Trucks & SUVs

[Frank Lee]

Not saying these are all fuel conscience people, just that it may not be fair to evaluate a % at a craft show, home supply store, so on.

You can eliminate or minimize that variable by doing the survey at an employer's parking lot- should be mainly commuters- or a restaurant parking lot, or even just counting vehicles out on the road or in my case, the constant ******* parade on the street in front of my house that I thought was a residential area (guess it's a thoroughfare ). I think the ratios will be so similar it doesn't really matter where you survey.

Gas is cheap and people will spend their money the way they want, right? Won't stop 'em from whining about the cost of everything; won't stop 'em from lining their suvs and trucks up in front of the food shelves because by golly they have to feed their trucks first; won't stop 'em from losing their homes to foreclosure either cuz ya gotsta have your priorities.

[poomanchu]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Gas is cheap and people will spend their money the way they want, right? Won't stop 'em from whining about the cost of everything; won't stop 'em from lining their suvs and trucks up in front of the food shelves because by golly they have to feed their trucks first; won't stop 'em from losing their homes to foreclosure either cuz ya gotsta have your priorities.

So the moral of the story is, if you drive a truck or SUV and your home forecloses it is because you chose to drive a truck. Wow! Don;t know what to say to that

[chefdave]

Hi
where i live in very far north of scotland has many crofts and winter usually brings lots of rain and icey roads so 4wd are very prominate. suv and saloon/estate cars fitted with 4wd. subaru legacys audi quttro saloons etc. front wheel drive is mainly found in towns as view up here is keep going no what the weather throws at you floods blizzards 4ft of snow and strong winds. go to nearest city 120miles away and it is filled with normal cars. Shows that people buy cars here to do what they need. i mudt be the only oddball in 10000 square miles. i drive a motorhome to commute in. dont ask but has attrated lots of postive comments. have had offers from friends to rent it for weekend trips. could start to earn money from it.

[Arragonis]

I don't think it is money.

I think it the desire to show you have money more than anything else.

As an example A-Junior went to a state "primary" school until aged 10 here. It is in a "nice" area and at school events the car park would be full of brand new, top of the range Range Rovers, BMW X-5s etc. - more of less £30-40K ($50-65k) each. A couple of families would always turn up in a Maserati once or twice and one guy insisted on driving his Ferrari alone and having the family join him in their Range Rover.

We moved A-Junior to a fee paying school at age 11 for various reasons - and no we are not rich we are just spending less on other stuff...

You would think that this would mean given the fees and the profile that even fancier cars would be present at school events ?

Nope. Honda Jazz (aka Fit), Civics, Audi A4s, Mondeos etc. - more or less cars in the £10-20K range. Some (like me) running older mercs and Audis too.

The parents are more interesting too.

Mr Ferrari at A-jnrs old school was a car salesman. So yeah, cars, expensive cars...

The guy in the 8 year old Subaru Forrester I got talking too one evening at the new school is head of security for an international charity. Another (in a £12K second-hand Freelander) is a director for a worldwide biotech leader and his wife (no car) is involved in a worldwide charity at a high level.

No need to show off though, none of them.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by poomanchu

So the moral of the story is, if you drive a truck or SUV and your home forecloses it is because you chose to drive a truck. Wow! Don;t know what to say to that

There are many brand-new pickup/suv owners around here that live in apartments or mobile homes (I snicker to myself every time I walk past the crappy apartments where some chick has her $60,000 Escalade parked outside). It does not tax the imagination at all to see their truck costs more than their place to live. Then there are those who are in such a position as to lose their homes that also MUST put on airs and have that new truck too. Priorities...

A friend of mine lives across the street from the Food Shelf. You'd think the clients would show up on foot, bicycle, or beater car, right? Because they are in such dire straits they can't get their own food... right? Wrong. The parking in front of the Food Shelf is taken up with ginormous pickups and SUVs, most of them quite new. Go figure. And the clients... well let's just say, they don't LOOK malnourished.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by poomanchu

So the moral of the story is, if you drive a truck or SUV and your home forecloses it is because you chose to drive a truck. Wow! Don;t know what to say to that

If someone chooses to drive a truck or SUV when they don't really need it, the truck/SUV is probably just one of many bad financial decisions.

