You will surely be stoned to death in the town square for buying such a "big honkin", fuel inefficient vehicle. Oh wait, it's a Honda, so you're probably safe from the huggers.mrklein said:
Mid Size SUV
- Thread starter frusso10
- Start date
i like the ridge'. its' lack of a full-length frame makes it a no-go on my farm, but i'll bet its' mpg is comparable to my cherokee.mrklein said:I know. It isn't too bad on gas and doesn't stink like my Corvette. We get a fair bit of snow here and it is good for that. I have been stoned in the town square but it didn't kill me. In fact, I liked it!
btw, good to see another vette owner onboard!
I'd pick either a Subaru Forrester or Outback. I have a '98 Outback, and I have no issues transporting bikes, luggage, wife, and kid at the same time. Plus, for a four wheel drive vehicle, it gets decent mileage......27 mpg +/- 1mpg on the highway.
Given the choice, though, I'd bin the Subaru and buy a Prius and take my bike transporting lumps.
Given the choice, though, I'd bin the Subaru and buy a Prius and take my bike transporting lumps.
we've got a gmc envoy and love it. we're going to buy another in fact. yes its and suv! gets good mileage, great crash ratings, and cleaner emissions than my honda accord. 50000miles in two years without a breakdown of any sort.
ive also got an 88 s10 blazer 4x4 that gets a whoppin 8mpg, and i love it. it serves it purpose well (hunting rig)
hope i didn't offend too many people here. but you gotta drop the stereo types about american suv's. just because its a big 3 vehicle doesn't mean it gets 2 miles a gallon and is a gross polluter, that will break down once a month.
ive also got an 88 s10 blazer 4x4 that gets a whoppin 8mpg, and i love it. it serves it purpose well (hunting rig)
hope i didn't offend too many people here. but you gotta drop the stereo types about american suv's. just because its a big 3 vehicle doesn't mean it gets 2 miles a gallon and is a gross polluter, that will break down once a month.
A fellow hunter and sport-ute owner! you don't offend me at all. It's common sense to drive a vehicle that meets your needs.
If you enjoy firearms as much as I do snaps, hit www.bulletfest.net
I host the nation's largest machinegun shoot and you'll probably enjoy the pictures and free video on the website.
You just can't pack a 1919A4, a PKM, an MG42, the tripods, tools and all that linked ammunition into a Prius!
They can say what they want about detroit iron, but my Cherokee has been dead-nut reliable, goes thru deep snow drifts and hauls what i need it to haul. I have a farm and there's very little an econobox could do out here.
If you enjoy firearms as much as I do snaps, hit www.bulletfest.net
I host the nation's largest machinegun shoot and you'll probably enjoy the pictures and free video on the website.
You just can't pack a 1919A4, a PKM, an MG42, the tripods, tools and all that linked ammunition into a Prius!
They can say what they want about detroit iron, but my Cherokee has been dead-nut reliable, goes thru deep snow drifts and hauls what i need it to haul. I have a farm and there's very little an econobox could do out here.
snaps10 said:
Exactly what mileage does your Envoy get? 'cuz www.fueleconomy.gov says that they Envoy mileage is less than impressive.
Just because it doesn't get 2mpg doesn't mean that it's efficient.
===========================================================snaps10 said:
You're right
. I'm sorry - not ALL US suvs get only 2 miles to the gallon and break down once a month
The fugly little 2005 Honda Element is rated at 21-24 mpg.
My Cherokee is rated at 18-21 mpg (it averages right around 20 unloaded/not towing).
I'll gladly trade the few mpg for a useful vehicle that's 'efficient' for my lifestyle.
I once owned a 1986 Honda CRX. It was able to get 45 mpg and could hold two people. All the gas mileage in the world could not make it practical for me. It had no cargo space and god help you if you hit anything bigger than a garbage can. They would bury you in it.
As the saying goes, your mileage may vary!
regards,
Campybob
btw, BBB, I owned a 1992 suzi GSXR1100. It was a nice ride.
