The SUV is Dead, R.I.P.

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Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: XCELERATIONRULES
Am I the only one without short man syndrome?
I never needed a big fat suv,and never saw more than one person driving/traveling in one.
Mostly for fat folks.
lol


I grew up with big cars (we've never owned a Japanese vehicle except for my wife briefly owning a Mazda Precidia) and I LIKE big cars and trucks. I have three young children, I have a vehement hatred for vans, and so something larger, like an Excursion or Expedition seems to be a good choice, as my wife really likes them too. But the Excursion has a diesel, and a better towing capacity, and given the prices right now, it seems to be the better choice.

I used to own an Explorer, and I cannot picture trying to cram three kids into the back seat of that for long trips.

It's crazy I know, but there are people out there who just hate small cars. I drove my good friend's Corolla back from Kitchener yesterday (a three hour drive) and I developed a rather strong dislike for the car during that trip. Different strokes for different folks I guess.


I've never seen a family exit a suv.
Usually one woman and a bag of shoes.
LOL
 
I like big cars and small trucks (odd, perhaps). I love my Cherokee and I'm a fan of the Grand Cherokee but to a lesser extent. If they still made the Cherokee and modernized it the way they modernized the Wrangler I'd be all over a new one. I like the Grand Cherokee but it's a little too cushy for my tastes. But with the awesome deals that you can have on one now, it's hard to resist.

Give me a modernized Cherokee, with a 5- or 6-speed manual transmission, and the 4.0L I6 or the 4.7L V8 and I'd be very happy.

I also like wafting down the highway in my Monte Carlo. No fan of the small eco-box cars. Only exception might be electric cars/serial hybrids. Depending on price I might be interested in a Volt or a similar car that can go at *least* 40 miles on electric only. I definitely don't want no stinkin' complicated Hybrid Synergy Drive. Battery->Motor->Wheel. Keep the ICE off unless the batteries are dead. Simplicity is beautiful.
 
Originally Posted By: mstrjon32
Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
I was just looking at a used '05 Range Rover the other day.
27.gif



Don't get me wrong, I've been eying 3-4 year old Jeep Grand Cherokees lately. You can get some bargain basement deals on top of the line vehicles now that they've fallen out of fashion.


I truly can't believe that the fall of the SUV has taken GM by surprise. It was such an obvious craze, I'm amazed that they didn't have people working on the next thing. I always figured that sooner or later that the masses would latch onto something else, and commuter SUVs would be dead. I used to joke about buying a Lincoln Navigator 10 years from now to haul hay, feed and dogs in. Looks like that time is now.
 
"I truly can't believe that the fall of the SUV has taken GM by surprise. It was such an obvious craze, I'm amazed that they didn't have people working on the next thing."

I've come to call such things 'monkey traps';

Make a hole in a coconut,

Tie the coconut to a stake,

Let the monkey watch you put a peanut in it,

The monkey reaches into the cocnut, grabs the peanut, can't his fist out, but won't let go of the peanut, no matter what.
 
Quote:
I've never seen a family exit a suv.
Usually one woman and a bag of shoes.
LOL


I really had a hard time convincing my MIL to get rid of her Denali XL this summer, she raised 5 kids and only had 1 left at home. Once gas hit $4 a gallon she made the move to a Mazda 5, and now loves it to death.

P.S. she only received $7500 trade in for a 2001 Denali XL with 80K, they paid over $45,000 for it new 7 years earlier.
shocked2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: XCELERATIONRULES

I've never seen a family exit a suv.
Usually one woman and a bag of shoes.
LOL


Oh it especially nice when the rug rats in the back whip the rear doors open to exit the giant, with the clueless mom totally unaware. The door bounces so HARD off the side of your vehicle, it slams shut so the kid can repeat the process. Happened to me recently while sitting in a parking lot while my 3yr/old was asleep in his car seat. Luckily the mom was purdy, apologetic and her kid hit the already damaged panel of our Odyssey. There vehicle was a brand-new white Caddy Escalade no less.
smirk2.gif


Joel
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 1sttruck
"I truly can't believe that the fall of the SUV has taken GM by surprise. It was such an obvious craze, I'm amazed that they didn't have people working on the next thing."

I've come to call such things 'monkey traps';

Make a hole in a coconut,

Tie the coconut to a stake,

Let the monkey watch you put a peanut in it,

The monkey reaches into the cocnut, grabs the peanut, can't his fist out, but won't let go of the peanut, no matter what.

Top management received the big salarys and bonus though.
 
ourfamo4 said:
Quote:

P.S. she only received $7500 trade in for a 2001 Denali XL with 80K, they paid over $45,000 for it new 7 years earlier.
shocked2.gif


Wow...sounds like you should've kept your mouth shut and let her keep it.
whistle.gif


I don't plan on getting rid of my Explorer anytime soon. It's paid for, I know it's maintenance history, and doesn't get driven nearly enough to make any gas savings worth it. It's 14 years old, has 141k miles and blue books at around $2k. Since I won't get hardly any money for it anyway, I might as well get some more use out of it and keep it till it dies.

