A toy hauler is a type of travel trailer that can hold dirt bikes and quads inside of it. I don't see what is derogatory about calling a Mini Van a lowered SUV. They weigh as much, get similar gas mileage and have similar interior room. It wasn't meant to be derogatory.
I have a 2006 Toyota Tacoma Pre-Runner SR5 double cab with a 5spd. I bought it used (CPO) and I get no less than 21mpg mix of driving around town and commuting to work. All I am trying to say is that small trucks that get around 20mpg are just as economical in my opinion as large sedans and mini vans. I do not disagree that I could save money by buying trading in my truck for a Yaris if one would meet my needs. In fact I advised my sister to buy a Yaris because she almost never needs a truck and when she does she can borrow mine.
I didn't disparage Mini-Vans. I called them lowered SUV's. The Honda Mini-Van you mentioned weights 500 lbs more than my truck and gets between 17 and 20mpg, my truck gets between 20 and 26mpg. The fact of the matter is mini-vans get less gas mileage than my truck, don't tow as well or as much (smaller brakes, radiator, alternator, tans cooler, oil cooler, less power), and don't have a bed to put dirty stuff. I understand a Mini-Van could get by doing most of the things I do but I don't understand what the point would be since my truck gets better gas mileage and does almost everything better. I also understand that a small car can do a lot of the things that I do with my truck, trust me I have had several small cars as my only vehicle and at one point I only had a motorcycle. My point is that while some people are willing to sacrifice convenience to get the best MPG possible I am willing to sacrifice a couple MPG (a few hundred dollars a year) to get the most convenience. I am just sick of a large portion of slashdot assuming that anyone who owns a truck is an idiot when the math doesn't work out that way.
A Ford focus gets 35mpg, my truck gets 22mpg. Even a used Focus is going to cost me 10 grand. I drive 12,000 miles a year commuting. Insurance for the Focus would cost me $1200 a year and maintenance probably around $300. So I would save $506 a year and gas but would be out $1500 a year plus depreciation.
I can't afford to have multiple vehicles for every task. My wife has a vehicle and I have a vehicle. We can't always car pool and we need to have a truck. I don't want to make 5 trips to pick up brick. That is fine that you do, before I had my truck I did similar things in my Scion, but the convienence is worth the money to me. Your Fit gets 27 - 33 mpg according to Honda's website. I get 22 mpg in my truck so the 5 to 11 mpg savings would not even save me that much. I imagine I wouldn't save money on insurance as both my civic and my tC were more expensive for me to insure than my truck in my area. As other posters have noted, renting a truck can be a hassle. The reason I have been commenting on this thread is because I disagree with the viewpoint, that many people on slashdot have, that anyone who owns a truck or SUV does nothing but commute and would save thousands if they owned a car instead. Nobody ever takes the convience factor into account. Sure you can fit two adults, a baby in a car seat, a stroller, a fold up crib, and bags of toys and diapers in a compact. But it is much less hassle in a truck like mine or, for example, a cx-7 like my wife is looking at. If you also tend to haul stuff that won't fit in the compact or is too heavy then I don't see why some people seem to get so upset when some one goes for a SUV or pickup over a compact.
See the problem with this logic is that people compare the cost of large trucks to small cars. When you compare my 4 door tacoma to a 4 door camry the savings aren't as obvious. I went from a compact (scion tc) to a 4 door long bed pickup. I can haul basically anything I want, I get 4mpg less than the scion (22 compared to 26) and I can easily fit 5 people. Tires are the same price, about 150 each but the truck tires last twice as long. It holds 2 more quarts of oil and my insurance is 80 a month instead of 120. For someone who owns a house and is often times hauling things like furntiture, landscaping materials, building supplies, grocceries, tools, etc it is much more economical to own a pickup. I traded in my car for my truck about 6 months after we bought our house because we were constantly borrowing trucks from friends and family members. The Infiniti G35 my wife drives gets 18mpg and can't haul hardly anything or fit more than 2 people comfortably. The mid size SUV she wants to trade it in on will be much more practical. Not everyone wants to drive econo boxes and in most cases V6 SUVs and pickups are hard to beat when compared to full size cars and minivans when it comes to practicality and cost.
My truck tows 6,500lbs, and can haul 1700 in the bed. I can also seat 5 while doing so. I would not like to hook up a trailer for a run around the corner to home depot and if I owned a toy hauler that would be even more impractical. Not to mention my truck gets better gas mileage than both of those lowered SUVs, sorry mini-vans, you listed. The fact is for the average American home owner, a 4 door pickup or SUV is a very practical vehicle. The compromises you suggest are more expensive and less convenient.
Your a hippy because you think your freedom is more important than mine. When I get home from work tonight i"m going to let my dirt bike idle in my driveway for a few hours just for you buddy.
