America's 'Cultural Obsession With Speed' Fueled by Advertising, IIHS Says
Posted by kstetter@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 83 comments
Posted by kstetter@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 83 comments
w3stvirginia@reddit
It’s not the speed for me, it’s the acceleration that makes me grin. My naked bike is geared really low. It tops out around 110, but loses any punch after about 65. I don’t find it fun to ride much faster than that, but it’s hoot getting there.
kstetter@reddit (OP)
A straight six is going to have better acceleration than a V4 or V6
xamdou@reddit
That's not how it works. An engine configuration does not exactly correlate to how quickly an entire car will accelerate.
kstetter@reddit (OP)
It doesn't but most V6s are treated the same as I4s, fuel economy engines while I6s are treated more like V8s, performance engines
Also V4s are pretty unbalanced if I remember correctly
Slideways@reddit
The engine’s cylinder bank orientation has nothing to do with the power delivery.
Jamaican_Dynamite@reddit
The engine or batteries doesn't matter. It's how willing you are to get busy.
LongjumpingLock5875@reddit
Especially using the V4 example lol...
The literal only vehicles that use a V4 are crazy fast motorcycles lol.
A Panigale V4 does <10 second quarter mile, beating out pretty much every other V6 in existence.
anarchyx34@reddit
This is the kind of shit I would expect to hear from someone wearing jorts and sitting in a lawn chair.
buttlord5000@reddit
That's in no way related to what buddy said? and also hilariously wrong as everyone else is pointing out. I've had a lot of vehicles, wanna know what engine the quickest one had? V-twin. Second quickest? Inline 4.
LegateDamar@reddit
Tell me you don't know anything about engines without telling me you don't know anything about engines.
Here's three cars. Rank them by acceleration.
Mazda CX90. 3.3 liter inline 6, Nissan Z. 3.0 liter V6, Porsche 919. 2.0 liter V6
OllieFromCairo@reddit
The 919 is a V4 Hybrid.
bigcee42@reddit
919 is V4
jeffwillison20@reddit
Common r/cars OP
kstetter@reddit (OP)
Porche Nissan Mazda?
el_ostricho@reddit
And tell me, why is that?
kstetter@reddit (OP)
Balancing, torque, etc.
AmNoSuperSand52@reddit
What about all the other dimensions of an engine?
el_ostricho@reddit
Not how it works dawg
AllTearGasNoBreaks@reddit
Very very few V4s in existence
kstetter@reddit (OP)
I meant I4 oops
kstetter@reddit (OP)
I think the last major one in a production car was from the 80s, not going to be as fast as a modern six cylinder
angrycanuck@reddit
If Americans cared about speed, they would have embraced EVs
AllTearGasNoBreaks@reddit
How do they advertise cars in Canada?
medicallymiddleevil@reddit
You see the Toyota backlash for showing adverts destroying the countryside? There's more sensible rules elsewhere.
Redeemed_Expert9694@reddit
By showing American market cars with French writing?!
Does_Not_Use_Clothes@reddit
🤖America bad🤖
Simon_787@reddit
Yes, recklessness is bad.
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medicallymiddleevil@reddit
True. This is downvoted for some weird reason.
J-MAMA@reddit
EVs aren't "fast", they're quick from the jump.
kon---@reddit
Though EVs have strong acceleration they tend to have low end top speeds.
directrix688@reddit
If speed was the problem we think it is the autobahn would have the highest accident and fatality rates in the world.
Speed isn’t the problem. It’s how we drive in America.
The IHS should work on the actual problem instead.
dr2fish@reddit
It's true that people have always loved speed, but the definition of speed has changed a *lot* even over the past few decades. I was just listening to an old Car Talk where Tom was bemoaning that the original Z3M was way too fast for public roads and nobody needs to go 0-60 in 5.5 seconds. I'm sure there's an arbitrary bounding line, but does the public really need to get there in 3 seconds with 4-ton Hummers, or drive 800 hp Challengers?
I'm sorta with Tom on this now; my e36 M3 is fast enough to put a grin on my face and get me in trouble on public roads if I'm not careful. An NA Miata will make me laugh way more than a Model S plaid.