Besides, it actually is very practical for our purposes. My mom routinely fills the whole thing with groceries, laundry, and other stuff. A smaller car would simply not be able to do that.
Even when it finally dies, it probably won't get replaced with anything more efficient. I'll probably just take the Honda out of retirement as the spare vehicle and start using it full-time.
Click to expand...
 
[/quote]P.S. she only received $7500 trade in for a 2001 Denali XL with 80K, they paid over $45,000 for it new 7 years earlier.
shocked2.gif
[/quote]

Ouch! What a freaking waste of money. That and the excess fuel it uses makes that a bad move.
frown.gif
 
Quote:
I don't plan on getting rid of my Explorer anytime soon. It's paid for, I know it's maintenance history, and doesn't get driven nearly enough to make any gas savings worth it. It's 14 years old, has 141k miles and blue books at around $2k. Since I won't get hardly any money for it anyway, I might as well get some more use out of it and keep it till it dies.


Mid 90s Explorers are a steal right now. You can get decent ones for next to nothing. If I had room for a second vehicle, I'd buy another old Explorer. I can't see myself being Rangerless again though, so that will have to wait since I only have one parking spot.
 
Quote:
I truly can't believe that the fall of the SUV has taken GM by surprise.


The fall of the SUV had nothing to do with planning. No one thought that there would be this much development in the 3rd world to compete with the petroleum. SUV'S meant profits. Big steel ..big price ..and still under the passe/blase US auto-industry format of throw away/discard in a few years modality of doing business.

We don't do small "well". We do small CHEAP. When they actually do something small well, like a NEON, it's discarded by the designers for something that doesn't work quite as good.

It's all about jobs.
 
Picked up my '97 Explorer for $1400 cash this summer. The body is in good shape, mechanicals are sound, comfortable to drive - not much to complain about!

I was an evil Pickup and SUV family. Now I am the really evil pickup and 2 SUV family. :) Trust me - with the story and lack of cost in acuiring my current fleet I can burn a LOT of gas and still come out ahead! (Lets just say that a "free" vehicle doesn't hurt!
 
Actually, the poster of the monkey traps is correct. It is how monkeys are caught (primate research?)in India. It seems as if their greed for the food inside overides their need to escape.
 
Originally Posted By: mstrjon32
I don't know if the SUV is dead, I was just checking out a Mercury Mariner the other day; the Hybrid version gets 33/31. The gas version does 28 highway. If I'm ever in the market for a newer SUV it just might be first on my list.

My 10-year old Jeep Cherokee 4.0 still does 22 mpg in my usual driving and as high as 26 on the highway. And, you can actually take the Cherokee off road and not worry about ripping off any chrome trim.

What's dead is the massive behemoth SUV that was useless both off-road and on-road and only existed as a tribute to excess.


Our 04 Escape with the V6 on our recent 2k+ mile trip averaged 22mpg on the highway. 25 twice.. not bad considering a huge cargo carrier and fully loaded inside. The newer ones with the 6spd should get a little better.
 
Originally Posted By: ourfamo4
I really had a hard time convincing my MIL to get rid of her Denali XL this summer, she raised 5 kids and only had 1 left at home. Once gas hit $4 a gallon she made the move to a Mazda 5, and now loves it to death.

P.S. she only received $7500 trade in for a 2001 Denali XL with 80K, they paid over $45,000 for it new 7 years earlier.
shocked2.gif



I'm suprised you convinced her at all with that kind of depriciation. Considering they only put on 80k in 7 years with 5 kids, I would guess they drive less now that some of the kids have left home. I probably would have kept driving the Denali rather than take that huge loss, but to each their own. Given the instability of fuel prices lately, calculating the cost of ownership of one vehicle vs. another is very difficult. If gasoline reaches $6 per gallon the Mazda would break even much sooner.
 
I agree. Our paid for jeeps require something like $6-$7/gallon gas to justify a very low ball new car. It would never justify much over $25k. @ $3.50/gallon it's under $300/month in fuel expense. No way to get a free car from the dealer that does any mpg ..let alone the required 38-40 mpg required to justify a payment of $150. Even when fuel is $6-$7 ..a new car will have to still be around $25k and get 40mpg ..which is unlikely.
 
After paying $45K for a vehicle, one would think that gas is a minor concern. Selling it just to save gas was a penny-wise, pound-foolish thing to do. It shows how some people were emotionally affected by the gas prices this last summer. Ourfamo4, do you think it was a wise decision for talking your MIL into taking this kind of loss? How much is she saving in gas? Too bad she couldn't fall in love with the Mazda 5 earlier.
 
Originally Posted By: Kestas
Ourfamo4, do you think it was a wise decision for talking your MIL into taking this kind of loss?


It is his MIL man, enough said. Mine is a real battle-axe.
crackmeup2.gif
 
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