Stupid SUV's

[Jughead]

I do indeed appreciate my pickup truck, and it's not just for the 4WD for the snow. It is very convenient when purchasing a large item, and not have to wait for it to be delivered. Not to mention, is has the power to tow a boat, or any other heavy equipment (like an ATV). Best of all, it is very useful when at a sporting event (like football), and having a tailgate party in the parking lot. It has plenty of room in the back to carry a portable BBQ. It's also hard to enjoy offroading without an SUV or a pickup equipped with 4WD.

 

[Pogo]

Dude, you sooooooo need XM...

25% loaded is MUCH higher than I would have expected.

Most of the time I only haul one way...and I don't haul something every time I go out.

I can't be without a truck.

Whether it's taking the riding mower to my other property...picking up a load of drywall...bringing an engine block back to the machine shop...towing the boat to the lake...getting a load of mulch...taking the deer to the processor...try doing any of those things with a smart car.

You know where I find that Smart Car owner when he/she need to do those things?

On my doorstep on my day off, begging me to borrow my truck.

Actually I have XM. I may even keep it. It takes my mind off the fact that I'm driving a behemoth.

I wouldn't have either a pickup or a Smart, because they're designed for different things that I don't need. I don't live in a city, so there goes the Smart, plus as noted earlier it's just not fuel-efficient enough. And the few times I ever need a truck are few and far between enough that it's much more economical to rent one. Certainly they have their market, and always did. What I was mainly saying a while back is that that (true) market does not jibe with the sales figures; that there must be another element in play.

I've had XM since it first came out...back then you could get a lifetime subscription (they consider three radios a lifetime) for $300.

Wish I would have bought it. My folks have my first radio...still working, and I'm using my second...it's been probably 10 years.

Anyway, I smacked my antenna on a tree limb and it stopped working...let me tell you, I've been climbing the walls without it.

It might be a little better for me than it is for you...I can listen to Fox News most of the day, Car Talk in the afternoon, some Mark Levin and then some Cardinals Baseball...my day is complete.

Headline news has the murder mysteries on the weekends and C-Span give ya MTP, Talk of the Nation, Fox News Sunday, ABC Snuffluphugus Show and CNN State of the Union back to back on Sunday at noon.

How is the Lefty channel?

I have no idea. After hanging out here the last thing I need to hear on the radio is politics.

When I first got it I kept the comedy channels on most of the time, until I started to hear the same tracks over and over. I like having baseball now that it's in season, but most of the rest of the time I've generally got CBC on -- access to much better public radio than our cheap Congress allows us. Once in a while I'll hit the jazz channel. Have to say though the sound quality just isn't up to FM radio, so sometimes I'll go to that or my own burned music discs.

 

[Missourian]

Actually I have XM. I may even keep it. It takes my mind off the fact that I'm driving a behemoth.

I wouldn't have either a pickup or a Smart, because they're designed for different things that I don't need. I don't live in a city, so there goes the Smart, plus as noted earlier it's just not fuel-efficient enough. And the few times I ever need a truck are few and far between enough that it's much more economical to rent one. Certainly they have their market, and always did. What I was mainly saying a while back is that that (true) market does not jibe with the sales figures; that there must be another element in play.

I've had XM since it first came out...back then you could get a lifetime subscription (they consider three radios a lifetime) for $300.

Wish I would have bought it. My folks have my first radio...still working, and I'm using my second...it's been probably 10 years.

Anyway, I smacked my antenna on a tree limb and it stopped working...let me tell you, I've been climbing the walls without it.

It might be a little better for me than it is for you...I can listen to Fox News most of the day, Car Talk in the afternoon, some Mark Levin and then some Cardinals Baseball...my day is complete.

Headline news has the murder mysteries on the weekends and C-Span give ya MTP, Talk of the Nation, Fox News Sunday, ABC Snuffluphugus Show and CNN State of the Union back to back on Sunday at noon.

How is the Lefty channel?

I have no idea. After hanging out here the last thing I need to hear on the radio is politics.

