot 208 any day
@@Pete-eb3vo thank you Pete, you make some very good points. You're right, impracticality is dependant on where you're looking at it all from. And of course, also true that up till the late 60's the US cars were everyone's ideal. I suppose one could just as easily point an accusatory finger at British car manufacturers in the 70's who seemed to be incapable of building a solid, good car.
That's what I meant in the beginning of the video with 'there is no middle ground'. Or at least, in my eyes.
A lot of people in America buy their cars for the “what if’s” in life. They shop for cars wanting room for all of the things they may possibly have to move/transport only a few times during their ownership. We value utility or the idea of utility (plastic cladding to look off-road) for the activities that we do twice a year.
if you really wanna do that, you might as well get a cheap used truck or suv or whatever you desire
Nah, you're just a bunch of mouth breathers who have been brainwashed by marketing machines... So much so that you've been convinced that you need to buy a vehicle for activities that you might do twice a year
@@supersignet have fun complaining about people who can pay 100k on a truck while you drive around in your clown car of a Ford fiesta with a whopping 9 horsepower because of "Muh emissions!!"
@@supersignet Spot on.
I remember in the late 1980s and early 1990s when gas prices fell in the midwestern US to well under $1 a gallon. Suddenly the 'land barges' were back, complete with their 12-15 mile to the gallon V8s. And SUVs were ramping up in scale. We don't f__king LEARN.
@@matthewhetes9965 so you need a big truck to impress people and over compensate for undersized things... If you want to waste 100k on a truck you don't need and pour money into the gas pumps because you feel socially inadequate ... Power to you man... Keeping up with the Joneses is always what independent thinkers do.... But meh...You does what you does
This series and this channel in general is absolutely fantastic. Thank you my good man.
I absolutely love this series. Being born in the early 1950's this is the era that I had to suffer through. The 1950's cars were before my time. The 1960's only showed promise in 1964. Guess why I picked 1964!?! So I got to spend s large part of my driving career in the bad old days. Boy did you hit the nail on the head with this series. I watch it over and over again! Ahhh the memories!
Why, why, why? Here's why: "Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public." P.T. Barnum
Millions of them voted for Trump!
Two Liter Cola bottles
@@mikevale3620 and he's still living on your head rent free......and well his "replacement" is shaping up to be an even more monumental fuck up!
Except the taste of the American public is completely manufactured. Their "taste" is whatever the industries and media tell them it is at any given time. There's always a hidden hand guiding society in the direction it wants it to go in.
@@plottwist1733 True. It never ceases to amaze my how sheepish most people are.
As a 25 year old life long car enthusiast I have come to the conclusion that the reason why America loves big cars and cant make good small cars is: "I don't know"
The best theory I've got is based off a consumer study I read. The vast majority of people base their purchasing decisions off of emotion, rather than Logic. Due to this, you can really only need a VW golf, but the advertising for an F-150 evokes a stronger emotional response, making it more likely to get your dollars.
@@cpufreak101 Absolutely this. I've known so many people over the years buy a crew cab 4WD pickup as their daily driver. These were mostly people who worked in IT, so they weren't using it as a truck. Almost never used the bed or towed anything. Then they'd bitch about how much it cost to fuel every year when the summer driving season gas price spike hit. But if you suggested they get a more reasonable car and just RENT a truck whenever they actually needed a truck, they'd look at you with blank stares. Or go off on you about personal freedoms. "OK, dude... you're free to keep lighting your wallet on fire, I guess. Just kinda done listening to you whine about it."
@@geoffreyreuther5260 I know so many people who do the same, I worked at a Ford dealer and people would always complain about new truck prices, however they all buy loaded trucks, so much so that we did not stock lightly optioned trucks because no one wanted them, plus the majority of these people didn't use them as trucks. Prob as grocery getters.
@@geoffreyreuther5260 20 year IT veteran here from America. Never owned me a truck but gonna get me one of them Honder trucks. Pass the moonshine yeee haaa
@@circuitsandcigars1278 Ford may have actually figured out how to give people a small, usable urban truck with amazing gas mileage with their hybrid Maverick.
Of course, I can already hear a bunch of people going "It'S nOt A rEaL tRuCk, It CaN't ToW mAh TrAvEl TrAiLeR tHaT's AcTuAlLy MaH hOuSe!"
It's like we've forgotten that you don't need a diesel dually to go pick up mulch at Home Depot.
Excellent series! I really think you nailed it. Your observations were spot on, and reflect my own feelings regarding U.S. car industry exactly. Enjoyed the humorous aspect to your presentations. Made watching that much more interesting and enjoyable.
I'm an American who really enjoys your channel. I never seen you do anything for me to get offended about. Great Job!
Interesting fact that surprised me: The new all-electric Mustang is the best selling car in Norway at the moment; probably the first time an American car is the best selling one in any European country since the early 1960s.
Most of Norway is fairly rugged and Norwegians seem to love driving around in old-school American muscle. But only on special occasions.
