since this http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=98648

devolved into this

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showpost.php?p=648496&postcount=59

I figured I'd make a completely seperate post for people to  

Ain't I a stinka?  

 

I honesty hate SUVs. Around where i live there really is no reason to have one and they just take up huge amounts of spaces and cosume wayy too much gas. And I work at a gas station and in NJ you have to pump gas for everyone else and all they do is bitch about paying for gas.

 

I give this a page before it's closed for getting political. I honestly don't have a problem with them, I will never get one cause I don't have the money to throw away on frivelous use of gasoline. Others, if they have the money, should feel free to though.

 

Well I'll clarify my position since I didn't want to get in trouble on the other board.

My line of work often requires the use of a pickup truck. (and sometimes god forbid a 2 and a 1/2 ton flatbed where *gasp* I'm the only person on board! Wasteful!)

But *I* didn't buy it, and it's not what I drive every day. (although if you want to get technical what I DO drive is 90% SUV anyway. Here's a hint Alt. Smokescreen with a hatchback)

I'm not a Domestic loyalist by any means, I've been dealing with those fights for 8 years already on car enthusiast based forums and MB's. But I do think that American cars are considerably underrated and easilly villified unneccasasaly.

Yes, the biggest story of the year for GM is the new Truck line. Yes, gas prices are going over $3 a gallon (they WILL go higher, prepare yourselves)

Thing is, these trucks are VERY important to GM's future, and the tech will spin off into 14 different models over the next 3-4 years.

Unlike some companies (Dodge, Ford, Toyota and Nissan) which only punted on their latest redesigns, GM for the first time in AGES is trying to get ahead of the field by offering DoD and hybrid systems.

Yeah, Toyota had the Prius first but that is a very specialized car (and Honda was first with the Insight) Hybrid passenger cars are also comming on line although whether this is a fad or not remains to be seen.

Oh there's one other application of considerable intrest,,,

*MILITARY*!!!

After Hummer has held the contract for the military APV for 20 years, the military is finnally looking to replace it.

Frankly I think that thing has had boondoggle written all over it from the beginning, the fact that urban posers so wildly embrase it is baffeling to me.

But the military is very interested in an APV that is faster than a Hummer with better range, superiour off-road ability, and the abillity to *quietly* sneek up on a target, with out an infra-red foot print if possible.

Hybrid APV's with an electric only "creep" mode?

Hmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,

Watch this to become a BIG deal in the next few years as both GM, Hummer and Jeep are VERY interested in this.

 

I just don't like it when people get this mentality to try to intimidate other drivers with their big honkin SUV. Most SUV drivers don't bother me too much, but every once in a while you get one of these yahoos that has to ride up on your back bumper, even when you're already doing 10+ over the limit on a counrty road.
As far as gas consumption, hey, its their money.

 

Well, I have an F150 and my wife drives an Explorer. I have no problems really with them, as I have to like them since I work at an F150 factory and the people buying them keeps my job.

 

That's why a carry a 6-pack of "Burst O' Speed"!  

Leave all your troubles behind.

But then I usually drive to fast anyway  

 

I drive a 1995 Jeep Cherokee. It is a mid-sized SUV, and being a cross between a station wagon and a pickup truck with a unibody construction, was the forerunner of modern sport utility vehicles when it debuted in 1984.

My registration classifies it as a "light utility truck", and "utility" couldn't be more accurate a description; there is no luxury to my Cherokee at all, minus the stereo receiver I put in there. I mean hell, it doesn't even have a cupholder. I also use it like a classic pickup, as a two-seater with the back seats permanently folded down to maximize cargo area, which is often full of tools and such. Cherokees have excellent offroad capabilites, although I don't plan on taking mine rock climbing anytime soon.

Although I love my SUV, and am glad I have it, I do think there is such thing as excess. Vehicles like the now-discontinued Ford Excursion, or the GM Yukon XL/Suburban/Escalade ESV and the Hummer H1 and H2 are just too big and inefficient, especially when 98% of them will never see an unpaved road or a quarter-ton of ready-mix concrete bags in their lives. I realize the whole "size = power/bigger = better/driving a minivan will nullify the young, active, x-treme lifestyle I have built for myself" mantra that has very much pervaded American mentality in the last decade, but I don't understand why it's necessary.

 

The first problem I have with SUV's was when I had a car and thier lights would blind me while driving. I now have a Ford Ranger and the lights don't bother me so much now as I sit higher.

My other problem with SUV's is the drivers that think they own the road because they have a large vehicle.