By the way, except for the off-roading stuff, it sounds like a minivan would suit you just fine, but even that depends on how rough of roads you are referring to.
Except for putting more than a few hundred pounds of supplies from home depot in it, towing more than a thousand pounds or so, and off-roading like you said.
Stop wasting energy posting on Slashdot and go live in the woods and I will believe you care so strongly about "mucking up the environment." Right now I just think your a douchebag hippy with a holier than thou attitude who thinks he has the right to dictate how complete strangers spend their free time.
you're better off renting a truck when it's time to haul some stuff.
So I should rent a truck just about every weekend? I've had small cars (prelude, civic, tC, BMW 3 series) and the fact is my Double Cab pickup is much more practical now that I own a house and am constantly working on home improvement projects or groccery shopping, or hauling my dirt bike around.
you can probably afford a $9000 point A to point B car which will save you a ton in gas, insurance, and maintenance
A 35 MPG car compared to a 15-20mpg SUV or truck is going to save me around $1500 a year in gas. So I will spend $9000 to save $1500 a year in gas for a break even point of 6 years if you don't count the insurance and maintenance costs of the second vehicle. When you add the insurance into the equation even a 40mpg car won't save me any money.
I witnessed a car accident recently, 35mph an SUV got t-boned and flipped over.
Do you really think this would have ended better in a Prius?
I want to haul plywood, bags of cement, tile, etc from home depot when I work on my house, tow my trailer full of dirt bikes or quads when I go camping, go off-roading occasionally, carry many passangers occasionally, go on a cross country trip with my wife, kids, and 2 weeks worth of luggage and I can't afford to have multiple vehicles for every task. Which type of vehicle is versatile enough to suit my (and the average American family's) needs.
It is pretty close to the impossible end of the difficulty scale.
The choice is:
A) Segregating women into a "ghetto" that is all but ignored
B) Having them tryout for the mens teams and all but 1 or 2 don't get signed
Slashdot Mirror
A toy hauler is a type of travel trailer that can hold dirt bikes and quads inside of it. I don't see what is derogatory about calling a Mini Van a lowered SUV. They weigh as much, get similar gas mileage and have similar interior room. It wasn't meant to be derogatory.
I have a 2006 Toyota Tacoma Pre-Runner SR5 double cab with a 5spd. I bought it used (CPO) and I get no less than 21mpg mix of driving around town and commuting to work. All I am trying to say is that small trucks that get around 20mpg are just as economical in my opinion as large sedans and mini vans. I do not disagree that I could save money by buying trading in my truck for a Yaris if one would meet my needs. In fact I advised my sister to buy a Yaris because she almost never needs a truck and when she does she can borrow mine.
I threw a fedora disk at her and said when thats installed, I'll help, until then I don't care.
Sounds like you guys are soul-mates.
Back on topic: why does the site only use one third of the width of my screen?
Try clicking the square inside a square at the top right corner of the window. HTH. ;)
I didn't disparage Mini-Vans. I called them lowered SUV's. The Honda Mini-Van you mentioned weights 500 lbs more than my truck and gets between 17 and 20mpg, my truck gets between 20 and 26mpg. The fact of the matter is mini-vans get less gas mileage than my truck, don't tow as well or as much (smaller brakes, radiator, alternator, tans cooler, oil cooler, less power), and don't have a bed to put dirty stuff. I understand a Mini-Van could get by doing most of the things I do but I don't understand what the point would be since my truck gets better gas mileage and does almost everything better. I also understand that a small car can do a lot of the things that I do with my truck, trust me I have had several small cars as my only vehicle and at one point I only had a motorcycle. My point is that while some people are willing to sacrifice convenience to get the best MPG possible I am willing to sacrifice a couple MPG (a few hundred dollars a year) to get the most convenience. I am just sick of a large portion of slashdot assuming that anyone who owns a truck is an idiot when the math doesn't work out that way.
A Ford focus gets 35mpg, my truck gets 22mpg. Even a used Focus is going to cost me 10 grand. I drive 12,000 miles a year commuting. Insurance for the Focus would cost me $1200 a year and maintenance probably around $300. So I would save $506 a year and gas but would be out $1500 a year plus depreciation.
I can't afford to have multiple vehicles for every task. My wife has a vehicle and I have a vehicle. We can't always car pool and we need to have a truck. I don't want to make 5 trips to pick up brick. That is fine that you do, before I had my truck I did similar things in my Scion, but the convienence is worth the money to me. Your Fit gets 27 - 33 mpg according to Honda's website. I get 22 mpg in my truck so the 5 to 11 mpg savings would not even save me that much. I imagine I wouldn't save money on insurance as both my civic and my tC were more expensive for me to insure than my truck in my area. As other posters have noted, renting a truck can be a hassle. The reason I have been commenting on this thread is because I disagree with the viewpoint, that many people on slashdot have, that anyone who owns a truck or SUV does nothing but commute and would save thousands if they owned a car instead. Nobody ever takes the convience factor into account. Sure you can fit two adults, a baby in a car seat, a stroller, a fold up crib, and bags of toys and diapers in a compact. But it is much less hassle in a truck like mine or, for example, a cx-7 like my wife is looking at. If you also tend to haul stuff that won't fit in the compact or is too heavy then I don't see why some people seem to get so upset when some one goes for a SUV or pickup over a compact.
