30 MPG SUV by GMC coming out this year

[MadisonMPG]

Uh, you carry 6 people to go grocery shopping?

[theunchosen]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

Uh, you carry 6 people to go grocery shopping?

No lol, we took five students to school(one hour drive --> and one <--) with one driver. We would pick up groceries on Sundays after getting out of church so there would be four of us(me parents brother) and yes you could have fit all the groceries in a subi. . .but the subi would not have handled our roads in the snow. Which happened several times a year every year(several inches on steep inclines).

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by theunchosen

.but the subi would not have handled our roads in the snow. Which happened several times a year every year(several inches on steep inclines).

You're kidding right?

Subaru is synonymous with AWD bad weather.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by theunchosen

...but the subi would not have handled our roads in the snow. Which happened several times a year every year(several inches on steep inclines).

You've got to be kidding on that one. I used to pull SUVs out of snowbanks every winter with my old '80 Subaru. Sure, it had problems in heavy, wet snow that was more than bumper deep, but so did everything but the rotary plows :-)

[theunchosen]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

You've got to be kidding on that one. I used to pull SUVs out of snowbanks every winter with my old '80 Subaru. Sure, it had problems in heavy, wet snow that was more than bumper deep, but so did everything but the rotary plows :-)

^_^ we had a plow lol as did our neighbors and everyone else that lived on the two streets that connected to a main road. It was a competition to see who could get out first.

But the Subi's can't handle it because they are too light. Subi's are great for handling in mud or things like that because they are rather lightweight, but in upper elevations where its frozen your lack of normal force(mass) kills it. Also The Subis of the time didn't have a ton of ground clearance, they had enough for most things but when you are running late for school and don't have time to chainsaw a couple of decent sized trees. . .

Trust me lol we would get all kinds of cars stuck around our house and the neighbors(we were the only two houses in a valley). I had a friend with an outback and a forester and I had to go pick them up. . .

To be fair I borrowed my neighbors HMMWV lol and drove across a couple of fields he owned and across a small river. We escaped to school that way more than a few times.

[evolutionmovement]

I'm sure most of the millions of SUVs are not used to capacity (which can be beaten by a minivan) or off road use. Most I see are suburban commuters that think the dirt driveway to their camp is off roading (the kind of roads I could do 60+ down in my old Legacy wagon). SUVs before they were called SUVs (anyone remember The Goonies when Chunk describes the Jeep as an "ORV"?) sold to a small market of people that used them for their intended purpose and I don't see a problem with that. The stupidity is with the ones that aren't. Like the idiots I see on the other end of the spectrum sitting in traffic in their Lamborghinis and Bentleys (and most likely getting worse mileage than the much maligned SUVs). I guess at least the Bentley has a nice interior when you're sitting at lights, stuck doing 20 mph, waiting for the cop to return your license, or the ever-fun 70-30-70 dance regulated by morons that can't drive steady speeds.

30 mpg out of a vehicle like this isn't bad at all when many mid-size sedans struggle to reach the same.

One of the biggest obstacles to fuel efficient vehicles is the majority of people controlled by their lizard brain—they live in constant fear of collisions and so dictate ever more safety equipment, which adds weight. And then they don't want a car that's too slow (or at least slower than the previous model. My God, how could the poor marketing people ever sell such a thing?), so the horsepower has to go up to compensate. Engine technology takes up some of the slack, but only so much. Then of course there's aerodynamics and marketing-led consumer styling expectations, but that's a whole other rant.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I like older cars because they are generally much more fun to drive being lighter, less isolated, and much more available with manual transmissions. New cars have also gotten less reliable as the level of extra crap has increased. I think the late '80's to early '90's was the golden age of cars—aero was at least considered, fairly advanced and reliable MPFI and distributorless ignition systems were coming in, many were still easy to work on, and rustproofing advancements were most welcome. I'd love to buy reissues of old cars with updates for current emissions. I'd pay $20k for a reissued 1984 Subaru hardtop with an EJ22 (wouldn't be overweight so it wouldn't need that garbage 2.5 they replaced it with) and some better rustproofing. Some extra chassis rigidity would be nice, too, but restricted to extra welds so as to keep the weight down. They wouldn't even have to upgrade the joke headlights as I'd be glad to do it myself as long as they built it. Come on, I'll sign any legal waiver you want and don't even need a warranty!

[theunchosen]

Originally Posted by evolutionmovement

One of the biggest obstacles to fuel efficient vehicles is the majority of people controlled by their lizard brain—they live in constant fear of collisions and so dictate ever more safety equipment, which adds weight.

It is not required yet but it very soon will be that crash testing take place against a dump truck. . .I mean an Escalade.

I don't really have an issue with someone's right to own the SUV I just have an issue as soon as they use it irresponsibly. a 4,000+ # SUV carries more than 2 times more energy than my car at the same speed. Also typically they are speeders and at 80+ the engine mounts for that big V8 really aren't designed for 80-0 in two tenths of a second, let alone my older compacts door panels.

If ULW(Ultra-Light-Weight) cars were allowed a separate lane they really would not need that mush more safety. a 1200 lb CF/FG car can't do anything like the damage a Steel guillotine would do. How many times have you heard of a motorcycle killing a passenger in a car?

Even if we just took the next step and made the SUVs out of composites instead you might be able to survive in something like the aptera if one hit you. against a modern Escalade though your a dead man.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by theunchosen

But the Subi's can't handle it because they are too light. Subi's are great for handling in mud or things like that because they are rather lightweight, but in upper elevations where its frozen your lack of normal force(mass) kills it.

Yeah, sure :-) At the time I was living at Lake Tahoe, and driving this road Mount Rose Summit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the Subaru to get to work/school most days. Here's a (rather small) photo of not-unusual snow conditions near the summit: http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1/12...inter-Reno.jpg

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by theunchosen

No lol, we took five students to school(one hour drive --> and one <--) with one driver. We would pick up groceries on Sundays after getting out of church so there would be four of us

My wife's from Madisonville originally, taking the truck into town for shopping meant at least three hours, and several coolers in the back.

Where she grew up, you had the fridge in the kitchen and two freezers in the basement - one for food, and one full of ice to back up the food one when the power went out. Knoxville power outages are measured in hours, Madisonville outages go by days/weeks.

[aerohead]

The direct injection and 6-speed is a good thing.Perhaps that will find its way into the passenger cars(Toyota/Suzuki variants would be nice too!) for those who cannot philosophically cannot go the way of the SUV.I think Lexus is up to 8-speeds now,that'd be even better.