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| Do you drive an SUV and why?
Posted: 12/22/2007 10:34:04 AM |
2008 Jetta interior volume - Passenger space: 93 cubic feet. Cargo space: 16 cubic feet.
2008 Prius interior volume - Passenger space: 96.2 cubic feet. Cargo space: 16.1 cubic feet.
The Jetta numbers came from VW's own website. You can look up the Prius numbers at the Toyota website.
I guess in your fantasy world, 2 + 2 = 5, eh?
I don't care what the numbers are. I have been in both cars and I as a 6'5" tall, 220 lb guy cannot fit into a Prius better than a Jetta. Thats all I care about. Maybe the Prius has more room somewhere other than the drivers seat.
Again, YOU LOSE.
The Prius Warranty has always been 8 years for the hybrid system SINCE 2000. I doubt you actually talked to any "toyota reps."
I work for one of the largest car repair and tire centers in the region. I have not only talked to Toyota reps but just about any rep from every manufacturer out there at one time or another.
Sorry there bud, YOU LOSE.
Let's see: A Chevy Malibu Hybrid uses THE EXACT SAME CHASSIS AND BODY as a regular Chevy Malibu SS, built on the SAME ASSEMBLY LINE. Like you need a "trained eye" to tell something is absolutely the same. Ditto Honda Civic Hybrid vs. Honda Civic Sedan. Or Chrysler Aspen Hybrid vs. Chrysler Aspen Hemi. Or a Lexus RX400 vs. a Lexus RX400H.
Maybe you can't tell the difference. Sorry about your bad luck. I can. I look at cars all day long, and I can guarantee you that I can spot things that you cannot.
Thats just your inebility to see correctly. Sorry you don't pay attention to details.
Iprefer to own a vehicle that looks good and lasts a long time. I honestly do not like car payments. I for one like owning vehicles that are paid for
So don't get more car than you can afford. My prius is almost paid off.
I don't get more car than I can afford. I own 4 vehicles. 2 '00 VW Jettas (1 gas, 1 diesel), a '02 F250 (diesel), and a '04 Titan. The only used vehicle I purchased was the '00 Jetta TDI(diesel). All of which are paid off.
This year I may trade in the F250 or the Titan. I don't need to, but I love the new F450 diesel, crew cab, dually, and I might just have to have that. | |
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| Do you drive an SUV and why?
Posted: 12/22/2007 8:37:17 PM |
If you need space and practicality then please... feel free to drive a mini-van... chances are you will never need to go offroad anyway...
Good point. A Mazda MPV AWD, for example. Same room/load/cargo capability, 4WD, and double the fuel mileage at $10,000 less than that 4WD Queen Mary. | |
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| Do you drive an SUV and why?
Posted: 12/23/2007 5:03:48 PM | I just returned from a 165 mile trip on I-70 from Columbus, OH to Wheeling WV in my 40 mpg Ford Aspire.
I made a special point to keep track of the vehicles I saw on that 2 1/2 hour trip. Traffic was somewhat busy since it is a holiday weekend, and there were less semi trucks than usual....more passenger vehicles this time.
Roughly a full half of all observed vehicles were SUVs and 4WD pickups. The standard bearer big-pig Ford Explorer seems to be giving way to Yukons, Expeditions, and Escalades . That Explorer class of vehicle looks like a mid size now. As if 15 mpg werent bad enough...the average is being driven farther downward due to increased tonnage.
The other half were various mid sized and larger passenger cars and vans. Out of literally thousands of vehicles observed in my lanes and those periodically viewed going the other direction, I spotted only 3 small fuel efficient sane vehicles, and only 1 of them being a hybrid:
One(1) Chevy Aveo
One(1) Toyota Yaris
One(1) Toyota Prius
The Aveo and the Yaris were going the other direction on I-70. I was dialed in at a steady and safe 105 km/hr. The Prius, going the same direction as me lead-footed past me at about 120-125 km/hr.
Ironically, as pointed out to me earlier, This Prius neutralised any safety factor it had over my 1996 Aspire by speeding, and at the same time vapourised its "highly touted" fuel economy.
I am confident that, out of thousands of vehicles, and in spite of the Prius, I was in the safer vehicle, and also was the fuel mileage leader today.
