2,000Lbs is a low estimate. 2,500Lbs assumes they drive a subcompact, 4,100Lbs is the current average weight (and 2004 was already at 4K so I’m not sure if this statistic counts SUVs/trucks or not). Even Kei cars are 1500-2500Lbs (ICE versions being lighter, though there are smaller and lighter cars including 2-person EVs that are under 1K*.
I would also add the time spent in a car (particularly in slow/jammed traffic) is also sedentary time (which an office job also likely is) and thus a health issue. So some people buy gym memberships which they must also drive to. If they even have the time/money/energy.
Also lots of bad things to be said about roads(/stroads) and parking lots etc. But the short of it is, they aren’t places hospitable for living. Particularly on a hot day.
*=Though this lower-size vehicle may be legally classified as something else, such a a “covered motorcycle”/autocycle (or from what I’m seeing, some other close-enough category) which may be an issue or a boon with laws, and may even depend on local laws.
In my defense it was a Mazda 3.
These days it’s all mainly remote work at a standing desk. I have Big Desk Energy.
Edit: on cold days I work in the snuggle zone
In my defense it was a Mazda 3.
From the collective consciousness I pulled the 2004 Toyota Corolla weighing in at 2,502 to 2,590 lbs. Because certainly there’s no other way I would guess The the most average car so on-the-nose. And I have seen the videos about the Honda Insight being good for gas mileage (even back in 1999, it’s a hybrid).
I guess actual price, availability, perception, mantenence etc. molds it for most people though.
4,100Lbs is the current average weight (and 2004 was already at 4K so I’m not sure if this statistic counts SUVs/trucks or not)
CAFE standards required proportionally greater economy improvements in compact cars than in medium and large vehicles. Rather than attempt to meet those standards, manufacturers just stopped producing their smallest cars.
Fuel economy has worsened, because the average car on the road is bigger and heavier now than 30 years ago.