ECO-terrorist arrested in SUV burnings....

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by K6-III
The only safety advantage to an SUV is that it is more massive. It is either less safe for the driver of the other vehicle, or in no way safer once other switch to SUV's...

Again, greater chance of rollover due to high center of gravity, worse maneuverability/braking due to larger mass, worse fuel economy....need I go on???

It takes a more massive vehicle and vehicle frame to handle the power and the weight of a large drive line, not to mention being able to balance properlly the mass of a large tow load. Engines like a Cummings diesel won't fit into a Nissan Pathfinder, Ford Ranger or a station wagon

Dr. Mordrid

[Jammrock]

gt40,

I said I hate people with no purpose owning an SUV/truck. I said people with a purpose, like your are okay. When you are a paper pusher and drive 50 km each way to work in a top-of-the-line V8/10 SUV or truck, then those poeple need to be bitched slapped to death.

There are HUDREDS of people like that at my work. They live 50+ km from work and drive these massive gas guzzling vehicles to work to write reports or make phone calls and go to meeting. It really pisses me off.

Just my feeling though.

Jammrock

[capt. marvel]

"Again, greater chance of rollover due to high center of gravity, worse maneuverability/braking due to larger mass, worse fuel economy....need I go on???"

indeed there is a higher rate of rollovers for suv's ..and they like to roll, and they flip violently, I've seen lots of them. as far as the mass making the braking worse that’s a farce.. its all math and the mass is proportional to momentum as it is to gravity..thus a light car will stop the same as a heavy car with the same tires and equal braking ability.

[capt. marvel]

ohh... by the way any 19 year old cute car is polluting the air more than the biggest suv built recently. food for thougtht.

[K6-III]

Air pollution is the least of my worries in regards to SUV's. My primary concern: Energy Dependency.

[agallag]

Sure SUVs roll more easily than most cars, but given a stupid enough driver, just about anything can be turned upside down. I once saw a nice bottom view of a Ferrari Testarossa on the side of Hwy 401 just outside Toronto. All you could see was the tires, the beautiful aerodynamic underside that ferarris have, and just a bit of the bright red fins on the side of the car.

Not sure what kind of crazy stunt you'd have to be doing to get that to happen. It was a perfectly straight stretch of highway, bright sunny summer day, around noon (no sun in the eyes). There was about a three foot deep ditch after a wide shoulder, and the ferrari had cleared all of that and ended up about 20 feet up a grassy hill, completely upside down. It looked totally intact too, as if a crane had gently placed it there, upside down. Weird.

[The Rock]

I'm with Jammrock on the no-use SUV people. But I am surprised that more people here haven't mentioned the reason most people buy SUVs today (at least here in Ottawa it seems): because everyone has 3 kids that they lug to 9 different sports. SOCCER MOMS!! In Canada its hockey/soccer/football/baseball-all-at-the-same-time moms with 3 kids. Of course they don't stop and think that a good sized sedan will carry quite a big load, eat less gas, be safer to drive (all year round with the right snow tires), etc.

Jammrock: I bet you share one of my personal pet peeves - people who buy SUVs and put low-profile chrome rims on em. That is a !@#$%^&* disgrace to humanity.

[DukeP]

Originally posted by capt. marvel
ohh... by the way any 19 year old cute car is polluting the air more than the biggest suv built recently. food for thougtht.

.

Actually not neccesarily.
Take My car. Electronic injection, full catalysation etc. Small 1.3 liters gasoline engine. Very clean combustion, and (especially for a 4wd vehicle) nice mileage. Compare this to any (almost) new diesel car - it will win hands up.

I Do test the outpout on it, tho. And adjust its runing from time to time. Im a bit spoiled in the area, my father owns a mechanic shop (garage?? repair shop??).

But the whole issue about "pollution" from cars is vastly off track in my country. We are SO enviromentally friendly - at least thats what we go and tell each other.

