As ive said b4 I had a Holden Jackaroo (Isuzu trooper) 2.8l turbo deee-zal (is this a SUV) 4X4.
I dont recomend anyone to get a car like this unless used for its designed purpose.
Back in my old home towen I used to do community work , much of which involved driving out to remore australian places., and a LOT of it was real 4 wheel drive area.

The places that didnt require 4 wheels used were ususaly still so rough that a normal car would trear itself apart with 6 months.
So for me ..the Trooper was great.
A top vehicle ..got 10L per 100km but it was big and heavy.

A few times I got a bit stuck with the two diagonal wheels spinning in free air with the belly pan touching the top of a mound.(and this thing had huge ground clearances)

So out you get and start winching. :D

The city 4X4 owners you see that havent even got dust on their paint work are complete knobs.

I have taken Volvos on worse roads (or lack of roads) than what 99.99999999% of Utes will ever see.

A Volvo will go through a foot of water, but watch out, the clutch slips and hope your door gakets are good.

Personally, I've always been in the small car camp. The biggest car I've owned was the Passat wagon I just sold, and it got an overall average of ~32 mpg w/o modifications (peak of 39.2 mpg on trips).

I think some SUV owners are all about "conspicuous consumption." An infinitesimal minority have any need whatsoever for their ostentatious waste. They're also ALWAYS the first vehicles I see in a ditch at the first snowfall each Winter.

I don't even see much use for 4WD or AWD except for towing something up a slippery hill, or for getting oneself out of a ditch. Of course they do have the ability to get you so far off the road that by the time you finally do get stuck, you have to wait til spring before you can get towed out. :)

As for carrying large items, I make extensive use of wagons and their roof racks. If an item is too big for the wagon, I have it delivered or I rent a truck. In the meantime, I try to stay out of ditches. ;)

I've always wanted a large vehicle, but never an SUV. I do a ton of work around the house, so I need a transport vehicle for the materials. Plus I need to tow my Civic. I first bought a Nissan Frontier v6, thinking a small truck with just enough power would be perfect. It still sucked down gas, and if it was raining, I had to wait till another day to transport whatever I needed to transport. So I traded for my Odyssey. It has been an amazing vehicle. It tows better than my truck did because it weighs quite a bit more and has quite a bit more torque. The gas milage is nearly double what I got in the truck though. Minivans ftw!! Oh be ready to take a lot of crap from people if you buy one though. Apparently all minivan owners are "whipped" or "gay".

True , the bigger they are the harder they fall too.

I used to live on a farm , and my driveway way 2 miles of dirt road.
The ground had lot of clay in the dirt , so when it rain it used to get real muddy.
Across my driveway ran a little stream that only came when it rained.
It was only about 1 foot across and an inch or so deep so you would never worry about it ..RITE ?
I am not one of the racer guys in their 4X4's , I used to just plod along.
So one evening I was coming down my driveway ,,maybe only going walking speed I hit this wet patch and WOOOOSH ,, straight off the road into a ditch.

Zero traction and the mass carried me quite some distance into the scub before a big mound of dirt stopped me.

Slides can be scarey at the best of times , and ones happening at snail speed are equally not fun at all.

My friends made heaps of fun of me ?how can you slide of the road in a 4X4 at walking speed ??

I loved the '59 Chevys, with the big wings. An old saying we had back when I was a teenager.....slip and slide with Powerglide.......it is a 2 speed automatic in 1959?
My '55, '56, and '57 Chevys all had the Powerglide transmission. :cool:

Nomad
 

Did anyone have the Chevy Nomad? --Probably the earliest high-performance "crossover".

RH77

My wife had a Nomad once. She wrecked it,,, like all the others. Her 1st husband was a body, paint and frame man. Now hes wet brained and in prison.

As for SUV's. Never really liked them. I have to admit when we were car shoping the last for the wife. We did look at CRV's and Elements. Wife thought they were to big and nasty. So she took a Accord.

Now me on the other hand love small and very large cars. I have a soft spot for huge cars to be honest. Huge Chryslers and Ford products from the 60's with big blocks to be exact. I love those interstate sleds every bit as much as the smaller thrifty cars. I truly wish I had went ahead and purchased a Marauder when they were in production.

I grew up with a '59 chevy as well. It had a 3-on-the-tree. :cool:

:thumbup:

I have one of those as well... and I have INSANE plans for making it into a 30 mpg cruiser!

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