If I win the lottery, I'll still have my MINI...maybe I'll grab an "S" too, yet I am still getting myself a Hummer 2 !!

 

>>The point is they ought to stick with what they're good at - going to Starbuck's to get their Frappucinos >>

Hey! Now Thems fightn words! I love my Starbuck's! And yes I live in Seattle

One point that everybody has missed is the fact that the SUV's are parking in the compact spots. I'm not sure what qualifies as a compact but I'm pretty sure a Tahoe, Navigator, or any thing 4x4 is not. Nothing Pi##es me off more that parking in the south fourty on the end, just to have some SOB hog the line or even cross it to center between the cars instead of the lines. Besides the SUV's might scratch my window.

 

So tonight, I was driving on the freeway here in SoCal and I was coming to an exit that has a couple of nice turns to it. As I was getting closer to the offramp, I noticed this big-*** Suburban taking up BOTH lanes and going seriously slow on the off-ramp. I think she noticed me behind her because she moved to the right and and I flew by her on one of the turns (the exit is two lanes). I was in no way even remotely close to causing an accident or did I make her swerve or anything. When I passed her, she was flashing her brights at me frantically. Then we came to the stop light and she glared at me like I was some freak, so I gave her two (meaning I flipped her off the British way). She responded with a mouthful.

I think what really pissed me off was the fact that she was taking BOTH lanes on the off-ramp and mad at me for passing her. If she can't handle the size of her vehicle then maybe she shouldn't be driving it.

 

I think the SUV/minivan people are just pissed off that we are much cuter than they are ... plus our cars have personality.

i don't get 'run over' but i am able to zip past w/o trying and i get plenty of looks -- like they are surprised that my MINI can have some get up and GO. ::jeeze:: i'm not driving a clown car, i'm driving a fun economical car that just happens to be adorable.

 

10 (or more) gears

if it was me i would

__________________________________________________
Bullet: DS/DS MCS, all the goodies in the book (Ex: NAV.), All Packages, 17"R90's, Rally Lights, Clear Tail Lights, Painted Wheelarches & Front/Back Spoilers. SeX oN WhEeLs!!!

 

I've got a problem with people in full size pick-ups. You know the ones with four foot tall tires and you need step ladders to get into them. Alot of them just seem to think they own the road.

 

I bought my MCS because I liked the look ,performance and of course it reminded me of my old Cooper. I did not buy it for the gas milage,hell it is a forth car in the family. YES I own an SUV & I use it off road,use it to go skiing ,boating & I do not give a damn about the gas milage(if you can not afford it that is not my problem)
And as far as the save gas,keep money from the Arabs , look around at the IMPORT cars in the USA - maybe we need to retreat and only buy AMERICAN products.
Last time I checked this is a country with Freedom of Choice
The poll on the other web page says we bought our cars for FUN (#1choice :smile: )
This is an inperfect world try to live in it the best we can
Well I have vented enough

 

>>I do not give a damn about the gas milage (if you can not afford it that is not my problem)

You have a right to your opinion, but you're misreading people here. It's not that anti-SUV people are bitter because they can't AFFORD to get 11 mpg. We just can't stand people who think that just because they can afford to waste gas, they have a right to. It's an environmental issue, not a jealousy issue. I'm not jealous of 2-3 person families who burn oil all winter and blast A/C all summer to heat/cool 5000 square foot houses, but I think of those people as irresponsible and self-absorbed for the same reasons that I have that opinion about most SUV drivers. Some tradeoff between fun/convenience and conscience is only to be expected in such a wealthy country, but a huge percentage of Americans have forgotten about the rest of the world altogether.

What you're saying about imported products is true to some extent (although Honda and Toyota are providing a whole lot of American jobs right now) - it's not just SUVs that are the problem, it's people not thinking of the consequences of their purchases in general. SUVs are a good indicator of the extent of the problem just because they're so large and expensive and offensive.

And for the last time, if you use your SUV for towing/hauling, then you're not included in the group that people are ranting about (except the truly ignorant ones). Sheesh. Why can I never resist jumping into this conversation?

 

"Oh! Don't hurt the Hummer. Go over the Mini.'

 

silkgreen here, wow, just checked back and there has been a lot going on with this topic.

as far as what i think (for what's that is worth):

1. it isn't about gas affordabilty, it's about what we are doing to the planet and our dependance on foriegn oil. none of this terrorism would we going on right now with the middle east if it wasn't for OIL. (BTW the W used to run an oil company, you do the math).

