The future of cars according to BP

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We have been getting a whole bunch of these imported from Japan the last few years;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Carry

Seems a lot of people in the landscaping business and small contractors love them.

Being Right hand drive doesn't seem to put people off.

Trivia; The have been re-badged both as a Ford and Chevy!
 
I guess BP doesn't view natural gas as a good investment.

We have a supply of cheap, domestic fuel that has a large chunk of the infrastructure to supply it to vehicles already in place.

Natural gas can drive your SUV or truck down the road for about $2 a gallon, and its plentiful and domestically sourced.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
We have been getting a whole bunch of these imported from Japan the last few years;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Carry

Seems a lot of people in the landscaping business and small contractors love them.

Being Right hand drive doesn't seem to put people off.

Trivia; The have been re-badged both as a Ford and Chevy!


How can those trucks be licensed; they don't meet any safety standards we have here.
 
Wonderful I buy a truck and then the oil companies go crazy and start spouting off nonesense. Every year we go through this and its real simple IMO. Its an election year and If Obama wants elected again. He will keep gas under 4 bucks. If it hits 4 dollars the economy will tank and Obama wont have a snow balls chance in [censored]. In saying that my truck get 18-20 MPG so I'm pleased with that though I wish my Saturn did better.
 
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Why the price of gas is going up

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Originally Posted By: Bluestream
expat said:
We have been getting a whole bunch of these imported from Japan the last few years;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Carry

Seems a lot of people in the landscaping business and small contractors love them.

Being Right hand drive doesn't seem to put people off.

Trivia; The have been re-badged both as a Ford and Chevy!


They have to be over a certain age before they are allowed in, Just like the Mitsubishi Delica's 4X4


http://www.delica.ca/
Click to expand...
 
32 years ago, I visited a family for a few weeks who had a Suzuki carry as the family car.

It was imminently practical, although useful at nothing, and probably saved massively on road trauma rehabilitation.

But the Japanese know that they have to import their oil, so have a sub-class of cars, that included the Suzuki Carry, (available in Oz, there's one with a 302 doing the show circuit)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Mighty_Boy

Subaru Sherpa (funny that an AMC Gremlin was "compact", with a great big 6 in it)

Lots of small turbos, like Honda City Turbo, Diahatsu Charade turbo, which are fun to drive.

Workmate just returned from a couple of weeks in Japan, and has identified with the small, fun car aspect. They ignore speed limits largely,and he reckons that there's hybrid everything on Japanese roads...

and Public transportation that works.
 
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
Wonderful I buy a truck and then the oil companies go crazy and start spouting off nonesense. Every year we go through this and its real simple IMO. Its an election year and If Obama wants elected again. He will keep gas under 4 bucks. If it hits 4 dollars the economy will tank and Obama wont have a snow balls chance in [censored]. In saying that my truck get 18-20 MPG so I'm pleased with that though I wish my Saturn did better.


Just curious...I see you too live in the bible belt. How often do you carry a load in your truck? How much in gas do you spend a month? Do you need it for your job?
 
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What does Bible belt have to do with anything? Also I haul scrap on ocassion . Could I live without my truck yes I could have bought another car. But I have every right to drive a truck. The parts are generally cheaper and they are easier to work on. So I don't get 40mpg. I have every right to own a truck and intend on doing so. I as of right now spend about 150 a month on gas where as with just before it was about 90 bucks. I prefer a truck and its just that simple
 
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
What does Bible belt have to do with anything? Also I haul scrap on ocassion . Could I live without my truck yes I could have bought another car. But I have every right to drive a truck. The parts are generally cheaper and they are easier to work on. So I don't get 40mpg. I have every right to own a truck and intend on doing so. I as of right now spend about 150 a month on gas where as with just before it was about 90 bucks. I prefer a truck and its just that simple


Own whatever you want, just don't start crying when gas is over $5 a gallon.
 
