I never said there’s no new technology because there is

Well, alright then: what is the new emissions reducing technology that 2023 SUVs have, but smaller 2013 cars don’t have?

Right.

So no changes between 2013 and 2023 standards for petrol cars. No new technology to reduce harmful emissions either.

So there’s no actual argument in favor of a new SUV over a 10 year old car, outside of marginal degradation of the catalytic converter or degradation of the combustion process - most of which should still be caught in emissions tests.

And even then, properly maintaining the car, replacing the catalytic converter or even replacing the 10 year old car with a new car of the same size instead of upsizing to an SUV would all be better for the environment than buying a new SUV.

How so? Cars have to pass emissions tests, and ten year old cars have to pass them, too.

Also: what significant improvements in filtering out “other types of emissions” have there been made in consumer vehicles in the last 10 years, and what “other types of emissions” are those?

It’s also such a race to outsize other vehicles.

I know SUV drivers who bought an SUV because “everyone owns an SUV, and if you’re driving around in a smaller car, you can’t see anything around you any more.” They’re not even wrong, in some communities it’s getting really hard to participate in traffic of you’re constantly surrounded by much larger, taller cars on all sides.

But of course, they’re now just perpetuating the problem.