I've been looking at what type of vehicles have 30 day tags in the Richmond area in the past 2 weeks.

14 SUV's.
2 cars.

Two of the SUV's i saw in the city this morning. Someone noted that all the vehicles are used... so 14 SUV's are being SOLD (maybe gas scared them away?), but 14 are being bought.

One of the cars, i watched getting pulled over for doing scary excessive speeds in a 35mph zone (Volvo) and the other was an older Honda being driven by a younger person.

 

I have been watching new dealer tags as well, to see what kinds of cars people are picking up under the various "employee discount/price" schemes.

Here in expensive formulated gas land (Northern California) I thought that gas prices would be driving people out of the larger SUVs and into regular cars...

Passenger cars are selling all right, as long as they're labelled "Hemi."

Teri

 

I don't see any huge drop in SUV sales in the Bay Area. It seems like the people who have enough money to buy giant vehicles also have enough money to pay California or Bay Area fuel prices. It also seems that fuel is more expensive the closer you are to the refineries. I try to fill up outside the Bay Area on my commute to and from home in the foothills because it seems like the fuel must lose value the farther you transport it. Maybe it's just a California thing... :smile:

Steve

 

There's a GORGEOUS HUGE house down the street from me, family looks loaded, and they have a Yukon. I was thinking to myself for a while that i'm sure they can pay all that money for commuting back to town, but why should they? They have one kid, and i think she's in college now... and they have a truck for other stuff they need to toe around.

Sure enough, yesterday, that Yukon is up for sale.

The other day at the gas station i was beside a lady who pumped 55$ into her medium sized truck.

Also, looking through the paper, like 2 pages of SUV's in the classifieds. Just in Richmond! Lowest octane is averaging 2.19-2.23 this week.

 

Only $55? I get apologies from the cashier when I put $150 of diesel in my 4wd F250 pickup. (60gal tank). Diesel is around $2.60 and 91 gas is about $2.70 on a good day. Needless to say, I don't commute in my truck anymore. :smile:

Steve

 

That's alot of money at one time!

 

Thank goodness for credit cards! :smile: That bill at the end of the month isn't too much fun, though.

Steve

 

i like to punish myself.

I only use debit card. That way i can use A card, but i'm paying for whatever i'm buying right then. I dont want to spend money i dont already have! Well, except on my mini.

 

That's a given since MINIs are special.

Steve

 

I don't get the point. Where else would they go? SUV heaven?

If you think SUVs aren't selling, guess again. Most of the large ones from American dealers are at the end of their life cycles and selling well because they are cheaper before new models are introduced (I read that somewhere).

 

And right after i posted my last comment, a coworker announces she wants to sell her Mercury Sable, and buy a Chevy Equinox.



If she doesn't get that, she's getting a trailblazer.

 

I just visited a Chevy Equinox forum to see some real fuel economy figures. Seems like about 15-21 mpg. Not as bad as it could be. Throw out the high and the low and figure about 18 mpg. On the good side it can use 87 octane.:smile:

Steve

 

These days anything that gets over 12 mpg gets the pass as "not too bad," "could be worse," etc. Face it, anything under 20 is pretty bad for a commuter vehicle. Not that a Mercury Sable is an efficient car, either, but come on.

 

Everytime i say my mpg, people's mouths drop. Then i get the whole "well i couldn't afford a MINI"

I guess people would rather spend 12k for a used SUV/truck that gets 10-12 mpg as a daily driver, than a 17k car that gets about 35.

 

People might also have families to haul around that require a larger vehicle

 

I hear that excuse all the time, but I usually see just one person in those vehicles most of the time.

Steve

 

That means nothing. My neighbor has two 4 x 4s, one jeep, one Toyota. They need the space. But he still got to drive to work and so does she. So somebody is going to be alone in it.

I know people with a SUV and A VAN. 4 - 5 kids. The guy still got to drive to work. He takes the SUV, wife takes the VAN with the kids.

There will be times when only one person is in the car.

 

 

Maybe in YOUR neck of the woods

I can see someone in the country needing a truck since we don't have people to pick up our trash. I can see people that normally car pool kids around needing a van or SUV.

But the MAJORITY of big vehicle owners really don't have a big family. And no real NEED for the vehicles. My dad uses his truck well. He carries computers, car parts, and trash all the time. The coworker i was talking about is a single person, who drives almost an hour to work, and then travels to PA to visit her family frequently. I could name off MANY other coworkers with SUVS that are single, or have a spouse and one kid. Or a spouse and kids all grown up. Or no one at all.

Come to think of it, all the people with smaller cars are the ones with big families. Now tell me how much sense THAT makes.

I'm single. I have no kids. But i do tote quite a bit of people around. I'm not going to get a large vehicle because of that. I have learned how to strategically place every size of passenger in my car perfectly. I'd keep the mini with kids too. i can't drive anything bigger

 

Granted. We all live in our own worlds, yours is single, mine is not. My neighborhood is full of kids. When you have four kids, your not going anywhere in that MINI with them.

People are also different ... diverse. Maybe your single friends/co-workers hate small cars just like many small car owners hate SUVs. To each, their own. It doesn't make either side right nor wrong ... just different. Some people like to be sitting up high, watching all those itty bitty cars below them. Some people love to dish those people sitting up high. TO EACH, THEIR OWN.

I'm sure you can drive something bigger. We used to own an original supercharged MR2. Two seats, nothing for storage. We drove a month cross country and back, put 10K miles on it in four weeks. I know how to squeeze stuff into a car. MINI is HUGE compared to that car. It was so tight, we had to mail home Anything we bought on the road.

Have good thoughts ... Use plenty of premium gas ... you can laugh at them but they can laugh at you too