#1025 Soapbox Cars

I like cars. Cars are cool because there are so many different traits about cars that are like our own. The creation reflects the creator. Cars are so human.
Like the way humans are such lemmings.
It seems whenever a car trend emerges, if it’s even moderately successful, all the other car companies immediately copy it. Every once in a while a manufacturer breaks out, but it’s not long before everyone else jumps on its bandwagon.
Used to be cars were relatively angular. Then, starting around the time of the Ford Taurus, every vehicle out there was shaped like a worn-down bar of soap.
Then came the mini-van. And then the SUV, and finally the new crossovers, which to me still sound like something you’d most likely see on a stage in Vegas.
For a while, car companies fell in love with astronomical names. Nova, Astra, Sunburst, Eclipse. Then there were the song part cars, the Sonatas and the Stanzas. Lately there’s been a return to Frenchy names, like the Entourage and the Rendezvous.
Can a car be an entourage and still be just one car? It seems like you should be driving a fleet or something. Check out my new Hyundai Entourage. What’s next, the Pontiac Posse?
And then a couple of years ago Toyota and Honda reintroduced the “boxy is cool” car, Honda with the Element, Toyota with the Scion Xb. It must have worked.
Because lately, Nissan has come out with the Cube, with an asymmetric window treatment that makes it look like an eyepatched pirate.
Not to be outdone, Kia just introduced its new “Soul.” Their ad tagline is, “Cookie good, cookie cutter bad.” As it’s at least the fourth in a series of box-like cars from different manufacturers, the cookie cutter reference is a little ironic.
The bad part is, when I first saw it on the road, the “O” in Soul looked like a “C.” So I thought it said Scul, possibly pronounced like s’cool, as in it’s cool. That would have been cool.
Fashion is fun, but practical is good too. So I understand worn down bars of soap.
But in these gas-challenged times, how aerodynamic are boxes?
America, ya gotta love it.