why does it matter what anyones reason is for driving a suv.This is america i thought land of the free.
We gave up Land of the Free with the Sixteenth Amendment and The New Deal.
The choice to drive a large SUV will still be around, IMHO. But there will be far fewer choices, and the high price of fueling it will ultimately limit the number of people willing to make the choice to drive one.
Even in the land of socialism, you can still buy large, inefficient vehicles. They're just very expensive to own.
Wow! Politics again...
I've been free to drive whatever I've wanted and could afford through several administrations left and right. Currently, our V8 powered Durango is doing very well and is virtually worthless on the market. An '01 in good shape can be had for $4000 and they're plentiful. An '01 Corolla will be shined up, detailed and put on the lot for $9k and someone will snatch it up. Economically speaking, it's cheaper overall for us to keep our paid off Durango and feed it rather than go in debt for a small car to cut our fuel bill in half. SUV's simply aren't "in vogue" now. But we still like ours and will keep it until it needs to be traded or junked. Traffic in the city is still packed full of SUV's and pickups. If others are thinking like we are, the phase out of the V8 powered full chassis SUV will be over several years as they wear out and get replaced with something more fuel efficient.
'05 2500HD Dodge 5.7L Hemi 5spd auto/3.73 SLT. 95k miles
ex '95 Cummins,'98 12v Cummins,'01.5 Cummins,'03 Cummins
'07 KZ Jag 28JFSS.
What is that trailer you are towing in your picture. I have never seen one before. It looks like a streamlined Hi-Lo.
David
David it is not mine. I was trying to find a local photo of a car towing a Caravan. You get that a lot here, but mainly SUV's or 4WD's here in the local jargon doing that. The foldable Caravan is called the Ecotourer, on the website designed and engineered in Australia, but my guess built in China. Ecotourer Foldable Ecotourer test from Caravan World
The Tribeca may compete in the same segment, but it shares NO construction or design with the rest of the vehicles in that group. Subaru remains one of the only vehicles left in production designed from the ground up as 4WD, with no available 2WD possible. The fact that Subaru engineers do not have to maintain a 2WD version capability opens many doors to powertrain design, such as their patented "symmetrical AWD" layout.
By "construction" I meant unibody construction, not body on frame. I'll give you "design", but more because I forgot about Subaru's flat 6 configuration (the rest have V6). But yeah, you're probably right that Subaru has the best AWD system in the world. I just still think of Subaru as having FWD roots (GL, XT coupes, Imprezas, Legacy(s) etc).....but they are all AWD now.
-2006 Nissan Armada LE 4x4
-2007 Coachmen 19FLB SE
-2007 Regal 1900 w/ 4.3 EFI Volvo
Supercharged wrote: 4-in-a-fiver and my statments make the same amount of since.
why does it matter what anyones reason is for driving a suv.This is america i thought land of the free.
We gave up Land of the Free with the Sixteenth Amendment and The New Deal.
The choice to drive a large SUV will still be around, IMHO. But there will be far fewer choices, and the high price of fueling it will ultimately limit the number of people willing to make the choice to drive one.
Even in the land of socialism, you can still buy large, inefficient vehicles. They're just very expensive to own.
Yes they will still be around, but many are parking them and using them for towing and large loads only. Using a large SUV as a daily driver is becoming more impractical. As fuel prices continue to rise many are being forced to make hard decisions on there gas guzzlers.
The additional cost to fuel these monsters is no longer negligible.
Calculate how much a 44 gallon 01 Excursion cost to fill at 5.00 a gallon. Now many may say diesel is expensive, but if your driving a big block gasser your actual fuel cost are pretty much the same because the diesel gets better mileage. Either way fuels cost are out of control and driving any large vehicle has become impractical. GM has decided to stop making many larger models seemingly overnight. The V-8 engine in a daily driver will become a thing of the past. They will be around but only for specific uses.
The thing that gets me is you know they can make good hp with good mpg but it all goes back to the almighty buck, why change when they can still sell and make tons of money by doing very little to increase mpg.There is lots of technologies out to make it happen.
You need to do the math on gas savings before you get rid of you suv. The cost is too great unless you burn gas like you drink water. The only people who come out ahead on this deal are the car dealers and you will be driving something that you hate.
Quote: I just still think of Subaru as having FWD roots (GL, XT coupes, Imprezas, Legacy(s) etc).....but they are all AWD now.
The AWD Subarus of today have little in common with most of the models you mentioned. They started as FWD and FWD with transfer cases. Subaru made its name with the 4wd models in the Northeast and snowbelt. The Impreza and Legacy's were FWD for a very short time before they went exclusively AWD.
I'd drive an inefficient vehicle until it needed replacing, versus getting rid of it prematurely to try to "save" money on fuel. The real fuel-cost savings take a LONG TIME to recoup.
If you just want to reduce your fuel consumption then more power to ya.
From a strict dollars-and-cents perspective it makes sense to keep it. But face it, math isn't the only reason why we drive/own what we do.
My wife has talked about getting a little car for her 10 mile commute to work. I tell her since the X is long paid for it would be a waste of money to buy a new or slightly used car.
She works as a bar manager at a steak house her family owns. When she leaves work she's on the road with all the drunks. Would you rather have your wife in a Civic or an Excursion at that time of the night? A bar manager up the road got hit head on at 2am on her way home from work recently. A mutual friend of my wife and the dead girl said, "If she was in this vehicle she would have lived I bet".
The other day on the way up to Mille Lacs Lake I decided to take the dually after thinking about taking the Neon. Glad I took the big rig because the second the deer bounced off the front bumper at 55 mph realized I made a wise choice. Of course it did damage as it was a rather large deer but if the Neon would have it it would have been really bad.
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