I win. | |
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| Do you drive an SUV and why?
Posted: 1/12/2008 1:39:09 PM | Extremists demand simple targets to attack, but as a whole cannot grasp supporting a progression from where we are to what they say they want. Those in power who influence media give them simple answers to believe. This is especially true of groups like the Sierra Club that condemned SUV's while their president still drove one.
Substantial research indicates we will run out of oil in as soon as ten years. Consumption will be curbed by inflating prices. Think about what will happen when gas is over $15 a gallon! It is because of the pace at which the global populations are increasing and third world countries are expanding their industrial production to improve their economic conditions, which are driven by outsourcing from first-world countries.
In California, a car was recently invented that achieved over 300 miles per gallon using a diesel-electric hybrid technology. But it can't be produced because it is illegal under emission standards that measure pollution output per gallon, rather than output per mile. That law is in place due to short-sighted, knee-jerk reactions to complaints about diesel. We've know for some time that diesels CAN achieve better gas mileage without sacrificing power and we'd see more use of biodiesel if the emissions standards were changed to address this. The end result of using a more powerful diesel engine for improved efficiency from materials that remove carbon and greenhouse gases while growing sustainable fuel is a vast improvement over the environmental impact of any of the hybrids on the market today. In most countries outside the USA you see more efficient four cylinder diesel engines in trucks made by Toyota, etc. I wish I could buy one. Not in the U.S. There are nasty politics involved in that embargo.
The vast majority of the electricity produced to recharge hybrids is created by burning oil, coal and natural gas. Hybrid owners who judge others seem to conveniently ignore this fact.
Most of the people who think it would be better to not have cars, or don't have one themselves, necessarily live in big cities. Now take a very close look at the inputs and outputs involved in supporting a city. Cities are not environmentally sustainable under the Gaia model. Cities are the source of the pollution filling up landfills and consume huge amounts of energy. A city cannot exist without millions of tons of food and other supplies trucked in daily. Guess what? Something worse than SUVs are involved in that component: You have huge diesel trucks that with a full load get less than 6 miles per gallon that are allowed to operate without particulate controls. They spew all the ingredients for smog and related health impacts. You can't ban them because you can't support your cities without them.
All modes supporting cities drive the larger polluters. Cargo ships, while efficient for their volume of transport, burn crude and less refined oils directly. Stand over a bridge with a string of four locomotives pulling a string of railcars and see how you'll experience the air quality decline.
The point is, until we change our entire way of life and move into agrigarian pods, we will continue to create larger problems than we can resolve. As populations increase, cities just get bigger. So to those who are concerned with blaming others for our global problems should consider that the best personal contribution they can make to save the world is to not reproduce.
I drive an SUV. I have to because where I live it is impossible to interact with society (ie: job, work) without one. I need to haul goods. My SUV is small and gets 24 miles per gallon. In the winter our roads are impassable without 4-wheel drive. But before you suggest I should live somewhere else, know that I own a geothermal house: the most sustainable energy resource known. There is nothing that can compete with it--NOTHING. My heat comes directly from the earth 24 hours a day, completely off-grid. The pollution and fuel use I offset by not heating hot water and air with electricity, oil or gas, is enough to replace the emissions of 14 SUVs.
The deepest irony of all this is that direct use geothermal is largely ignored. There are no tax incentives for it, no credits, no grants, no recognition of substance. Comparatively inefficient renewable energy schemes such as windmills are being funded with billions as you read this.
Even more ironic is when environmentalists protest geothermal power generation facilities in remote areas they themselves have never been to and will never visit. Because humans are here, expanding and demanding improved standards of living, more power will always be required. These huge problems will never be remedied if the masses continue to behave as if they are not part of a much larger, vastly complicated scenario.
So go ahead. Judge me for driving an SUV. Hypocricy has always been one of the greatest barriers to progress.
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| Do you drive an SUV and why?
Posted: 1/29/2008 10:50:46 AM | A BETTER TARGET to encourage the use of low-horsepower hyrids and smaller vehicles would be to FORCE politicians away from the INSURANCE LOBBY.
Let's take the easy example. A single person that owns a truck and can't get rid of it because of the 1% of the time it is needed to haul something, although they would very much like to ALSO own a tiny little hybrid coming out that gets over 50 mpg. The proposition is not affordable because most insurance companies effectively DOUBLE the auto insurance rate for an additional vehicle. This does vary slightly from one company to the next and it is not always double, but it is substantial.