My Cherokee is rated at 18-21 mpg (it averages right around 20 unloaded/not towing).
I'll gladly trade the few mpg for a useful vehicle that's 'efficient' for my lifestyle.
I once owned a 1986 Honda CRX. It was able to get 45 mpg and could hold two people. All the gas mileage in the world could not make it practical for me. It had no cargo space and god help you if you hit anything bigger than a garbage can. They would bury you in it.
As the saying goes, your mileage may vary!
regards,
Campybob
btw, BBB, I owned a 1992 suzi GSXR1100. It was a nice ride.
Funny, I do quite a lot on a 30mpg (real world) Focus. Including haul bikes, go to lumber yards, etc.CAMPYBOB said:
The whole 'lifestyle' issue is moot. A smaller car occasionally hauling a small trailer is far more practical than any SUV.
While you may not have felt safe in the CRX, you are far more likely to get into an accident with those tall and heavy SUVs, and they are a threat to all other cars in terms of safety, especially in the winter.
It's amazing how people's mentality has been changed by auto makers, 17-21 mpg used to define a gas guzzler in the 80s, now its 'efficient', while the EPA ratings have little real-world significance. Truth is, fuel economy averages in all autos has gone down since the 80s, with profits going way up, especially for trucks.
Personally, I enjoy the thousands of dollars of fuel savings, insurance savings, safety and ease of parking of a smaller car. If it just happens that I'm less of a contributor to the pollution problem, ok.
My next car is likely to be a Mercedes Smart.
I see the Focus is rated to haul 1000 lbs. (figure from Edmunds)
My flat bed trailer weighs 900 lbs.
That doesn't leave me much cargo weight if i try dragging it behind a Focus.
I guess you never hauled two motorcycles behind your Focus. You probably never pulled a 14' box-trailer full of machineguns and ammunition. I doubt you ever hauled 120 8-foot wood fenceposts out to your farm. Somehow I can't see you towing a 5300 lb. Allis-Chalmers farm tractor with your little Focus. How many horses has your Focus hauled around? Ever tried two quarter horses in a trailer that probably weighs pretty darn close to what your Focus does?
But, feel free to lecture me on how "The whole lifestyle issue is moot" and how "A smaller car occasionally hauling a small trailer is far more practical than any SUV.".
I'm glad your little Focus works for you, but it sure makes no sense for what I do, where I live or the roads I drive. A lot of folks do more than occasional hauling.
BTW, the honda got totalled out years ago. Looking at what was left of it was just another reason not to drive anything that small again.
My flat bed trailer weighs 900 lbs.
That doesn't leave me much cargo weight if i try dragging it behind a Focus.
I guess you never hauled two motorcycles behind your Focus. You probably never pulled a 14' box-trailer full of machineguns and ammunition. I doubt you ever hauled 120 8-foot wood fenceposts out to your farm. Somehow I can't see you towing a 5300 lb. Allis-Chalmers farm tractor with your little Focus. How many horses has your Focus hauled around? Ever tried two quarter horses in a trailer that probably weighs pretty darn close to what your Focus does?
But, feel free to lecture me on how "The whole lifestyle issue is moot" and how "A smaller car occasionally hauling a small trailer is far more practical than any SUV.".
I'm glad your little Focus works for you, but it sure makes no sense for what I do, where I live or the roads I drive. A lot of folks do more than occasional hauling.
BTW, the honda got totalled out years ago. Looking at what was left of it was just another reason not to drive anything that small again.
Clearly , we live in two very different worlds, and thankfully, I don't live anywhere near yours.CAMPYBOB said:
The point was that suburban housewives have now all been convinced they need SUVs and pickup trucks, when they clearly do not. They have been convinced they are safer, when they are not. There are lots of guys around where I live with 4X4 huge pickups who haven't even put a beer cooler in the back.
I'm sure your 12 mpg truck has a nice "support the troops" sticker on it.
I'm also sure the irony is lost.
This thread does not belong in this forum, perhaps a Guns 'N Ammo forum or a Timothy McVeigh fansite.
