I agree.

When I go to Houston (especially) and pull into the parking lot at some of the engineering companies I visit and see F350 and F450's (and the Chevy and Dodge versions), I just shake my head at all the chrome 20" wheels without a speck of dirt on them.

My truck is a worker bee. I use it to haul horses around. My trailer weighs 4500 pounds, and until recently, I had three horses totaling almost 4000 pounds. With tack, hay, water, etc., I estimate that I was hauling around close to 10,000 pounds.

Towing horses is different than towing inanimate objects. Horses tend to move around in the trailer, so you don't want to haul more than 75% of rated towing capacity. If I am towing 10,000 pounds, I need a towing capacity of over 13,000 pounds. Hence, I am stuck with using a heavy duty truck to get that kind of towing capacity.

It's Ok though, I get to drive a diesel and find out what torque really feels like.

 

It seems that every person who needs a big vehicle is offset by four or five who don't. I think those folks in the urban and suburban areas like me are the biggest offenders.

 

^^ I agree. The S is my daily driver, so when I drop my son off or pick him up at school here in Houston, I find myself in a long line -- blocks -- of large SUVs driven by hockey moms that are idling away barrels of gasoline while sitting in line. -- to say nothing of getting 9-12 mpg in the city. I just hope the (temporary) drop in gas prices does not encourage a revival of SUV sales in urban areas.

 

AND discourage auto makers from following through on plans to introduce alternative fuel/hybrid vehicles.

 

We're liking voluntary and common sense conservation. I won't like it nearly as much if/when conservation is necessary because of huge gasoline and utilities increases that are not supported by market forces like suppy and demand.

 

I don't want to get into trouble so I'm not going to say much except that I still see a lot of big SUVs on the road in the morning with only 1 occupant.

I'm not sure that voluntary conservation really works, and I'm not even sure that increases in the price of fuel has enough of an effect. Certainly now that gas is back down to $2.25 per gallon peoples memories have become very short.

 

A lot of people still have sizable investments in their big SUVs; it will take a while for them to dilute out of the system. But, I think it will happen, and hopefully, Detroit will not be motivated to keep those high profit platforms coming.

 

Now, that's something I have not experienced since my '69 Mustang Mach-I, 351 four-barrel.

Now,

 

The problem with trucks is that they are very useful AND get bad gas mileage. Ford is showing a 100% electric F150 at SEMA show this week, and other technology will follow because that is what the market is asking for.

You don't always drive with the S top down, and SUV driver's don't always need the utility of their vehicle. Most of us aren't rich enough to have an SUV sitting around just for when we need it.

I simply prefer that we incentivize instead of punish, because the simple fact is that the market is much faster reacting than the government. Give an incentive, and the market will race to take advantage. Tax and outlaw, and business and the economy are hurt.

 

Sad part about it is that I'm seeing a lot of new ones. I guess that people figure that the savings in the purchase price more than makes up for the extra expense of the fuel. Especially now that the price of gas has fallen.

Its going to take a very long time for the SUVs to work their way out of the system.