>If you'd like an interesting exercise in the power of marketing, go to a dealer and look under the hood of a new full-sized truck. Note how much space there is

>If you'd like an interesting exercise in the power of marketing, go to a dealer and look under the hood of a new full-sized truck. Note how much space there is between the top of the engine and the hood when it's closed. Then imagine the fuel economy gains if the hood was lower, and the visibility gains of both the driver and all the cars around the truck. The tall hood only exists to make the truck look more butch, and makes the truck worse in every way. That's actually because of the increasing safety standards regarding pedestrian safety more than anything; regulations require a minium amount of space between the hood and the engine to act as a crumble zone. And automakers aren't exactly a fan of this either, it screws with both aerodynamics and aesthetics. Unfortunately safety and eco standards are at odds with each other. You can either have a light, small car that crumples into a pointy tin can, or a reinforced behemoth with more air bags than an air mattress depot that gets 10 mpg. And at least with the former you can also get a fun car to drive, the latter is just an ugly barge with blindspots to match