Mission Impossible: Taming the Giants (Excursion/Hummer modding)

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by elhigh

I once had a '78 Civic, a car whose mission in life was evidently to never admit it wasn't a motorcycle.

If EM had a "quote of the week" highlight, that'd be this week's winner.

[DifferentPointofView]

So far, the most comfortable car right off the bat I've ever driven is my ZJ. It fit me perfectly. It had the lean, the perfect seat hight, perfect butt room. Then I let my brother who's taller than I am, but not old enough for a license (yea.. hes taller) drive it and he said "man... this is like, perfect. The door has a perfect elbow placement to rest it on, and the seat is right there"

Then I drive my cousin's nissan pathfinder, and it's nowhere near as comfortable. My brother falls asleep anytime we go over 15minutes in a drive in the ZJ. Passenger seat is more roomy than the drivers by what feels like twice the room. and with the seat all the way back, there's still plenty of legroom for the people in back. Only problem about it... Gas mileage.

[ankit]

Originally Posted by DifferentPointofView

My brother falls asleep anytime we go over 15minutes in a drive in the ZJ.

Maybe that is because of your boring driving.

On a side note, I that at least 25% of the moms picking up their kids from school were driving tanks.

[WTFM8]

Me: "Hi, I'm WTFM8, and I have an F-150 that gets **** mileage." Group: "Hi, WTFM8."

I have an F-150 (Big Gulp XL) that sits in my driveway, mostly unused, because it's just completely absurd when measured from any standpoint of practicality. Vehicles like pickups and SUVs lure potential buyers in with a grand promise of utility and security, but IMHO, tend to widely fail on both counts.

Furthermore, take away the bed of the truck (Ford Expedition) and you've lost what little use I had for it in the first place! Believe it not, my 19 yr old sub compact wagon proves itself to have more utility function than the pickup 90% of the time, if only for the simple fact that I can afford to drive it wherever I need to go! If I need to get something from home depot, as long as it isn't full sheets of sheetrock or plywood, then it'll probably fit in the wagon, and I'll use less than half the fuel on the trip. Plus, it's got caverns of leg room, including a dead pedal, and loads of headroom. More than that, with the magic back seats down I can even sleep comfortably in the back when I need to. I've had minivans that were less spacious, and you can forget about anything like that in a hummer.

I'll be sending Big Gulp XL back where it came from soon enough, but it's taught me a valuable lesson about choosing the right vehicle for your needs: find out what your "needs" are realistically, and then buy accordingly. Here's to an old-school manual Tacoma when time comes!

[lovemysan]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Pointless.

The excursion and suburban are not pointless. We use to carpool to church with some friends in a suburban. There are very few vehicles that will seat 4 adults and 3 car seats. Now there are 4 kids and 4 adults and we still all would fit comfortably. They use there's to farm. You cannot water the cows on the back lot with a dodge caravan. They sold there pickup and now use only the suburban.
My wife and I intend to have lots of children. A 9 passenger suburban with a 4bt would net us 25mpg +. There is a new Tier2 3.3l cummins that would do slightly better. While a minivan would work fine for a daily we also travel 3-5k a year. Trucking tons of people and luggage in an overloaded van is not something I enjoy. The heavier suspension,frame, and brakes of a burb is something I appreciate. There are vans that are bigger but I find there more dangerous in the event of a blowout
So yes I intend to hypermile a suburban. Maybe an excursion if the prices come down in a few years. Some people enjoy doing things differently, thats why I drive a saturn festooned with coroplast and sheet aluminum.

[WTFM8]

Originally Posted by lovemysan

There are very few vehicles that will seat 4 adults and 3 car seats.

Fair enough, but I can think of quite a few pairs of vehicles that can do more with the same gas consumption and total weight.

[mopo3]

I live in Houston, TX and I drive 23 miles to work and see that something like half the vehicles are either pick-ups or suv's with one person in it commuting to there office job. If the SUV has 7 people in it then 20MPG*7people is pretty good compared to 7 cars at 50MPG, but most people wont car pool with there SUVs and that is why they are not commuter vehicles.

[WTFM8]

Suburban at 20 MPG x 7 passengers = 140 MPG (ok)
Honda Civic at 45 MPG x 4 passengers = 180 MPG (better)
Honda FR-V Diesel at 42 MPG x 6 passengers = 252 MPG (excellent)
Econoline van at 11 MPG x 15 passenger = 165 MPG (hmm...)
School bus at 8 MPG x 30 passengers = 240 MPG (interesting)

I know this serves to prove very little, but there are more efficient ways to haul a large group around than a suburban.

Also, I love how people will carpool the short drive to church, but never consider doing so going to work.

BTW: the FR-V Diesel will be coming to the US next year.

[Chris D.]

Originally Posted by WTFM8

Suburban at 20 MPG x 7 passengers = 140 MPG (ok)
Honda Civic at 45 MPG x 4 passengers = 180 MPG (better)
Honda FR-V Diesel at 42 MPG x 6 passengers = 252 MPG (excellent)
Econoline van at 11 MPG x 15 passenger = 165 MPG (hmm...)
School bus at 8 MPG x 30 passengers = 240 MPG (interesting)

I know this serves to prove very little, but there are more efficient ways to haul a large group around than a suburban.

Also, I love how people will carpool the short drive to church, but never consider doing so going to work.

BTW: the FR-V Diesel will be coming to the US next year.

do you mean Miles Per Tank? MPT?

if not, I'm confused..

[LostCause]

Originally Posted by WTFM8

I know this serves to prove very little, but there are more efficient ways to haul a large group around than a suburban.

Very true and another thing to consider is how impractical it is to fill up a vehicle to full occupancy. Getting 4 passengers together is a lot easier than getting 7 passengers together. Therefore, a lower occupancy vehicle will be more likely to operate at peak efficiency than a higher occupancy vehicle.

High occupancy also kills the value of a car...personal freedom.

Originally Posted by Chris D.

do you mean Miles Per Tank? MPT?

He means MPG per person. For example: a bus that gets 5 MPG and carries 30 people will have the same overall efficiency as a single-occupant car getting 150 MPG.

5 MPG x 30 people = 150 Persons MPG
150MPG x 1 person = 150 Persons MPG

While a bus gets less mileage, it can carry more people over a given distance. If passenger miles are what really matters, then basing efficiency in passenger miles is a more realistic assessment of a vehicles overall efficiency. You can see a single-occupancy vehicle is actually pretty inefficient.

Clear as mud?

- LostCause