When I first got it I kept the comedy channels on most of the time, until I started to hear the same tracks over and over. I like having baseball now that it's in season, but most of the rest of the time I've generally got CBC on -- access to much better public radio than our cheap Congress allows us. Once in a while I'll hit the jazz channel. Have to say though the sound quality just isn't up to FM radio, so sometimes I'll go to that or my own burned music discs.

Don't think I've ever tuned in CBC, I'll have to check it out.

My next radio will be a-la-carte enabled...you choose 50 channels...$7.99 per month.

http://www.siriusxm.com/packages/alacarte

 

[Pogo]

I've had XM since it first came out...back then you could get a lifetime subscription (they consider three radios a lifetime) for $300.

Wish I would have bought it. My folks have my first radio...still working, and I'm using my second...it's been probably 10 years.

Anyway, I smacked my antenna on a tree limb and it stopped working...let me tell you, I've been climbing the walls without it.

It might be a little better for me than it is for you...I can listen to Fox News most of the day, Car Talk in the afternoon, some Mark Levin and then some Cardinals Baseball...my day is complete.

Headline news has the murder mysteries on the weekends and C-Span give ya MTP, Talk of the Nation, Fox News Sunday, ABC Snuffluphugus Show and CNN State of the Union back to back on Sunday at noon.

How is the Lefty channel?

I have no idea. After hanging out here the last thing I need to hear on the radio is politics.

When I first got it I kept the comedy channels on most of the time, until I started to hear the same tracks over and over. I like having baseball now that it's in season, but most of the rest of the time I've generally got CBC on -- access to much better public radio than our cheap Congress allows us. Once in a while I'll hit the jazz channel. Have to say though the sound quality just isn't up to FM radio, so sometimes I'll go to that or my own burned music discs.

Don't think I've ever tuned in CBC, I'll have to check it out.

My next radio will be a-la-carte enabled...you choose 50 channels...$7.99 per month.

The A La Carte Package - SiriusXM Radio

Radio One rocks. I like the documentary shows like "Ideas" and "Under the Influence". The Current is a pretty good look at contemporary issues sometimes too.

Canada Talks has a conspiracy show, I forget when it's on but they had Roger Stone on with his LBJ book.

Thanks for the a la carte link - my renewal's up soon, good to know

(/offtopic)

 

[MikeK]

On the advice of a knowledgeable family friend I've owned nothing but (used) Cadillac cars for more than the past forty years and I have absolutely no regrets. They are big, well-made, comfortable, luxurious, good-looking, and they ride like sailboats on calm water. There is a problem in that they are making them smaller and the newer ones are not as well built, so I'm not looking forward to upgrading.

The number of different types of personal vehicles on the roads today reflects the extreme diversity in personal tastes of our population. My feelings on the matter is to each his/her own -- but I extremely dislike SUVs for the simple reason they block my forward view. I don't care about what is good or bad about them or how others feel about them. All I know is I don't like them and I wish they never were introduced.

 

[Missourian]

On the advice of a knowledgeable family friend I've owned nothing but (used) Cadillac cars for more than the past forty years and I have absolutely no regrets. They are big, well-made, comfortable, luxurious, good-looking, and they ride like sailboats on calm water. There is a problem in that they are making them smaller and the newer ones are not as well built, so I'm not looking forward to upgrading.

The number of different types of personal vehicles on the roads today reflects the extreme diversity in personal tastes of our population. My feelings on the matter is to each his/her own -- but I extremely dislike SUVs for the simple reason they block my forward view. I don't care about what is good or bad about them or how others feel about them. All I know is I don't like them and I wish they never were introduced.

Don't settle.

Waylon Jennings' 73 Eldorado Convertible is for sale right around the corner from my house...

Only $28,000 Waylon Jennings 1973 Cadillac Eldorado convertible

 

[Jarlaxle]

Yes because it's "selfish" to prefer an suv.

