Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
Originally Posted By: grampi
There are plenty of fuel efficient vehicles that'll go anywhere a gas guzzler 4 X 4 will go....Subaru comes to mind just for one...
Sure, those are one trick ponies... simple transportation needs. If it were just a matter of going somewhere, yes, those might do. But It is hard to haul a couple of drums of oil in them, a dozen 3' tree transplants, or 1/2 ton of concrete, or a dozen bales of hay, or 30 fence posts, or pull a 300 gallon fuel wagon thru the cornfield. Guess you didn't read my previous post that some of us get those gas guzzlers for additional reasons than just grocery getters, which mine also has to do. My pickup has to fill a lot of jobs, and almost all of them are personal and not business related tasks.
And I would dearly love to see a Subaru Outback take on the drifts on the gravel roads in my neck of the woods after a snow storm. Bring one up next winter and I'll watch you from the comfort of my pickup. Likewise, I want to watch a Subaru Outback go over one or more of the conservation terraces on my property that my slightly lifted 4x4 pickup has to go over.... after a rain storm. Man, you got me chomping at the bit! I want to see that one! I'll provide the BBQ and refreshments! And you can't cheat by crossing over to the other guy's property and going around the terraces either. It has to take us to town to go to the movies, it also has to haul stuff I need for the property. All of our transportation needs are done by that one gas guzzler. But I have not found a vehicle that got 30+ mpg yet that can be up to what all I need my pickup to do.
Remember, the things they show those vehicles doing on T.V. are staged and setup to make the vehicle look good. I have never had a film crew come out to my property and record what would happen to one of those Subaru's having to deal with my property in bad weather.
I don't doubt your need for a truck and you're correct when you say you're not going to haul all that stuff in a Subaru. However, traversing the obstacles you mentioned would be no problem. People seem to forget than an Outback has the same ground clearance as an F-150 or Grand Cherokee.