@@JaccoSW Many years ago on my travels through Europe, I found myself in northern Norway. One sight I can't forget is seeing an AMX up there parked. It just seemed out of place.
ford focus in the United Kingdom?
@@therobro5089 Ford Focus is about as American as Karl Marx
Norwegians get huge tax brakes for driving electric. The previous best selling car was Tesla but now that there's the cheaper electric Mustang, that one has become new best selling car.
Like the Swedes the Norwegians love American muscle, but this is a fiscal thing.
Americans like big vehicles because, in the event of a crash, they can smash and totally destroy several hybrids without sustaining any damage. Seriously though, I've driven Fords and Lincolns my whole life, but since getting a Toyota I forgot what my mechanic looks like.
I like lincoln town car just because it goes and it goes good without squeaks rattles or shakes
TL:DR
I totally agree with you that American loves big size cars (SUV, Crossovers or Pickup) because in thier mindset that the bigger the vehicle the more they sustain damage when on a head on collision or crash in general and they feel safe on the road, over small compact car.
the second reason is the road conditions were crap imo (they say). A road that have potholes and bumpy ride that these Pickup, SUV or even crossovers were okey with this road conditions vs the sedans/compact car that can't keep up on these road conditions.
The third reason they buy those because they are roomy, luxurious, and can they put anything on it vs the sedan/compact car.
Take note im not living on the US, im from the Philippines that have same faith that they choose SUV or Pickup over sedan/compact cars because of the 3 reason that i said earlier. But the 4th reason that they choose those type of automotive because on here they are capable to go through to the flooded roads that sedans are can't keep up to go through the flooded road than SUV/Pickup that drive with ease (and depends on the driver skill). And sedan/compact car market here are almost irrelevant here. But SUV and Pickups here (Toyota is more popular here. Namely Fortuner and Hilux) are more fuel economy than the US counterpart one.
But its not “the bigger, the safer” my man... lots of american cars are still crap. Recently the Ford Explorer (bofore the new model now) that thing was awefully dangerous and compare to Ford Europe, a piece of garbage! Look it up. The crash test.
@@bindedvision404 it's funny because everyone wants low profile tires and bigger wheels nowadays, I grew up in the northeast with terrible roads full of potholes and plenty of dirt roads, only every drove cars, but they always had 15-16 inch wheels with tons of sidewall.
Force = mass x acceleration. Driving a small car is a stupid idea.
I was born in 1952. You are spot on in everything you have said. I loved watching your documentary and probably will watch it again. Automakers take us for fools. Wife had a Pinto before we met, and an Aerostar for the family. Guilty as charged for trusting the brain dead designers in denial! As I write this, There are four vehicles in our family of 4 which are, 91 Jeep Cherokee Sport, 2003 Nissan Pathfinder SE, 99 Malibu LS, and a 2005 Honda Accord. We will drive these vehicles until they disintegrate and no sign of that happening for some time to come. I do though miss our 1977 Sedan DeVille, 2004 Mustang, 1995 Corvette, and 1989 F-150 Lariat XLT from the past. Thank you for the memories. Jeff, San Clemente, CA. Part 5 pleeeeeze?
I would love to hear your take on the 1970s/80s end of the British car industry. Jeremy Clarkson did this as part of his Car World show many years ago and it was good but it was also Clarkson being Clarkson and I think alot of information didn't make it in. So it would be nice to hear another viewpoint, if what was said was entirely accurate.
If you're still curious, a channel by the name of Number 27 did a good video on the fall of the British car industry
The way Telsa is going, if we do get "Malaise Era 2" it will really be "Electric Boogaloo"
Well the funny thing is that IT DOESNT BURN FUEL, YOU CAN BE BE BIG IF IT DOESNT HURT THE ENVIRONMENT
Tesla's are literally vaporware. Poor quality control, poor build quality, poor reliability and models being late. They've only survived this long by being gimmicky and giving you tax breaks & government grants. Once the mainstream manufacturers fully catch up and the techbros find a new toy, Tesla are dead.
@@TheJononator sources?
@@i.w.russell7453 Most electricity like 90% plus comes from fuel burnt in a electric power plants.
>IF IT DOESNT HURT THE ENVIRONMENT
[Laughs/coughs in lithium poisoning]
You said it yourself.. you love them. There’s no explaining away emotion. I’ve got twelve antique vehicles (Mopars and Volvos) in daily beater status. It’s not practical, and that’s not the point. I’ve even become an antique car mechanic just to fund my lifestyle. Our gas is cheaper, our insurance is cheaper, they’ll give anybody that can fog up a mirror a license over here, and the laws as well as taxes regarding classic car ownership are super lax here.
More importantly, we need bigger cars to haul the shit around that we’re told we need to own. Look at American cars from the fifties and sixties versus the Volvo 140-240 shape. Every model year in America got new trim, new shapes, new features. a 1968 Volvo 144 door is the same shape as a 1993 Volvo 240 door. We are sold on an image. We’re sold products that are designed to make us feel better about ourselves, because the neighbors don’t have one yet. The truck, SUV, and crossover craze is just another evolutionary step in trying to sell us something to overcome the insecurities we were sold to begin with. We can’t expand horizontally anymore? We’ll make them taller! You can see better! Until everybody has one, then you’re just up higher, but still stuck behind, and now eye level with the asshole doing 55 in the fast lane of the highway towing his stupid RV (which is more excess to prove a point).