I would love to drive that suzuki carry. i like anything with character.
what I want is a 2wd ford ranger sized truck with a 3 cylinder turbo diesel that gets 50+ MPGs

I once watch an episode of top gear where richard hammond drove a VW Polo that had a 3 cylinder diesel and he was getting 70+ on expressway type driving.

I wont be willing to trade in my gas guzzling jeep untill they can give me something with a BIG difference in MPGs. to trade my jeep for a car that gets 30MPGs is not worth it in my mind. I want 50+ highway for small trucks and small SUVs (like the suzuki carry type of vehicle for example) and 70+ for small cars. I don't care if its super slow and only goes 70MPH after 40 seconds of acceleration. I would like to see cars take a scooter approach, small size, small engine, minimalstic, huge MPGs. i would love to ride a moped around but can't ride them due to a disability and id like 3+ wheels for winter and a roof to keep rain off me. Im willing to give up big SUVs and big trucks for triple the MPG.

they do it in Europe it seems, not here.
 
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Get rid of the internal combustion engine. Problem solved. My gosh if we can go to the moon or design the worlds finest electronic devices, surely we can make some kind of engine that will do as much or more than what's available now. We can even make it simulate piston engine sounds so everyone feels right at home!
 
Originally Posted By: MrRPM
I would love to drive that suzuki carry. i like anything with character.
what I want is a 2wd ford ranger sized truck with a 3 cylinder turbo diesel that gets 50+ MPGs

I once watch an episode of top gear where richard hammond drove a VW Polo that had a 3 cylinder diesel and he was getting 70+ on expressway type driving.

I wont be willing to trade in my gas guzzling jeep untill they can give me something with a BIG difference in MPGs. to trade my jeep for a car that gets 30MPGs is not worth it in my mind. I want 50+ highway for small trucks and small SUVs (like the suzuki carry type of vehicle for example) and 70+ for small cars. I don't care if its super slow and only goes 70MPH after 40 seconds of acceleration. I would like to see cars take a scooter approach, small size, small engine, minimalstic, huge MPGs. i would love to ride a moped around but can't ride them due to a disability and id like 3+ wheels for winter and a roof to keep rain off me. Im willing to give up big SUVs and big trucks for triple the MPG.

they do it in Europe it seems, not here.


Agree, but we don't need to go that small (Carry) to get very good MPG.
A few years back I rented a Citroen Diesel. Honda Accord size and similar performance. After two weeks of quite hard driving, City and 130kph runs on the Highway, it averaged just under 60 (imp) MPG. That engine (especially considering the low end torque) would be superb in a Ranger sized PU.

A size of truck that (I feel) is under utilized and seemingly out of fashion in NA.

The Suzuki Carry (and their ilk) work really well around town and as a work truck on short runs. but would not be much fun on a long trip. It's not their intent. they are what they are. But they DO and should have a niche.
 
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
What does Bible belt have to do with anything? Also I haul scrap on ocassion . Could I live without my truck yes I could have bought another car. But I have every right to drive a truck. The parts are generally cheaper and they are easier to work on. So I don't get 40mpg. I have every right to own a truck and intend on doing so. I as of right now spend about 150 a month on gas where as with just before it was about 90 bucks. I prefer a truck and its just that simple


You missed the point. Nobody was arguing against your right to own a truck. So why do you mention that? Of course you have the right to drive a truck eventhough you cannot justify it's utility. You also have the right to smoke cigerettes, and a to do a lot of dumb things ;-).

I'm a transplant from the west coast (to the bible belt) and I mention this because I see a lot of truck owners that drive a truck, pay MASSIVE $$ to feed it gas, and yet RARELY haul anything. In the bible belt, a truck is mostly fashion, and what a lame stupid reason to own one. You find a lot of this thinking in middle America and this trend is explained by the fact that these people will believe anything regardless of the lack of proof, they pay lots of $$ because they feel they have the right (eventhough no one is saying they don't)...this southern middle America mentality is something I find most idiotic at best. I think it's an education issue here, or perhaps driving a truck is the "manly" thing to do?
 
