Guess what? The new Ford Ranger, released here last
August, has won the Automobile Association (in association with Driven, a
vehicle sales magazine) New Zealand Car of the Year Award for 2022.
It is a great looking vehicle and I
am seeing lots more of them on our roads now.
Every one of these vehicles fails
to meet the emission standards for a Clean Car, set by the Government, meaning
that before you can register your vehicle you must pay a “fine” of between
$1840 and $3910 (depending on which model you purchase).
The retail price of these vehicles
ranges from just under $50,000 to just over $80,000, so they are not the cheapest vehicle to purchase.
What surprised me was that
there were over 5000 standing orders for the vehicles before they were even
released, and sales are continuing at a steady rate.
I am not an electric vehicle
enthusiast, as they bring with them a whole new range of environmental issues,
but fail to see why so many people need to have such a big gas-guzzling monster
to get them from A to B.
Some farmers may have a need to own
one, and I have no argument with that.
They require vehicles that can handle our rural roads and carry farm
equipment when needed. No problem, that
is classic Form Follows Function usage.
What I take exception to is the
number cruising around our city streets.
There are too many to all be farmers come to town for the day.
These vehicles are big and take up
a good portion of the road. They often
extend out of, or completely fill, city parking spaces. Being
a driver of a small car (Suzuki Swift), I find it quite unnerving to be passed
by one of these being driven at speed.
You feel like they are pushing you off the road.
Perhaps my experience is the exception, and I have been coming across Road Bullies, or drivers who really don’t know how to properly control a large
vehicle. It certainly feels like they are being driven by more aggressive people than your normal farmer.
The Ford Ranger might look good,
but so far it doesn’t get my vote for the most popular vehicle!
Margaret 😊
Agree... why do so many people have to have them....
ReplyDeleteIt is something like when those ugly Hummers came on the scene. It didn't seem that all those people driving them, really needed one.
I think it's just, having to have the latest thing/toy.
🤔
I agree with you completely. Electric cars do have certain environmental issues but the net benefit is still appreciable to the environment, especially to clean air, and as the technology improves the disadvantages will diminish.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of gas guzzling trucks on the roads here too. Farmers and fishermen have them. I don’t know how they will ever be replaced!
ReplyDeleteHave never been able to see the point of owning a vehicle bigger than you need, even as a farm vehicle some of those monsters are not practical (try lifting a sheep into the tailboard). However, that a vehicle that doesn't meet emmissions standards gets 'car of the year' is an outrage. xxx Mr T and
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in New Zealand I was astonished at the number of utes everywhere. There were pretty rare in the UK outside farming communities. As they increased in New Zealand as a macho status symbol they started to increase here too. Most of the time it's just totally unnecessary.
ReplyDeleteI agree Margaret - I drive a wee Nissan Note, and do find these large vehicles intimidating - one place I find them really frustrating is in large carparking buildings, Waikato Hospital in particular, where they protrude past the majority of the other vehicles, and you are left having to swing almost into the oncoming lane of traffic to avoid them, or stop and let another large vehicle go past before you can pass them...
ReplyDeleteBlessings
Maxine
I am the odd man out here...I have always loved a truck. It was the first vehicle I bought myself many, many moons ago. I miss having one now...there is always something I want to haul. Some of the places charge an arm and a leg to deliver. Some places don't deliver. There is seldom a week goes by that I don't wish I had a truck.
ReplyDeleteI think that the number of good drivers has decreased, and it has nothing to do with what they drive. People on phones all over the road...afraid to pass them but going so slow one needs to get by them. A couple years ago, we were the second vehicle back from a woman in a car that was all over the road, and eventually she ran someone off the road. No place for me to pull over and call police, and Roger is not capable of making a call.