What is with Austin and trucks? (Atlanta: sales, insurance, buy)

[love roses]

Along a similar vein, what about the guys who drive "monster" trucks? My sisters SIL(her mom is the one who drives way too much car for one little lady) is dating a guy who builds and shows them, and also drives one as a personal vehicle (Not as giant as a show vehicle, but high and souped up nonetheless). I knew a guy back in the early 90's who had one, and he let me drive it a few times

[PeacePlease]

I admit, I drive a large SUV. When I bought it few years ago I thought this is what I needed for trips etc.. then at some point I realized that I'm not using it for that purpose as often and in fact most of the space is useless... time passed, gas is over $3/gal and now I'm spending a lot on gas. I recently checked out the Prius and I'm planning to get one. I won't get rid of my SUV since it is paid for and I use it for towing once in a while.. but for everyday use I will use the car I'm about to buy. I also figured that the money I save on gas will be a nice chunk of the payment against the Prius. My SUV consumes about 13-15 mi/gal while the Prius at 48mi/gal. That is 3x less in total cost.. or about $100 per month in saving that will help pay for the new car...

[twange]

Originally Posted by love roses

Along a similar vein, what about the guys who drive "monster" trucks? My sisters SIL(her mom is the one who drives way too much car for one little lady) is dating a guy who builds and shows them, and also drives one as a personal vehicle (Not as giant as a show vehicle, but high and souped up nonetheless). I knew a guy back in the early 90's who had one, and he let me drive it a few times

Guys like that must be lacking somewhere:

[atxcio]

Well, I drive a full size SUV too. I like it for the comfort and visibility, but I totally hate the gas mileage. Also, I like to vacation in West Texas and drive through to Vegas or skiing in NM, and out there the speed limit is 80mph... wouldn't want to do that in a Honda Fit.

However, I totally understand the disrespectful driving complaints. I don't drive that way, but in a city of bad drivers... I totally agree that having these folks in huge SUVs is annoying and dangerous. But blame the idiot drivers first.

Thing is, I had a Volvo sedan a couple of years ago... comfortable and quiet, but it didn't get much better gas mileage than my SUV. Plus, it was in the shop more often than it should have been.

Now, my Texas sensibilities tell me it's ridiculous for people to be offended by the car I drive. Yes, it isn't efficient on the gas consumption, but I pay dearly for that (including lots of federal and state taxes)... and if we go down that road, why aren't people offended by big houses? Isn't it a waste to heat/cool 2500 sq ft for 2 people when they only need 800 sq ft? Should I be offended by those that choose to live in the north east, burning fuel oil to stay warm when they could all just move down here?

I don't mind if you disagree with my choice of vehicle; many people do, and I'm OK with that. Luckily here in Austin, I haven't yet been keyed or anything... although I did get this little gem of a bumper sticker pasted to my SUV. Whomever did it will be quite pleased that I didn't notice it for 2 days

[southdown]

On a more sombre note, let us remember that nearly 4,000 of our troops have given their lives in Iraq to protect our oil supply. Without them we'd be all be driving little low-gas Hondas.

[love roses]

Sorry, but I feel like that was a little off topic. Something more for the political boards.

[southdown]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Well, I drive a full size SUV too. I like it for the comfort and visibility, but I totally hate the gas mileage. Also, I like to vacation in West Texas and drive through to Vegas or skiing in NM, and out there the speed limit is 80mph... wouldn't want to do that in a Honda Fit.

......................Now, my Texas sensibilities tell me it's ridiculous for people to be offended by the car I drive. Yes, it isn't efficient on the gas consumption, but I pay dearly for that (including lots of federal and state taxes)... and if we go down that road, why aren't people offended by big houses? Isn't it a waste to heat/cool 2500 sq ft for 2 people when they only need 800 sq ft? Should I be offended by those that choose to live in the north east, burning fuel oil to stay warm when they could all just move down here?

Well, we had gotten onto the subject of being offended by excess gas consumption, greedy oil-users etc...

[JDTD]

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.

I was wondering about the same thing when I moved to the PNW. I would constantly see some little, tiny Barbi (by herself) drving a new Navigator, H2, Suburban, etc. up here in the Seattle area. I never saw so many trucks with lift-kits until I moved to the PNW (not so bad in downtown Seattle). Think about this too. If you have driven in the PNW, you know that the traffic is so bad (way worse than anywhere in the Austin area/don't even try and argue this...seriously) that sitting in traffic for 45 minutes to go five miles isn't exactly "enviromentally friendly". It took me over 2.5 hours to go somewhere that should have taken me 45 minutes in the Seattle area a few months ago.

This isn't an excuse, it's a perception. There are some people who have large families, and you only see mom driving to the store after she dropped off her 5 kids at school, etc. Someone might own a truck because they do stuff with it on the weekends even though they only drive to the office in it during the week (I don't know???). People should be more enviromentally friendly for sure, but a lot of people in the PNW are kinda hypocrates. These same "environmentalists types" who **** and moan about how the "devil-juice" consumption may be driving a fuel-efficient vehicle, but may also be driving 1-1.5 hours to work one way and not carpooling (see PNW for examples). They feel better though because they are driving a fuel-efficient vehicle and everyone looks at them giving them the thumbs-up thinking they are doing their part. I know people who are proud of themselves because their commute is only 1 hour 1 way. Yaaaaaaaaay...good job! You are only on the road two hours a day. And...wave to your neighbor sitting in their fuel-efficient car next to you on I-5 that you are not carpooling with on your way. You want to see waste? Take a look at I-5 in the PNW. It's like Clarke Griswold turning on his Christmas lights. You can actually feel the vibration of all the gas gauges simultaneously going down while you sit in grid-lock.

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by southdown

Well, we had gotten onto the subject of being offended by excess gas consumption, greedy oil-users etc...

You when I bike commute it costs me nothing in gas and I get healthier :-) But that is an entirely different topic.

[PeacePlease]

The only reason I'm getting a Prius is not because of the environment, but to save on gas and frankly since I'm usually driving my SUV alone, it doesn't make sense to me. So my decision has nothing to do with the environment. I tried a Prius recently as a rental and I was impressed by how it moved and it consumed about 50 mi/gal. That is not bad.