According to the EPA’s 2022 Automotive Trends Report, the rising popularity of pickups and truck-based SUVs is hurting the progress toward slowing and reversing climate change. Vehicles of all types are getting more efficient, but because the least efficient vehicles are taking up more and more of the market share, the benefits are effectively neutralized.

Inefficient vehicles are gaining market share

The EPA report found that fleet-wide fuel economy remained the same compared to the previous year: 25.4 miles per gallon on average in both 2021 and 2020. “Some models got more efficient, but with the automakers marketing large SUVs so heavily, they’re taking up more and more market share,” explained Avi Mersky, transportation researcher at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “The manufacturers are canceling out all the efficiency progress as they sell more large vehicles.”

In model year 2021, sedans and wagons fell to 26% of the market, about half of what it was in 2013 and down from 80% in 1975. Despite the precipitously declining popularity of small cars, they remain the vehicles with the highest fuel economy and lowest CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, truck SUVs reached a record 45% market share and pickups grew to 16%. These are the vehicles with the lowest fuel economy figures and highest CO2 emissions.

Regulations incentivize heavy vehicles

CAFE regulations are a major driving force behind the phenomenon of rising vehicle size and weight. The regulations classify SUVs weighing more than 6,000 pounds as work trucks, which are held to lower emission standards. Though they are more expensive, these oversized rides also benefit from more available tax incentives when electrified, making them enticing to customers. This gives manufacturers double reason to produce and market wider and taller SUVs (which may not fit in an older garage). Some American manufacturers now no longer sell sedans at all.

Large EVs make roads more dangerous

Large vehicles are a detriment to traffic safety. They are heavier and cause more collision damage. SUVs are twice as likely to roll over and kill their occupants compared to non-SUVs. They increase road congestion and make it harder to see pedestrians, particularly children and wheelchair users, which is contributing to record pedestrian deaths. Generally, large vehicles make the road more dangerous for everyone not also in a large vehicle.

This leads to a feedback loop in which customers feel motivated to buy big vehicles so they can feel safe among other big vehicles, leading to a nonstop pursuit of ever-enlarged rides. Electrified powertrains, which depend on heavy battery packs, are also contributing to the rising weight of vehicles on the road. Their incredible potential for acceleration creates a deadly combination that safety experts find alarming.

All cars are getting larger

Cars of all types are getting larger, not just SUVs. “The average vehicle in all categories got larger,” Mersky says, adding that “the in-category rate of improvement was much lower than the standards would have required had there not been a large upsizing of the fleet.” He suggests several measures the EPA could take to discourage large vehicle production, but as Yahoo News editor Ben Adler notes, any change risks being overturned by a future Republican administration.

“The Obama administration had required efficiency increases of more than 20% for model years 2016 through 2021, but the Trump administration rolled back those regulations,” he writes. “As a result of that policy change and the shift toward larger vehicles, the nationwide fuel economy increased only 5% during those years.”

With trucks and SUVs now accounting for 80% of new car sales in the U.S., one can only imagine just how much further along we would be if companies hadn’t made a huge marketing effort to convince Americans they need unnecessarily large cars, instead of more sensible, practical, economical, and safe alternatives like wagons and hatchbacks.

Supply-chain issues are continuing to impact new car availability and pushing prices up, but most new-car shoppers are still willing to dig deep to get the car they want.

A new survey of 3,361 respondents in August 2022 showed that on average, nearly 39% of car owners in the United States were not driving the car they wanted — and that to get the one they did want, they would be willing to pay nearly 37% over the manufacturer suggested retail price.

This corresponds with other findings that Americans are consistently buying vehicles over MSRP. According to Kelley Blue Book, September marked a record 16th straight month that new vehicle average transaction prices were higher than recommended. The average price paid for a new car is quickly approaching $50,000. Ten years ago, it was in the low $30,000s.

For the majority of 2022, the average price of a new car was about 10% over the sticker price, with some of the more popular models going almost as high as 25% over what the manufacturer recommended — despite that this recommendation has also been steadily climbing over the years.

And yet, in Idaho, respondents said they’d be willing to pay even more to get the car they want: as much as 71% over the asking price. And while residents of other states were less prone to overspending (North and South Dakota, West Virginia, and Rhode Island were the lowest at 11%), the overall U.S.-wide average of 37% shows that dealerships still have margin to extract more dollars out of customers faced with limited availability of the cars they want.

However, there are signs that cars are finally coming back in stock and consumers are attempting to save rather than spend as inflation continues to rise and the threat of a recession looms. Additionally, automakers like GM, Ford, Hyundai, and Kia have warned they may take punitive measures against dealers applying high markups.

Unfortunately, even if car prices go down, record-high interest rates may offset the advantage. For the time being, unless you absolutely need a new ride, it’s best to sit tight. But you probably won’t.

If you do a lot of automotive research like I do for work, something becomes clear very quickly: brands love to flaunt the awards they win — and boy, do they win a lot of awards. But because there are so many available awards, it becomes almost impossible for brands or individual models to fail to get one eventually, and they quickly become meaningless.

Let’s look at some of the ways a car might succeed in being represented in a publication’s latest list of the top vehicles. First, it’s typically an annual thing, so even if they miss out this year, there’s always the next. Second, the awards are often divided into automotive segments — after all, it doesn’t make sense to pit a Porsche 911 against a Chrysler Pacifica when they both try to achieve very different things. Nonetheless, as a result of this separation, the number of awards up for grabs goes up significantly.