And still, all our CITY busses run on Diesel. Diesel is the number one delivere of human-affecting exhaust pollution. Small cancerogenious particles, in numbers thats 100.000 times higher than for comparable gasoline engines.
And to use this sort of engine in a CITY bus, thats just plain stupid/ignorant.

Im all for hydrogen or liquid gas driven cars. Unfortunately our politicians are keeping their eye more to the economy (we have a netto export of crude oil, here in Denmark) than to the enviroment - and health of its citizens.

/rant.

~~DukeP~~

[Marshmallowman]

Yeah little suzuki 4wd are pretty good on fuel..
I bought a 95 vitara, and the amount i save on fuel pays for the rego and a bit more on my old 76 Torana (hoon car).
And I only drive a couple of k's to work anyway

And It goes wherever I want even with a trailer on the back, biggest thing I have to worry about is ground clearance becasue of all the larger 4wd's digging up the tracks, and with small lift kit I don't have to worry to much about that.

It nice to know the cost of a full weekend out the bush&beach, cost the same as just getting a large 4wd their

But if I was in climate with snow..etc I would probably favour something a bit larger, but I don't think I would ever want to live in snow climate anywayz

[Jammrock]

Originally posted by DukeP
.

Actually not neccesarily.
Take My car. Electronic injection, full catalysation etc. Small 1.3 liters gasoline engine. Very clean combustion, and (especially for a 4wd vehicle) nice mileage. Compare this to any (almost) new diesel car - it will win hands up.

I Do test the outpout on it, tho. And adjust its runing from time to time. Im a bit spoiled in the area, my father owns a mechanic shop (garage?? repair shop??).

But the whole issue about "pollution" from cars is vastly off track in my country. We are SO enviromentally friendly - at least thats what we go and tell each other.

And still, all our CITY busses run on Diesel. Diesel is the number one delivere of human-affecting exhaust pollution. Small cancerogenious particles, in numbers thats 100.000 times higher than for comparable gasoline engines.
And to use this sort of engine in a CITY bus, thats just plain stupid/ignorant.

Im all for hydrogen or liquid gas driven cars. Unfortunately our politicians are keeping their eye more to the economy (we have a netto export of crude oil, here in Denmark) than to the enviroment - and health of its citizens.

/rant.

~~DukeP~~

If memory serves me correctly, beside the standard tax/VAT on cars, there is a potentially HUGE environmental tax on cars in Denmark. The more your car pollutes, the more it is taxed. It can make the sales tax on cars upwards of 250%!!!! At least that's the way it was explained when I was there.

But don't the big cities there have electric buses in the busy parts of towns? I remeber seeing some in Kuubenhavn (Copenhagen).

Jammrock

[Greebe]

ohh... by the way any 19 year old cute car is polluting the air more than the biggest suv built recently. food for thougtht.

Use to have a '81 Toyota Starlet, when it was 19 years old I gave it away, snif snif, it was a good gocart... that got 32mpg with 267k miles on it! Now just what new SUV did you want me to compare it to?

[K6-III]

Well, the biggest would probably be the Ford Excursion with the V10...

[Nowhere]

Originally posted by Jammrock
If memory serves me correctly, beside the standard tax/VAT on cars, there is a potentially HUGE environmental tax on cars in Denmark. The more your car pollutes, the more it is taxed. It can make the sales tax on cars upwards of 250%!!!! At least that's the way it was explained when I was there.

But don't the big cities there have electric buses in the busy parts of towns? I remeber seeing some in Kuubenhavn (Copenhagen).

Jammrock

Well, here (and...everywhere) are also those little cute things


The fastest way to get somewhere during rush hours...(especially that line above, since it rarely crosses roads
And in this particular model the psychos aren't allowed to drive this thing by employer, I guess (at least I get this impression)...)

[K6-III]

Yeah, we're finally getting our first light rail line in the Minneapolis. Opens in early 2004.

[gt40]

Originally posted by K6-III
Well, the biggest would probably be the Ford Excursion with the V10...

I really doubt anyone who buys one of these does not have a good use for it i.e. 10 passengers and 11,000 lb towing capacity.