2. the mini proves you can have fun and be environmentally thoughtful.

3. the flags on the SUVs kill me too! stop waving your flag and start doing something to help the country. buying USA products does not change our dependance on foriegn oil.

4. THE BEST THING about SUVs: that they are named after environmentally beautiful places: Denali (alaska), Tahoe, (Cal), Tacoma (right here in WA). somebody has a sense of irony in the naming department.

5. yes some people need a SUV type thing for skiing and camping etc, totally agree esp. up here in WA (although an all-wheel drive cooper would be VERY nice too if they made them, hmmmm). sorry but in my opinion NOBODY needs that behemoth hummer 2 beast. what's next? picking the kids up from school in a sherman tank? military size vehicles belong in the military. sorry.

6. i also have an electric vehicle, the sparrow 1, from corbin motors in CA. 'merican made and zero emmisions! crazy but it can be done.

7. for the person that asked: sorry no pictures of the trip. too busy motoring baby!

that's my quick 7 cents.

happy new year and peace to all (even mini van and SUV drivers) !!!

 

To get off the SUV issue, on the trip down the coast did you go US 101? If you take the FT Bragg exit and go West to Highway 1 which is an amazing drive South

 

thanks chrisneal for about the only logical post in this waste of a thread!

People, don't be bitter because its cool. Politics by emotion is just stupid (and despite what my father may say, that goes for BOTH conservatives and liberals!).

 

Replace "Miata" with "MINI" and this pretty much applies:



R

 

I've been lurking quite a while now here, but after reading this thread I have to give a big thumbs up to most of the opinions against SUV's. Yes, a few people need the capabilities for things like towing or if they're an adventure outfitter or rancher/farmer, etc., but the grand majority (sounds like a new SUV name, no?) own them because they think it makes them safer or as a suburbia status symbol. As far as many SUV drivers not liking being outrun or passed by MINIs, they're that way about any other unique or spporty looking car on the road-- they think because they're driving the biggest, tallest that they must also lay claim to being the most powerful on the road. No matter the power their motor generates, they neglect that it must push between three and four tons of iron, not counting the meat onboard in the seats, and the 50+ gallons of fuel needed to get them 300 or 400 miles. Dang, I'm starting to rant, aren't I? Sorry. Nothing against the actual vehicle itself, just the approx. 85% of people that drive them like they own the road.

I get them trying to sprint out in front of me all the time when I'm in my corvette (LT1), its so ridiculous. Once a guy in one of the Ford Expeditions was really tailgating my bad. My vette is a convertible and had the top down, all I could see in mirror was grille, and this was while motoring on the expressway. I ended up taking a clover leaf exit and taking it fast on purpose to see if the dork would back off. He didn't. He went off onto the shoulder, kicked up tons of loose pebble debris and dust. As soon as he hit the shoulder he lost traction and slid and kissed the guard rail. He was lucky to have slid though because he was suffering serious body-lean and may have rolled it had he not lost traction. I'll never forget that time, quite a fond memory :smile:

 

Hey, also I bet a lot of you will enjoy browsing this page:

http://poseur.4x4.org/

"The Ultimate SUV Poseur Page".

Note the disclaimer that its not against SUVs and owners that enjoy them for their designed off-roading purposes, etc., just mocks the "Poseurs", and the whole trend towards super-porky huge mammoths.

 

Lt1 corvette? now , what is the gas mileage on those? why do people buy sportscars?do they take them to the track and race them? i know some does but most don't, so , why do you need a sports car? why do we turn our fog lamps on when it's not foggy outside, why do some feel the need to have driving lamps? how about DSC, like your going to drive your car like a madman. maybe in case of emergency? yeah right, heard that before. how many of you smoke? hate this hate that, lots of issues. peace

 

i pick up my mcs on sat in sfo and im taking hwy 1 south along big sur for a nice twisty road trip. it sounds like i might be in for a big surprise suv type so what sould i be looking out for. all help would be appreciated so that i can keep my little brg mcs in good shape when i get to so calif. got the sport package and the mfsteering wheel so i could watch the road better and the 17 performance tires do you think i have a chance. should i just get it trailered to so cal and put her in the gurage till the next gas shortage. need advice quick leave in two days

 

Drive it home,drive defensively-just like when you are riding a cycle if they are bigger than you they win. We do have that advantage of being responsive-have a safe and enjoyable trip home.

