I've heard it a million times around here, referring to various vehicles- "it's an appliance". Usually, this is posted with a none-too-subtle little sneer to the tone, implying the poster's vast superiority of taste and style over the mass of sheeple who just buy the appliance. But I'd like to rehabilitate the word, and the concept.
My pocket is the permanent residence of a Leatherman Juice multitool. It's a little thing, kept on a keychain, and it comes in handy about 87 times a day. It's ergonomic, well-designed, and utterly utilitarian. It's not my favorite knife- that honor falls to the serrated Spyderco knife in my expedition pack, which could amputate limbs- but it's my most useful one. I'm not in love with it, I just rely on it constantly and take great satisfaction in its simple utility.
So it is with cars. We all like the big raunchy pulse-pounders. Yeah, roadsters and mid-engine sports cars and 420hp sport sedans and AWD rally heroes are all well and good, and very fun. Yeah, RWD and a perfectly sorted suspension and steering that forms an extension of your nervous system is cool. But I'd like to give some respect to the thoughtfully-designed, useful, reliable, stalwart appliance-cars. Sure, the heroes get the headlines and the fawning- but I think we'd all be far poorer without the appliances. Like it or not, most of us don't spend our time carving canyons and autocrossing- we spend our time putting around town, helping friends move, hauling slobbery dogs, going grocery shopping, going skiing, hauling crap back from Home Depot.
Now, I'm not talking about every boring compact sedan on the road, but rather the cars that really push the boundaries of innovation in the realm of efficient utility. I think the epitome of this kind of car is the Honda Element. Spacious, relatively efficient, a million seating configurations, you can sleep in it, hose-out floor, useful in too many ways to count. Honorable mention is due the sporty, yet cavernous and insanely useful Pontiac Vibe, with its plastic load floor and two-prong electrical outlet. Slightly less capacious but along the same lines is the Mazda3 hatch. I'm also a big fan of the Jeep Cherokee (tough, capable, reliable as an old dog), the best-of-all-worlds Subaru Forester, the Honda Ridgeline. The Scion xB is about the best use of space for footprint I've ever seen. The Mazda5 mini-minivan just occurred to me as well. Hell, even the somewhat dippy-retro Chevy HHR and PT Cruiser deserve mention.
I guess I've gotten my point across. In my book, being innovative, useful, and thoughtfully designed around satisfying my needs is just as laudable as bitchin' handling and power.
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Modified by Turbiodiesel! at 11:05 AM 9-10-2005
My pocket is the permanent residence of a Leatherman Juice multitool. It's a little thing, kept on a keychain, and it comes in handy about 87 times a day. It's ergonomic, well-designed, and utterly utilitarian. It's not my favorite knife- that honor falls to the serrated Spyderco knife in my expedition pack, which could amputate limbs- but it's my most useful one. I'm not in love with it, I just rely on it constantly and take great satisfaction in its simple utility.
So it is with cars. We all like the big raunchy pulse-pounders. Yeah, roadsters and mid-engine sports cars and 420hp sport sedans and AWD rally heroes are all well and good, and very fun. Yeah, RWD and a perfectly sorted suspension and steering that forms an extension of your nervous system is cool. But I'd like to give some respect to the thoughtfully-designed, useful, reliable, stalwart appliance-cars. Sure, the heroes get the headlines and the fawning- but I think we'd all be far poorer without the appliances. Like it or not, most of us don't spend our time carving canyons and autocrossing- we spend our time putting around town, helping friends move, hauling slobbery dogs, going grocery shopping, going skiing, hauling crap back from Home Depot.
Now, I'm not talking about every boring compact sedan on the road, but rather the cars that really push the boundaries of innovation in the realm of efficient utility. I think the epitome of this kind of car is the Honda Element. Spacious, relatively efficient, a million seating configurations, you can sleep in it, hose-out floor, useful in too many ways to count. Honorable mention is due the sporty, yet cavernous and insanely useful Pontiac Vibe, with its plastic load floor and two-prong electrical outlet. Slightly less capacious but along the same lines is the Mazda3 hatch. I'm also a big fan of the Jeep Cherokee (tough, capable, reliable as an old dog), the best-of-all-worlds Subaru Forester, the Honda Ridgeline. The Scion xB is about the best use of space for footprint I've ever seen. The Mazda5 mini-minivan just occurred to me as well. Hell, even the somewhat dippy-retro Chevy HHR and PT Cruiser deserve mention.
I guess I've gotten my point across. In my book, being innovative, useful, and thoughtfully designed around satisfying my needs is just as laudable as bitchin' handling and power.
Modified by Turbiodiesel! at 11:05 AM 9-10-2005
