gunsculptor: jlheid: Suck it Prius owners...

You know, when gas gets cheap, it's cheap for everyone. Not just the SUV people.

You might be happy you can get your groceries for fifty bucks a week in your SUV, but that same fifty bucks will get me and the Prius over 1200 miles.

The math: 50 bucks/1.97 per gallon locally = 25.4 gallons. 48 miles/gallon = 1219 miles.

I could drive from Cleveland to Daytona Beach on that. And still have over 200 miles left in the tank to drive around town when I got there.


The great thing about your Prius is that once you got to Daytona Beach, you would see you are just as big a douchebag in Dayton beach as you were in Cleveland

Easy there sonny.
He can buy more beer than you since he isn't spending it on gas.
Now, Who is the Douche?
/you are, and it's Daytona Beach, not Dayton Beach.

Arbitrator: JustMe1234: Stagger_lee - You are buying a Japanese truck to support the American economy? You are an Idiot! You are part of the problem, not the solution.

There are several "Japanese" plants in the US now. "Domestic" companies have moved their plants overseas.

TeddyRooseveltsMustache: When you get down to it, if the Prius wasn't a hybrid nobody would want one.

If SUVs didn't have their size but still guzzled gas, nobody would want one.

/Here's where we laugh about how stupid these hypotheticals are

I was just simply stating what we all know. The Prius is not the best car in the world. It is however the best car in the world for people who like to toot their own horn.

TenaciousDMZ: I prefer freedom of choice.

I am not a liberal. A liberal would say that buying them should be against the law.

Actually, my statements are about the most right-wing statements being made in here: Buy whatever you want to buy. I reserve the right to my opinion that SUV drivers are selfish fat jackasses. Yay, freedom of choice for everybody.

Generally speaking, I don't care what people choose to drive (although I wish there were a push for cleaner vehicles) because gas is priced according to how much you use, so you are directly paying for consumption.

However, there is a theory that the gas price spike put pressure on budgets that were strained from mortgage payments (it's reasonable to think people who are too short-sighted to plan for mortgages are also too short-sighted to budget for fuel price volatility)... So the housing crisis was at least accelerated by gas price spikes.

And we are bailing out a substantial number of those people with the refinancing idea. In short, we're actually giving money to a segment of the population that has poor financial judgment and probably overlaps with people who have poor judgment in car purchases. That's what ticks me off.

Drive what you want, but YOU take the hit for it. That's all I ask.

SUV = SIV (Socially Irresponsible Vehicle)

Arbitrator: Drive what you want, but YOU take the hit for it. That's all I ask.

When the number of polluting vehicles increase in an area unchecked, and the particulate belches out into the air and over the city/valley/county, we ALL take the hit in the form of bad air quality.

Seriously, if the recommendation is to SHARPLY reduce hydrocarbon emissions, we can't be playing around. What do you think that would entail? That's right. Either taxing or outright banning the gas guzzlers.

People who buy SUVs should be taxed into the floor.

I know, I know, you NEED your SUV for your sniveling brats, or you live on the winter side of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Kurohone: Alright, for the SUV experts here, tell me what sort of vehicle I 'need'.

I'm a 6'3" man, married, two small children, a small dog and a cat to transport around. According to Google Earth, I live at 56 29'02.11"N ...you can assume I get QUITE a lot of winter. The next town is 100km away, the nearest 'large' town 350km, and the nearest city is about 550km away.

What sort of car do I 'need' in this circumstances?

A U-Haul. Just one trip will fix everything.

:)

If you live in the rural snowbelt country, a 4 Wheeler SUV is almost a must. Suck it Libs. Those of you who are Urban Cowboys, can drive in little compact cars or use the available public transportation.

I don't understand why the Auto Makers aren't making ALL vehicles Flex Fuel capable.

Has anyone considered what environmental impact those batteries from Hybrids will cause? They have to be disposed of somehow. They last 5-6 yrs and cost about $6,000.00 to replace.

Obama is going to end drilling for domestic oil in the US. This means we will be dependant upon OPEC. 10 Billion a month on Iraq; Ive heard we send OPEC and estimated 1.5 Billion/day.

With oil now below $65/barrel, the US should replenish and increase its Oil Reserves.

kab:

A U-Haul. Just one trip will fix everything.

:)

You never hear their thoughts on what people did before the invention of the SUV.

I'm seeing more Hummers on the road now.

