Topic: Urban four-wheel drives....

[Dennis]

I hate the SUV. All I see around here are one or people in the damn thing at one time, clogging the roads and sucking gas.
Last winter my town had a slight freeze and the damn city shut down for the better part of week, the city workers were too afraid to drive in to work during the ice up. I can't recall seeing one SUV on the road at that time.
The Ice didn't slow me down 'cause I drive a Subaru wagon. That thing goes anywhere and has.
It has enough room for 5 people and gear, What doesn't fit inside can be lashed to the roof. javascript:void(0);

I don't really like them much myself. As mrblasty says usually a single driver not paying much attention to what they are doing or the young mom looking into the back seat to see what the 2 kids are doing. The last 3 or 4 really SERIOUS cut-offs I've had (including one in the car) were single occupant female drivers in SUV's either not paying attention (and talking on the cell phone) or in a hurry passing on the right (illegal in NJ) or on the left shoulder (illegal everwhere as far as I know).
A couple of years ago we had a pretty good snowstorm on a Sunday night, business was pretty slow Monday morning so I told my boss I was leaving and heading about 1-1/2 hours west into Pennsylvania to ski for the afternoon. Wouldn't you know the ONLY incident I saw in 75 miles of slick roads was a 4WD SUV on it's roof.
So they buy them to be safer when the weather gets bad? They ought to invest in driving lessons or just stay home!!

BTW: I was driving my front wheel drive station wagon in the snow. I've been using FWD cars for bad weather driving for 30 years now, starting with my '75 VW, and they usually do pretty well in snow and on slick roads. If it's too bad for the car I just stay home, there is no where that I need to be that much!!

[Terry in Australia]

Terry the idea here is to rant.  Now rant damn you!

Oh, ok, sorry, er, ok, I got one, here we go: I hate it when you meet a nice girl in a sleazy bar, and you take her home, and mid-way thru making love, she dies? Man, what a bummer! Oh wait, wrong forum, this isn't psychopath.com is it, ha ha!

Yes and factor in that petrol in the UK costs damn near£1 a litre here in the UK (stop and work that one out for a while) and you start to wonder where all the 4x4 shopping trolley owners get all their money from..

Well Loony, if you also factor in much higher wages in GB/Europe against those in the US, suddenly your fuel prices are a heck of a lot more reasonable than those of our American cousins.

Damn, I've done it again, sorry for sounding reasonable, I tell you what, I hate England hiring South African Cricketers (bloody mercenaries!) to whoop Australia in the "Ashes" series! What's wrong with England using English cricketers? (except that they're crap!) "Australia versus the world" starts today, so we'll see how good Freddy Flintoff is without Pieterson holding his hand, ha ha! Rant rant rant, whine, moan, etc! Cheers, Terry.

[Killer Canary]

I call bull#$%* on Harry. Not one of the Four Yorkshiremen had an SUV.

[mick750F]

   Okay, listen up you road hogs. Get your lane clogging, fat-assed, gas sucking, over engineered status symbols out of our way. We were here first and you're making it harder and harder for us to have a good day on the road. PAY ATTENTION!!! Stop your incessant yacking on the phone. Stop fiddling with your on-board gps. Figure out where you're going before you get behind the wheel. Stay in your lane...every inch of the pavement isn't yours. Stop reading the newspaper. Stop shaving. Stop putting on make-up. Stop taking notes while you're on the phone. GET OFF THE PHONE!!! Studies have shown that a person in their twenties has the reaction time of a person in their eighties when yacking and driving. How old are you? What's YOUR reaction time? You know that funny lever next to the steering wheel that makes little lights blink on your dashboard? Those are your direction signals...USE THEM!!! Stop turning around every time one of your kids whines. Stop letting them run your life. You're in charge...remember? What's that? They don't like the movie? Too bad...Learn how to raise them. If they NEED to watch a movie in the car then YOU aren't doing something right.

   Get rid of your SUV! It's been marketed to you. You're a puppet. You don't need it. Jump start your gray matter. Think for yourself. Reason...

   Damn...that felt good. I guess I know what I was ranting about that time.

Mike

[pmpski_1]

It looks like it's 50 50 here, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and ask your opinion on something.  Not that it's gonna change mind, but y'all seem like a good crowd to ask and the topic is right.

I'm gonna buy an SUV. Not soon, but maybe within the next couple of years. But my SUV isn't a new Cadillac or Lincoln or Honda. It's gonna be a 69-72 Chevy Blazer. Now, after I get finished unloading the plywood from the rear, my wife is gonna strap the kid in and take him to soccer practice. After that she's gonna stop at the market and get some bread and milk.  Does the "soccer-mom-grocery-getter" stereotype apply? Or is that reserved for shiny new things with leather and wood and 22 inch chrome wheels?

