Smasharoo wrote:
For me, it's just about having a nice big honking sedan
Yeah, it's huge. I don't get it. Single guy, why an enormous car? Not a critique, not a "you have a small **** ho ho". I really don't understand. I can't imagine buying a full size sedan if I didn't have a family.
Honestly? Back when I used to have to lug around 20"+ monitors (CRT monitors) in my own car, having a four door sedan was really useful without going all out and getting a van or something else silly. Also, I've always preferred having a larger vehicle just for the better survivability in an accident factor, so that's another component. And yes, I get the whole modern safety features, but everything else being equal, more pounds of metal (in your car, not the other one) is better than less when you're in an accident. Physics, right? So part of it is just preference over time.
More recently, it's a matter of being single and buying a single car that will fulfill nearly everything I actually might need (well, except a truck bed if I need to move furniture or something, but that's what you hire people for). I could buy a tiny little sports or economy car just for driving myself around, but now I'm limited to never being able to drive members of my family around (my 75 year old mother kinda appreciates not having to squeeze herself into a tiny little car and prefers to ride in my car when the family is caravaning somewhere), never piling a few friends into the car for a road trip (or just lunch with some co-workers), never being able to put much stuff in the back seat (maybe not even having one!) or trunk, etc, etc ,etc.
A large sedan is large enough that you can fit most things in it that you might need to without being a large SUV (which I'm not a big fan of). It's a good trade off IMO. Again, you have to think in terms of one person buying one car that will fill most of his needs. Just a couple weeks ago, I had to replace the stupid laminate sheets for the stupid lights in my kitchen. Pretty trivial to drive down the ACE, pick up the sheets, slide them in the back seat, and drive home. If I'd had a smaller car, I could not have done that. I've actually found that I can fit larger objects in the back seat of my sedan (like things that are both long *and* wide) than can fit in the back of a lot of SUVs (many of them actually have smallish cargo areas unless you take out the seats).
So yeah, it's about actual utility. And if I can get one that drives faster than most "sport" cars on the road as well (yes, I'm using the term loosely, sue me)? That's just a bonus.