What is with Austin and trucks? (Mercedes, Liberty: camping, live in, cost)

[Trainwreck20]

Eh, my wife's car was keyed, too, with no apparent reason. That was about a year ago. Not sure where it happened, but probably at the grocery store or work.

[cubssoxfan]

Mr. Trainwreck-what kind of mileage you getting on the Pilot? I love my '02 Odyssey but want something to pull our pop-up camper. Thinking the Pilot might be better for that. And as long as I'm living in the snow-belt. 4-wheel drive is a bonus.
Do y'all think that the $4 gallon gas episode mellowed some of the SUV-hate?
And regarding mini-van, I love the fact it's "uncool". I'm kinda counter-cultural here and if it's uncool, then sometimes it's cool to me. Besides, mini-vans are way too practical to be un-cool. Practicality and sensibility are always cool!

[Trainwreck20]

The Pilot has been getting 21 mpg no matter where we drive it - cross country or in rush hour traffic. Go figure. Anyway, we do not have the towing package or 4WD, so I am not sure how much that will affect milage (not to mention towing ).

As for the minivan, I kinda wanted the Odyssey. I love all the gadgets. A friend of mine got a 'pimped-out' black Odyssey when she sold her pilot. She figured she would go all the way if she had to get a minivan. My wife couldn't make the transition from little BMW sports car to mini-van, so we met in the middle with the Pilot. If we have another kid, I will probably get an Odyssey as my car .

[cubssoxfan]

Thanks Trainwreck. I'm getting 21-23 with my Odyssey, 18-20 with snow and cold weather. When you go for a min-van, check out the Toyota Sienna as well. We rented one last March when we visited Austin and it's very nice. If you buy used, like I do, the Sienna seems to get better user reviews as well regarding reliability. The '05 and to some extent, '06 Odysseys seemed to get spotty reviews regarding quality/reliability.

[Trainwreck20]

Yeah, we will have to look into them based on year, etc., but that is at least a year or two down the road...no idea what the auto landscape will look like then. For that matter, there may not even be any American car makers left to look at .

[texdav]

I get 21-23 with mixed driving with my new Odyessy that is really not even broken in yet IMO. I drove both the Odessy and the sienna and personally lke the ride and the steering better in the Odessey. Someone liking a softer ride and less steering might like the siessna tho.The oddessy I have is the EX-l with the cylinder shutdown feature. I am really impressed with it as I never noticed the difference and have to look at the dash to see the ECO indicator.The most impressive things about it is that it drives like a car seeming to be much smaller.

[RampageInAZ]

I much prefer driving my big loud full size truck and I couldn't care less if any of you hippies don't like it. We are going to run out of oil regardless of what vehicles we drive, and small cars pollute the same amount my truck does, the emissions standards are the same.

As for the accidents, it is the cars involved, its the type of accident and how it occurred.

My advice, stop worry about what everyone else is doing and mind your own business.

[Trainwreck20]

small cars pollute the same amount my truck does, the emissions standards are the same.

Well, the ALLOWABLE emissions are the same, but the cars, in actuality, emit much less than the standard while the bigger vehicles tend to push right up to it. Also, there are some fleet averaging programs that allow some vehicle to be over the standard as long as the 'fleet' of produced vehicles meets the standard. I have to admit, though, that I do not know much about the vehicle emission program details.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by RampageInAZ

I much prefer driving my big loud full size truck and I couldn't care less if any of you hippies don't like it. We are going to run out of oil regardless of what vehicles we drive, and small cars pollute the same amount my truck does, the emissions standards are the same.

That is true of regulated emissions, but not true when it comes to unregulated emissions like CO2 which is basically function of fuel economy. And then you must also consider when you are sitting at a stoplight polluting the air and the Prius next to you is turned off due to its auto-start function.

And why do you think only hippies care about the environment? Green is fast becoming the norm in this and other industrialized socieities.

[ATXIronHorse]

Originally Posted by 2austin

We moved from Pacific NW and continue to be amazed by how many over-sized and under-utilized trucks and SUVs we see on Austin roads. I do understand trucks and big SUVs have a purpose but most of the time I see single men or women driving them or families who can fit very well in sedans and smaller versions of trucks and SUVs.

I've been told this is a Texas thing and part of the "Texas-sized" culture.

Besides my concerns with the amount of fuel these beasts burn, I am worried that with these monsters around I could be unsafe in my sedans. Is this worry warranted or is this something I'll get over with?

In some sense the rising gas prices makes me hope that people will wake up and smell the coffee. My realtor neighbor who drives his noisy V10 truck to his office daily can definitely save a lot of gas money, spare the environment and feel a lot more serene if he drives a sedan.

Happy new year.

Big trucks are everywhere in Texas, not just Austin. We live in a free country where you can drive any vehicle you are willing to pay for without having to justify it to anyone. I don't understand what the gripe is. Obviously these people want a big vehicle and are willing to pay for it, so who cares?

And by the way, gas is less than $2/gallon.