The next craze will be semis. Maybe electric semis if oil prices go up.
Not to mention needing a place to live when we lose our homes. Try living in your modern compact import...then try living with your family of 3 in your modern compact import. You can live in your SUV, you can tow a RV for your family of 3, with an SUV. Both are much more comfortable options for the homeless family that has lost almost everything, and holding onto their SUV for dear life.
@@app103 that sounds very 3rd world kinda issue. What I find amazing about the us is how people talk about how the us way is the best, but also about needing to be homelessness-ready.
@@trezapoioiuy America is an empire in steep decline. All the signs are there. America will survive but the once mighty middle class will have to redefine their expectations of what is ‘the good life’.
I "binge" watched this 4 part series! very entertaining. Great job!
If the EV Hummer and the Mus... That other EV that dares to be named after a giant of muscle car history are a sign of a grim future for the american automotive history, I can't wait for the next revival.
Great video as always.
You hit the nail on the head! I think the American big 3 could never build a quality car that the masses really wanted, once the Japanese imports started rolling in. I've always enjoyed small cars and small trucks, I know that I am not the only American to feel that way. It's an ego thing here. Gotta have that over compensating BIG BOY truck. It's freaking ridiculous.
To that extent I feel like Tesla appeals to a lot of the same people.
There really is just somethjng about having that much car, its like an extension of you.
@@RockSolitude All sport cars are overcompensating, but when I say that, I get called a Racial Slur
My '16 Ford Fusion Hybrid is a great car. It gets 50 mpg on the highway.
Thanks for the insight, now I know who's to blame for the current situation on my own country: you
I mean, the north american preferences have spilled over to south america, and now everyone and their mother want a stupid crossover/SUV. FFS, the Civic will no longer be sold here, instead Honda decided to just churn out more HR-Vs and WR-Vs - crossover versions of the Civic and Fit respectively.
All of the decent, reasonable cars are gone. The Passat, the Jetta, the Golf, the Fiesta and Focus combo, the Fusion, all of them replaced by the Jeep Renegade/Compass, the Corolla Cross, the Tiguan, Tcross, TRoc or whatever Volks decided to ramble about their names.
A big reason is that the car maker's customer is the DEALER, not the people who end up with the product. Dealers want something flashy that'll sell fast at a big markup and that won't last too long. Big vehicles have bigger margins, and the salesmen measure their success on their ability to convince people to want what they're selling. There's HUGE resistance to changing this business model, as Elon learned. They want it to be ILLEGAL to change the business model, and have manufacturers sell directly.
They’re building a Tesla factory in Texas, but you still cannot buy a Tesla new in Texas because dealer franchise laws.
Yep. This right here. Add to that the fact that dealers make a lot on SERVICE. and electric cars that need less service are absolutely NOT popular. Something like the Hummer that will be a 100k low volume behemoth is fine with a dealer since they won't sell many of them. The bolt on the other hand kills the dealers profit.
Am not a fan of Tesla. But the idea of DTC cars is a good one. But as stated, Dealers lobby hard in every state to force tesla to be unable to operatr
Man... Saturn really had good ideas when you think about it
@@penelopeboivin3191 The original space frame with plastic body panels was an admirable idea, but by the time of the Ion, it was just a rebadged Opel.
@@billh230 I'm talking about the dealer thing,
The idea was, at Saturn dealers, there were no selling things and deals and bullshit and stuff, nope. You would just come in and like, buy a car, and leave. If everyone would've done that, we would've avoided oh so many things... and it's just a better experience in my opinion!
Your part on fuel economy for trucks and SUVs really hit home. I’ve always like smaller cars, but we just bought a truck to tow a medium sized trailer for our business… wow, I’m used to being annoyed at mpg under 35, now I get 20 on a good trip… I don’t know why people daily drive these to go to work or the store. That said I really like not having headlights blinding me in my mirrors at stop lights.
One of the best online documentary I've listened to... thank you!
14:21 What I found amusing was in one of the Epilogue flash scenes of traffic, in the front row was an Austin Healy Frog Eye Sprite.
I spotted a yellow Ferrari/Fiat dino also... Random peculiar coincidence for sure.
But the Dino and Opel GT at the same light!
@@GunsmithSid Taillights yes, but head lights no
@@dominicancheif117 ? I thought the yellow car behind the Sprite was a GT? Looks too big to be a Lotus and I don’t understand what the taillight reference is about. Did you think I said something about borrowing lights from the parts bin shared between different marques?
@@GunsmithSid Oh I see, my mistake I didn’t see the opel behind it lol. I thought you were talking about the yellow Dino next to the Austin Haley and confused them lol, either way there was a lot of cool cars in that one shot
This series was superb!!! Loved every minute, very informative and entertaining. Keep up the great content, this channel is awesome.