Left4DayZGone@reddit
“Need” is the operative word. Nobody NEEDS, at least in normal practice, immense acceleration and top speed. We’d all be safer if speed limits were capped at 25 and cars were all limited to it. Crash Deaths would decline DRAMATICALLY if not be virtually eliminated.
But where do we draw the line? If I’m a responsible person who wants a fast car, and I only drive it fast at the track… should I not be allowed to have that, because some morons buy hellcats and launch them into people’s living rooms?
medicallymiddleevil@reddit
Remember when the 05 mustang GT came out for less than 25k. People were freaking out.
purz@reddit
Yea I’m kind of curious if sport car design will change a bit in the upcoming years. I finally bought two cars I’ve always wanted in recently. They’re both 3s cars and I love them but I can hardly use them on the road without being a complete degenerate. Add on the fact that tracking cars close to or above 6 figures is extremely expensive and ya.
Think I’m going to look for something that’s 4.5-5.5s and that revs high after I’m done with these cars. Hopefully something older or cheaper so I can track it a bit more lol.
Who knows though. You got people still wanting to tune already fast cars so they can roll race on public roads like a jackass.
dont-YOLO-ragequit@reddit
Thing is EVs started getting serious consideration behind " dull sedan can nail you to your seat as much as a sports car twice it's price" image Tesla started.
Between this and the Self driving, other manufacturers have been trying to stay near it to keep compete with its image.
AnonymousEngineer_@reddit
I suspect humans have been racing things for as long as they've been riding, sailing, rowing or driving them.
It's not as if the Romans needed to engage an advertising agency to race chariots around the Circus Maximus.
SwissMargiela@reddit
Gaius Appuleius Diocles was a chariot racer and is argued to be the highest paid athlete of all time.
His prize earnings are estimated to be in the billions and that doesn’t even include payment from the teams he raced for.
FWIW, he was truly a goated chariot racer like he raced over 4000 times and hit podium out of like 3000 of those.
BacksightForesight@reddit
In Jules Verne’s 1872 novel Around the World in 80 Days, a significant theme is how obsessed Americans are with speed; it’s pretty funny.
“The valves are not sufficiently charged!” he exclaimed. “We are not going. Oh, these English! If this was an American craft, we should blow up, perhaps, but we should at all events go faster!”
wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit
Humans have not been advertised to...
levenspiel_s@reddit
Come on now, this is different. We had to eat since were a single celled organism, but it was the advertisements which changed how we eat.
LongjumpingLock5875@reddit
You see it all the time in the Motorcycle community.
Speed is addicting, but you get used to it after a while.
That is why people don't stay on 300/400cc motorcycles for that long. You are constantly trying to seek out more and more speed as the previous speed starts to feel normal.
Also why you constantly see videos of people on Motorcycles going 100+ MPH all the time.
FerretAres@reddit
Fun fact there was once a riot when a chariot driver was arrested that led to twenty thousand people dead.
TripleShotPls@reddit
Man, remember the Hellcat commercials? Or for that matter, the commercial that had a Viper absolutely blasting sideways through streets? Hard to argue the IIHS is wrong. The volume of advertising for vehicles doing illegal things is kind of nuts.
medicallymiddleevil@reddit
There was an interesting interview with the Dodge marketing folks where they simply asked them to clarify what was meant and it was pretty funny. "Who are you dominating on the road?"
LongjumpingLock5875@reddit
You should read the little words on the screen "Closed course, driven by a professional, don't attempt"
julienjj@reddit
Which obsession with speed ? For all I know germany has the unlimited speed autobahn and the US is stuck in 1970 with 65mph highways.
drseruzawa@reddit
Anything the IIHS says can be safely ignored.
wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit
Whys that?
drseruzawa@reddit
It exists to ensure insurance company profits. No other reason.
dodgerecharger@reddit
Speed? With all these Limits? Try a german Autobahn without limit...there you can experience speed
LongjumpingLock5875@reddit
Or most rural roads in Mexico(Rural US Highways).
medicallymiddleevil@reddit
One reason their death rates can be 30x higher.
