Why don't we see more SUVs in the GasSavers garage?

[white90crxhf]

Originally Posted by theclencher

Yeah, everybody knows that kids are too huge to be stuffed into mere cars.

you underestimate the size of (3)carseats in an accord.

[brelandt]

I LOVE 4x4's!

Now that I've said that.

I have NEVER needed it.

I use to have a 1989 bronco 2. Stock street 205 tires with stock limited slip rear axle and 3.73 gears was enough to keep me from needing to ever put it in 4 low or high.

I used it off road a lot of times. Mud, streams gravel, snow, ice, etc and never got stuck.

So I sold it.

My stock 1992 Suzuki Sidekick is only a 2wd and besides having a lower ground clearance it hasn't gotten stuck either. However, I haven't gone through what I took the bronco into, the Sidekick has a much weaker frame and suspension than the Ford.

I'm now strickly a 2wd guy myself now. But that's just me. I believe that whatever a 2wd SUV can do a stationwagon can do.

Now, to answer the question of why more SUV guys don't post here as much is for the same reasons I don't. there is only so much gas you can save with them.

My MPG was 28. I came to this site and it went as high as 33 at one tank. Now with winter set in I have evened out at around 30.

My truck is a box. The faster I go the worse my MPG becomes.

Second because I have a 70hp motor my rear axle is 5.61:1, which means my engine is spinning at 4100 rpms at 70mph!!!!!

It sucks and there isn't much I am willing to do to it. It's my only vehicle I got (loaned out my Integra to a friend) so I can't goof around with it too much.

Maybe this is the case with other SUV owners?

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by Lug_Nut

Too true! My Uncle commented when he first saw the 1964 International Harvester Scout I had just acquired: "Four wheel drive? You'll still get stuck, but will have to walk back twice as far to get help."

That reminds me of the guy I met from MN who had an 8WD tractor. I asked him if it was good for off roading (half-joking). He said, "naw, it just means I'll be farther off the road when I finally do get stuck and darn near impossible to get me out."

Then there's the HMMWV I saw sittin' on its frame in a mud puddle on Cape Cod. It took a tank extricator to get it out.

[skewbe]

Originally Posted by LxMike

...One of the first things people see when coming here is the Top Ten list and see the cars getting 50,60 and 70 mpg...

I think there is something to that. I don't mind the friendly competition, but if the focus is solely on mpg then it will discourage many. There are many other ways to save gas: Driving less, carpooling, not leaving the car idling...

I don't know if it is possible, but some way of giving kudos for getting more done with each gallon of gas(consistently), or reducing your demand (consistently), would encourage a broader audience and less mpg tunnel vision.

For example, there are cases where a larger vehicle makes sense. A semi truck gets horrible mileage by itself, but it would take like 73 metros to carry the same weight and combined they would get like 1/6th the gas mileage of the truck. Semis are a good example because they HATE to run empty, it's just throwing money away.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

ah yes, getting out of the ditch in the snow... the first time the roads here got a bit of snow I had to go out of town, and I saw 15 or so SUV's in the ditch, and one car... from my experince driving SUV's a small front wheel drive car gets better traction and is more stable, same thing goes for shear safty, from all the articals I've read on numbers of people killed by differnt kinds of vehicles, if I had kids I would be more likely to tell them to take candy from strangers then to ride in an SUV.

[cfg83]

Peakster -

Originally Posted by Peakster

Wow! I had no idea that the Forester got that good of fuel economy.

Here's what I read at the Subaru site :

2.5 X
Sports 2.5 X
Horsepower: 173-hp 2.5-liter
Torque (lb.-ft.) : 166 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm
Manual: 22/29 mpg
Automatic: 23/28 mpg
- 87 Octane or higher

2.5 XT Limited
Sports 2.5 XT
Horsepower: 224 @ 5,600 rpm
Torque (lb.-ft.) : 226 lb-ft @ 3,600 rpm
Manual: 20/27 mpg
Automatic: 21/26 mpg
- 91 Octane Recommended for full performance !!!!

CarloSW2

[The Toecutter]

It would be nice if they gave these vehicles a diesel and streamlined them a bit. I'm sure that demand for a 200+ HP, 25 mpg cty, 50+ mpg hwy SUV would be pretty substantial, no matter how 'ugly' it looked.

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by Ryland

ah yes, getting out of the ditch in the snow... the first time the roads here got a bit of snow I had to go out of town, and I saw 15 or so SUV's in the ditch, and one car... from my experince driving SUV's a small front wheel drive car gets better traction and is more stable, same thing goes for shear safty, from all the articals I've read on numbers of people killed by differnt kinds of vehicles, if I had kids I would be more likely to tell them to take candy from strangers then to ride in an SUV.

The trick is to drive properly and stay OUT of the ditch. Last Wednesday, my wife and I were late to work because I couldn't get more than 1/2 mile away from home with the Saturn until the snowplow came through. Snow up past the bumper going uphill was not going to work. There was one spot where someone had broken through but the snow between the tracks was still too deep to go through going uphill. If I still had my Durango, I would have made it through just fine. I don't buy the argument of FWD being good enough. I will say though that it's not worth the extra expense to have a Durango when you only need it 1 or 2 times a year.

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

The trick is to drive properly and stay OUT of the ditch.

Ding, ding, ding!!! Exactly!

The first vehicles I see in the ditch after the first snow fall every year is some kind of SUV. The only vehicle I've seen race past me in the snow, only to be later seen in a ditch upside down with the wheels still turning is an SUV. The only vehicle that gives people such a false sense of security that they think they can magically do anything is, say it with me now, an SUV.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

If nothing else, the increased chances that an SUV is going to roll over should be reason to stay away.
I guess if you've looked at vehicles like station wagons, and mesured them to make sure that you can't get 3 child seats in there, and are defently set on haveing more kids, then get what your kids will fit in.
it just seems unreasonable to me for people to say "I'm having a kid" or "another kid, so I need a mini van, or an SUV" I'm the yongest of 3 boys, and when I was about 11 or 12 we sold the 4 door VW rabbit and bought a mini van, and then went back to a normal car because it wasn't useable space, and the cost of gas, and reparing it was so overwelming, I have sence then stuck with small cars for my personal use, and have noticed a few people comment on how they didn't exspect a "big guy" like me to drive a little car, but they couldn't argue with the fact that it's not cramped.