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Cars - For Car Enthusiasts @lemmy.world
anonymous @lemmy.world

What are the benefits of owning a car?

Title. Genuine question. Intended for people owning cars. That's all.

Edit: Thank you to everyone pointing out that my comments are rude and that I was being an asshole. I lost sight of the intention of this post. I will stop replying in the same manner.

Edit 2: imma downvote those comments I guess cuz there's no karma fuck reddit

66 comments

  • The benefits to a car are self-evident. Ability to go anywhere you like on the schedule you like without need for excessive advance planning.

    I'm absolutely a "fuckcars" advocate, but pretending there's NO benefits to owning one is insane. The problem isn't the cars themselves - it's that the REQUIREMENT of cars for basic life is AWFUL and as much as possible a car should be a special occasion, recreational use vehicle that you might use say, a few times a year for road trips, or maybe on weekends for personal exploration. The commute culture is how we get ridiculous traffic, excessive road construction, and most of the other unpleasant aspects of cars we hate in society.

    But if say, 90% of the current drivers didn't have to do ANY daily driving and could walk or take public transportation instead, only using a car, say, once a week or less exclusively at their leisure rather than as a requirement? Car ownership would be MUCH more pleasant.

    To put it more simply, a world where you MUST use a car all the time to go everywhere is incredibly inconvenient.

    But by the same token, a world where you CAN'T use a car EVER to go ANYWHERE is ALSO incredibly inconvenient (Yes, I know plenty of people who will disagree with this, but usually even a cursory asking of places they've gone and things they've seen will reveal they're either cheating on the purity of their vision and getting rides somewhere, or there's a bunch of places they'd LIKE to go that they've just given up on, or desperately hope will SOMEDAY become viable destinations).

    The best answer lies somewhere in-between - a car as an occasionally used recreational vehicle that complements a basic foundational lifestyle of walking, bikes, and a mix of public transportation.

  • If I didn't have my pickup bed, I would have had to pay thousands of dollars to transport all I have in there. That doesn't include the priceless memories it's taken us to by just being able to randomly drive down a country road on a road trip. So many little know spots found just because I was able to explore new directions thousands of miles from my house thanks to my truck.

    I love hiking. I've hiked many more miles because I was able to first kinda explore with my truck. I can go on. They might not be the best for the planet, but I've gotten to experience way more of it with one.

  • There are lots of reasons why the necessity of owning cars (particularly in the US) is unfortunate- bad for poor people, bad for quality of life, and bad for the environment.

    that being said, asking questions is bad faith (ie asking just so you can tell them you think cars suck, and that living in the US sucks) is shitty behavior. Either go take your bullshit somewhere else, or actually try to foster reasonable discussion between folks of differing perspectives. You have the power to bring people together, foster community, and inform the perspectives of others. Don't waste that power on condescending to others for dumb shit like whether they live in a country where cars are vital to most folk's lives just so you can feel good about yourself as though you've accomplished anything other than mired an important topic of discussion in more toxicity than it already was.

    The world has enough people being antagonist shitheads, there's no reason you have to be one of them

    I conveyed my point in a way that was probably a lot more harsh than appropriate, and I'd like to recognize that OP acknowledged and apologized having engaged in a way that wasn't entirely in good faith without meaning to

    • I've said this before, I am sorry for that. Thanks for pointing it out.

      • Hey, props to you for being able to hear what I and others were saying and reflect, thats genuinely an incredibly difficult thing to do when critical comments on the internet almost always read as an attack. The emotional intelligence to reflect on your behavior when criticized by multiple faceless internet accounts is genuinely worth being very proud of ❤️

        For my part, definitely could have conveyed my feelings less harshly, which is perhaps especially important when the person you're speaking to will be hearing many many voices all at once and you're just one of them. I let my frustration dictate how I conveyed my perspective and I'd like to apologize for that

        Thank you for being willing to engage with me as a human despite my critical comment- this is what makes community, what builds common ground and respect among folks of differing perspectives. You've contributed very admirably to it by hearing folks' critisisms and reflecting on how you might want to engage differently

        I hope you have a great day :)

  • Go farther places, faster and in comfort.

    Literally a requirement in most of the western United States, especially California. Everything is spread out too much. If you live in a small town without access to certain things, you need a car to go to a town that does because you may not even be able to use delivery services or taxis, or have a bus stop. And you're not realistically gonna walk 30 miles there and another 30 back home.

66 comments