One of the best reviews with one of the funniest commentaries I've heard in a very long time! This is one of the reasons I always try to watch a review of yours daily! Good on you! 2 thumbs up!
The gmc cyclone and Buick grand national were dream vehicles of mine as a kid
The Grand National was such a huge step in the right direction for Buick. And they managed to not notice how awesome their own car was and promptly went in the other direction. It might be the greatest American malaise era car ever made. Good looking, good performance, reasonably practical, and it just had that undefinable "cool" factor.
That they were only sold in black is just so damn cool, and a bold move.
@@nutbastard all to protect the prestige and pricing of the corvette amd the stupid rule on paper nothing could be better then it and cost less so they kill it instead of continuing to adapt
@@nutbastard I affectionately refer to it as black smoke
@@sinceninetyeightysixgustof8122 The two word phrase that comes to mind when I think of the Grand National is "Murder Sex". Not in a literal way obviously. It just exudes murder and sex, it's such a RAW car. Primal. Unapologetic. A force of nature. Like it predates the concept of morals.
You forgot to add “Plymouth - Gone”! LOL.
Plymouth was gone in the 2001, even earlier than Oldsmobile. That segment was into mentioning all brands cutted down after the post-2008 government bailout.
What was wrong with Saturn? Oh they had to keep Buick for the Chinese
Like Mercury, Plymouth as a nameplate, lasted a bit longer in the US than in Canada.
@@EMObeamer I asked the same question. Why not get rid of Buick instead of Pontiac? Answer: Buick sells good in China. They even made the Envision just for the Chinese market and made in China. Now it’s being imported to the US. The big question of whether or not Americans will buy Chinese made cars has been answered. Yes, they will.
@@nutandboltguy3720
I won't buy American brands made in Mexico or anywhere else.
We turned this manufacturing county into a service nation.
So now when crap collapses ... Lines of shipping break down and we're screwed
I just Love ❤ this series! I find myself watching it over and over again! I drove my way through this period. It was a very strange time all around. Just like now.
This is such a lovely series - thank you!
(American) Sedans and wagons need to make a comeback.
Yeah and they will flop, you know why, because no one who actually buy new cars want them, you want one but you buy used, your opinion doesn't matter because you're not giving them money for it
It's all the same thing that's wrong with American cars, American mindset and the American United States.... A make believe culture, where nothing is real and all that counts is instant gratification. To value really good engineering it takes maturity and a pragmatic mind set... Not the "Mine is bigger than yours " attitude.
@@stefanguels couldn’t of said it better myself!
they need to make decent quality cars too… they’re not as reliable as toyota or honda
@@UserName-ts3sp true
Let's be real though, the Hummer H1 really was a military vehicle. The H2 and H3 isn't, but the H1 was.
Yep, H1 was the actual military vehicle with all the military bits stripped out. H2 was a Suburban and H3 was a Chevy Colorado.
Yeah but that kinda reinforces his point because in civilized countries we don't drive around in military vehicles. You need an industrial strength minority complex to do that.
@@seybertooth9282 I don't know why you say this like the H1 is popular, they are by far pretty rare
@@cpufreak101 the H2 was more like a 3/4 ton suburban which was an SUV they sold at the time
@@seybertooth9282 - LOL ... A “minority complex”?
Is that when people mistakenly believe they’re black ??
Enjoyed these videos, thank you for making it. Was surprised Saturn and Geo didn't get much of a mention.
Looks like we are going to another Malaise era. I'm ready for part V!
I can’t wait to see this SUV fad subside. Even in Europe the estate is under threat by bloated, ugly and overstyled tanks. I hope we will see an explosion of new designs, form factors and maybe more new players in the future.
It's not even that the SUV is entirely a net evil. The Toyota Land Cruiser is the gold standard in off-road capability and the UN entrust its abilities for missions in especially tough terrain. In Toronto, the fire department and the paramedics mostly use Tahoes as fly cars. If you need something quick and powerful with plenty of carrying capacity, it's the perfect form factor. The problem I think is mainly American companies building SUVs for excess' sake, to cater to very niche demographics whose requirements are nowhere near as serious or specialised as say a Land Cruiser or a Shogun or even a Suburban. I.e the generation of Hummer in the thumbnail
SUVs will only proliferate now w EVs. The biggest reason people don't buy SUVs is because of gasoline cost. EVs fix that. So expect SUV/CUV/Truck sales to only trend up.
@@andrewduong2740 Nothing wrong with that. The problem is when EVERY car marker feels the need to make them as well. BMW, Porsche, Lamborghini, Jaguar Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lexus, Infiniti and a few others in their class do not need SUVs in their catalog.
@@johannel8104 Doesn't fix that at all. Even electric SUVs have terrible range per recharge. It's function of mass, weight and size, not form of propulsion.
Jacob... Very well said I seems that this is a trend over in Europe as well . Where there is a sort of neo- bourgeois excessive port malaise attitude not only in the US ,but also in your neck in the woods in Europe as well.
Man when I think about an automotive channel with great content, this is what I tink of, awesome and entertaining, with te right amount of jokes , keep up with te good work!