BUT if there is ONE person and that one person can only drive one car at a time, why does it cost so much to add an additional vehicle to be insured? The ANSWER: Because they can. Insurance companies are allowed to do this without regulation.
Ironically, in most states every licensed vehicle driver is REQUIRED to have insurance. SO the government helps out the insurance companies by requiring insurance, but refuses to regulate the rates.
This is why there are so many SUVs. SUVs are the middle ground in utility, efficiency and comfort. They can tow a trailer and haul a family. Many people bought them because it was more economical considering the INSURANCE costs associated with having more vehicles tailored to specific uses.
So if you want to see more hybrids and smaller vehicles on the road, PUSH FOR INSURANCE REFORM...better yet, PUSH FOR TERM LIMITS AND CAMPAIGN FUNDING LIMITS, and everything else to prevent the richest special interest groups like insurance companies from getting thier way. | |
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| Do you drive an SUV and why?
Posted: 1/29/2008 11:41:23 AM | Two Hawks takes the Talking Stick:
I drive a 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle that I bough new in 1973. 35 years....same car! One engine overhaul in 35 years. Since day one...every 3000 miles - oil change. Every 6000 miles - tune up. Still getting 28+ miles to the gallon. When I fill up now I make jokes about the price of gas. Now it takes close to 30 bucks for a fill. 10.5 gallon tank. Back in 73 I could fill it for less than 10 bucks! My goodness! Where have those days gone?
As for SUV's. NO WAY JOSE! I wouldn't own, or drive one of those things. They are bad on gas, very unstable on the road (top heavy) and around here they are a status symbol. Those who think they are important drive them. If it snows around this area (Seattle)...the biggest percentage of cars that are off the road and stuck are SUV's. The people who own then think that because they have 4 wheel drive...the can go anywhere. Big joke! You gotta know HOW to drive them!
Thanks! I'll pass on the SUV's!
Two Hawks passes the Talking Stick | |
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| Do you drive an SUV and why?
Posted: 1/29/2008 12:35:33 PM | Hozo takes the talking stick:
Let's take the easy example. A single person that owns a truck and can't get rid of it because of the 1% of the time it is needed to haul something, although they would very much like to ALSO own a tiny little hybrid coming out that gets over 50 mpg. The proposition is not affordable because most insurance companies effectively DOUBLE the auto insurance rate for an additional vehicle. This does vary slightly from one company to the next and it is not always double, but it is substantial.
You, like me, are one of the very few SUV owners that owns an honest-to-goodness EFFICIENT SUV. We are the 1%.
That is the problem with SUV owners I believe - They utilise the SUV function 1% of the time. The other 99% of the time they are merely hauling their breifcase back and forth to work, or hauling 3 bags of groceries with a Cadillac Escalade or GMC Yukon at the expense of a 60 month auto loan, full coverage insurance and 10 MPG. Teutonic overkill.
My insurance company has primary vehicle coverage, and pleasure vehicle coverage. Primary is for your work and everyday vehicle, whilst pleasure status has limited driving and mileage restrictions.
Pleasure status is a full 35% cheaper than primary coverage, due to less mileage and less use. My restrictions on my "pleasure" vehicles are: less than 7500 miles per year, and less than 30 miles/week to work or school. Also my insurance company offers a discount for having more than 1 vehicle insured with them.
Do the math: if you buy a used Geo Metro for $1000 that gets 45 MPG and use it as your primary commute vehicle :
A. You only have to get liability insurance, since there is no loan on the vehicle and the vehicle isnt high value. My liability insurance is less than $400/year using this method.
B. Convert your SUV to "pleasure" status, saving 35% on your existing insurance. Use it when needed. It only makes sense.
C: Realise tremendous fuel cost savings by using the fuel efficient Geo, which pays for itself and the extra insurance with this savings, whilst preserving your shiny pricy 4WD status symbol for necessary driving.
This is what I do. My primary vehicle is a Ford Aspire(40 mpg). My SUV Geo Tracker(25-30 mpg) is pleasure status. Win-win situation.
Hozo passes the Talking Stick | |
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