Clev if you live in california you might have 2o days of winter. Last winter started in with the snow in November and ended in late march. I wish I had 4wd but don't, I would not prefer to lug around the 500 pounds of shafts and gears for the few months that I need them. If I had 4wd I would have used it but didn't, hence chains.
I bought my econoline to transport my streamliners to races, I became disenamored with driving thousands of miles with an econoline to race a few miles in a bicycle and quit bike racing because of the expense. Now I have two farms and use the truck to haul equipment and supplies between them. Grow my food. My farm crops help to power your car in an manner that does not involve importing foreign oil. I burn Biodiesel in my tractors and gasohol in my trucks. I am getting tired of paying $2.50-2.75 for gas and $2.99 for biodiesel.
Smart thinking about not wanting to swerve to avoid a potential collision. Statistics have proven that the only way to avoid a collision is to brake. Of course that is not accurate in every case. Statistic show that rain is a big component in deer accidents but every hunting statistic shows that deer don't move in the rain ...What that that prove, neither proves anything. I have a lot of training in maneuvering to avoid.
From the day in 1968 when I got my drivers license I wanted to race a car. It never came to pass, was always beyond my budget. Later I was lucky to spend 4 years roadracing motorcycles then another number of years racing bicycles. Riding motorcycles and bicycles is something that I continue to enjoy. I have avoiding tons of crashes on the track and road. Still if you look at statistics accidents (collisions) happen of drivers of all calibers.
When I studied physics we were taught that Newton stated that something like A=F/m That means that if you have more mass, you will be subject to less acceleration. Something desirable in an accident. I suppose that it would be better from your perspective if you and I had a collision I would not be in a 5000 pound vehicle but walking. Life is not fair that way.
I would be open sir if you want to get me a new economy car. Please test it and see if you can haul 5000 pounds minimum.
Thanks again for explaining the difference between California and Missouri.
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Originally Posted by Clev
And, once again, I'm telling you that there were FIVE of those in the ENTIRE STATE OF MISSOURI last year. It isn't the deer that leaps into the vehicle that is the problem, it's the perception that somebody needs a tank to protect themselves from something that happened FIVE times in 161,000 accidents. I absolutely guarantee that MANY more people died in rollovers in full-size vans trying to avoid collisions.
And the other 325 days of the year? I live in a mountainous area of California and pretty much guarantee that I get more snow and mudslides than you, yet I manage to drive my 4WD less than 20 days a year.
Why are you driving an Econoline then? What if you hit one of your 50% of neighbors that also drives an SUV or truck? If I were you I'd immediately upgrade to a Topkick. Hopefully there are no fully-loaded big rigs bearing down on you; no doubt they're killing hundreds a day on your route.
There, I fixed that for you. You don't NEED to drive a 5,000 pound van around. You've brought up the entire repertoire of excuses of every person who has taken up two spots at the grocery store with a Hummer.
The topic for this site is improving mileage. The top way to improve mileage is to only drive a 5,000 pound flat-faced block when you actually need it, and the second is to drive slower, which incidentally would help your deer avoidance (the topic of this thread) as well.
BTW, is this Econoline 4WD? You'd have better maneuverability and wouldn't have to chain up nearly as often with an S10 4WD. And you'd get 25-30 mpg.
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