posted by meowser
I will be on blogbreak for a couple of weeks to deal with some issues closer to home.
So if y’all don’t see me much around the old ‘Sphere, don’t worry, I’m still here. (flute solo, followed by drum solo, repeat chorus to fade)
In the meantime, I thought I’d go out with a little factoid you might want to keep in your back pocket to toss at the ZOMG FATTIES ARE DESTROYING THE ENVIRONMENT THEIR FAT ASSES USE UP EXTRA GAS crowd, courtesy of Metafilter:
Curb weights of:
‘91 Honda Civic DX (hatch) = 2127 lbs
‘02 Honda Civic SI (hatch) = 2877 lbs
difference: 750 pounds
pre-2000 Mini Cooper = 1500 lbs
2007 BMW Mini = 2314 lbs
difference: 814 pounds
‘00 VW GTI = 2700 lbs
‘05 VW GTI = 2934 lbs
difference: 234 pounds
Curb weight means the weight of the car without anyone or anything in it.
You can’t make your car that much heavier no matter how many fries you eat. Sorry, hatebags.
See you round like a vinyl record!
July 22, 2008 at 7:12 am
I’d assumed cars were getting lighter in order to improve gas mileage. Now I wonder if some of them were getting ighter or whether I was just plain wrong.
July 22, 2008 at 10:54 am
LMAO!!
..”hatebags”, that’s a good one!!
July 22, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Holy shit! See, this is why “the facts”–like fatties exhausting fuel–are never the fucking facts at all.
I wonder if this is a trend overall. How much would gas mileage go down if they hadn’t added weight to the cars? And what can be adding that much weight to the same model of car? It’s not like we use fucking steel in the way they did on older cars.
I wonder about similar trends on airlines….
PS–I’m totally re-posting this on the Fat Studies list, with a link of course.
July 22, 2008 at 6:21 pm
It was pointed out on the MeFi thread that part of the extra weight is due to better safety features/requirements, which is a good thing, but most is due to the cars just being bigger. (The panelwork may not be made of solid steel like it used to but there are things like roll cages and impact bars instead.) Look at the size of a 1988 Honda Civic compared to a 2008 Civic, for example.
Engines have been getting more efficient, too, but not nearly enough to compensate for the extra weight on the cars.
And I think it was someone on BigFatBlog that pointed out it would reduce fuel use more if everyone kept their tyres correctly inflated and their engines in good condition than if everyone suddenly became “normal” BMI.
July 24, 2008 at 10:10 am
I think the idea of “ZOMG FATTIES ARE DESTROYING THE ENVIRONMENT THEIR FAT ASSES USE UP EXTRA GAS” is from the fact that many overweight people tend to buy vehicles that take in to consideration the larger size of the passenger. Hence the American love affair of the SUV. It makes room for someone to be comfortable in the cab whereas a smaller car such as the civic would not.
As for the new weights being higher then the weights for the same cars ten years previous, well you can once again blame the American consumer. The reason why the average weight has gone up is because the average numbers of luxuries that come standard has gone up. Like in the example of the ‘91 vs ‘02 civic things like automatic seats, power windows, and air conditioning would not be standard on the ‘91.
January 16, 2009 at 3:25 am
Well, see, MY fat ass rides a bike to work, ~30 minutes each way.
So, not so much with the using of gas here either.
Besides, what kind of a ridiculous argument is that? LOL