This 4 part series covered it perfectly. You hit the nail on the head. Greetings from SoCal.
Excellent mini-series! Love the videos man. Keep them up!
I loved this Malaise era series! Your videos are so well made, well written and edited. Your sense of humour only ads to these great videos. Please make an extra Malais era video with whatever you have left, I am sure it would be well received. Keep it up, subscribed and notifications ON!!
I was at a graduation party earlier this year I overheard conversations between two people, one with a 3 year old and the other a little older, talking about how the pickup truck is the new family car.
I think that the appeal is that they can do anything with one car and even if they don't plan on doing anything that the truck or suv format affords it still can give the impression that they might so it also a status symbol. Gas prices also are a factor as it allows you to drive your giant 5 seat pick up truck as a family vehicle without going broke.
Couldn't you just buy a smaller more practical car then that's far better on gas? You live in suburbia, you're not going to be doing anything that requires a giant gas guzzling pick up. And what happened to the wagon? SUVs have become like a worldwide scourge on the car market and everyone keeps mindlessly buying one. My sister bought a new Kia Sportage because she was having a second kid and needed the extra space. Guess what? It's hardly any more practical than their other car which is a Toyota Camry and only has a negligible increase in boot space and rear passenger space and thats only owing to its roof height. Both are still 5 seat vehicles that would adequately fit a family. Heck, a Toyota Aurion which my Mum currently drives is more practical. The Kia Sportage - like 99% of SUVs and crossovers - are merely bloated hatchbacks that are not meant to go off-road or do anything heavy duty or rough. We call them "soft roaders". There are plenty of 5 door wagon versions of hatchbacks which offer far more practicality and boot space. And then there's the sedan based wagon. Having a family and need a practical car with a large boot that won't break the bank and gets good fuel economy like a normal car? Get a wagon.
@RockSolitude I totally agree and I would never buy a suv or truck as for 99.9% of my journeys I'm fine with a small hatchback and I can borrow or rent a pickup if I need it. But for most people it is really just all perception. With a suv or pickup you get to show off that you live an exciting life, living on the edge. And everyone wants to think that they live that life, so in that way they can justify owning one.
I think it is because car companies shoved them that ide aadown their throats with advertising as well as the "general public" stupidity to fall into it, but I think that is not only happening in the USA, it looks like a world-wide thing. Wait 'till the EV gloat hits, and the malaise era 2.0 begins, that will be a malaise era but planet-wide...
@William Mulvaney Easy as bying one on the cheap, used, scrap all that shit, find a new wiring harness that doesn't include anything but the essential and voila...
@@RockSolitude Why bother with efficiency when gas is under $3? It's not like we don't have any oil, the lifting of the export ban is what caused oil to go negative
Thank you for a very entertaining series, your humour is quite good
Great job I lived through most of this since the 60’s. I remember it just the way you presented it. Thanks
You present historically accurate videos in a very entertaining way. Keep up the good work.
Having lived through this period I have to say bro you nailed it. We have a serious problem with size here in the states. Fun light weight cars are dead here and as much as I love cars and American cars I hate we no longer love the drive and excitement they can bring.
Ehhh. For some people like that. I don’t but even then, small cars exist in the tuner space and thats it. They’re not super useful.
@@Matthewv1998 Yeah, if I want economy I'll just hop on my Kawasaki Vulcan. My Lincoln Navigator does all the heavy lifting and traveling.
So as a 37yr old DROM DETROIT, who was fed by the bug 3 for generations, ya nailed it. 👏 whole series 👍 👌
In 2005 I got a valet job having only driven American. The first time in a Civic I entered the future! That job opened my eyes for real...we're claiming to be best bc nostalgia, but we've had to step it up for a while. I blame my dad's generation and corporate level, but that's just facts 💯 great series, I've now subscribed 👍 👏
You absolutely nailed it. Especially the Hummer reboot criticism
Don't overlook the influence that Hollywood has in defining our automotive trends.
Can you elaborate? Do cars featured in movies have such an impact on buyers decisions?
Hollyweird in increasingly irrelevant these days. Especially since they've gone all woke and preachy.
@@EdsAutoReviews the first fast and furious movies are a good example
@@falcongamer5867 For sure the Nissan Models like the 350Z/370Z, Silvia S-15 and Skylines, Mitsubishi Evos aswell as the American Cars like the Dodge Charger from 69' and 70' increased a lot in price over the years. The generation that grew uü with these movies, including me, loves these cars.
F&furious .. yes ... ...btw
. Thats the only thing this movie series is good for .. -) .. promoting Muscle
...
What I like on your videos: You can like it in advance and you'll never revoke it.
The SUV era had just began barely 20 years ago and it swapped to Europe. I miss the time before it... with crappy, but still normal cars...
