haha yea. its just that the suv drivers seem to feel the need to carry 8 people, climb up a mountian, and be able to tow a boat! suv's are more of a social status "look at my big honkin car, im better than you" idea...

That last one reminds me of last weekend's fun. We got all jihad in the Sambar. :)

This is pretty impressive, too:

https://org32.zorpia.com/0/2033/13011317.8e5746.jpg

Agreed. As is typical of indecision, trying to take a bunch of half measures results in something that's not all that good at anything. Crossovers can't really do truck things, and are still no good at getting car fuel economy.


Other than that, I'm impressed. Hatchbacks or wagons are the way to go if you have a small car, IMHO.

If you're tall and want a small wagon/hatchback the choices are so limited. The Rabbit fit nicely, but no diesel and didn't have much carrying space in the back. The Matrix/Vibe were pretty loud at normal highway speeds (wind noise) and the legroom was a bit tight. The Mazda5's a joke for front space - I couldn't even fit in the front passenger seat (6'6 and not heavy). The Honda Fit was actually what I looked at first, but it's front legroom was terrible. Honda's getting bad in this regard. My '85 Civic had great legroom, our 2001 Accord isn't quite adequate for long trips and none of the new ones 'cept the Oddie have much at all.

Started looking at various makes including Hyundai and when I sat in the 2nd gen. Santa Fe, I found the legroom I needed at an affordable price. It's as quiet as church, super tight turning and could do 3 car seats/booster seats across in the rear seat.

The big downside of course is fuel efficiency. The best tanks so far have been a couple at 27 MPG (US) and the average in the first 2500 miles has been 22. The height, a 0.38 Cd and 4000 pounds combined with a very willing engine make it a challenge for driving efficiently but finally having a vehicle that fits is great. Switching from the 2.7L FWD to the 3.3L AWD for handling reasons worsened things as well, but I'm hoping my ScanGauge will more than offset the 2mpg hit there.

I'd have gladly bought the diesel version of it that gets about 50% better mileage, but they don't sell them in North America. Heck, I'd have bought a diesel Smart car if we didn't have kids.

Rear wheel drive, seats 4 and tows my boat. But I did get the smallest one I could find that could manage these requirments. My current tank is running 26.2mpg on the scangauge, not to bad. I'm sure I could do better with a manual but automatics are so much easer to manage at boat launches, so a slushy is what I've got.

There was a time when you did not have to have a truck to tow but the options are very slim these days. Back when full size cars were rear wheel drive they were ok for towing just had to add air shocks and a hitch. Front wheel drives do not work well for towing a boat. Actually its that part where you try to pull the boat out of the water and your front tires just spin thats the problem. Your trying to pull up hill with most of the boats weight pulling down on the hitch at a 30-40 deg angle. It just don't work on anything but a very small boat.
Every now and then at the boat launch you see someone trying to use a front wheel drive to pull there boat out. Most of the time they end up needing someone in the boat gunning the boat motor to help them out the water. Doing this really runs the risk of tearing up your boat motor or prop. Some launches are better than others though, sometimes they need a tow from a truck to get out the water.

Uh, or you could hook the trailer up to the front bumper to pull it out of the water...

Lol, yea if your front bumper would not fall off.

LOL, I'm assuming you know how to attach something to your car such that it won't fall off under anticipated load.

haha yea most cars have tow hooks in the front anyways. that and reverse is so high of gear it could back up a mountain side.

if you know how to drive manual well and know several tricks on steep slopes your fine. like set the parking brake while trying to get out of the boat launch, rev the engine and slowly release the clutch till you feel it grabbing pretty hard and then release the parking brake. then drive as normally. or if your quick, let out the clutch with your other foot on the brake and then when you feel it grabbing switch to gas and release the clutch and go. if it stalls hit brakes and try again. its not that hard to do if you know how to drive stick.

Yea I've pulled boats out countless times with an old Chevy three speed on the column truck.. Sure it was doable but was tough on the clutch with such a high first gear on poor launches. Maybe with a modern 5 speed or something first would be good and low.
Most boat launches I go to have gravel pull outs. If you let the tires spin at all your going to stop.

Saw a fellow launch a boat with a motor home using the front bumper back in the 70's. Looked very silly, took way to long.