I hit a deer when I had three very young boys in the car with me. The deer was blown into pieces, my radiator was destroyed...the hood of the car was busted and came up with the deer...which almost came into the rig with the boys and I until the bug shield caught the bottom edge of it and pulled it back down under the rig.

I'll stick with my big vehicles. You call it selfish, I call it increased chance of survival next time I hit a deer.

See, if you would brake for deer like I brake for turkeys....

I can't believe you took my bait twice in one day but thanks. Here we go:

If you're part of the mentality that "bigger is safer" (that smaller cars are more dangerous) as you do above, then you must also agree that everyone buying bigger cars makes the pool of all cars bigger and heavier ---- and that makes the entire road more dangerous. That means if you get a car that's 4000 pounds, I have to get one that's 4500, but then you're not safe, so you go to 5000 ... on and on, and you have the same worthless argument as the "good guy with a gun" -- the fallacy of confronting a problem by adding fuel to it. There's no win there. You end up with a population of people driving tanks. It's like baseball salaries -- no such thing as "enough".

If you don't believe that myth (like me), then your argument for weight-as-basis-of-value disappears.

Can't have it both ways.

Therefore, if you believe more mass means more safety, then acting on it ups the ante for everybody and forces them to upsize too. And that means you're part of the same problem that the mass myth says is the problem, and that means you're doing it for Numero Uno. Ergo: selfish.

Which could well be the difference in philosophy between whether the greater good is that of the individual or that of the collective.


I hit a deer with my 2500 pound Saturn SW2 (more than once). The worst one took out my whole quarter panel (it just broke off - fiberglas body). The deer came out of nowhere and was killed. I got a new quarter panel and bolted it on. More significant is all the deer, pickup trucks and other animals I didn't hit because the car is low enough and nimble enough to navigate around them. Some of the moves I did with that station wagon, had I tried them with an SUV I would have ended up spinning around upside down on my roof, or worse.

And that's why I'll always prefer that kind of car, unless I'm doing something that absolutely needs another application, like a truck.

You're lucky you're alive. My wife got called to a fatality last year...guy hit a deer with a Saturn Ion & it came through the windshield. Both occupants dead at the scene, closed caskets.

My uncle hit a deer at 50MPH with his truck a while back. He had to wash the truck & replace a headlight the next day.

 

[Jarlaxle]

The engine of the Smart car is a Mistubishi. I never said they made them. In the same class as the Isetta made bt BMW (I believe for that was made bt BMW) It is strange for German manufactures to have engines built by others. MB Race engines are made in England as are the better Porsche engines. Check out Illmore and Judd. The women putting on makeup and trimming their hair isthe worst I've seen. Not even using the visor mirror, which would be bad enough; she had tipped the rear view so it was parallel with the windshield then stretched to use it. My best estimate is her right cheek was on the handbrake her left foot braced at the corner of the floor and left side of the footwell. That would have limited the motion of the right leg.

Not just cars: the new BMW C650GT engine is made (in Taiwan) by Kymco.

 

[Pogo]

Yes because it's "selfish" to prefer an suv.

I hit a deer when I had three very young boys in the car with me. The deer was blown into pieces, my radiator was destroyed...the hood of the car was busted and came up with the deer...which almost came into the rig with the boys and I until the bug shield caught the bottom edge of it and pulled it back down under the rig.

I'll stick with my big vehicles. You call it selfish, I call it increased chance of survival next time I hit a deer.

See, if you would brake for deer like I brake for turkeys....

I can't believe you took my bait twice in one day but thanks. Here we go:

If you're part of the mentality that "bigger is safer" (that smaller cars are more dangerous) as you do above, then you must also agree that everyone buying bigger cars makes the pool of all cars bigger and heavier ---- and that makes the entire road more dangerous. That means if you get a car that's 4000 pounds, I have to get one that's 4500, but then you're not safe, so you go to 5000 ... on and on, and you have the same worthless argument as the "good guy with a gun" -- the fallacy of confronting a problem by adding fuel to it. There's no win there. You end up with a population of people driving tanks. It's like baseball salaries -- no such thing as "enough".