I got a Ford Ranger a couple of years ago. Wanted a small truck, but they don't really exist anymore. A lot of people where I live look at their truck like it's a symbol of their manhood. The most important part of the "Good ol' Boy " package. You've got the big jacked up diesels that roll coal and make as much noise as possible at 3am every day, and the guys that let their 2-ft long 4-ball crazy trailer hitch hang into the parking spot behind them or over the sidewalk. Seems like a passive aggressive flex or something. I dunno. I just needed a dirt-friendly cargo area to haul compost and whatnot.
Great series , as someone who was born in the late 70's and watched first hand at this change you did a great job with the hits and misses of the era, I enjoyed seeing the failures and successes put together. subscribed
Americans love big cars....... I myself really love little bitty cars too, like: Geo Metros, Toyota Corolla's,, etc. etc.
Lol the Toyota Corolla is not an itty bitty car.
Those are huge!!!!
For real! I'm 6'5" and a 91 Metro XFi has got to be one of the cars I once had that I miss the most!
I learned to drive in a Suburban starting at age 12,
Corollas are America's tiny car.
You don't see many Rabbits out there anymore. I'm sad with all my big vehicles today, I can't get 300 mi with a tank. In my teen years, with my 80s BMW I'd get over 400 mi out of a tank, could really cover some ground with those babies.
So I guess, with first cars, maybe you rebel against your folks, and I got a little speedy car but after those years of tickets, I'm more into Blvd cruising and calling those Foreign car racing dudes dicks. Hahaha
@@takenpictures Dude, believe me, I LOVE the GEO METRO, I've had one since '93 and just sold it some 7 months ago...... only because "PARTS" availability!
When you said "Saturn gone" you showed Saturn Vue, a small SUV, while Saturn actually was representative for American small cars. The great majority of Saturns were S-series, that is, sedans (SL models), 2-door coupes (SC models) and some wagons (SW). These were small/compact cars, with 1.9L inline-four engines. I had an SC2 coupe for a few years, and I really liked it. Did 36..38 mpg highway, my personal record was 40mpg (verified by my first GPS) driving through Illinois and Indiana back home to Ohio. Frankly your image about Saturn is incomplete. They were cheap but reliable economical cars, and they owners loved them. Saturn was almost independent of GM's mentality and internal politics, that's why it was quite successful for a while. Then GM killed it, because it shone a bad light on GM as corporation.
Indeed, Saturn was a different kind of small car from a different kind of car company... and the SOBs & morons at the regular car company HATED them for it!
Saturns were quintessential GM crap.
awesome video. leaving aside the information, it is very well executed and equally entertaining!
very well done! just watched all four
I’m from Canada and am still used to to spending two hours to drive from one town to another (even though I live in the GTA - huge Toronto centred urban area). When I travelled to the Netherlands in 73, (high school), we all got ready for our first tour (from Amsterdam to The Hague). Ok we thought get ready for a two hour drive - we loaded up with pop, cheese, bread and other stuff.
We leave our hotel and after leaving the city limits - ten minutes later we are in The Hague!!! What happened????😲😲😲
That day we all learned a very quick lesson in Geography - LOL
In 10 minutes from Amsterdam to The Hague is only possible by plane. The Netherlands is not THAT small.
@@ronaldderooij1774 - ok, I admit I may have exaggerated the length of time for effect. I am originally from a city called Sudbury in the northern region of Ontario, Canada. It is literally at least two hours to drive to the nearest city with either very small villages or fence forests in between. We, who were relatively young teens expected the same type of journey. While it wasn't 10 minutes, it was considerably less than two hours, I figure it was closer to maybe a half hour - 3/4 hour with mostly built up areas and some farm land in between. Thus ourcimoression of a considerably less time of travel. As I said, it was a lesson in geography and the European lifestyles. To be able to ride a bike from the centre of Amsterdam to Schiphol Airport was absolutely amazing.
Yep. All the criticism North Americans get from Europeans, they don't comprehend Just How Big our countries are, especially compared to their puny realms. Why endure a tiny car for a 7-hour drive when I can do a mid- or full-size??
@@kaneo1 I don't think 7 hour drives are a daily, weekly or even monthly occurence for the average Joe. And smaller cars are less bad for the climate of next generations, take up less raw materials and generally are safer if applied "en masse" (because less kinetic energy). And besides that, also in narrower world views, small cars stilll are cheaper to buy and operate.
@@ronaldderooij1774 many people have those drive times in small cars. Some people almost drive that length of time for their work commutes.
Unfortunately, public transit/rail service is nothing at all like it is in Europe. GO Transit our provincial rail service only covers the GTA and not all of it is a daily service. Otherwise you have to depend on the national service - Via Rail. That schedule is maybe 10 times a day that link communities from Montreal in Quebec to Windsor in Ontario. Via Rail also runs east west across the country but those links are maybe twice a day. The only other passenger service is the service into N. Ontario - the ONR (Ontario Northland) which is basically a day trip.
Here in America I've heard people say "the smog era" or "fuel crisis era" also heard one guy call it the" peanut butter era". I grew up in cars of this time, and I still have a soft spot for them. I know they're all terrible, even when new, and now they're rusting away, but when I see an old "smog era" car it gets me right in the feels.
