feel better now!

[narfire]

Yeup, spell of warm/hot 90 + deg F weather here. Took the spider up the valley 150 kms and back through the shite traffic of Kelowna and the car ran like a top. 130-140 F on the temp gauge...lovin it (touch wood )
Still have the occasional lurge/surge/ lump at low speed though. Going to try a few things this am..
Hopefully the top stays down for another couple of months

[maytag]

yeah, we are looking for a 'cool spell' high of 92d today.
Sucks when that seems like a relief!

[maytag]

fortunately enough, i am not. i've been to usa for 3 months and decided it's not for me. 1.25$ gallon was not enticing enough for me.

and to reply to the part of the story where you mentioned family credentials, in my part of the world it's very common to have written trace of family lineage that goes back to 13th or 14th century, so nothing you could possibly produce could impress me.

sorry. I did not realize we were dealing with a language barrier. all this time I thought you were just plain STUPID!
My bad.

But it was an honest mistake. You CAN see, I assume, how 'stupid' it seems to take my comment about my Family's Military credentials and turn it around to being about genealogy, and how far back you can trace it, right? I mean, just like the "because you like SUV's, you must want to go invade a country" comment of yours; this one seems a far stretch, doesn't it? I mean, is it just me? Or are these topics COMPLETELY unrelated?

So since I don't come off as having an ounce of self-restraint in being seduced into these types of conversations.... I'm once again going to use the single greatest tool that God ever gave to Internet-Age Man: the "ignore posts from this member" tool.

I know, I know. Mae Culpa. I should've saved all of the rest of you the agony of the last 2 pages of this thread.

[Gunsmith]

Don't stop now they're pretty funny. I always love the extreme analogies from the left when they try to make a point. Of course that's a generality of my friends on the left and I know not all of you agree with everything that comes from the left so don't think I'm hating on you I just enjoy it when the opposing point is made with such passion and such little sense or reality.

[djape1977]

unlike you, maytag, i tryed to keep this one from becoming personal, but since you want it that way, ok. stupid is the one unable to make a connection.
enjoy your suv when you hit 10$ galon in couple years.

cheers

[azruss]

I case for an SUV. first the disclaimer. I am not a fan of big gas guzzlers for many reasons. I have never owned an SUV nor do i plan to.
My son is currently shopping for a new vehicle and is looking at a suburban. He has 2 kids that are quickly turning into teenagers, a dog thats bigger than both kids put together. He has a mountain cabin he frequents on a regular basis. the last 8 miles of driving to it on a steep, twisty, extremely rough dirt road with a steeper yet driveway. he has snow in the winter. His wife had a Honda Van and it had issues with traction and towing and the road beat the poor thing to a pulp. his current pickup has 4wd, tow package, canopy and 1/2 back seat. by the time they arrive, everything in back is dusted out...clothes, food, dog, etc. So, what kind of vehicle fits his needs. high ground clearance, 4wd, tow capabilities, room for 5 along with all the junk and dust tight. An SUV is the only class of vehicle that fits the need.
Every vehicles has its strong point and weak points....its hard to find a fast, nice handling, low aspect, good fuel economy, crash protected, affordable vehicle. Solve this one, kiddies, and you can laugh all the way to the bank

[maytag]

I case for an SUV. first the disclaimer. I am not a fan of big gas guzzlers for many reasons. I have never owned an SUV nor do i plan to.
My son is currently shopping for a new vehicle and is looking at a suburban. He has 2 kids that are quickly turning into teenagers, a dog thats bigger than both kids put together. He has a mountain cabin he frequents on a regular basis. the last 8 miles of driving to it on a steep, twisty, extremely rough dirt road with a steeper yet driveway. he has snow in the winter. His wife had a Honda Van and it had issues with traction and towing and the road beat the poor thing to a pulp. his current pickup has 4wd, tow package, canopy and 1/2 back seat. by the time they arrive, everything in back is dusted out...clothes, food, dog, etc. So, what kind of vehicle fits his needs. high ground clearance, 4wd, tow capabilities, room for 5 along with all the junk and dust tight. An SUV is the only class of vehicle that fits the need.
Every vehicles has its strong point and weak points....its hard to find a fast, nice handling, low aspect, good fuel economy, crash protected, affordable vehicle. Solve this one, kiddies, and you can laugh all the way to the bank

So, just to clarify: is your son planning to invade any foreign countries?

Because I read in an earlier post that the two are linked somehow.