If you don't believe that myth (like me), then your argument for weight-as-basis-of-value disappears.

Can't have it both ways.

Therefore, if you believe more mass means more safety, then acting on it ups the ante for everybody and forces them to upsize too. And that means you're part of the same problem that the mass myth says is the problem, and that means you're doing it for Numero Uno. Ergo: selfish.

Which could well be the difference in philosophy between whether the greater good is that of the individual or that of the collective.


I hit a deer with my 2500 pound Saturn SW2 (more than once). The worst one took out my whole quarter panel (it just broke off - fiberglas body). The deer came out of nowhere and was killed. I got a new quarter panel and bolted it on. More significant is all the deer, pickup trucks and other animals I didn't hit because the car is low enough and nimble enough to navigate around them. Some of the moves I did with that station wagon, had I tried them with an SUV I would have ended up spinning around upside down on my roof, or worse.

And that's why I'll always prefer that kind of car, unless I'm doing something that absolutely needs another application, like a truck.

You're lucky you're alive. My wife got called to a fatality last year...guy hit a deer with a Saturn Ion & it came through the windshield. Both occupants dead at the scene, closed caskets.

My uncle hit a deer at 50MPH with his truck a while back. He had to wash the truck & replace a headlight the next day.

It's not "luck" -- it's deliberate. I was intentionally driving a car that can maneuver out of these things, including a lot hairier escapades than that. Suffice to say some of those moves could never have been pulled off in a vehicle like the F-150 that pulled the bonehead stunt that made me take the evasive action that I'm pretty sure made me probably the only car to go through a certain general store's parking lot at 50mph. Or the other one when the motorcycle was coming the other way. The latter one did involve contact; it cracked my taillight lens.

No way in the world I want to drive a car that's incapable of that kind of action. Ever. As I said I'm an active participant in my driving. I don't sit back waiting to be hit and I find that mentality bizarre.

 

[MikeK]

On the advice of a knowledgeable family friend I've owned nothing but (used) Cadillac cars for more than the past forty years and I have absolutely no regrets. They are big, well-made, comfortable, luxurious, good-looking, and they ride like sailboats on calm water. There is a problem in that they are making them smaller and the newer ones are not as well built, so I'm not looking forward to upgrading.

The number of different types of personal vehicles on the roads today reflects the extreme diversity in personal tastes of our population. My feelings on the matter is to each his/her own -- but I extremely dislike SUVs for the simple reason they block my forward view. I don't care about what is good or bad about them or how others feel about them. All I know is I don't like them and I wish they never were introduced.

Don't settle.

Waylon Jennings' 73 Eldorado Convertible is for sale right around the corner from my house...

Only $28,000 Waylon Jennings 1973 Cadillac Eldorado convertible

It's a beauty and worth every penny. (I like Waylon Jennings, too.)

I had a '76 Eldorado convertible. Red with white leather & top. Absolutely gorgeous car. Probably the best-looking car ever made. Broke my heart when it was stolen.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

See, if you would brake for deer like I brake for turkeys....

I can't believe you took my bait twice in one day but thanks. Here we go:

If you're part of the mentality that "bigger is safer" (that smaller cars are more dangerous) as you do above, then you must also agree that everyone buying bigger cars makes the pool of all cars bigger and heavier ---- and that makes the entire road more dangerous. That means if you get a car that's 4000 pounds, I have to get one that's 4500, but then you're not safe, so you go to 5000 ... on and on, and you have the same worthless argument as the "good guy with a gun" -- the fallacy of confronting a problem by adding fuel to it. There's no win there. You end up with a population of people driving tanks. It's like baseball salaries -- no such thing as "enough".

If you don't believe that myth (like me), then your argument for weight-as-basis-of-value disappears.

Can't have it both ways.

Therefore, if you believe more mass means more safety, then acting on it ups the ante for everybody and forces them to upsize too. And that means you're part of the same problem that the mass myth says is the problem, and that means you're doing it for Numero Uno. Ergo: selfish.