 

In the states, what is the normal size of car engine?

Not SUV, but car?

 

You know what annoys me?

When non-staff use the word "official" in any capacity.

 

Yes, thanks to the likes of you and a few select others, you ruined that thread for many people who wanted to post RELEVANT thoughts about the movie instead of inane ranting about SUV's which was completely off topic...

So enjoy this little "opportunity" you have by reviving your topic in GD where it's actually legitimate...

 

I drove a 94 Explorer for years. It learned to drive with that SUV. I loved it. The early Explorers were nice because the stigma associated with SUVs - monstrous and overpowering - was not yet part of the thought process behind designing an Explorer. That didn't come until at least '96-'98, when the SUV designs became "bigger, better," etc.

I now drive a Ranger that has nearly the same gas mileage as the Explorer I used to own, since the engines in both V6-style bodies are about the same. My thoughts lie along the same lines as Lance's - the Sport Utility Vehicle is awfully useful when you're actually using it for "utility" - movin' shit.

...but hell, I won't lie - gas prices are horrible and they're eating me up. As much as I've been considering selling the Ranger and getting a Hybrid, I keep thinking back to the year that I owned a Mustang and how I could fit NOTHING in the back of that tiny-ass thing. Sports cars and sedans are nice, but they're not worth anything if I can't fit furniture, trash, wood supplies, etc. in the back of 'em.

 

I drive a small SUV, and I don't mind them in general.

Owners of the original Hummer should be shot, however. Those things are a road-hogging, parking space clogging nightmare.
Who needs a truck that big to drive in the city? NOBODY.

 

HATE. SUVS. WITH. A. PASSION. (and lot's of full-stops/periods too).

Here's why I hate them:

1) Waste of petrol/gas. There's only so much of it on Earth, so let's all use it up as quickly as possible by driving inefficient beasts. Good work.

2) DANGEROUS. Countless times people get stuck next to these things trying to turn and can't see around them to see if any traffic is coming. They just get in the way and make it freaking dangerous for everyone else on the road. Also, they're more likely to roll (well, maybe a van is more likely).

3) Car parks. Damn things take up so much space.

4) Soccer moms / yuppies / business men. They're a status symbol to 80%+ of the users. They'll never be taken off road or rarely used for moving of heavy stuff etc. Completely unnecessary and excessive.

Bah, hate hate hate them.

However, they do have their place. But 80% or more of people who have them sure as hell don't need 'em.

Eh? It's hardly a loophole. He just started a new thread.

 

I don't have a problem with an SUV if you are using it like an SUV. If you use it to store shit, move shit, pull shit or go off road thats fine. But if you're just using it for the sake of having it and then bitching because it costs you so much money to fill up your tank then there really is no use for it.

 

This makes me furious. Do you know how much an extra hundred gallons a year puts out in pollution? HALF A TONNE.

If a terrorist threatened to release that much poison in the middle of Washington, the city would be evacuated.

 

I technically don't need one, but looking back on the amount of times that I had to borrow someone elses, or had to pay delivery charges on something I could have picked up myself, it sure would be handy.

Some of you mention soccer moms, the key word here is MOM. Meaning they have to transport kids, equipment, groceries, etc.

My wife and I frequently travel to North Dakota to see her family. When we have a kid I am getting an SUV. Why? Because we would have to transport lugage, a baby, a dog, baby stuff like a stroller, and ourselves. Makes sense right?

Well, next time you see a "soccer mom" by herself on a grocery run, think about that. Just because you don't see them using the most out of it at that time, doesn't mean that they don't use it.

 

My wife and I have decided to scale down a bit from a huge Min van (GMC Safari, AWD, Built on truck Base) to a midsize sedan, but for the time being we are driving my Honda Civic, 2 dr hatch back.  Better on gas, poor on space. We went to Ikea to buy a wicker chair. It wouldn't fit into the trunk so my wife had to sit in the back with the kids and the chair rode shotgun.

Not a big deal, but the bigger vehicles are nice for this type of thing.

 

I love SUVs. And when you have to move, or tow trailers, or lug kids, or carry camping gear, or transport kegs, or take home that new big screen tv, or get people out to the golf course (including clubs/bags), or hell, even get groceries for a full family home, they are indispensable.

Bottom line. They are by no means perfect or good in every way. But in my every day life and what directly impacts my family and I, the good outweighs the bad.

Boy am I going to miss my LR Discovery.   (As an aside, the Disco is technically a truck, not an SUV.)