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To hear people complain about how expensive it is

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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 10:00 AM
  #11  
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rai
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From: mount airy
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that truck has to weigh 6000 lbs (I believe) and likely when they were in their hey-day gas was half or a third what it costs now. But it does seem like people want huge trucks for no reason at all.

I was on vacation and there was a mix-up wanted a minivan but they were out so I had to take a 15 passanger van. That thing was the worse thing to drive. I understand if you need it there is nothing like having a great big truck/van but a lot is just driving around in too big a truck.

A guy I work with has a S4 told me he's looking at the H1 to buy. He's single no kids etc. so it's just something that looks cool (or whatever) it's not like we need a H1 for the road.

I am not one to talk we have a minivan, van-like SUV and will have a M3 so my MPGs are not great but it's not like I am moaning every time gas goes up.

Another thing we have a Costco near me and it's gas is cheaper but not so much it's like 20 cents cheaper. But people will wait in line for like a half hour to get gas. I am saying gee half an hour in line to save $4 (at most). What's the big deal about $4 and you're running your engine for an extra half hour in line so probably that's like $1 in gas down the drain trying to save a few bucks. Really stupid IMO
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 11:06 AM
  #12  
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Originally Posted by rai,Apr 11 2008, 08:50 AM
sorry to sound like a jerk, we're suposed to feel sympathy for people, but this is funny to me.

this girl is married with one child.

She has a Ford Excursion with 36 gallon gas tank, so she's boo-hooing about how she can't fill it all the way up, the pump/credit card shuts off at $75.

So why are you crying about this? She just said she drives an Excursion that should cancel out your right to complain about gas cost.

she says "I need to get a better car", somebody asks like what? I thought she'd say an Accord or something. But she says probably a Tahoe cos she likes big cars.



Its almost worth us all paying extra just so I can laugh at these people in Excursions who just buy them because they like driving something big.

BTW she doesn't tow anything or is not in buisness where she needs to haul a ton of crap. She's just using the Excursion as a bigger version of what you can do with a RAV-4 etc..

What's up with people? If gas is so expensive why do you want to get a Tahoe which is still getting in the teens MPG (or so)?

I know hybrids SUVs can be another option, but it's $$ upfront and still they are not the best gas mileage. I mean Honda/Toyota make nice four cylinder SUVs or just get a car like a Malibu (or whatever) and you are getting double what an Excursion is getting.

I also like when a guy with a big-ass Hemi truck (not a work truck just looks like a DD) who complians to me at the gas station like gee this is expensive. No shit.. you are driving a 6000 lb truck what do you expect?
lol...100% agreed.
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 11:13 AM
  #13  
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Originally Posted by mav,Apr 11 2008, 08:53 AM
It's America rai. The land of the free, home of the brave and everyone who bitches, whines and complains about everything.
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 11:16 AM
  #14  
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Originally Posted by sw05s2k,Apr 11 2008, 09:18 AM
Marketing has told these people they "need" an SUV or a truck. Sometimes I wish we were taxed on engine size and/or vehicle weight like other countries, it would make the US far more conscious of buying what they actually "need".
Agree 100%
Cars in Korea are taxed by their displacement.
Seems unfair, cuz bigger displacement does not always equal less MPG.
But cars in the united states is waaaaay over sized.

Dan
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 11:29 AM
  #15  
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From: Palo Alto
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I have always had small cars. I'm not happy about how much it costs to fill up. It used to be a 5 hour weekend trip costs $30 in gas (2 tanks). Now it costs $70. The difference is I didn't even think about the $30. At $70 it's not unaffordable but no longer pocket change either.

Also, consider that some of these people may have purchased these vehicles back when gas was cheaper. At that time the choice of a large SUV may not have been such a financially foolish choice. Energy efficiency as a buying criteria isn't important when energy is really cheap. You can see the same thing in homes with poor heating and AC setups or poor insulation.

It's one thing to have just bought a big truck and complain about the gas prices. It's quite different if you bought it in say 2000 when gas was cheap and you now have to pay a lot for it. You certainly are excused from the "well you bought it what did you expect" sort of attitudes I've seen on a number of forums.

BTW, a while back I was considering getting a truck as a second car. I like trucks but I just didn't want to spend $30-40 each time I went to the gas station. I would have been bitching about the cost of a fill up. I bought a SAAB 900 as a spare car instead. With gas prices now, the SAAB costs as much to fill up as that truck that I was looking at. I guess I was an idiot for not buying a Suzuki Swift!
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 11:36 AM
  #16  
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So convinced are most people who own such massive vehicles for no practical reason? I'm just wondering how much SUV/massive truck sells will drop as the gas milage continues to go up.
I know they have their uses, but I for one am kind of tired of being constantly surrounded by them on the highway. lol
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 11:45 AM
  #17  
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From: Behind You
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Too many idiots =(
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 11:53 AM
  #18  
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There are plenty of people that make appropriate use of their massive SUV/truck, but there are plenty that don't and then whine about gas prices.

If she's crying about filling up the Excursion, then she/they (assuming she's married) shouldn't have bought the damn thing. You can have a baby/kid and drive a Corolla and still get stuff done just fine. People did this for years without massive truck-based machines; why over the last 8 years has it become a necessity to have a 3-ton SUV? People use any little life change to justify making a purchase they really shouldn't. My little sister is the same way: she wants to buy a Ram 2500 diesel, but she doesn't need it because she doesn't even have a house yet. Diesel gets better mileage, but the fuel cost is still quite high.
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 12:08 PM
  #19  
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i wonder how commute length plays into this. my daily commute is ~7 miles, so even if gas were $8 a gallon i wouldnt change a thing. that said, i have an s2000 not an 8mpg lumbering beast, but regardless--if i had a 30-40 mile daily commute like many, it would start to add up a lot faster.
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Old Apr 11, 2008 | 12:48 PM
  #20  
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From: mount airy
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I can understand if she bought it when gas was $1.50 instead of $3.50 but now she wants to replace it with something 'smaller' like a Tahoe which is still 5000 lbs so I'm not seeing a lot of savings. If the gas mileage goes from 13 mpg to 17 mpg how is that saving much?
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