See the problem with this logic is that people compare the cost of large trucks to small cars. When you compare my 4 door tacoma to a 4 door camry the savings aren't as obvious. I went from a compact (scion tc) to a 4 door long bed pickup. I can haul basically anything I want, I get 4mpg less than the scion (22 compared to 26) and I can easily fit 5 people. Tires are the same price, about 150 each but the truck tires last twice as long. It holds 2 more quarts of oil and my insurance is 80 a month instead of 120. For someone who owns a house and is often times hauling things like furntiture, landscaping materials, building supplies, grocceries, tools, etc it is much more economical to own a pickup. I traded in my car for my truck about 6 months after we bought our house because we were constantly borrowing trucks from friends and family members. The Infiniti G35 my wife drives gets 18mpg and can't haul hardly anything or fit more than 2 people comfortably. The mid size SUV she wants to trade it in on will be much more practical. Not everyone wants to drive econo boxes and in most cases V6 SUVs and pickups are hard to beat when compared to full size cars and minivans when it comes to practicality and cost.
My truck tows 6,500lbs, and can haul 1700 in the bed. I can also seat 5 while doing so. I would not like to hook up a trailer for a run around the corner to home depot and if I owned a toy hauler that would be even more impractical. Not to mention my truck gets better gas mileage than both of those lowered SUVs, sorry mini-vans, you listed. The fact is for the average American home owner, a 4 door pickup or SUV is a very practical vehicle. The compromises you suggest are more expensive and less convenient.
Not sure how they are running the audio but that's available as well.
You have to download the mp3.......
What's it's 60mph to 180mph time? ;)
Your a hippy because you think your freedom is more important than mine. When I get home from work tonight i"m going to let my dirt bike idle in my driveway for a few hours just for you buddy.
By the way, except for the off-roading stuff, it sounds like a minivan would suit you just fine, but even that depends on how rough of roads you are referring to.
Except for putting more than a few hundred pounds of supplies from home depot in it, towing more than a thousand pounds or so, and off-roading like you said.
Stop wasting energy posting on Slashdot and go live in the woods and I will believe you care so strongly about "mucking up the environment." Right now I just think your a douchebag hippy with a holier than thou attitude who thinks he has the right to dictate how complete strangers spend their free time.
you're better off renting a truck when it's time to haul some stuff.
So I should rent a truck just about every weekend? I've had small cars (prelude, civic, tC, BMW 3 series) and the fact is my Double Cab pickup is much more practical now that I own a house and am constantly working on home improvement projects or groccery shopping, or hauling my dirt bike around.
you can probably afford a $9000 point A to point B car which will save you a ton in gas, insurance, and maintenance
A 35 MPG car compared to a 15-20mpg SUV or truck is going to save me around $1500 a year in gas. So I will spend $9000 to save $1500 a year in gas for a break even point of 6 years if you don't count the insurance and maintenance costs of the second vehicle. When you add the insurance into the equation even a 40mpg car won't save me any money.
I witnessed a car accident recently, 35mph an SUV got t-boned and flipped over.
Do you really think this would have ended better in a Prius?
Try actually camping sometime, nude with a pointy stick and a rock to throw at birds. Way to set arbitrary limits for "actual" camping.
I want to haul plywood, bags of cement, tile, etc from home depot when I work on my house, tow my trailer full of dirt bikes or quads when I go camping, go off-roading occasionally, carry many passangers occasionally, go on a cross country trip with my wife, kids, and 2 weeks worth of luggage and I can't afford to have multiple vehicles for every task. Which type of vehicle is versatile enough to suit my (and the average American family's) needs.
What don't you understand about the word want.
If I told you your hot water heater was going to fail in just about two years from today, would you replace it tomorrow?
Says the guy who can't figure out the difference between "to" and "too."
Not often do you get a Tom Clancy reference around here.
It is pretty close to the impossible end of the difficulty scale.
The choice is:
A) Segregating women into a "ghetto" that is all but ignored
B) Having them tryout for the mens teams and all but 1 or 2 don't get signed
I prefer the (apparently temporary) results of the grass root efforts of the 70's..............the 1770's.
Obligatory xkcd.
Full screen flash and time travel? Impressive.
Is your biggest problem with my post really the fact that some people lick their thumb to help them turn pages.