BIG ski SUV - Page 2  

yeah but remember that size/space and fuel efficiency are pretty mutually exclusive unless you go for a minivan or even a station wagon.

also coolness versus utility. i mean you could fit a rocket box on top of any vehicle and get added storage space but that look is an......"acquired" taste.

Do you even care a little about our environment? Would you feel like a tool cruising down the highway in an escalade with two people?


Don't go this route-you can do better for yourself, everyone else and the environment.

You're approaching your problem from the wrong direction. You should be getting rid of some of the junk you carry, rather than getting more space for it.

If you get a larger vehicle, you will just buy more crap to fill it up. Then you'll be in the same situation again... and again....

I drove a Suburban (well, two different ones) for 8 years. I didn't enjoy driving it all that much, but it was very useful. Build quality was fine. Seats were comfortable. Never had a lick of trouble.

It's a good time to buy the big honkers, because few want them anymore.

I traded mine for a Land Cruiser last fall. I didn't need as much space anymore, and I always preferred the TLC anyway. It's a tank. Gas mileage isn't much better, maybe a little, but I use a VW bug half the year anyway.

(Is it more wasteful to own two cars, if one of them is somewhat more "responsible" than the other, than one irresponsible car? I bought both used. I'm sure some of the opinionated people here will tell me ....)

Ya gotta love Richie's threads!!!!!

Richie, by chance are you an ex football or basketball player? Good friends with Beckham????

The answer is obvious:



and with all engines engaged, watch out!

I think WK Grand Cherokee would be a good bet. You may just have to promise you won't wrench on it or modify it.

I'm also shaking my head at the fact that you asked for vehicle advice, and you're getting a moral lambasting. It's funny that they're roasting you for considering a big vehicle, but they're also driving hours away in a gasoline powered vehicle to be transported up a mountain by a device that uses a good deal of electricity. Shame on your for wanting a large vehicle!

There's also a fair number of people on this board who don't drive "hours away" to go skiing, and even a few who get up the mountain on their own accord.

Personally, it's about an hour for me...but to make the most of it, I drive a 25mpg car, and fill all four seats. I wish I could do better, but there's all those damn trade-offs...like being within one mile of work, and not driving at all during the week.

And if I'm going up alone (which has happened one time so far this year), I leave the car behind and hitchhike.

But you're point is founded. There's plenty of people who think nothing of flying across the country to ski for six days. Shame on them, too.

Chevy Tahoe

Z-71 upgrade or even the Hybrid 4X4

Look it over.

Oh come guys, buys a small car (cobalt, focus ...) Put 600 $ on good snow tire and hit the friggin snow drifts at 50 mph. (It'll cost ya a bumper or 2 every winter but it sure is a lot of fun ) and put the rest of the money on some totally useless things. Save the planet, those small cars will easily get ya 35 mpg on the highway at reasonnable speeds.)

ooh! ooh! Unimog! hahaha I love it, but if your GF thinks the G-series is ugly, well...

Please don't buy an H3. They are the antichrist of 4WD vehicles.

Get yourself a bit older Yukon Denali if you need something huge. You can get 'em for around 20k in great shape, but the real reason I recommend it is thus: all wheel steering. I hate it when I have to drive my work truck- '05 F350 Super Duty- too big and lumbering, can't park anywhere without backing in. I drove a friend's denali w/ 4ws, and was amazed. It almost parked and turned as easy as my Wrangler and had space like I only get to dream about right now.

Or if you're ready to spend DOUGH, get a winnebago (they make 'em 4WD!). I have one and it's 2WD, but still makes a party out of a long trip and even has a bathroom to change in & a shower for my gear to drain into. Seriously the ULTIMATE in ski travel and you can SLEEP 6 IN THE DAMN THING AND WAKE UP ALREADY AT THE MOUNTAIN! Save the gas guzzlin' for the big trips, be green the rest of it! I'm suprised a fellow toy guy like yourself doesn't already have one- they're awesome all year!

How about a BIG REMOVABLE roof box n a fuel efficient vehicle? Think about it.

A newer model Chevy Astro AWD fits all the specs you're looking for and about ~25 mpg, but we all know you want the SUV for it's faux "I'm a rugged outdoors man look".

Please for god sake don't buy a gas guzzler, there won't be any skiing left if people keep buying those CO2 belching monsters.

Just curious why you won't buy Japanese. Especially given that it may be made in the U.S. by U.S. workers and have as many U.S. parts in it as a GM product. Or is it that you prefer cars with lower quality control so you have something to do on weekdays besides work?

How about a VW Touareg or Porsche Cayenne. Maybe a M-B GL. Range Rover?

Also, in the scheme of things if you really need a huge car the hybrid Tahoe is much less evil than the other GMs.

My wife drives a LR Discovery because try as we like, we couldn't get a Prius to pull a horse trailer. That may be only 1% of driving time, but sometimes that 1% dictates what you will be driving the other 99% of the time.

http://www.chevrolet.com/hybrid/

Cool factor with an Escalade :- are you a rapper or something? I suppose everyone evaluates "cool" differently, but I wish I had a big pop-up finger on my car to wave to all the NY jerk-jobs on 91 every weekend thinking themselve cool with some overblown, gas guzzling monsters with two people in them clogging the left lane.

BMW 5 series wagon, Audi Avant, Mecedes E series wagon. All the room you could ever NEED, in a 4wd package that's emminently more stable, more practical, and more concious of something other than some self percieved "cool" factor.

Seriously, you are going to buy a monster SUV to drive from Long Island to VT 11 times a season? WTF! Global Warming skeptic or not, a little common sense and this seems ridiculous.