What's great is that most of them are old enough now that you can rip off all the stupid emissions stuff, put some decent heads and camshaft in, and you got yourself a pretty decent car for really cheap. Just hopefully they stay cheap.
brings memories for me too. born in 82 and remember my grandfather picking me up from school in his 1977 Chrysler new yorker that he bought brand new in 77 for about $3K it had A/C! think he had every option on it, wish family didn't get rid of it after he died in 95. Mom had a 79 thunderbird, I remember her rolling over the odom on it.
Thank you! I learn something everyday!
I grew up in those times too, and that's when I started to drive. Those cars in the 70s were junk. I don't miss them.
@@Dratchev241 I doubt he bought that new for $3k. By then inflation had taken even Vegas, and Pintos up to 4-5k.
Thank you so much dude. We would all really love even more videos on this topic.
Honestly one of the biggest reasons why small cars don’t sell as well here is Bc you can often get a midsize suv for around the same price. Because those SUV’s are the volume seller now, the manufacturer gives bigger discounts.
It becomes a game of perception of value. It feels like you get more for the money when in fact you often don’t.
Oh and PS, great video series.
I miss cars from the 90s when they were small.
They were even smaller earlier. Just compare the modern and original Mini for example.
@@MrMakabar I don't know where you are from, but here in America, cars were smallest in the 90s and 2000s. I don't know if minis and fiats were sold here then, but yes they were and still are smaller
@@kingofawesomeness99 Oh I am German and I just assumed you would have been able to buy those. Apparently the only sold 10000 original Minis in the US due to new safety reguations and the Fiat 500 was sold even less.
Anyway both of the original one weight about half a ton, whereas the new ones weight over twice as much and you can tell why by just looking at them.
The other day I saw a 90’s Pontiac Grand Am (midsize) next to a new Honda Civic (compact). The Honda looked enormous next to the Pontiac
The 1995 Acura Integra was the bomb.
"So how come history takes such a long long time?" (Bruce Cockburn, Canadian music artist) Until change comes and and era can be defined, it can't be identified, celebrated nor lamented. But I'm glad you took the time to produce this series. In the nineties, I read Brock Yates take on the era, in his novel, "The decline and rise of the American Automotive Industry". Brock was of course an expert, by virtue of his participation in the coast to coast race, "The Cannonball Run". Well, that and the fact he was a contributing journalist to Car and Driver magazine, for about 35 years. Great read, you should either know it or even read it I would assume.
Excellent series. Explains a lot about why I have always had foreign cars.
Ed man I appreciate the great content keep up the good work
I agree!!!
When I see a new Automotive History episode, I instantly click :3
Also, a suggestion: history of the whitewall tire
Great knowledge and research, much appreciate your channel!
Having lived through all of these eras, the series does take me back. Pretty much accurate.
The downfall of the Italian economy (includes car industry) and how there isn't that much variation in car models, unfortunately...
The fake hood tie down loops on the Hummer were so embarrassing.
The whole brand is an embarassment.
@@arevee9429 Hoovies Garage bought one, and proved they are just piles of junk that will nickel, and dime the average person, and that they are just living off the brand name of their military forefathers.
Never even drove a Hummer. Why would I be embarrassed?
@@21stcenturyfossil7 The Hummer H2, and H3 are mostly just reskinned Suburbans, and they make you look like a meathead driving a wanna be brodozer. If you are going to get a Hummer get a real military one converted into civilian use.
@@CommodoreFan64 I'll probably never drive a Hummer, they don't interest me! But it's been my subjective observation that the Hummer drivers are less likely to be traffic jerks than the Brodozer Boys.
The first answer is infrastructure. When you drive a car on those big, long, American back roads, you understand why Americans build big cars with floaty suspensions and vague steering: because that's the appropriate technology for interfacing with that infrastructure. Europeans have a hard time wrapping their heads around just how huge, and largely unpopulated America is.
may I beg to differ...
the appropriate technology to interface with those big long roads, back or front,
is long distance high speed rail...except the government is in the pockets of big oil and the auto industry, both of which get m. a. s. s. i. v. e. subsidies from the taxpayer money trough...and because of that passenger rail traffic has been allowed to die a lingering death. Every where else in the world passenger rail is growing...not in the northern 2/3 of the N American continent.
@@kidmohair8151 I agree, but the infrastructure that has been built in America is a network of highways, not a network of rails. I read that Eisenhower seeing the Autobahn at the end of WW2 convinced him that the Americans should build something similar. FF to George Bush proclaiming, "America is addicted to oil!" Hitler got his revenge after all.
Wendover Productions has a great video on why America doesn't have high speed rail, and goes into the population and economic reasons.
@@morganahoff2242 Eisenhower did indeed get the funding for the Interstate system, through a reluctant Congress. Once big oil had accomplished that deed of lobbying, it was game over for passenger rail. And game on for big oil to buy the rest of the administrations across the US, and a number of other governments worldwide...
a process they still employ today.