"The US auto industry discovered in the 1980's that Japan's focus on zero defects created a massive cost and performance gap in the automobile market - one the US still struggles to close 25 years later. If quality were a technology available for purchase or a skill set available for hire, this gap would have closed long ago; but the roots of quality or lack of them, are deeply embedded in the corporate culture."
Excerpt from What Are You Becoming? by Kevin Weiss CEO - Philip Crosby Associates and The Capability Group
Excerpt from What Are You Becoming? by Kevin Weiss CEO - Philip Crosby Associates and The Capability Group
While any consumer website will point out that US-designed SUVs are the worst quality vehicles on the road, Japanese-designed trucks and SUVs are just as fuel inefficient. The problem is that EPA rules actually promote making bigger vehicles with lower fuel consumption dur to loopholes in laws put into place to protect domestic industry, and allow them to catch up to foreign makers with R&D.cuervo said:
But, instead of R&D, the big three just made more profit, and now they have big vehicles with basically 1960s technology (leaf spring suspensions, body on frames, push rod engines). This will fix itself in a few years, and likely some of these companies will not survive.
My housewife "needs" and suv. or perhaps i can go back to the 80's and pick up a crew cab fullsize truck like she would "need" back then. with 2 kids, 2 horses, and a big lab, our envoy is about as small as we can handle. you'd **** a brick if you saw what else is in our shop. 1972 dodge demon, prostreet (dont even ask about the mileage) 1984 dodge 2500 4x4, 2004 dodge ram 4x4 hemi, 1958 toyota land cruiser, 1976 toyota landcruiser, 1964 mercedes bens 280 (worst smog numbers next to the demon), yet i bought a honda accord so i could travel in something a little more fuel efficient.The Evil Twin said:
i am absolutely shocked to see your bias and prejudice showing on a website promoting perhaps the most "accepting" sport in the world. For you to even suggest that we are Timothy McVeigh fans shows the absolute lack of judgment and tolerance you possess. your words have offended me deeply. perhaps you need to take a walk down history lane to appreciate the marksmanship and craftsmanship that we enjoy in our firearms. not everyone who hunts or shoots is a columbine wannabe. some of us see the beauty in nature and our machines every time we are at the range or in the mountains. for you to try to demean and take away that is like trying to take away my rights, which i will not accept. sportsmen are often the biggest conservationists. ah, screw it, im probably talkin to a wall.
oh, and alienator, we average around 19, higher on the highway. i just reread my post, i didn't mean that it got better mileage than my honda, only that the emissions were cleaner, and the crash ratings better. for the record i get 24 in my honda.
and campybob, campy and machineguns what a mix, where are you, id love to come over some time.
Sounds like your starting your own little oil crisis there.snaps10 said:
I'm in a country that bans guns, and we enjoy a small fraction of the violent gun death rate of the US. As does the rest of the world.
Look, I have no problem with single shot guns for hunting as sport or food.
Machine guns are not designed for hunting or sport, they are designed to murder and maim people as quickly as possible.
While enthusiasts will accurately show that the average gun owner is safe and will never shoot anyone, their political actions and gun shows that allow the unlawfull conversion of firearms to full automatics allow pathological gun maniacs to kill many more people at tragedies like Columbine , Dawson college, etc., etc., etc., etc.
A guy who writes that he needs a truck to haul machine guns and ammo on a daily basis should really be watched by someone.
You like your toys, but sorry if grown men just shooting off guns isn't more than a little childish sounding.
The Evil Twin said:
+1 on most of this. The "lifestyle issue" is just an easier way for people to admit they're lazy and can't tolerate being "put out" by having to give up a gas guzzling land barge.
The Smart Car is, hopefully, on our buying list, too. Actually we'd prefer that over a Prius, but which one we end up with depends on when Mercedes actually starts selling the smart cars, here, and what the availability will be like.
It's funny how the rest of the world can get by with smaller cars and the "lifestyle hardships" that those smaller cars must impose on those people, while American kvetch and whine.
