Posted by zog
on June 14, 2009, 1:16 pm, in reply to "Re: Food/ first the whitehouse, now the palace"
I'm not sure if you would classify jeep station wagons as SUVs, but I have had three, and worked the heck out of all of them. Hauled stuff inside and on the roof, from bulk firewood to a goat! Everything in between. Had a 59 willys wagon, a 69 wagoneer, and I..dang, forget now..maybe a 77... I think big cherokee(before they made them smaller). The 77 was the only one with a V8, the rest had straight sixes.
Now I agree that many people don't use them as trucks, but they can be, that's the difference, plus they can tow an impressive trailer for doing work..I see that all the time around here with SUVs, especially on the weekends, I can sit right here and look out the window and every other one is toting a trailer around with various stuff innit.. So you get an enclosed vehicle where you can ride in some comfort and have lots of interior lockable space and seating, plus have the option of towing a trailer, which turns it into a modular hybrid pickup for odd sized loads..like hauling a fridge and keeping it upright..heh.
And also granted, they could get better mileage..as in..where are our better diesel options, or where is a diesel electric hybrid, so the vehicle can also do double duty as a whole house emergency generator?
As to mileage, we had lots more better mileage vehicles in the 80s then we do now. My datsun diesel pickup gets between 30 and 40 MPG (depending on load and what road I am on and which gear I can settle down in), and it is an 81, and they made a station wagon, suitable for the traditional soccer mom action, with the same engine, and also a sedan, the maxima series. What happened? They got nothing like that now for sale..maybe it worked too good. Where is a new vehicle with the same engine? Granted, it isn't fast, but it doesn't have a turbo either. It was built for some decent torque from a little engine and mileage, it works. Now you have the choice of some gas engine with enough plumbing to run the space station, and they still don't get as good of mileage. The old VW rabbit diesels got 60 MPG and had a sedan and a light duty pickup. And I know Toyota makes a diesel version for their trucks, but they don't sell it in the US and it gets better mileage. They could put that in trucks or SUVs. In fact, I am going to go look right now... Toyota dropped their US diesel in 84 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Hilux#Fourth_generation
Datsun drops their diesel in 85 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datsun_Truck#Datsun_720
And then we got sportscar trucks with crap mileage. US makers I wouldn't even bother with if mileage is the prime consideration, they have never been interested in mileage. There was one model for around ten years that was strong though and seems to be hanging in good with guys getting half a million miles or more and still going strong, 1989 to around 2000 dodges with the cummins diesel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cummins_B_Series_engine
I see it bragged about as a "best buy" almost monthly in the Farm Show magazine. I've never owned one, but if I wanted a larger pickup I think I would look for one of those used and just keep it fixed. They did something to them after around 2000 (or so) and they went to being just another use em up buy a new one typical US vehicle, because at that point I start to see guys complaining about them a lot. That "best and worst buys" is one of the really good features of Farm Show mag, because these are comments from folks who really *use* their equipment, helps to spot the gems from the lemons..
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