Why I Strive For MPG In A Big Pickup

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by diesel_john

i have seven old vehicles each one for a specific purpose. i always use the smallest vehicle that will do the job.

You win, thread over.

[hondaworkshop]

The third car in my stable is a Ford Ranger 3.0L

For what it is, I have pushed it as high as 24mpg, but get this, it leaks fuel from the filler neck if you fill it up to high... talk about wasting gas, LOL.

Fortunately, it only sees one or two trips a month to Home Depot or to the Recycling center. I must say, the truck has grown on me, it rides more comfy than the Civic or CRX for sure.

[aerohead]

A cabinet-maker that I work with from time to time has a F-350,non-dually,turbo-Diesel.He keeps his foot out of it and also sees 24-mpg.He pulls an enclosed trailer to deliver his work.All his materials are delivered to his shop,so he doesn't have to "shop" with the truck.At Thanksgiving I accompanied a friend to Arkansas in a "loaner"Hyundai Sonata which only returned 23-mpg,remarkably low in my book! I have no qualms with bigger trucks.I do feel like they are under-utilized at times,however,for heavy hauling,there's no safe alternative.So far,my 6-cyl 1/2-ton Dodge is only good for 21.5 mpg.And while I'm really pleased with the Toyota,I'd never even consider pulling the kind of loads your truck would laugh at.You have nothing to apologize for.

[Who]

Originally Posted by DifferentPointofView

I think that if you live in the city and drive an SUV, that's stupid, when are you ever gonna actually use it's off-road high ground clearance and towing power capabilities when all you do is drive to the office every morning?

Oh, wait, I forgot that SUV's are now designated moon-pie getters

Exceptions include people who actually use their SUV for the U part, or drive to work which is in the badlands or something.

I live in the city and I drive an SUV. Are you saying that the emissions from my old manual-choke-carb '85 Civic would somehow be healthier? My exhaust is probably less toxic each minute running than most cars in here except a Prius. It doesn't go offroading but it's amazingly predictable in deep snow or ice and I can drive it over a curb or speedbump without freaking out.

All of our cumbustion-based vehicles pollute and not all of our drives are necessary. Let's not be casting stones. Let's be offering to mold me a solid painted grille (block) with a small naca slot or two.

[DifferentPointofView]

deep snow or ice and I can drive it over a curb or speedbump without freaking out.

To me, that qualifies as using it correctly, so your out of the clear.

See, I'm talking about them people who drive 2 miles in a Hummer, through oodles of traffic lights, when they could take their bike and get there faster, or take their new sports car to work. If you have a corvette and you have a hummer, the corvette is gonna pull better numbers than that hummer you only use to get a frosty down at the gas station.

About that curb part.... I have to drive up onto the curb to parallel park, it's pretty funny, but that's how it works.

Didn't mean to cast stones, but I don't think anyone on this site that drives an SUV improperly. The types I'm really staring at is the soccer moms who think safety is the most important thing about a vehicle.

[LibbyMetro]

i dont mind the suv's in the city i say to each his own, i believe there many uses for suv's in the city, what i dont care for is those 12 inch lifted 4x4 trucks with 44 inch super swampers on em, and they have never seen dirt, i love those trucks if you actually take them in the mud but when you spend 30 grand to make it go through the mud , and all it does is cruise the main strip and look at yourself in the glass reflections of the department stores , thats sad.

[DifferentPointofView]

I do believe an SUV has it's uses in the city, it's when it's not being used..and it's in the city is when its wrong, like if the the most it sees is an occasional speed bump and the dirtiest it gets is whenever you get tar from a road on the fenders. And the daily drive is spending an hour in a traffic jam.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Who

Let's not be casting stones. Let's be offering to mold me a solid painted grille (block) with a small naca slot or two.

That's the spirit!

(Answer: no, I'm not volunteering!)

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by DifferentPointofView

...The types I'm really staring at is the soccer moms who think safety is the most important thing about a vehicle.

Anyone who thinks they're getting 'safety' by driving an SUV is misinformed. When we have ice covered roads, the 4WDs are what you find scattered all over the road. They go out and can get going - but have no real control and can't in fact stop any better than another vehicle with the same brakes (ABS vs non-ABS).

Plus, they are tippier, more difficult to control, and generally cause more extensive damage to lighter vehicles. Also their bumpers aren't required to match other car's heights so if they hit a lower car, the smaller car often comes out the worse just from being hit too high up.

Another fault point - with poor visibility to the area behind and below the tailgate, there have been too many accidents where an SUV was backed into/over a child in the driveway. Wagons and hatchbacks on the other hand, can have much better visibility out the back and downwards due to the lower rear window line.

[basjoos]

Additional faults - that 2.5 foot high guard rail along the edge of the cliff is less likely to stop a 6 foot high, 5000 lbs SUV from going over the edge than a 4 foot high, 2500 lbs car.

Also inertia isn't your friend when you're trying to recover from a skid on a slick, icy road. Greater weight = greater inertia.