K5 Blazer?

[wmjinman]

I know - sigh....... :-/

What just kills me is after a couple of decades of "new technology", and supposed big pushes towards energy efficiency, they STILL aren't making any plain ol' non-hybrid cars that can beat the MPG of something like a little Geo Metro or Honda hatchback. Yet the ads on TV are BRAGGING about this or that new, efficient car that gets 38 mpg. . . . . PLEASE!!!! When my Swift's MPG got DOWN to about 38 is about when I decided I had to replace the engine!!!

[bestclimb]

Best way to make a truck like a blazer more efficient is to load the thing down and pull a trailer near max capacity. Or drive it in conditions that a more miserly vehicles are unable to operate.

Don't get me wrong full size rigs have a place and a use I have pointed out before that a chevy suburban is more efficient than a geo metro when operated near max capacity, but as a single occupant commuter it's strengths are not being utilized and it's shortcomings are being highlighted. You can spend all the energy you want to make a blazer more efficient, but you are still totting around a couple extra tons of vehicle. If the blazer is the right rig for you due to how awesome you think it is that's fine, but the cost for that will be a fuel bill that is twice or more than for a more suitable ride.

Back when I was choosing a first car. I picked a sweet dodge pickup over a toyota corrola/chevy nova. sure the truck was way cooler but I paid through the nose for that image (and this was when gas was less than a buck per gallon). Had I to do it over I'd go with the much lamer nova and pocket the difference in fuel, insurance, and maintenance.

[Frank Lee]

Another factor is the short trips- the bigger the engine block, the worse it is for warm-up unless a block heater is used. Can it be plugged in again at the destinations? It'll never warm up in 7 miles.

This isn't about capability, it's all about vanity.

[BurningSkyline]

No I won't be able to plug it in at its destination and my plan is to take this thing on camping trips. I suppose I could get an S10 blazer 2dr but I'd still rather get the fullsize

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by BurningSkyline

No I won't be able to plug it in at its destination and my plan is to take this thing on camping trips.

If you get the Diesel, as long as you know how to cold-start it with ether, there's no trouble

I suppose I could get an S10 blazer 2dr but I'd still rather get the fullsize

The full-size is cool, and a better option if you would strongly consider the Diesel, but if you would go gasser the S10 Blazer is not a bad option at all.

[BurningSkyline]

Are 2dr Tahoes rare?

[wmjinman]

Originally Posted by BurningSkyline

No I won't be able to plug it in at its destination and my plan is to take this thing on camping trips. I suppose I could get an S10 blazer 2dr but I'd still rather get the fullsize

I bought an '85 S-15 Jimmy 2-door (the GMC version of the S-10 Blazer) brand new back in '85, and LOVED it. Drove it almost every day for 18 years, then gave it to my parents when I got my replacement, my 2000 4-door Jimmy. and it's still running!

It was the 2.8 liter v-6, carbureted, and almost always got 25 MPG highway (without hypermiling). And I've hit 30 on highway trips when I drove slow & hyper-miled. It was a 5 speed 4 wheel drive, with no a/c, and manual crank windows. I'm about 5' 10" and slept in it many, many times. I could stretch out if I slid the passenger's seat foreward.

It wont carry as heavy a load (or trailer) as the full sized Blazer, but will go on narrower trails & have more room in parking spaces!!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by wmjinman

I bought an '85 S-15 Jimmy 2-door (the GMC version of the S-10 Blazer) brand new back in '85, and LOVED it. Drove it almost every day for 18 years, then gave it to my parents when I got my replacement, my 2000 4-door Jimmy. and it's still running!

It was the 2.8 liter v-6, carbureted, and almost always got 25 MPG highway (without hypermiling). And I've hit 30 on highway trips when I drove slow & hyper-miled. It was a 5 speed 4 wheel drive, with no a/c, and manual crank windows. I'm about 5' 10" and slept in it many, many times. I could stretch out if I slid the passenger's seat foreward.

It wont carry as heavy a load (or trailer) as the full sized Blazer, but will go on narrower trails & have more room in parking spaces!!

An uncle of mine had a 2nd-gen S10 Blazer, a 4-door one, maybe the best "car" he ever had. That was a Brazilian version with the earliest Diesel available for the 2nd-gen Blazer back here. For its size, even the towing capacity was not so bad...

[BurningSkyline]

Looks like I might just end up getting an S-10. What kind of Subtle aero mods could I do out of curiosity? Grill blocks, maybe partial underbelly pan, not sure what else.

[wmjinman]

If you end up with one similar to my 2000 Jimmy, you could probably expect similar results to what I got: Air dam was good for a couple mpg (as I recall), roof rack delete was about 1/2 mpg. I tried folding the mirrors back, but only got 0.15 mpg out of it. - probably not worth it considering the loss of rearward visibility. I also tried mock-up rear fender skirts & saw no gains at all (in 3 different tests). That was sure a dissappointment. And maximum mpg speed was 40 mph. This is the 4-door version with 4.3 liter Vortec V-6 and 4-speed overdrive trans - and it's 4-wheel drive.

My thread on it is under "My 2000 Jimmy Challenge" in the "Ecomodding Central" catagory. (See thumbnail below)