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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Okay, let's look at the two reasons why you felt the need for an SUV - additional cargo space and a third row seat. Let's start with the latter, do you really "need" a third seat? I mean, how often do you really transport other kids besides your own? To hockey practice? Well then don't expect to get much gear behind the third seat...
With regards to the former, your Outlander offers 39 cubic feet when the third seat is folded, and 72.6 cubic feet when the second and third rows are folded. Compare this to a 2002 and up Volvo V70, which has 38.5 cubic ft of storage space behind rear seats. Fold the rear seats down and there are 71.4 cubic feet of cargo space at your disposal.
I'm sure that extra .8 feet of space was worth the righteous anger of environmentalists and a sense of guilt, right? Meanwhile, a used Volvo would allow you to keep your hipster cred without increasing your carbon footprint through the manufacturing of a new car.
Maybe it's because I'm a bass player. Maybe it's because I'm a long time shade tree mechanic. For whatever reason, I've long been in love with old 245 Volvo wagons and currently own both a 30 and 20 year old version of this venerable Swedish tractor. Both of them get 25 mpg on the highway, where I do most of my driving. They offer a FULL six feet of rest stop sleeping room in the back (with the rear seat folded up), AND room for my standup bass and amp. One cost $850, the other $2000.
As for the mini van... well... One of my first cars (and a few subsequent ones) was a VW microbus. I still have it mothballed out back. I view the Windstar I have as a close cousin to it. A actual workable cousin. Like with water cooling, and a heater and defroster, for example. Cool? Who the heck cares? It's my summer touring rig with all the benefits of the Volvo wagons, with the additional plus of being able to sleep me, my beloved, and the aforementioned bass and gear. I call it my mini RV.
I don't care - nor have I ever - what people think of as "cool" in an automobile. Both the dear, dependable, and amateur fixable Volvos, and the remarkably well running Windstar do what I'd like them to do, haul what I need hauled, and get at least decent mileage doing so. All three are completely paid for and have been since I obtained them.
Get what you need. Don't pay attention to status or perceived taunts of "coolness" from bozos, and get on with it.
My husband and I just spent Saturday test driving vehicles. We do tow a small popup trailer (with kids and bikes) so we do want something with the power to do it. We are settling in on another minivan, the space is there and the mileage isn't so attrocious (and I like how minivans utilize space better). We don't need all wheel drive. I don't understand the "image" thing...are SUV's supposed to be sexy or something? Since Ford and GM got out of the minivan biz that leaves Chrysler, Toyota and possibly Nissan. We would like to buy American so that leaves Chrysler (Town and Country or Caravan) but boy that Nissan sure drove nicely and they seem to be more willing to deal than Toyota.
Does anyone have any info on the "carbon footprint" of a vehicle assembled overseas versus mileage?
I agree with another poster here, minivans will come back. The mileage of my Pontiac Transport is not that much worse than the mileage of my Toyota Camry.
I'm amused by the assumption that you have to own a car.
Once you think you have to own a car, the SUV -- the Hummer -- indeed, the Sherman tank follow logically. You're already in prison and the only question is the size of the bars. Some people like big bars, some people like little bars. Everyone likes looking down on the people who have a different size of bar.
OK, so go polish your bars. Don't worry about saving the planet -- you're a helpless prisoner and someone else will have to do it.
If you're commuting to work via bicycle and leaving the SUV in the driveway, it's entirely possible that your carbon footprint is less than many Prius owners.
I don't judge strangers based simply on the cars they drive- although it's plain that when I pull into a metro area parking lot jammed full of SUVs and outsized trucks, that a whole lot of folks must have gone for the okey-doke.
(I'm the guy in the 1990 Toyota Camry.)
Really, if you just want a big vehicle for vacations, weekenders, or long trips, the rental option is always there. Do the math.
Well, I guess the author has suffered enough abuse, and I have to believe that the article was written with this heated discussion in mind... here are my 2 cents:
I bought the first US Prius in 2001, bought a second one in 2006 and my son now drives the first one (with over 100,000 miles on it). That one has bike and ski racks on it, and makes regular trips to the local ski mountains in the Poconos (OK, we don't live near the Rockies!). The cars seat five adults (big adults - my sons and I are over 6' tall, and I have ridden in the back plenty of times), and both have pretty good cargo space as well. If I need to haul a lot of stuff (like SCUBA gear to a local dive site), no problem, the 2006 Prius is a hatchback (and the 2001 has a lot of trunk space).
VERY reliable cars, despite their rep as being pricey, they are less than the average new car price (the 2009 model is 22K base). I personally like buying used cars, and they seem well made enough to hold value for the second owner.
I'm trying to think how often people with two little kids would go out to the driveway and say "oh, gee... we just can't do this because the Prius is too small".
If that happens once a year, rent something, ask the other parents to follow in their car, make two trips, take two cars, borrow your neighbors helicopter, whatever... I don't drive around every day in an eighteen wheel tractor trailer because I might need one to move someday..!
This is a real issue, and not just an environmental one. If the AVERAGE mileage of a US vehicle was improved by 2.7 MPG, this would eliminate the need for Persian Gulf imports...
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
Salon headlines in your mailbox