Which could well be the difference in philosophy between whether the greater good is that of the individual or that of the collective.


I hit a deer with my 2500 pound Saturn SW2 (more than once). The worst one took out my whole quarter panel (it just broke off - fiberglas body). The deer came out of nowhere and was killed. I got a new quarter panel and bolted it on. More significant is all the deer, pickup trucks and other animals I didn't hit because the car is low enough and nimble enough to navigate around them. Some of the moves I did with that station wagon, had I tried them with an SUV I would have ended up spinning around upside down on my roof, or worse.

And that's why I'll always prefer that kind of car, unless I'm doing something that absolutely needs another application, like a truck.

You're lucky you're alive. My wife got called to a fatality last year...guy hit a deer with a Saturn Ion & it came through the windshield. Both occupants dead at the scene, closed caskets.

My uncle hit a deer at 50MPH with his truck a while back. He had to wash the truck & replace a headlight the next day.

It's not "luck" -- it's deliberate. I was intentionally driving a car that can maneuver out of these things, including a lot hairier escapades than that. Suffice to say some of those moves could never have been pulled off in a vehicle like the F-150 that pulled the bonehead stunt that made me take the evasive action that I'm pretty sure made me probably the only car to go through a certain general store's parking lot at 50mph. Or the other one when the motorcycle was coming the other way. The latter one did involve contact; it cracked my taillight lens.

No way in the world I want to drive a car that's incapable of that kind of action. Ever. As I said I'm an active participant in my driving. I don't sit back waiting to be hit and I find that mentality bizarre.

I dont care if you're Mario Andretti. Sometimes you cant avoid em because they do some stupid shit,like run off the the road and then right back in front of you.
And when that happens,which it will if you drive in areas with a heavy deer population,I'd rather be in a truck.

 

[Pogo]

You're lucky you're alive. My wife got called to a fatality last year...guy hit a deer with a Saturn Ion & it came through the windshield. Both occupants dead at the scene, closed caskets.

My uncle hit a deer at 50MPH with his truck a while back. He had to wash the truck & replace a headlight the next day.

It's not "luck" -- it's deliberate. I was intentionally driving a car that can maneuver out of these things, including a lot hairier escapades than that. Suffice to say some of those moves could never have been pulled off in a vehicle like the F-150 that pulled the bonehead stunt that made me take the evasive action that I'm pretty sure made me probably the only car to go through a certain general store's parking lot at 50mph. Or the other one when the motorcycle was coming the other way. The latter one did involve contact; it cracked my taillight lens.

No way in the world I want to drive a car that's incapable of that kind of action. Ever. As I said I'm an active participant in my driving. I don't sit back waiting to be hit and I find that mentality bizarre.

I dont care if you're Mario Andretti. Sometimes you cant avoid em because they do some stupid shit,like run off the the road and then right back in front of you.

That's basically what this F-150 did. Both of them.

That's the whole point -- when that does happen I want to be able to take that evasive action on a moment's notice. And I wouldn't have that capability were I in what they're driving - or in an inverted bathtub. Therefore I make sure I'm driving something that can handle it. And it works - repeatedly.

And when that happens,which it will if you drive in areas with a heavy deer population,I'd rather be in a truck.

You do what you want. I was describing what works for me based on my experience. And I live in a heavy deer population. My back yard is bordered by a federal forest. They're all around here. Sometimes if they're hanging around when I get home I chase them up the driveway (with the car) back into that forest. Once again-- I'm not a passive bystander in all of this.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

It's not "luck" -- it's deliberate. I was intentionally driving a car that can maneuver out of these things, including a lot hairier escapades than that. Suffice to say some of those moves could never have been pulled off in a vehicle like the F-150 that pulled the bonehead stunt that made me take the evasive action that I'm pretty sure made me probably the only car to go through a certain general store's parking lot at 50mph. Or the other one when the motorcycle was coming the other way. The latter one did involve contact; it cracked my taillight lens.