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Originally Posted By: chevyboy14
What does Bible belt have to do with anything? Also I haul scrap on ocassion . Could I live without my truck yes I could have bought another car. But I have every right to drive a truck. The parts are generally cheaper and they are easier to work on. So I don't get 40mpg. I have every right to own a truck and intend on doing so. I as of right now spend about 150 a month on gas where as with just before it was about 90 bucks. I prefer a truck and its just that simple


You missed the point. Nobody was arguing against your right to own a truck. So why do you mention that? Of course you have the right to drive a truck eventhough you cannot justify it's utility. You also have the right to smoke cigerettes, and a to do a lot of dumb things ;-).

I'm a transplant from the west coast (to the bible belt) and I mention this because I see a lot of truck owners that drive a truck, pay MASSIVE $$ to feed it gas, and yet RARELY haul anything. In the bible belt, a truck is mostly fashion, and what a lame stupid reason to own one. You find a lot of this thinking in middle America and this trend is explained by the fact that these people will believe anything regardless of the lack of proof, they pay lots of $$ because they feel they have the right (eventhough no one is saying they don't)...this southern middle America mentality is something I find most idiotic at best. I think it's an education issue here, or perhaps driving a truck is the "manly" thing to do?


Plenty of trucks get sold on the west coast too for reasons other than their usefulness. Look in any diesel oriented magazine and there will be some hideous, useless show trucks, undoubtedly with CA license plates.

Didn't you have an Expedition or some other "middle America" vehicle before you jumped on the "I'm saving the world with my sensible little car" bandwagon? Why not just buy what works for you the first time around instead of following the latest west coast hipster trend?
 
Originally Posted By: lovcom
.....I see a lot of truck owners that drive a truck, pay MASSIVE $$ to feed it gas, and yet RARELY haul anything. In the bible belt, a truck is mostly fashion, and what a lame stupid reason to own one.


You are spot on around my neck of the southern woods. About the only thing they haul around here is putting the 4-wheeler in the back to show off to everyone else that has one in the back of theirs!
 
It's really about 'what works for you' or 'you pays your money, you makes your choice'
Personally I'd rather spend my money on other things that Gas.
I have a car to fill a roll, the car I have (or truck, I have both) is chosen to be the most economical way (available to me) of for-filling that roll.
As gas prices and the economy change, I may change my lifestyle to accommodate changes.
For instance: One day I may no longer have a truck because 'Really' we don't need a second vehicle, it might be more economical to rent or borrow for the odd occasion that I NEED one.
Of course, I would rather just have one to use when needed, or as a extra vehicle for personal transport because it's EASY.

But as I said, the economy may change, so I may cut back. OR find a more suitable (affordable) means of meeting my needs.

I have experienced too many Ups and Downs in my life to say
"Ill never give up my truck"
 
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Originally Posted By: sasilverbullet
Hmmm, a foreign oil company, that doesn't have a clue what kind of vehicle is needed in rural America, telling us what the future holds? [censored]. Pickups and large SUV's are the work horse of rural America - until someone figures out how to alternatively power them they're here to stay, even at $5 a gallon.


Did you even read the article? Nowhere did it tell anyone what to do. No where did it tell Rural America what do drive. Their message is very valuable especially to millions of idiot Americans that drive Pick Ups for NO OTHER REASON than fashion. I'm one of the smart Americans; I drive a car that I can eeek 46 MPG from.


I hope you don't get in a wreck in it. It would also probably be a little difficult to move, say a couch, with it. Or go to Home Depot and bring home say, 1000 lbs of mulch in it or that new washer and dry you just bought.

But you can always pay for someone that HAS a pick up to do things like that and as far as the safety issue is concerned. There's always health insurance, right?

A vehicle that gets 46 mpg might feel good at the pump but it just might cost you far more than the savings in gas when it comes to what goes on in the real world.
 
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