Power 175bhp @ 5500rpm
Torque 177 lb ft @ 1600rpm
Fuel 40.9mpg (combined cycle)
Acceleration 0-62mph: 7.1sec
Top speed 140mph

/hot link is hot

Genevieve Marie: Yes, this should have been a preventable crisis. Had those steps Carter took been made permanent, we'd be in a lot less trouble than we are now. Letting automakers get away with producing vehicles with such horrible fuel standards for so long was a big mistake, and the effects have been incredibly far reaching.

A far more simple alternative in the early nineties would have been to classify SUVs as passenger vehicles. For two reasons: safety (SUVs didn't have to meet passenger vehicle standards, which are more rigorous) and fuel economy.

When up to 40% of the vehicles sold were SUVs, having a minimum average efficiency for passenger vehicles was pretty much useless.

The credit crisis wasn't caused by some evil bankers and CEOs who stole from everyone, it was caused by millions of Americans making the same stupid mistakes over and over. Taking out loans to buy more stuff, buying houses they couldn't afford.

You do it to yourselves, you do. And that's why it really hurts. You do it to yourselves, just you. You and no one else. You're doing it again! This isn't change...

CBR ME ASAP: NYZooMan: BlorfMaster: Most sports cars use more gas than SUV's.

No one seems to bash them, though.

Sports cars tend to be used occasionally while SUVs tend to be the family main vehicle.

And what would you recommend for the family of 5? A prius sardine can?

No, 1 or 2 fewer kids.

I want a fur (Panda?) swathed gun rack on my Escalade.

Gotfire: I hate people.

This!

Seriously, just when I get a little bit of hope for the future, the vast majority of the human race reveals themselves again as a bunch of ignorant farkwads beyond redemption... Doesn't anyone (other than a few lovely intelligent Farkers here) ever learn from experience?

mbillips: No, nobody actually needs an SUV. Need to tow your boat? How often, once/twice a year? Rent a pickup for $20/hour. Need lots o' seats to haul the soccer team? Get a minivan. Need to go off road? Really? No, you don't. And if you really, really do, an old VW Beetle can go anywhere a Suburban with 4WD can.

They're just oversized, technologically primitive station wagons.

Agreed. And I won't say that people can't get the car they feel like getting, but at least they should be farking honest about it. You don't NEED and SUV, you WANT and SUV. So stop giving me this bullshiat about how you need more space so your 5 and 8 year olds don't fight in the backseat or so they can use the third row seating for when the mother in law comes over once or twice a year. Give me a break. At least stop bullshiating me and fess up to the fact that you want to buy a car that you know makes no sense to buy. Hey, it makes absolutely no sense to buy a Lotus Exige, but maybe someday, I'll buy one. You sure as hell won't see me trying to convince somebody that I NEED it.

/talk to me when you have to haul around two kids and all their shiat.
//fark you, this is america, I don't have to get the car you want me to get.
///yeah, well at least I'm safer than you in your compact car
////these libtards hippies can suck it, I'm going to drive my hummer around the block for an hour just to piss them off.
//I work in construction and haul around 3000 lb bags of cement 80 times a day.

There you go guys. don't bother replying, I already have your tired talking points written down for you. However, if you want to post that you're the ONLY person in this country that got an SUV because they WANTED one and won't pretend to work construction or haul a yacht daily.

Inflatable Rhetoric: I'm seeing more Hummers on the road now.

So, tell us, what kind of a vehicle are you riding in that lets you sit so high as to be able to see what people in their cars are doing? A big-rig semi, perhaps?

/pics or it didn't happen

My wife's Suburban appears to be powered solely by cellphone minutes, so this whole gas thing is kind of a non-issue.

Jory: Gotfire: I hate people.

This!

Seriously, just when I get a little bit of hope for the future, the vast majority of the human race reveals themselves again as a bunch of ignorant farkwads beyond redemption... Doesn't anyone (other than a few lovely intelligent Farkers here) ever learn from experience?


Yes, they would be the ones with modest incomes who still have
cash in the bank. I have heard one of them lives in
Montana...the other 3 are just urban legend.

These threads are always so much fun.
SUV Owner: I need my poorly handling, bad braking, mobile strap-on.
Other Car Owner: You can accomplish the same thing more economically.
Motorcycle Owner: Suck it, cagers!
Me (Once and future old BMW owner): Speed, style, safety, ease-of-repair, economy, comfort.
Reality: get ready for your reaming if gas goes back up, and everyone sells SUVs at the same time, again.

/Super Steaming hotlink

My energy policy hasn't changed...

Dodge ram 2500 4X4 with a Cummins diesel engine.

My own home built biodiesel reactor.

Free oil from the taco place with the hawt Latina waitress.

One weekend brewing makes enough biodiesel for a month.

$0.50/Gal.