No way in the world I want to drive a car that's incapable of that kind of action. Ever. As I said I'm an active participant in my driving. I don't sit back waiting to be hit and I find that mentality bizarre.

I dont care if you're Mario Andretti. Sometimes you cant avoid em because they do some stupid shit,like run off the the road and then right back in front of you.

That's basically what this F-150 did. Both of them.

That's the whole point -- when that does happen I want to be able to take that evasive action on a moment's notice. And I wouldn't have that capability were I in what they're driving - or in an inverted bathtub. Therefore I make sure I'm driving something that can handle it. And it works - repeatedly.

And when that happens,which it will if you drive in areas with a heavy deer population,I'd rather be in a truck.

You do what you want. I was describing what works for me based on my experience.

And like I said,I dont care who you are. A deer can change directions faster then you'll ever be able to. So dont try and tell me you have faster reactions then a deer,because you dont.

 

[Pogo]

I dont care if you're Mario Andretti. Sometimes you cant avoid em because they do some stupid shit,like run off the the road and then right back in front of you.

That's basically what this F-150 did. Both of them.

That's the whole point -- when that does happen I want to be able to take that evasive action on a moment's notice. And I wouldn't have that capability were I in what they're driving - or in an inverted bathtub. Therefore I make sure I'm driving something that can handle it. And it works - repeatedly.

And when that happens,which it will if you drive in areas with a heavy deer population,I'd rather be in a truck.

You do what you want. I was describing what works for me based on my experience.

And like I said,I dont care who you are. A deer can change directions faster then you'll ever be able to. So dont try and tell me you have faster reactions then a deer,because you dont.

So you want to come out here and dictate what I drive - let alone what my reaction time is?

Rotsa ruck.

 

[mamooth]

A 2002 SUV model will kind of be a death trap due to the rollover hazard, but any 2014 model will have a better design and electronic stability control. That makes rollover far less likely, and the safety record of recent SUV models is excellent, much better than cars and almost as good as minivans.

Pickups, however, still stink at safety.

 

[koshergrl]

That's basically what this F-150 did. Both of them.

That's the whole point -- when that does happen I want to be able to take that evasive action on a moment's notice. And I wouldn't have that capability were I in what they're driving - or in an inverted bathtub. Therefore I make sure I'm driving something that can handle it. And it works - repeatedly.



You do what you want. I was describing what works for me based on my experience.

And like I said,I dont care who you are. A deer can change directions faster then you'll ever be able to. So dont try and tell me you have faster reactions then a deer,because you dont.

So you want to come out here and dictate what I drive - let alone what my reaction time is?

Rotsa ruck.

Er, no. Disagreeing with you is not dictating to you what you must drive.

And your experience is shit with deer, and driving, if you think any of that blather you just wrote is true.

 

[koshergrl]

I also had a deer jump down from an enbankment, on a corner, when I was driving a GEO. It came down right on the front left bumper.

You can't evade that shit. There was no evading the three deer on the corner either.

 

[koshergrl]

We cut that deer up and called it venison.

There was nothing left of the one I hit with the truck. The stater who talked to me said there was like one haunch by the road...they couldn't find the rest of it. He said we were lucky to be alive. Having been there, I knew how lucky we were...and how having the kids buckled in saved them, before it was law.

 

[Pogo]

And like I said,I dont care who you are. A deer can change directions faster then you'll ever be able to. So dont try and tell me you have faster reactions then a deer,because you dont.

So you want to come out here and dictate what I drive - let alone what my reaction time is?

Rotsa ruck.

Er, no. Disagreeing with you is not dictating to you what you must drive.

I described what works for me, and he jumped in redefining to what works for him. Perhaps he's under the impression it's all about him when it's not. I dunno.

And your experience is shit with deer, and driving, if you think any of that blather you just wrote is true.

I should - I was there for it.

Hey I just don't believe in cowering in my house because if I step outside a meteor might hit me. I take control and I takes my chances. So sue me.

 

[koshergrl]

It has worked for you because you have been lucky, and probably blissfully unaware of the times when you had very near misses.