Have you ever wanted to by a SUV
 

Basicaly my whole life I have liked smalls cars. I never wanted to get a big car because they are harder to move in traffic and park. I guess I am a bit strange, I remember when I was little (6th grade) thinking that a metro was the coolest car because it was so small.

Anyways my dad previously owned a grand caravan and I miss the space it had.
When I had to buy 4X8 sheets of plywood it would hold then with no problem. Some SUVs have way less room in them then you would think. I have used a toyota land cruiser and there is not much room in the back. I think all the room went into the wheels and suspenion.

kickflipjr -

I used to like the design of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, but really only in truck form. Does that count? This was probably the early 1990's, so the word SUV hadn't quite reached the mainstream. As a design, I like the previous generation Toyota Rav-4, but I have never seriously considered getting one. I would only give them a chance if I lived in the boonies.

I've always loved small cars too. The first generation CRX and Civic Hatchback were fantastic to in my mind and broke ALL design rules in their time. Very bold. I used to have pictures of them on my walls with C-Thru plastic overlays of how I would trick them out. I still have an original article on them from when they cam out. I might scan/post it here sometime.

CarloSW2

I just recently purchased a bunch of 4x8 sheets of dryway to finish my basement. instead of trying to get them home in my civic, I just rent a uhaul van for a day ($20) and drive them all home.

I figure that $20 once a month is much cheaper than $500/mo for a car payment and $300/mo for gas.

I always wanted a mid eighties 1 ton diesel chevy... maybe a suburban if they came with that payload rating. 25mpg@55mph in a 4000+lb vehicle with the aerodyanmic profile of a brick is pretty nice.

I've never been interested in SUVs, though I was glad my brother has a Tacoma v6 on the weekend when I needed to take a boat cradle on a trailer down the highway to another marina.

But he uses it to commute 200 km a day, and the cost is brutal. He's been asking me about aero mods.

What about roof racks, people? You can move large things on small cars as long as they're not heavy, and they're well secured. You'd be surprised at what stuff I've carried on the Flea or my old Accord.

Excellent point. I've considered getting a roof rack for the Fit just in case the entire car is full. I'm thinking of getting a trailer hitch and one of those small "pod" trailers for road trips.

I've been looking around to see if I can find a Metro or Swift with a roof rack so I can see how they attach it. Then I'll build one to hold my canoe.

I have one of those little Harbor Freight $200 trailers that I tow with my Swift. It's very light and hauls my PPC pretty well.

Q

SUVs
 

I've always been a small-car person. I recall having driven an SUV for the first time, and just thought it was like a pickup truck with luxury stuff. It made no sense to drive a clunky, truck-like vehicle when something cheaper, more comfortable, and more efficient is available. My parents had a '93 Pathfinder for a while and I despised that darn thing (so did my Mom). I had to drive it when my Civic was being repaired, after being rear-ended badly.

Even the newer "Cross-Overs" like the Nissan Murano / Infiniti FX-35, Ford Freestyle, Toyota Highlander, etc. drive like their size would indicate, and aren't terribly appealing, IMHO.

For me (aside from FE), a very important feature to a car is its handling -- so small cars tend to win there.

RH77

The vehicle I had before I got my first Saturn was a Durango.:o I bought it in Janurary of '99 when gas prices were low.(mid $.80"s) I got it mostly for the generous amounts of "sky-poop" that we get during the winter months. It had the 3rd row seat so it got used a bunch when a lot of people were going to the same place. My wife got rear ended in it one day and I was glad she was driving that instead of my Neon. The guy that hit her was driving a smaller Toyota(Tercel?) and it was totaled. The Durango was virtually untouched because the other car hit the trailer hitch pretty squarely. The trailer hitch was basically an extension of the frame rails so it was very solid. Except for that brief lapse of judgement:p I have usually owned smaller cars. '71 AMC Hornet, '73 Hornet hatchback, '76 Pacer, '76 Hornet, '83 Reliant, '87 Horizon, and '95, '96, and '00 Neons.

I'm curious -- how did that work out? I like the collection of AMCs, though!

RH77