(I'm trying to get to a point where I can bs my neighbors into believing that I won the lottery ... in 1974. 74 CB550, Boattail Riv, Old Blazer, and an old Winnebago or Airstream

[Dennis]

Okay, listen up you road hogs. Get your lane clogging, fat-assed, gas sucking, over engineered status symbols out of our way. We were here first and you're making it harder and harder for us to have a good day on the road. PAY ATTENTION!!! Stop your incessant yacking on the phone. Stop fiddling with your on-board gps. Figure out where you're going before you get behind the wheel. Stay in your lane...every inch of the pavement isn't yours. Stop reading the newspaper. Stop shaving. Stop putting on make-up. Stop taking notes while you're on the phone. GET OFF THE PHONE!!! Studies have shown that a person in their twenties has the reaction time of a person in their eighties when yacking and driving. How old are you? What's YOUR reaction time? You know that funny lever next to the steering wheel that makes little lights blink on your dashboard? Those are your direction signals...USE THEM!!! Stop turning around every time one of your kids whines. Stop letting them run your life. You're in charge...remember? What's that? They don't like the movie? Too bad...Learn how to raise them. If they NEED to watch a movie in the car then YOU aren't doing something right.

 Get rid of your SUV! It's been marketed to you. You're a puppet. You don't need it. Jump start your gray matter. Think for yourself. Reason...

 Damn...that felt good. I guess I know what I was ranting about that time.

Mike

 


Thanks Mike.
Well said!!   

[dusterdude]

pmpski,old anything is cool,you`ll be ok with your blazer

[Uncle Ernie]

Our main business is selling used/remanufactured engines and transmissions. The part where I work does vehicle inpections. Most new "SUV"s would sustain $5K of damage if you accidentally backed into the rose bushes next to your driveway. One LandRover owner begged me not to get his car up on the lift because it would ruin his suspension. One lady watched her Lexus go up and claimed I ruined her suspension because the wheels fell so far down. (Why the heck is Lexus and Porsche making SUVs anyway?) Who's buying these things?!
My assesment; if it wasn't for Isuzu and Chrysler, we would have gone out of business a long time ago. Ask anyone in the business what a Ford Exploder is, and they'll know exactly what you're talking about. LandRover Discovery? If you gave me one I'd pass it on to a charity. We have a radio show in the 'States called "The Tappet Brothers". One day a young man called to ask about a Land Rover because he was moving to Montanna. One of the brothers didn't even think before blurting, "The reason the British don't make computers is that they haven't figured out a way to make them leak oil."

Well, I think we will be paying for our excesses eventually. Probably when China takes over by calling in the loans we've made.

[dusterdude]

ernie,you`re damn right.i read a blurb in the paper the other day,talking about how china has some hot #$%* missile they can fire from a sub that hugs the water line and is virtually indefensible,guess where the money came from to develop that thing.yep thats right the good ole usa.we are giving them everything they need to take over one day.

[loonymoon]

This was taken by me on my way home today...Do you think their owners are scared that the wheels might get dirty?

[MetalHead550]

That is a truely ominous sight!  SUVs of doom amassed on a swerving, speeding semi as it races below a melencholy, overcast sky.  I hate riding next to rigs like that.

[Dennis]

I hate riding next to rigs like that.

I will not ride next to rigs like that. I will only pass them (and very quickly). If the guy if front of me will not move up I will just hang back until I have enough space for a pass. Bike, car, truck or whatever, I will not ride next to them!!! No way!

[Buffo]

I own a huge black Suburban with big tires and 16 miles to the gallon...It has not seen real dirt yet and as long as I can help it it never will. I live 1 mile from my shop.

...if anyone thinks that the Porsche SUV is just a VW than you have never ridden in one let alone see or read the reviews...those things are FU(KING AWSOME!!! they will kick the #$%* out of any SUV in the same class.  My dads neighbor owns part of Eagle Oil Co. and has one...he beats the crap out of it every day...I hve driven it many times...reall deep mud and he jumps the damn thing...

If you have the cash/credit and can put fuel in the thing ...buy the biggest one you can find...if that is what you want...

love what you drive and fu(k what everyone else thinks about it...Isnt that what EVERYONE here says about motorcycles?...or does that only apply jto 2 wheel V-hickles?

Buffo The Magnificent

[Buffo]

yeah...i'm the guy who passes you doing 85 in the Big Black Suburban, getting about 10 mpg at that speed...not giving two cow pies how much gas costs a gallon...

I filled my tank today actually..$110.01

And I dont want to hear any #$%*ing...no one but me pays my fuel bill...why would anyone care what my automobile gets per gallon anyway? 

[Terry in Australia]

That's it Buff, tell it like it is, ha ha! I hate all these whiney "I hate Harleys, I hate SUV's, I hate modern bikes" posts, geez, that might be a poll in itself! "I Hate Whiners", what do you reckon mate? I do wish I had a Suburban though, do you think you could send me one? Please? Cheers, Terry.

