Behind the Scenes @ Chrysler Dealers

[smilingcat]

Papaver,

True to a point. Culturally we are very different than the Europeans or the Asians.

We are society of never satisfied. Not satisfied/not big enough. MacMansion is not being big enough. For a family of four, do you need a 5 or 6 bedroom house with 3 bathrooms or more? And does it have to have over 6,000(557sq meter)-10,000 sq. feet(929sq meter) house?

Not big enough with Big SUVs. Cadillac Escalade (6,800 pounds/almost 3100kilos), Chevy Tahoe (6,500pounds) Ford Expedition (5800pound/2600kilos). Three guys at my office are driving around in Ford F350 4wd, Chevy 3500, and another is driving a F250 4WD. They live in the city. And they don't care about the gas milage being 6-8MPG. (about 2.4km/liter). When the boys get a new truck or high end sports car, they all have to go out and lust over it. and compare against their own truck or car. Yup another set drives a modified Audi R4 (his blown his engine like two or three times already). Another two drives a corvette, My new boss who took over control of this division drives a Bentley continental GT. And in the same building where we lease out part of the building to another business, guys there are driving Merceds AMG looks very fast. And yet another Bentley continental GT. Even a tech who can't afford an expensive car is driving around in a Hummer H2. Didn't say a word to the guy. What is the point???

They do complain about the gas price but the way they drive you would neve know. Hard acceleration. sporty group likes to hit 60MPH in around 4 seconds from standing still. Truck group is not much better. And hard braking too. They don't think they are driving all that hard.

Culturally, we Americans never have enough of anything.Sad And we also have a very short memory and attension span. Hybrid car sales I heard was down 87% since the peak of last year. I think this number is not corrected for the overall downturn of the economy. Still, our economy hasn't dropped that much. It just goes to show you that we may talk about conservation and saving gas... but our action says something else.

Speaking of which, gas price is climbing again. It's almost $3.00 gallon for the 87 octane (regular) here in California. And bike theft in my area is way up I keep my bikes in my bedroom.

[bmccasland]

I think we're too far away from the memories of the people who grew up during the Depression. My grandparents, now all deceased, were of the "waste not, want not" OR "make do or do without" generation. I'll be 50 this year and I have some of that frugalness, but I certainly don't see it in the new college grads that are interning in my office. These "kids" would be equivalent to the adult greatgrandchildren or great-great grandchildren of Depression Era adults - just too far away - it's ancient history to them.

[shootingstar]

I think we're too far away from the memories of the people who grew up during the Depression. My grandparents, now all deceased, were of the "waste not, want not" OR "make do or do without" generation. I'll be 50 this year and I have some of that frugalness, but I certainly don't see it in the new college grads that are interning in my office. These "kids" would be equivalent to the adult greatgrandchildren or great-great grandchildren of Depression Era adults - just too far away - it's ancient history to them.

The make do or do without Depression era thinking..is not something big among the younger generations, unless they are financially strapped.

Next generations seem to need not just reasons of poverty, but ADDITIONAL motivators to change their choices how to consume responsibly..but still look be accepted by their social peer group.

I'm not knocking powerful motivators of environmental protection, healthy whole food sources..but merely just the philosophy of living within one's own means with long term frugality can be a tough call for many people. It does require a different pacing of one's lifestyle...and more time planning, scheduling and grouping tasks/errands together for 1 trip. It is a major change for some people, like yahoos hard accelerating their cars for no real emergency. But after awhile, the change becomes part of one's being.

Sad thing, some of the developing countries are inching towards aping the North American consumerist, car-oriented lifestyle. They view cars and whole ball of our wax, as higher status, "better" living.

That's some culture among the boys there, smilingcat. For some reason, I don't hear much about cars with the men I've worked with over the years. Maybe they didn't want to talk about such with a car-clueless like myself.

[7rider]

True to a point. Culturally we are very different than the Europeans or the Asians.

<snip>

Not big enough with Big SUVs. Cadillac Escalade (6,800 pounds/almost 3100kilos), Chevy Tahoe (6,500pounds) Ford Expedition (5800pound/2600kilos). Three guys at my office are driving around in Ford F350 4wd, Chevy 3500, and another is driving a F250 4WD. They live in the city. And they don't care about the gas milage being 6-8MPG. (about 2.4km/liter). When the boys get a new truck or high end sports car, they all have to go out and lust over it. and compare against their own truck or car. Yup another set drives a modified Audi R4 (his blown his engine like two or three times already). Another two drives a corvette, My new boss who took over control of this division drives a Bentley 8. And in the same building where we lease out part of the building to another business, guys there are driving Merceds AMG looks very fast. And yet another Bentley 8. Even a tech who can't afford an expensive car is driving around in a Hummer H2. Didn't say a word to the guy. What is the point???

<snip>

Culturally, we Americans never have enough of anything.

<snip>

Okay. First... I admit to not following this thread at all.
Generally, I agree with what you are saying.

But...
I saw this and what leaped out at me (other than "What's a Bently 8?" I looked at their website and there is no such car...the "Bently 8L (liter)" was I think from the 1930's...(from a 5-second Google search) which would be pretty cool to see driving around, in all honesty.)....is that...not to defend American consumerism, but 3 of those gas guzzling behemoths you mention are not American cars.
I don't think Americans - or American car manufacturers - have a monopoly on building or buying completly pointless vehicles.
One of my DH's favorite shows on t.v. is Top Gear - a British show that glamorizes and highlights ultra-fast, hardly economic, sports cars. Most of those cars are European...or Japanese (in fact, they hate American cars). The things they do to and with cars would freeze a greenie's heart. (That said, the show IS hysterically funny).
And, no, I don't think there is any reason to drive an F350 or a Hummer in a city.
Oh...the other thing that leaped out is that your co-workers are NOT representative of what the "average American" drives...by a long shot.

[Crankin]

Well, my DH has a Lexus SUV; the big one, not the soccer mom car. We use it for lots of hauling, taking bikes, canoe, etc. He does not want to get rid of it. Last year, just when gas prices started going up, he bought a Miyata, to satisfy his testosterone urges, but seriously, it gets 30 mpg. He drives it from March to November, but he also commutes to work a lot of days in the summer, so the SUV stays parked most of the time. I can't complain, since he paid for it in full, even though nobody needs 2 cars... we are actually spending much less for gas, since he got the Miyata, even though we have 3 cars.
I also think we just drive a lot less than a lot of people.

[smilingcat]

(other than "What's a Bently 8?" I looked at their website and there is no such car...the "Bently 8L (liter)" was I think from the 1930's...(from a 5-second Google search) which would be pretty cool to see driving around, in all honesty.)....
And, no, I don't think there is any reason to drive an F350 or a Hummer in a city.
Oh...the other thing that leaped out is that your co-workers are NOT representative of what the "average American" drives...by a long shot.

I thought that's what the guys called it. so I looked it up. It's a Bentley continental GT?? The emblem looked like an 8 in the middle. I guess its "B" and not an "8". And checking on the spec. I think that's what it is cause the boys were talking about having a 500+ hp engine.

true these boys are not the average American drivers per se. I understand technology not model names of cars.