[RRoller123]

LOL, love it. I used to get criticism from my nitwit cousin's friend about my full size Silverado, until I noted that it was unlikely that I could run my business without it, tow the boat, tow the car when needed, haul the slide-in camper, haul wood, rocks, bricks, plywood, mulch, canoes and God knows what else, take 6 people skiing with gear, etc etc etc. I wish it got better mileage, but that's the way it is.

[fiat218]

yeah, we are looking for a 'cool spell' high of 92d today.
Sucks when that seems like a relief!

I love hot weather

[djape1977]

RRoller123 and azruss, your prooving cases are unfortunately rather an exception than a rule.
from what i saw, most SUV's in US are used by one person and strictly on paved city roads.
and what would fit described use and wouldn't be a gas guzzler? hmmm... few vehicles come into mind...
http://www.mazda.co.uk/showroom/cx-7/overview/
http://www.leftlanenews.com/mazda-bt-50.html
the latter one boasts 5.500 lbs towing capacity. i couldn't imagine what would one tow that would weigh more than 2.5 tons? arranging semy-truck trailers in the parking lot perhaps?

[RRoller123]

Neither of those work for me. My slide in camper weighs about 3400 pounds, requires an 8 ft bed. Also need the long bed for plywood sheets. Here we are on the north coast of Newfoundland.

[johndemar]

Ditto on needing something larger for the mountain cabin Russ. Just picked one up myself.... a cabin that is.

I don't feel particularly guilty about driving my 3/4 ton Ford diesel either. Bought it new 15 years ago and it currently has 175K on the odometer. It runs as good as it did when new and the engine can easily last to 500K or even a million miles. It will most likely be my last truck, so there must be some benefit to the environment in not replacing it. And it gets close to 20MPG to boot. Not bad for something that weighs over 8,000 pounds.

And personally I've stopped invading other countries.....just getting too damn old for that

[maytag]

I can't see djapists' post, but I can imagine, based on the responses here.
I'm wondering why we feel like we need to rationalize what we drive to anyone, especially someone with (a) an agenda, and (b) a distinct dislike for America.

I prefer Ted's take, from a page back:

Why do I drive a big truck? It's simple, because i can!

Why do I drive a Fiat? Because I can!

Why do i race a Fiat? Because I can!

God Bless America!

ok... I peeked at his post. see how I suck at self-control?

djapist, dood, you've got to get over yourself. thinking that because you have seen something in your vast (15 years) experience as a driver does NOT make it a fact.
Just because you saw SUV's being used primarily on public, paved roads, with one person in them, doesn't negate all of the other uses. did you follow those SUV's home at night, and on the weekends?
I think my use is probably very typical; I drive my SUV all week long (and remember, I get better mileage than your crappy LADA,) for work, but in the evenings it is used to shuttle 4 kids and a wife around. On the weekends, it is used to tow trailers, negotiate dirt roads, even the occasional red-rock crawling.
So just like your take on how un-safe SUV's are, which proved to be entirely false; so is your premise about SUV's usage entirely fabricated in your own mind.

Additionally: do you KNOW what the carbon footprint of the Mazda CX7 is? (a vehicle you just suggested is better than what we are driving) Not to mention it does not make a great invasion vehicle: can't carry enough cannons.

you've dug yourself a significant hole here, dood. every post you make makes you look more and more like an ignorant racist, bent on showing your hatred of everything American. And because of that, (well... that and your weak suppositions) you come off looking like a looney-toons. You may want to try a new tact. or push away from the keyboard?

[RRoller123]

One thing about SUV use that people should consider is that frequently, this is the only vehicle the driver has. That was my case with my full size truck for many years. So when they are seen in transit with only a single driver/passenger, it is easy to overlook the many other uses that the truck gets. The other problem is that this situation is actually made worse by the welfare state. In the case of Massachusetts, where I live, I kept only the single vehicle because of the confiscatory cost of registration, title, sales tax, excise taxes and insurance that a second vehicle would require, totaling thousands of dollars a year. Maybe a good environmental policy would be to allow people to register and use second vehicles if the mileage was say 50% better than their primary vehicle, with costs of insurance only? Now THAT would promote cleaner car use quite well. But the welfare state really isn't interested in their stated goals, it is really all about collecting money to perpetuate the bureaucracy. At least that is the case in the US. It may be different in the EU. I haven't lived there yet so I can't comment.

[fiat218]

i am not sure why every one is worried about who drives what and how many people are in it
CARRY ON THRO