Buy a 4-door sedan. Example: I drive a Chevy Malibu, ok car, not very fancy. V-6, traction control, side airbags. Goes great in the snow, even sans snow tires. Last summer I had everything I need to build skis in there, a weeks worth of clothes PLUS a weeks worth of laundry, and a bike on the roof. Oh yeah, a passenger and her weeks worth of clothes, plus a cooler of lobsters. +32mpg Maine to NY. Throw a box on it for more room.

It honestly pisses me off to hear people justify an SUV purchase the way they do.

Reasons you NEED an SUV

1. You have a family, and frequently tow a trailer
2. You are a rapper (Escalade):
3. To spin 360's when you RWD behemoth breaks loose on an icy road
4. You have some sort of an inferiority complex

Reasons you DO NOT NEED an SUV

1. To get groceries
2. To take the kids to soccer practice
3. To fit in
4. To drive around Long Island 354 days a year when not driving to VT

I'm probably going to offend somebody with this, but oh well.

um... why is everyone getting so burnt up about a big SUV? Are you that brainwashed that you think they're REALLY the sole cause of climate change? Have you done any research and seen all the rainforest that's being cut down to grow corn for "green" ethanol in South America??? You want to point a finger and get pissed? Look at the ship breaking operation at Chittagong, Bangladesh and other places in India where the toxic waste running into the ocean can be seen from space. The truth is that the environmental impact form an SUV is actually relatively small, and the pre '00 cars with V8s that are poorly tuned are belching out far more pollutants, and I didn't hear anyone talking trash to the guy with the Caprice doing 100. The car itself is far less damaging than the process to make it- every piece of a car that comes from the far east has essentially come from a smoke-belching, toxic waste-dumping abomination of environmental concern. The car or SUV itself would take decades to turn out the damage done in one afternoon by the process it takes to make one. From mining iron ore or recycling materials (from ships?!) to refining, to casting, to shipping, it all kills the planet. How do you think your car or all the parts to make it got here from China? A big ass boat floated 'em over here, which *gasp* polluted like a mofo on its way. How about Hybrids? Do you know what is going to happen to those huge Nickel batteries when the car dies? You probably never looked into it, so do you REALLY care? If you REALLY cared, you wouldn't buy a car at all- you'd get a mountain bike. Subaru is the only auto plant with 0-landfill waste, so buy a Subaru if you care. So stop hugging the tree so hard you can't see the guy behind you cutting 'em down! It honestly pisses me off to hear people act like you have to justify your purchases to someone else. SUVs are excessive, but then who are you? They're not illegal, bro and if you think buying a Prius is going to save this planet, sorry to rain on your parade. It's not.

I recycle everything, I drive a motorcycle in the summer and my Jeep sips gas in the winter. I pick up trash when I see it in the woods or on the street. I consider myself a middle-of-the-road green guy. I care, but also know I have no right to berate someone for wanting or having a big vehicle. SUVs aren't helping, but they are not the problem we should be concentrating out hate on, either.

Those new GMC Arcadia's are pretty cool. They *may* even be a bit better on gas.... they have a large 6 instead of an 8. I'd probably think about getting one if they had a V8. I need towing capacity.

Damn... I just looked it up... it isn't even a large 6, but they do get pretty good power out of it. On paper. I'd have to drive one to see.

Best reply in this thread! Decide on your budget then go hunting until you find what you and GF like the best. GF needs/likes are pretty high in the "utility" list as long as she's high on yours. Worst case senerio is that whatever you end up can always be traded in on something else if you change your mind about how much you really like it-just like your current vehicles.
:
By the way Ritch, I think you did quite well with your other vehicle choices

"I'm so into myself/material gain/real estate that I name myself Richie-Rich."
"A hummer is not big enough for me and my 167 Recons to go skiing ten days a year."
"I consume sooooo much stuff (from big box stores in VT), that I NEED something bigger."
"I already have several cars but that's just because owning lotsa stuff makes me feel good about myself."
C'mon man. Grow up.

Looks like another web bully for "Super Ritch"

This is one of my favorite posts ever. If it wasn't so long, I'd make it my signature. Well said.

Um, I don't see anyone assigning blame to SUV's as the sole cause of bad things, but it's a contributor that "enlightened people" should know (at least) a little better.

Take all your analogies and "logic"- all this bad stuff coming here from all these heathens - well, if the vehicle was half the size, only half as much would be used and brought in from all those nasty sources - yes?. And that ship - well it uses HFO (heavy fuel) that is useless for virtually any other purpose, and btw, it's CO2 emissions are about 1/400th, of those "nicer" means of transport, like planes.

And the fuel that you're using in this beast - well, ummm, that comes in your great ship polluter too, and if you only need to use half as much to get to your destination, well......:

It's all about setting an example (or not), and not using more than your reasonable share of scarce resources to stroke your "cool" factor. To use your points, everything contributes to bad stuff entering the environment, and when you have to get some beheamoth to deal with your insecurities, all of the aspects of the manufacturing process contribute to making the choice even less savory.

Oh, nevermind.

Uh-oh... callout. Race ya to the Mall!

not to be judgmental but you got examine this guys motivations for wanting to get a Big SUV.

He like many wants to have the capability to haul alot of crap(or to go offroading in Moab or tow a boat) whether he;s likely to do it or not. I can;t judge him, i did the same thing when I owned a Nissan Xterra for 5 years.

what he;ll find after alot of research is that no vehicle out there is going to do it all for him and not hurt him at the gas pump. everything is a compromise and merely paying extra money isn;t necessarily going to solve it. He;s already ruled out japanese vehicles so reliability just went out the window.