Left4DayZGone@reddit
Advertising is definitely why I liked to get my bike going as fast as possible when I was a kid. Not because it felt exciting to go faster and faster, but because of all those commercials telling me that speed is cool.
Also, definitely just an American thing. Brits and Aussies prefer slow, leisurely paces. The Japanese strive to make the slowest vehicles possible and have never provided legendary speed demons. The Germans don’t have a single speed limit above 70mph nor do they have any roads conducive to higher speeds. I mean, lmao, you think they have the longest race track in the world or something? Ridiculous. They’re not Americans, they’re not influenced by American advertising, why would they even consider the word race let alone “race track”?
kon---@reddit
Pursuing higher rates of travel is universal. Nothing about it is unique or specific to America.
wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit
Just the death rates
https://youtu.be/jUqKSYUW_pg
Which are 3-8x higher
kon---@reddit
92% of pedestrian collisions happen at or below the posted limit.
But look, thanks for showing up with a completely unrelated link.
wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit
Well thats false as shown. The vast majority happen at higher speed stroads.
kon---@reddit
At this point I'm going to suggest you go to the article and find out what the write up is talking about.
If after that you still believe pedestrian crossings are relevant here, well hey, bother on about them all you like.
medicallymiddleevil@reddit
Bud you can't post anything scientific here. This is a vibes based forum only lol.
luvsads@reddit
Why are you spamming this response
wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit
Yiuve kearned nothing. Why are you spamming me bud?
fliTDI@reddit
Who rules the advertisers? Manufacturers! Manufacturers fuel the obsession with speed!
Johnnie0@reddit
I would have said there is more an obsession with HP #’s than speed. Half the “builds” i see on social media just brag about HP, never how fast it goes around a track or in a straight line.
wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit
People cant work out tires and suspension and things keep getting heavier
euMonke@reddit
If speed isn't fun what are all those roller coasters in theme parks doing there?
angrycanuck@reddit
Speed isnt really a metric anymore - a midtieri ev can trash a raptor for half the cost - they need to show it being reckless in other ways to bring excitement.
So bring miniguns, strippers, cliff jumps, running over school children, parking in 4 parking spots and big tires - then it will sell.
Justame13@reddit
Hauling ass in the middle of the desert, like the raptor is designed to do, is fun as hell.
And you joke about your second sentence, but machine guns, crazy strip club stories, jumping off cliffs, and going mudding with big tires is fun as hell too.
LongjumpingLock5875@reddit
A big thing with speed is the feeling of speed.
In an EV, there is very little drama actually getting up to speed, you just press the gas, and your at 100+ MPH, there is no sound aspect, or gears shifting adding drama, and so way fewer of your senses are being used.
segelflugzeugdriver@reddit
Perception of speed is important. I don't don't enjoy going fast in a toaster car, but ringing the shit out of a much slower car? Yes please
costafilh0@reddit
BS.
Never rode an electric bicycle?
By legislation it tops the electric propulsion at 25km/h, at least in my country, and it is already super nice and fun.
AdamReynolds77@reddit
There’s literally a Bible verse that says "...The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi—he drives like a maniac." (2 Kings 9:20). Driving fast has existed as long as we’ve had something to drive. Think it’s a little deeper than advertising.
wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit
Modern death from driving hasn't
https://youtu.be/jUqKSYUW_pg
wiscotangofoxtreat@reddit
And road design. https://youtu.be/jUqKSYUW_pg?si=ct6IMkVtSAyBiUNA
Not_Daijoubu@reddit
I think the infrastructure is more to blame than any advertising for driving faster than safe to. The wide, straight, high visibility roads facilitate driving faster than posted (sometimes outdated) limits and give people false sense of security to go as quickly as they want.
LemursRideBigWheels@reddit
“America was founded on speed. Hot, nasty bad-ass speed.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
NoctD@reddit
Size is what matters most in America, vast majority want super sized cars.
kstetter@reddit (OP)
My wife says size doesn't matter
braincashedout@reddit
My obsession with speed is fueled by 93 Octane and heavy right foot.
Icondesigns@reddit
So why do all yanks drive like miss daisy?
the_millenial_falcon@reddit
Huh, and I thought it was the rollercoaster like rush I felt when stepping on the pedal.