Yesterday, I watched the morning news on KWGN - Denver's WB affiliate.
Their "Car Report" was on the latest American motoring obscenity, the Hummer H2.
The "reporter" kept mentioning that the vehicle, unlike the H1, was aimed at women drivers!
Hello? It's based on a military vehicle! It does 8mpg. What the fuck is the need for this vehicle, apart from some sort of Search & Rescue operation?
I'm reminded of that Viz fake advert for Land Rovers, poking fun at the wealthy mothers who use them just to transport their spawn around. The caption was, "School up a fucking mountain? Then you need a Land Rover!"
I wrote to "the WB" (as they like to be called, in the hope that we'll forget they're a massive, uncaring media corporation), here's the email I sent:
My question is, just who is paying WB2 to promote vehicles like the Hummer H2?It's bad enough that what are essentially military vehicles are now marketed to the general public, without the media promoting them as a good idea.
The United States is notoriously the world's biggest polluter, and for many years, American cars have been well-known as the most fuel-inefficient vehicles in the world.
Whilst there are hybrid vehicles out there, making some attempt to redress the balance, don't you think that your station should not be promoting such environmentally destructive vehicles as the H2?
And in addition abysmal fuel consumption of such a vehicle, the other question is, just why does Denver's Mrs Soccer-mom need this kind of vehicle? It's not like Denver's high-schools are located high up in the mountains with no paved roads for the last five miles.
I'm not saying that we should censor our news broadcasts, but this isn't really news is it? No, at best it's a review, at worst, a free commercial for the product.
There are a vast number of SUVs already out there, many of which are driven by people with no clue as to how big their vehicle is, or the fact that it doesn't handle the same as the Honda Accord they used to drive. Given that, don't you think that WB2 should maybe focus its car promotion away from such tributes to American excess as the Hummer?
Perhaps features on just frighteningly easy it is for anyone with a pulse to be granted a driving licence, might be more appropriate? Maybe a driving test that lasts more than 10 minutes would help?
Maybe you could get your motoring correspondent to spend time covering why the standard of driving in Colorado is so bad, and why this leads to so many accidents, every day, on the streets and highways of metro Denver.
Then again, maybe challenging Americans' "God given right to drive everywhere, rather than walk" is un-patriotic? I'm sure it wouldn't get the ratings.
Max Turner
And yes, I drive a small SUV, but I have two 90lb dogs to transport about, I actually take it off-road sometimes, it gets more than twice the gas-mileage of the H2, and I walk to places whenever possible. Also, the other vehicle is a fuel-efficient European VW.
Should I move out of the mountain state, or back to Europe, I want to get the New Mini (42.5mpg!)
Posted by Max at April 18, 2003 08:07 AM | TrackbackThe Similar thing happened in our newspaper. Some reporter did a huge article about a local woman who owned one of these ridiculous monstrosities. I swear to you, its true. I could only stomach a paragraph or two of the article, trying my best not to mumble "what an asswipe" in the back of my head. I usually hate people who say "this is news?:" or "and the point to that article was?" about stuff in the life section, but really, what was the point of the article? To show that the woman has to live in an apartment because her Hummer costs too much money? (yes, the article mentioned that she lived in an apartment)
Posted by: Connie Vandelay on April 18, 2003 05:34 PM"A small SUV" ? A moutaineer ? To carry your 2 dogs ?
he he, Max, you're getting really american :)
Well, Philippe, my TV tells me that a Lincoln Navigator is a "full-size" SUV, and my TV wouldn't lie to me, would it?
Therefore, much as the European part of me says, "This is the biggest vehicle i've ever owned", I'm informed that it's a relatively small vehicle by US standards.
Anyway, I'm sure if/when I'm living Europe again, I'll be back to the "driving is a sin that you must be thrashed (financially) for" ethos that we (at least the British) seem to have adopted. I can't say I miss that.
Much as the US is the world's biggest polluter, it IS refreshing to be able to drive places without being made to feel guilty, stress over parking, and buy over-taxed fuel.
I could write an essay on how the whole British Government's attitude towards the car pisses me off. How I spent years being penalised because I HAD to drive to work in the UK (public transport would have tripled the journey time and cost twice as much as driving, all due to under-investment by the government).
Posted by: Max on April 22, 2003 02:16 AMOh, don't get me wrong. I'd probably drive a full size gas guzzler in the US !
Actualy, that's someting I like with the US, they're not ashamed of thinking things big. Big cars, big houses, big beds, you name it... sometimes they just confuse big and oversized !
You make a good point with the gvt influence on motoring traditions. In most of Europe (England, Italy, France...) cars were taxed (and still are) according to engine displacement. So car makers developped a tradition of smart (to american motoring standards) high output small engines. And cars were for a long time regarded as a luxurious item, until the 50's. No Ford T here. Now, our cities were built before henry ford... their streets couldn't cope with a flood a full size SUV.
But, I'd sure love to drive a big V8 !
Yeah, I agree Philippe.
Just to make you jealous, my Mountaineer has a 5.0 litre V8!
In the UK, the biggest engined car I had was a 1.6 litre Rover. Mind you, that thing sure went fast.
I know that European cars are generally more powerful than US ones with the same engine, however, in Colorado, particularly if you go up into the moutains, where you can soon be at two miles above sea-level, small engined cars don't get sufficient compression due to the thin air, to work well.
Of course if they fitted them with turbos, it might work, but the Americans didn't invent the turbo, so they're reluctant to use the technology.
Posted by: Max on April 22, 2003 08:45 AMOften the test of courage is not to die, but to live.
