Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
I wonder how a vehicle's utilization of it's cargo capacity could be included? For example semis and busses are down in the single digits mpg wise, but are far more efficient re: units of stuff moved per unit of fuel.
Note how I said UTILIZATION of capacity, as we all know (if we are willing to admit it) that the Suburbans and Expeditions of this country see more solo occupant duty than anything else.
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Yes. Let's imagine a family with but one vehicle. It may need to carry all of them
when the decision is reached to use it. For pickups it becomes even more complicated due to towing and payload capacities.
Personal transportation should be separated from vehicles chosen for specific work capacity (that double as personal transportation at times).
The bar needs to be set rather high in re trailer and load weight as many cars can tow a good deal more than Detroit would try to lead us to believe, thus a car w/trailer trumps most situations where a pickup appears to be a default choice.
Off the top of my head I would choose 1,000-lbs of freight, and/or a 5,000-lb trailer load for distinguishing between the "biggest" car for towing/carrying maximum numbers (this includes minivans) and the point where a truck is a somewhat better choice.
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