/Not 'green' just cheap!

MIguy: Thanks for driving your econo-box pieces of crap, means more gas for me and my next car.

meh, gm's v8's don't suck gas as much as other v8's(poor hemi owners)

PT Barnum vastly overestimated the stupidity of the people of the USA, we are far, far dumber than even he thought.

That's right morons, gas prices have dropped this week so go finance that 10 mpg pig now so that you can be raped two times when it goes up to $5/gal next year when some a-holes manipulate the price of oil again.

anyway, the flowers were really nice...what were we talking about? Oh yea, such sales they are having on those big, safe SUVS....

My wife drives a new Liberty - it get's better fuel economy than the Venture van on which we just finished a lease and is still breaking in. She bought it in August at peak oil.

I just traded my '03 Vibe 5spd for a '00 Cherokee. We live on a gravel road outside of town where we both work. I drive 25km round trip to work and work shifts getting home before the plow occasionally and travel up to an hour one way for hockey games for my son.

We drive smaller suv's for the traction, storage, and comfort. Gas consumption concerns me but I also don't exceed the limit by more than 10% and that makes the lion share of fuel economy difference.

There are 425 comments so this has probably already been said but here goes anyway.

I made the comment to a guy that I was working with that suv sales were up because gas prices were down. He said that he was thinking about buying one now. I asked him if he thought that the gas prices had anything to do with the world economy. He said that it was all manipulated by the oil companies.

I tried to tell him that gas prices were low because of the world economy and less demand. He didn't buy it.

Maybe we deserve 8 dollar gas.

Farking Sweet: Fark off subby. You can drive a little car if you want. Just remember the USDOT says you have a 50% greater chance of critical injury/death in one versus a larger vehicle.

When firefighters and police officers will only put their families in an SUV or truck then you know that is the right choice. They clean up wrecks everyday.

And, cause you know, that just makes sense, their being auto safety engineers and all. You would think they would all drive Volvo's then since they are clearly superior.

Compare just ONE stastic: Single vehicle rollover accidents.

But you drive whatever makes you think your shiait don't stink OK?

I think we're in for A Crude Awakening!

I do love all the liberals here, you do what we want or you'll be sorry, we'll cry and become tyrannical until you do. Call your methods what you want, kid yourself into believing they are altruistic and that you are right to strong arm people for the "greater good", you can excuse the common mindset among liberals all you like, but tyranny is tyranny, no matter how you excuse it, do you honestly think you are convincing anyone one and causing them to wish to change their ways with your hitleresque stance on everything you believe in, since apparently you are flawless, your knowledge is perfect and your way must be the only way and right way? I am kinda sad for you all though, seems like you must live a terribly miserable existence, full of loathing for your fellow and always angry about not getting your way. Oh well, get used to it, because it doesn't seem like many are listening to you anyway, talk about a futile waste of your lives. Later all, My Mustang is out idling to get rid of some of the older gas, so I can top it off w/ the fresh stuff.

jlheid: stock photo of my 400 HP grocery getter...

Suck it Prius owners...

/ hotlinked for performance and larger CO2 footprint

Add another 250 Hp, or lose 2000 lb, and it might start getting close to being fast.

H-1 or you're doing it wrong.

Get a station wagon with AWD. Same thing, and... no climbing, just slide in.

bh_jodokast: H-1 or you're doing it wrong.

Get a station wagon with AWD. Same thing, and... no climbing, just slide in.

For a lot of people climbing in and out of their SUVs is the only exercise they get. They're doing their part to lower Medicare costs for everybody!

MIguy: Guess who drives around in a big, gas guzzling SUV...



If it's OK for your savior, it's OK for everybody.

Tell me I don't have to explain that this is because they need a 1-ton to carry all the armor and other stuff on board a presidential vehicle, right?

One thing I like about SUVs: The moment they dare try to go "muddin", they bust the transfer case.

Dreadskull: Headso: BlorfMaster: Most sports cars use more gas than SUV's.

No one seems to bash them, though.

Atleast that is fun to drive. An SUV gives you the gas mileage of a Ferrari with the handling and pickup of a minivan.

HEY! You take that back. Minivans handle waaay better than SUVs.


3.5-liter DOHC 24-valve VVT-i V6
266 hp @ 6200 rpm

I had one of these (Front-wheel-drive). It's nice for kids and stuff, but it chewed thru tires (about every 10k miles for fronts).

I couldn't take it...ZERO fun to drive. Traded in for a AWD sedan. If you get one of these, get the AWD version.

LordZorch: It's so funny to watch the envirotards sputter in righteous indignation....