Additionally, many award lists are just that: lists. They’re not content with telling you the best full-size pickup truck on the market today. Instead, why don’t you have the top three…or five? Forget for a moment that this particular segment includes only eight vehicles in total, which means there will be more vehicles on it than not. Indeed, many of these lists are not short. The point, after all, isn’t to help readers find the top vehicles. It’s to rank on Google searches.

Seven-passenger SUVs are not that common either, yet you can find many award lists that include the top 10 or even 12. Then there are specific awards such as those for cars under a certain price, or those best suited to teens, families, off-road adventurers, dog lovers, or even buyers seeking the top green winter vehicle. At the end of the day, publications can and do come up with so many unique categories that just about every car can be represented somehow, somewhere.

What’s more, the number of outlets that publish award lists rivals the number of car nameplates, and many undoubtedly come up with a variety of niche award categories in the hopes of getting your clicks. And the more vehicles they feature, the more likely it is that the manufacturer sends web traffic back to the publication via the celebratory press release they inevitably put out.

Sure, some awards rank more than others. For example, it’s always a good thing to learn a vehicle has earned an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award. But next time an automaker flaunts its latest obscure “honor” or “recognition,” consider for a moment if it really means anything at all.

Some bad driver habits are so common that they stop being irritating and instead barely penetrate one’s consciousness. When you’ve seen hundreds of drivers block the left lane on the highway before, what’s another? Still, there’s nothing like a little rant now and then. And who knows, you might discover you have one of the habits described below. (If you do, please stop. Thanks.)

Blocking the left highway lane

On U.S. highways, the left lane is so commonly called “the fast lane” that many Americans mistakenly view it as a place to hang out if they subjectively feel they are going fast enough. Others simply stick to the speed limit and intentionally act like a road block for other drivers, satisfied in doing the police’s job. Either way, it’s rude and, in some states, illegal.

That’s because the leftmost lane is for passing, and passing only. Once you’ve passed a car, you should get back to the middle lane. And then into the rightmost lane if it’s empty, because you should always be driving as far right as possible and moving left only to pass. Too many people merge onto the highway and immediately move over to the middle or all the way to the left for no reason whatsoever. So, repeat after me: If you are getting passed on the right, you’re in the wrong lane.

Ignoring traffic rules to be courteous

If you have the right of way but want to stop in the middle of your lane to make room for a car who is clearly going to have to wait a while before they can join or cross the road — just don’t. Courtesy is nice, but it’s not worth making yourself unpredictable. The roads are safer when everyone adheres to the same traffic rules. It’s also very likely that by saving one person a little time, you create a traffic jam behind you.

Merging too slowly

Driving a 4,000-pound vehicle made of steel, aluminum, and hardened plastic can be understandably scary. But you shouldn’t be afraid of using your car’s go-fast pedal. The most important thing you can do when getting on the highway, or merging onto any road, is to drive at the same speed as the cars already there. If you merge too slowly, you’re going to have a hard time getting on and you’re liable to create an accident or a traffic jam. And if you’re merging off, don’t slow down while you’re still on the highway. That’s what the off-ramp is for.

Cutting inside a two-lane turn

We’ve probably all had to bail out of a turn or lay on our horn when a driver in the outside lane seemed to forget that another car had been alongside them the whole time. It’s especially scary if they happen to be driving a big vehicle. How does this happen? It’s a mystery. One would think that after stopping at a traffic light next to someone else, one would simply understand that the other driver would also be going ahead when the light goes green. Could folks stay in their lane, please?

“Big engine go fast.”

Chevrolet’s press release about the new ZZ632 crate engine contained a lot of words and numbers, but it could have been condensed to just that single sentence. Yes, the engine is so ridiculously large and powerful that it has transported my brain back in time to a pre-adult state, to those blissful days when sentence structure didn’t matter. Which doesn’t make any sense, because this is a big boy engine.

So let’s get the numbers out of the way. The first is 632 cubic inches, also known as 10.3 liters of displacement. Scratch what I said earlier — we’re not even in big boy territory anymore. This is more like Godzilla territory. Wait, no, the Nissan GT-R already has that analogy claimed. Maybe Shai-Hulud? Oh yeah, that’s the one. Dune was great.

Anyway, I’m getting side-tracked here. Can you blame me? My head’s still spinning from the size of this thing. (I might also be in love with Denis Villeneuve). With over 10 liters of displacement comes a suitably high number of horsepowers and torques: 1,004 at 6,600 RPM and 876 lb-ft at 5,600 RPM, respectively. Just floor that baby and enjoy the hand of god giving you mighty shove in the back. Or, if you choose to plant that massive engine at the front of your ride, a nice tug. Mmm baby.

Chevrolet “recommends” not going over 7,000 revs and it’s not entirely clear what that means. If that’s the rev limit, why not just call it that? What happens if you try to go beyond 7,000 RPM? Will the ZZ632 crate engine go nuclear? Will it cause you to go so fast as to break the laws of physics? Has Chevrolet brought forth an engine capable of bridging space and time? Oh god, here I go talking about Dune again.

“This is the biggest, baddest crate engine we’ve ever built,” said Russ O’Blenes, director of massive engines and fast cars at General Motors. “The ZZ632 sits at the top of our unparalleled crate engine lineup as the king of performance.”

Thanks O’Blenes, that’s valuable information. But can you tell us something we don’t already know?

“It delivers incredible power, and it does it on pump gas.”

Oh my. Turns out melange isn’t necessary for going warp speed — all you need is a bit of 93 octane. Of course, the parallel between oil and spice was kind of the whole point of Frank Herbert’s epic novel. And now there’s a 1,004-horsepower crate engine that can help you get to the nearest IMAX theater even faster.