[Buffo]

Personally I think Mini-vans suck...I never want to buy a mini-van.

The men who drive them dont seem...happy...look at their faces as you  pass them...sad.  

[Buffo]

If I had the extra funds I would indeed send you a Suburban. But I would have the Cat. Convert. replaced with a straight pipe like mine! 

Buffo The Magnificent

[Bob Wessner]

Buffo,

I agree with you 100%, let market forces do their thing, which eventually they will since we are talking about a finite resource. The only gripe I have are folks who claim them for their business use when in fact they are being used for personal and family transportation, then I'm subsidizing them through the tax regs.

[mrblasty]

Funny how in the last 7 years the suv began to take over as the hot #$%* thing to drive then BOOM the gas prices sky rocket..
Didn't this happen in the '70s following the muscle car rage?

[mick750F]

Buffo,

I agree with you 100%, let market forces do their thing, which eventually they will since we are talking about a finite resource. The only gripe I have are folks who claim them for their business use when in fact they are being used for personal and family transportation, then I'm subsidizing them through the tax regs.

   Nice one Bob...as is your new avatar. My problem isn't with the vehicles themselves, because they do serve a purpose...well some of them anyway. I've owned them (SUVs)...and who's the jackass that coined that phrase...and could very well own one again. It's the fools who buy them that not only don't really need them, but somehow are also driving challenged. I need a truck for my work. If I didn't believe me I'd much rather be driving something that rode better, handled better and was much more comfortable. I've never been able to figure out why people drive pick-ups, vans, SUVs etc. as their daily driver when they don't have a practical reason to do so. I'll always own a truck of some sort because of the way I live. How many suburbanite commuters NEED their SUVs?    
  Yikes..that was kind of a mini rant.

Mike

[Buffo]

well I know some folks that own dealerships and they are all afraid of the high gas prices...the imports kick the hell out of domestic auto sales for small autos.

I would buy a small honda or toyota over a ford or chevy anyday for an econo car

[pmpski_1]

I gotta laugh at the folks rushing out to replace their SUVs with econoboxes. I have a relative that drove a big ass 80s Suburban every day. They went out and bought a brand new Toyota Corolla "cause the Suburban uses too much gas".

Now, with your monthly payment, your insurance payment on a new car, your sales tax, your depreciation on a new car, your finance charges, and your econobox gas money, how much are you really saving? I'd bet that it's actually MORE expensive for them now than if they drove the Suburban twice as much!

And you can't even put a sheet of plywood in the Corolla.

[seaweb11]

I moved from the city to get away from all that oversized traffic.

I would love a smaller, better handeling car as well, but every time I think about selling my F-150 4x4, I either need a load of fill, or a cord of wood, or 5 pieces of ply-wood, or  a load of 2x6s or my wife has found a log on some far away beach she needs for her garden or....... god forbid "I have to roll a bike into it for the long haul to the shop" for what I can't fix!
I can't imagine life without a truck.

There seems to be quite a few of those hybrid cars around here lately. Fuel/Batt..... I like them, they would be great for around the Island here. I'm thinking about buying one.

Fuel here on the West Coast of Canada is now (MORE THAN $1.00 PER SECOND AT THE PUMP!)

Think about it gents, 30 seconds with the handle = over $30.00

78CB750 fill up is now over  $15.00.........I try not to use the truck much if I can ride instead

[Raul CB750K1]

I personally don't give a damn about what anybody is driving. As long as they are paying their own bills it's their life. But I can't help finding ridiculous how many people get into debt for buying a car not as transportation, but mere status symbol. OK, we all buy our vehicles a little as a status symbol, but I find stupid to buy it only for that. It's like the 50 year-old-some man recently divorces, with incipient baldness, that buys a new convertible to go through his midlife crisis... it's simply stereotypical.

Let's see this way. I bought my Audi A4 when I was looking for a VW Passat. The A4 was only 2.000 euro more expensive, but the Passat had the same power, with more space and size. Moneywise it was a bad decision, but Audi have a more reputable name for the general public, so I spent 2.000 euro for my own symbol of status. I could have also bought a bigger Audi, or even a Mercedes, but that would have mean longer debt payment, and I didn't want to go that far. You always have to find a compromise.

Now that I have had a brand new car at least once in my life, probably it will be last. These things lose value at an alarming rate, and I can always get good deals from people selling their just-like-new cars to buy SUV's...


Raul

[Gordon]

Now that I have had a brand new car at least once in my life, probably it will be last. These things lose value at an alarming rate, and I can always get good deals from people selling their just-like-new cars to buy SUV's...

Raul

I'm with you on that.  Never owned a new car, and don't know if I ever will.  I prefer to let someone else drive it for a couple of years, lose that inflated new car value, and then sell it to me for much cheaper.