Daddy?

mbillips: BobtheFascist: Gas is cheaper, but dealers are loaded with SUV's with low price tags. Some new, some trade-in's. If you have a need for an SUV (Yes, some people really do) now is the time to buy one.

No, nobody actually needs an SUV. Need to tow your boat? How often, once/twice a year? Rent a pickup for $20/hour. Need lots o' seats to haul the soccer team? Get a minivan. Need to go off road? Really? No, you don't. And if you really, really do, an old VW Beetle can go anywhere a Suburban with 4WD can.

They're just oversized, technologically primitive station wagons.

Okay how about this, suggest a vehicle for me.

I currently drive a pretty fuel efficient mazda. I love it, but unfortunately it can't do two things that I'm increasingly needing to do in my work and that is:

- go offroad
- tow

So I'm looking for a vehicle that can do the following:
- Tow 4000 lbs
- Decent offroad performance.
- Carry good quantities of stuff securely inside a cargo area (thus, a pickup truck is not for me)

The more fuel efficient the better, but I know I will be taking a big hit compared to the current vehicle.

Right now I'm comparing the 4 door jeep wrangler, toyota FJ cruiser and the nissan xterra.

I'm leaning toward the wrangler. The FJ is nice, but kinda pricey and expensive to maintain. Also takes premium fuel. The xterra is well equipped but... its kinda boring. I've always been partial to jeeps :)

So ideas? Some people actually do use their suv's for what they're designed.

The Icelander: My parents always tried to buy the most efficient vehicle that fit their needs and was in their price range. This included our "road trip" car, a 1986 VW camper van.

They currently drive a 1.8l VW Passat Wagon and a first generation Prius. My dad hauls music gear and needs a station wagon, and the Prius is one of the first 1000 sold in the US.

\My dad also built 2 earth-sheltered, passive-solar houses
\\And had a stack of Mother Earth News in his closet
\\\And when he retires he's going to start a green construction company

Awesome.

Tom Waits says we are monkeys with money and guns.

I wish to fark somebody would have taught me in school that people, in the main, are not really rational at all.

I wouldn't have spent all that fruitless time in Philosophy classes learning logical, sensible bullshiat from sharp, useless people.

I SHOULD have taken more Theater classes, where all the irrationality, inconsistency and depravity of human behavior is laid bare on the page and the stage.

But nobody told me that. I had to figure it out for myself, and I did so rather late in the game.

/Pay attention, young'ns.
//Git off my lawn.

re: So ideas? Some people actually do use their suv's for what they're designed.

older wrangler with a coil over. you'll destroy most offroad if you can drive it right. plenty of power (6 cyl).

ubertwit: re: So ideas? Some people actually do use their suv's for what they're designed.

older wrangler with a coil over. you'll destroy most offroad if you can drive it right. plenty of power (6 cyl).

Older wranglers (2 door) don't have the same towing cap because of the short wheelbase. The 4 door, despite having nearly the same suspension and engine options, have twice the towing cap because they are longer.

Leverage, and all that, makes short wheelbase vehicles more prone to be jackknifed.

ubertwit: re: So ideas? Some people actually do use their suv's for what they're designed.

older wrangler with a coil over. you'll destroy most offroad if you can drive it right. plenty of power (6 cyl).

nice boat btw

I'm always late for these threads, and everythings probably been said, but I'll add these.
After reading several SUV threads I've come to the conclusion that if GM could make a 30 MPG Suburban today, most Farkers would still hate them.
I'll keep driving my paid off '01 F150 4X4, rather than buy a new Hybrid. I can't see buying ANY newly manufactured vehicle being "better" for the environment.

Pocket Ninja=Smarty pants.

I understand that some people, hell many people have a need for SUVs (note, I'm not talking about proper trucks). My dad, however, is not one of them. There are no children in the house and he drives his behemoth for no other reason than his own satisfaction. Should that be a crime? Of course not. But there a million ways a person can indulge without being so flippantly inconsiderate of the world around them. Given current geopolitics, it seems to be the most flagrant sort of penis extension there is. However, it is his right and I don't so much as criticize him (to his face). Still, there are smarter ways to be a boastful, wasteful person.

I owned a 1980 motorcycle, once. I was amused that the speedometer only read to 85 mph, as was the custom of the fuel-scared times. Now I realize that we simply refuse to learn from history, almost entirely ignoring pleas for a new energy policy that will insulate us from a volatile energy market. 'Energy policy' was only a buzzword over the summer as people began to take it in the ass wallet. Sadly, if gas remains comparably affordable, we're doomed to repeat this cycle every x number of years.