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Automotive News & Views Mystery car pix....
23918 messages, Last post on Dec 03, 2009 at 6:20 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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I've never been able to "get" 2WD SUVs...seems kind of silly, then it's just a station wagon trying to look macho. I guess that depends upon where you live. In places where there is really no "bad" weather, 2WD makes sense for those folks who still like the visibility and cargo capacity available with a small SUV, but without the weight or mileage penalties of 4WD / AWD. Here in Colorado, I simply don't understand why folks who buy these kinds of vehicles don't get 4WD / AWD. A co-worker and close friend of my wife is in that position. Her and her husband bought not one, but two, Hyundai Santa Fe's with FWD. The new one (an '06, or whenever they did the refresh) has 18" wheels and tires and they had some serious traction and stability problems this past winter. My wife's VUE has AWD and has navigated the same roads with little or no drama. Like you, I think we'll see the resurgence of smaller utility vehicles with manual transmissions. Remember the Colt Vista from the 80's? A vehicle about 20 years too early. Very Mazda 5 like, but since gas was probably around a buck a gallon, it didn't make sense for many people.
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Replying to: jlbl (Sep 26, 2008 11:49 am)  
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Replying to: michaell (Sep 26, 2008 11:52 am) A co-worker of mine has a 2WD Xterra. Guzzles gas like a 4WD but doesn't do any better in bad weather. I remember my dad wanted a Colt Vista back in the day. My mom vetoed that. He also like the AMC Eagle, also a quick veto. He ended up buying a S10 Blazer for his 4WD vehicle (this was in 1985), which embodied everything wrong with GM. |
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I guess it's personal preference for me...I don't care about visibility, and I would seek out a more efficient 5 door or wagon car if I needed space. Horses for courses, or something like that. Most of the 'cute utes' around here are driven by women, who, like my wife, like the visibility they offer. Of course, there are also a lot of full size SUV's on the roads here as well - Expeditions, Tahoes, Armadas. I do agree with you regarding the 2WD Xterra - seems like a waste of a perfectly good SUV to afflict it with only 2 drive wheels. Back in the 80's, there just weren't many choices for SUV's. I remember looking for one back in 1988 or so. At the time, the only 4-door choices were the Jeep Cherokee or the Isuzu Trooper - everything else was 2 doors (S-10, Bronco II, Pathfinder, 4 Runner). We ended up getting an '88 Trooper LS demo with 6-8K miles for $17K. The Cherokee and Pathfinder were over $20K, IIRC.
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Replying to: fintail (Sep 26, 2008 11:29 am) Here's the "red x" in the middle--hope it's visible now. 
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Replying to: stephen987 (Sep 26, 2008 3:56 pm) Let's try this one instead: 
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Replying to: stephen987 (Sep 26, 2008 5:50 pm) Both look like something from Asia or India, before they jumped into the 80s and made better copies of western designs.
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Replying to: fintail (Sep 26, 2008 6:58 pm)
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Replying to: michaell (Sep 26, 2008 1:37 pm) The S10 Blazer my dad bought stickered at something like $15XXX, back in 1985. It was moderately equipped, but pretty much a hunk of junk - just sloppily assembled of subpar materials. The Tempo and Ciera that were also in the family at the time were like Lexus in comparison. |
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Replying to: stephen987 (Sep 26, 2008 7:02 pm) |
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