[star_deceiver]

Originally Posted by vskid3

If someone chooses to drive a truck or SUV when they don't really need it, the truck/SUV is probably just one of many bad financial decisions.

If only it were that black and white...

Originally Posted by sarguy01

How many trucks and SUVs are owned by people that don't need them for what they are able to do?

In Calgary, probably around 80% could drive something much smaller and efficient. But then again... we have a pretty decent public transit system so in reality 60% of people here could probably get away with not commuting at all.

The same could be said for sports car owners who do the speed limit, Prius/Smart car owners who do 85mph, couples who take out a 35 year morgage on a $500'000 house while barely being able to scrap the payments together every month...

My needs don't justify me owning my truck, I could have kept my last car... My needs also don't justify me owning two motorcycles, do I really need to be on those rolling deathtraps?... My needs don't justify me living 30kms away from work, if I wanted to I could live within 10 blocks. I don't need to hit up Starbucks 3 times a week, either...

I'd like to think that most people are smart enough to realize the financial position they're in... but lets face it, not everyone thinks that way. I am in good standing!

But hey, if some people end up over their head, that's their problem not mine! Good luck to them!

[Goldenstate]

Been lurking here for the past 6 months and have learned a great deal. Probably the best site for common sense fuel savings I have discovered. Even better is the suggestions do work!

I have a 1999 F150 with the 4.6 engine which many say is not a real fuel efficient motor but it is paid for and runs very well. Six months ago I started making small changes. One big thing was I had only used the trailer hitch once in 150 K miles. It was removed in less than 10 minutes and there went about 60 pounds. Seems trailer hitches are a big factory addition that many of us seldom if ever use. I believe more people would remove the trailer hitch if they knew it would save them fuel just by removing 8 bolts.

Goldenstate

[sarguy01]

Originally Posted by star_deceiver

If only it were that black and white...



In Calgary, probably around 80% could drive something much smaller and efficient. But then again... we have a pretty decent public transit system so in reality 60% of people here could probably get away with not commuting at all.

The same could be said for sports car owners who do the speed limit, Prius/Smart car owners who do 85mph, couples who take out a 35 year morgage on a $500'000 house while barely being able to scrap the payments together every month...

My needs don't justify me owning my truck, I could have kept my last car... My needs also don't justify me owning two motorcycles, do I really need to be on those rolling deathtraps?... My needs don't justify me living 30kms away from work, if I wanted to I could live within 10 blocks. I don't need to hit up Starbucks 3 times a week, either...

I'd like to think that most people are smart enough to realize the financial position they're in... but lets face it, not everyone thinks that way. I am in good standing!

But hey, if some people end up over their head, that's their problem not mine! Good luck to them!

My next truck is going to be a Ram ecodiesel, as long as they turn out to be reliable. I am also going to wait until the price comes down under $20k. I might be waiting a while.

Again, I wasn't trying to pick on you. You have the right to make your own choices. if you love driving your truck, that's all that matters.

[poomanchu]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

There are many brand-new pickup/suv owners around here that live in apartments or mobile homes (I snicker to myself every time I walk past the crappy apartments where some chick has her $60,000 Escalade parked outside). It does not tax the imagination at all to see their truck costs more than their place to live. Then there are those who are in such a position as to lose their homes that also MUST put on airs and have that new truck too. Priorities...

A friend of mine lives across the street from the Food Shelf. You'd think the clients would show up on foot, bicycle, or beater car, right? Because they are in such dire straits they can't get their own food... right? Wrong. The parking in front of the Food Shelf is taken up with ginormous pickups and SUVs, most of them quite new. Go figure. And the clients... well let's just say, they don't LOOK malnourished.

*Ah I see thank you for straightening this out. I guess people who drive sensible cars never lose their homes to bad desicions and must really need the food more than the lady in the escalade as it's ok to be poor if you don;t have nice things. I now see that people who drive anything not 'acceptable' or frugal enough is a very evil person indeed and it seems they deserve what they get as long as it's bad.

*Denotes use of sarcasm.