@@kidmohair8151 LOL high speed rail? thats pants on head. have you thought about it's feasibility or just watched that one vid from Wendover productions? you just proved how hard it is for europeans to wrap their head around the us scale. its not like russia where the rail lines connect cities with nothing in between. there are small towns everywhere and rual homes scattered. yeah let me just take my highspeed rail down my 5 mile empty backroad with one neighbor in sight. there's really no place like it except maybe Canada.
@@Ihateironyanddumbusernames One doesn't do high speed rail to go 5 miles. High speed rail is for city to city. Low speed light rail is for your jaunt to your neighbors.
Ed , you’re a bloody genius ,keep up the great episodes
We’re all Gary Numan singing “In Cars”!!!
It's called "Cars."
@@GeeEm1313 the lyric is "....in Cars" though, that's the reference
A very good way to put it.
I do like all the clips of the freeways of 1970s Atlanta, Ga.
I was surprised to see my home city in that part. The I-75/85 to I-20 interchange next to Turner Field.
I love your videos and your humor!!! Very fun to watch!!!
Keep your episodes coming, love your content.
I drive a Dodge Neon. It's actually roomy and comfortable. I's a pretty good car, despite it's periodic Chrysler breakdowns. But I can fix it and parts are cheap!
I learned how to drive in a Neon. Fantastic drivers. My Cavalier came close but my sister's Neon was smaller, more agile, and seemed like it had more room.
I have 2 cars in the driveway an 02 Ford F-150 supercrew with a V6, and camper shell I use for truck stuff/2nd ride, and a 2012 Toyota Camry I got at a good deal as a daily, and it's comfortable enough for 4 people, but try to get 3 in the back, and it's not a fun time. Small cars have their place for sure, but so do trucks, and SUV's, but I will admit they have gotten a bit out of hand over time costing nearly as much as a house with crap on them that breaks most people will never need, and I wish we could go back to more simple trucks/SUV's but sadly the Ford Maverick which is still about as big as my 02 F-150 Supercrew 4 door is about as close we are going to get these days.
@@carlklitzke9455 The Neon is a real tight package under the hood, though! The car always looks happy and cheerful, despite whatever has broken down this month. Cars that look angry or pained are just not for me!!
See, Americans CAN make good compact economy cars!
I always liked the Neon, it was a rare domestic compact offering that seemed like it was a bit more than an afterthought... But it's still a Chrysler. You could sell it and pick up a Corolla or Civic.. Still plenty roomy, and comfortable.. But with a bit more refinement, and a LOT more reliability! No more periodic break downs!!
To answer your question...
American cities and roads were built with the car in mind. So we have the space to drive large cars. Also, America is huge. You talk about how a two hour drive is long, and how Germany and France are big countries but don't have big cars.
I don't think you understand the size of America. France and Germany are the size of states. I can get in my car and drive an hour... And I'd still be in the same city. Literally. (And I'm not taking about being stuck in traffic, I mean going 55 on the interstate) Some people commute two hours to work every day.
People don't want small cars because we spend a lot of time in our vehicles. Small cars are cramped, they are louder. The suspension isn't as comfortable.
Also, gas is cheap here. It was $2.79 per gallon when I drove past the station yesterday. It's that much per liter in Europe.
If European countries were huge, the roads were huge, taxes were low and gas was cheap... Y'all would be driving big cars, too.
Whoever said you can road trip with a small car has never driven a small car, 200 hp and room for 4 and cargo is enough for any trip for any length. A sedan is enough, for two or person even a hatchback can be enough for 1000 miles road trips
That's mostly true, some parts of old cities like Boston, MA and San Juan, PR can't really handle non-economy cars.
Yes I think that sums up why. Our cities in Europe ar 10 to 30 times older than automobile history. We have to fit our cars for that.
@@bardiaafkhami984 I had a Ford Focus sedan in college. I routinely drove it back and forth to home, a 1000 mile trip. I had three passengers and everyone's luggage in the trunk.
Yes, it was doable, but it wasn't pleasant. I made the same trip in a Dodge Caravan and it was smoother, quieter, more spacious and fun. That's right, fun. It was a chore to drive 1000 miles in the Focus. In the van, I had a huge stereo and a TV in there. We watched movies and TV. There was room to sleep. It wasn't a chore to make the drive.
@William Mulvaney
The only long trips I took in SAABs had me with a ruined trip and trying to find another friendly swedish mechanic, that you always can find in every big west coast city
Greetings from Canada. I love American, German and Japanese cars. Can’t wait to see your next episode of the malaise era!
THIS WAS EXCELLENT!!!
ED YOU ARE THE BEST!!!
6:55
I know this is not the same story for all SUV buyers, in fact our family is probably in the minority. But my Father bought his Expedition for our 4 person family (and dog) because he needed all 8 seats. Me and my brother were both in scouting so that means we would go on a lot of camping trips with the troop, so my dad would hook up a large trailer filled with gear, food and personal items while also squeezing as many scouts in his SUV as possible. Almost every campout he would do this to his truck and thanks to the independent suspension and nice interior it was also super comfortable despite being filled with 7 kids lol
Again we are probably one of the few families to actually push their SUV to the limits with relative frequency, it does seem most people just like their size.