 

>>i pick up my mcs on sat in sfo and im taking hwy 1 south along big sur for a nice twisty road trip. it sounds like i might be in for a big surprise suv type so what sould i be looking out for. all help would be appreciated so that i can keep my little brg mcs in good shape when i get to so calif. got the sport package and the mfsteering wheel so i could watch the road better and the 17 performance tires do you think i have a chance. should i just get it trailered to so cal and put her in the gurage till the next gas shortage. need advice quick leave in two days

Drive it! If I remember correctly, the traffic coming down the coast is pretty light anyway, so you shouldn't have any problems after you get south of Gilroy all the way to LA. Once you hit LA traffic tho, nobody really moves, so you should be ok

 

>>i pick up my mcs on sat in sfo and im taking hwy 1 south along big sur for a nice twisty road trip. it sounds like i might be in for a big surprise suv type so what sould i be looking out for. all help would be appreciated so that i can keep my little brg mcs in good shape when i get to so calif. got the sport package and the mfsteering wheel so i could watch the road better and the 17 performance tires do you think i have a chance. should i just get it trailered to so cal and put her in the gurage till the next gas shortage. need advice quick leave in two days


hwy 1 with a "S" .....are you kidding.....GO FOR IT!!!!!

 

hey to PKTRKT: we went down to 101 via olympia wa then took it all the way down the oregan coast to SF. very nice twisties where it gets two lane in parts of oregon.

another fun note on SUVs. check this list on the "meanest vehicles for the environment" from green cars.com:

meanest cars

motor on!

curt

 

>>another fun note on SUVs. check this list on the "meanest vehicles for the environment" from green cars.com:
>>


Phew, feel much better now. My Land Rover didn't make the mean green list.

Maybe its not one of those evil SUV's afterall. :evil:

_________________
MINI Cooper S: Indi Blue with black roof and stripes. Ordered 9/9/02

 

LIVE AND LET LIVE!

 

>>Lt1 corvette? now , what is the gas mileage on those? why do people buy sportscars?do they take them to the track and race them? i know some does but most don't, so , why do you need a sports car? why do we turn our fog lamps on when it's not foggy outside, why do some feel the need to have driving lamps? how about DSC, like your going to drive your car like a madman. maybe in case of emergency? yeah right, heard that before. how many of you smoke? hate this hate that, lots of issues. peace

Nope that analogy does not work. My friend has a 2001 LS-1 Corvette with a 6-speed that gets in the low 30's MPG as long as you don't get on the gas to hard. I think the current corvettes come with a 3.03:1 rear end ratio, the Z06 vette I am sure comes with something lower numericly, and combined with the 50% overdrive that the car has for 6th gear and you have a nearly 1:1 ratio connecting the engine to the tires.

That along with the low CD of the vette(.29 for the vette, 0.43 for a Ford Exploder and .36 for the MINI) means the vette will get much better MPG then just about any SUV.*

Lets compare SUV's and Sports cars in a few other ways too.

Most SUV's ride on obsolete and inferior Body on Frame designs that are not nearly as safe as the modern Uniframe or Unibody designs that every other new passenger car in the world uses but one uses. The Ford Crown Vic is the only car I know of that still uses a Body on Frame design but even it might have been changed over to at least a subframe design recently.


SUV's, along with trucks MiniVans and anything else that is falselfy classifed as a truck, for the most part use older designs for motors.

This has become less and less true in recent times but still can be seen in some cases. GM is probably the best example of this over all. I think they GM engineers must have the motto, "You will take our pushrods when you pry them from our cold dead fingers," posted somewhere in their offices. Most Minivans are based on a car chassis now so they use the same motor that went in the car they are based on. Even though they have the exact same motor they get several MPG less then the car it came from because of their higher weight and CD.


SUV's and other trucks for the most part use obsolete and inferior suspension/steering components.

There are only a handful of SUV's, mostly the car based ones like the CRV, RAV4 and RX300, that have full independent suspensions and rack and pinion steering. Most cars have had this technology for years again the expetion is the Ford Crown Vic. The new Expedition and Exploder have full independent suspension and Rack and Pinion steering but most other non-car based SUV's don't.

Instead of full independent suspension and rack and pinion steering they use the very old reticulating ball design for steering and solid axel type suspension. Some times these solid axels use leaf springs instead of coils which make them even worse.

Ack but enough ranting I just can understand why people would continue to buy inferior products when they are better options out there.


* Sources for CD statistics
http://www.y-body.org/faq/c5/general.htm
http://www.ford-trucks.com/specs/200...ersport_1.html
http://www.mbmw.com/mini_cooper_s.htm