why people drive large vehicles.

Originally posted by mbkennel
the bigger the tire, the smaller the ***Can you guess why I edited this? Can you believe that the poster thinks that it'll be allowed because he circumvented the censor by placing spaces between the letters?***

[edit on 11-5-2005 by Thomas Crowne]

I would agree with you, but gal's who drive trucks and SUV's also tend to be jerks that should have their license shredded as well.

It seems people who have control issues(have to be "in control" of their environment and others in it) tend to veer towards such vehicles.

More times then not, when you go to pass someone and they decide to "speed up all of a sudden", the person in question tends to drive a truck or SUV.

The only real solution is to require a separate license for such vehicles and keep people with angry issue's from driving them all together(anyone convicted of a rage based crime). That way the only people who will buy and use them are people who need them. Some people do need trucks and SUV's, but most do not.

I currently drive a Ford Explorer. Why do I drive it? Well, I'm 6' 4" and 200lbs. It's - so far - the only car I've been really comfortable in. I've driven mid-size sedans, small compact cars, and sure, I fit. However, I am not as comfortable in them.

That is my reasoning.

You can't haul a load of firewood in the back of a subcompact hatchback to keep your house warm in the winter. You can't haul a moose carass back from the bush strapped to the roof of your Ford Festiva.

I grew up on an unpaved road that eats little cars alive.

Not everybody lives in an urban centre.

reply to post by drogo


Let's see here now... Can you place a family of six in a small compact car? Nope. Can you take all that hunting/fishing/sporting gear in a compact car? Nope. Can you fill that compact cars trunk up with lumber and other things you need to move from one build site to another? Again, nope.

Not everyone will find a compact car viable. Like me, I wouldn't be able to fit all my family into a small Kia.

I have a truck simply because i need it for work, hauling my tools and material on a regular basis. During the winter here i need it for the 4wd capability. It would be nice to have a smaller car for commuting out of town but i just don't have much money right now. My girlfriend drives a truck and she does some work that involves hauling too so i guess in the end it's all about what you need to do with a vehicle.

I actually would consider myself to drive a lot better than most people. I do the speed limit, and mainly just watch out for other people. Traffic drives me nuts anyway. I have certain pre planned routes i take out of my neighborhood that are traveled less, simply because i hate having someone right up on my bumper mad because i wont go five over the limit.

reply to post by JackBauer


Used to be that you could get a four-wheel drive truck that wasnt 15 feet tall and 30 feet wide.

All of these modern trucks are unnecessarily puffed and bloated. Even the so-called "light" trucks.

The same power, drivetrain, and bed capacity can be and has been in a much smaller form factor than in todays trucks.

A Toyota pickup from the 80's is like a third the size of a Toyota pickup today.

Pisses me off that I cant get a nice small truck without going antique shopping.

I move large things with my vehicle, past the houswifes with Hummers carrying nothing. I have a smaller vehicle but it get the same milage as the big one since it is older.

Originally posted by JackBauer
I have a truck simply because i need it for work, hauling my tools and material on a regular basis. During the winter here i need it for the 4wd capability. It would be nice to have a smaller car for commuting out of town but i just don't have much money right now. My girlfriend drives a truck and she does some work that involves hauling too so i guess in the end it's all about what you need to do with a vehicle.

I actually would consider myself to drive a lot better than most people. I do the speed limit, and mainly just watch out for other people. Traffic drives me nuts anyway. I have certain pre planned routes i take out of my neighborhood that are traveled less, simply because i hate having someone right up on my bumper mad because i wont go five over the limit.

Dude, if you need it you need it. The problem is all the office warriors who have a 4x4 truck when a front wheel drive sedan will due just nicely. Or the soccer mom that is driving a Humvee instead of a minivan.

But that said, I still think the larger trucks and SUV's need a separate license to operate. They are not the same as a car or even a light truck. Society requires Mac Trucks and Motorcycles to have a separate license, so should larger trucks and SUV's.

I can't count how many times I have pulled cars out of a ditch in the winters with my monster. 4 WD, have pulled horse trailers, snowmobie trailers, trailer full of concrete blocks etc. Plow rig on the front, winch on the front and back. Seats 11 people. Lots of things my monster can do that a tiny efficient car cannot. The only downside, the monster dual tanks, cost like 200 bucks to fill up. Gas mileage is not too bad though, even when pulling a load.

The size of the vehicles isn't really the issue. If you need a big vehicle, fair play, buy one. Eco fanatics trying to force everybody into a supermini isn't sensible or helpful.

The issue is the low price of gas not driving a real requirement for efficiency in design. If the price of gas double or triples things will change. People will start actively buying on economy as it becomes a more dominant factor in through life ownership cost.

The market will then offer more efficient product.

Theres no justification for commuting everyday in a vehicle with a 5 litre V10 for example, unless its a bus.

There are lots of products rolling on american roads with dreadful performance for the capacity of the engine. I've driven 3.0 V6 in the US with laughably weedy performance and crap fuel economy.

I drive a small cheap 1.6 litre VW petrol. It'll seat 5 and pound up the motorway all day at 80mph without complaint.

A 2 litre turbo will allow a 7 seater MPV to do the same.

If you need massive engine capacity to achieve that then your engineering is dire.