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Now it would fit my needs a bit more, with three kids (6 mon, 3 and 5) plus the need to tow a camper. But I'm leaning towards a Tahoe or Trailblazer since my wife will end up driving it the most and carting the kids around. (smaller/eisier to park?)
--jay
Last year I rented an F-150 SuperCab with the suicide rear doors while my car was in the shop. Amazing how trucks have changed! Too nice an interior to be called a truck.... I just cannot see driving that much bulk daily unless you have a serious need for it. Today a wagon, a minivan and a utility trailer meet our needs just fine for whatever we need to haul.
On the subject of diesels, my nephew is on his second Dodge diesel truck. He is a landscaper, and wouldn't consider doing the Catskill mts with his big trailer with a gas engine. Those diesels have more torque at idle than many of the medium blocks have at 2k rpm!
Steve
Steve
"Crew cab pickups were a hybrid between the two: work trucks with space for additional passengers. I can only picture them being driven by construction crews or railroad employees - the latter sometimes outfitted with train wheels so that they could ride the rails as well as the roads."
Read literally it looks like I meant that the employees had the train wheels attached to them. Not the case - it was the crew cab trucks. Sometimes I still see them today in Conrail or CSX livery. As a child I saw them with Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line and the merged Seaboard Coast Line livery.
Ed
PS: Oh yeah, my dad had Ford pickups with the horrible tire-eating Twin-I-Beam until one of them had a leaky cowl that Ford couldn't fix. He switched to Chevrolets and hasn't looked back. He bought an '03 recently to replace a '99 - a very luxurious truck but GM has replaced what was a reasonably handsome front clip with the hideous Avalanche front clip. Aesthetically IMO the '62-68 IHs, '49-56 Studebakers and '63-66 Chevys are the best looking pickups of all time. I am biased toward the independents. We can look back to the '55 Chevy Cameo as the starting point for the personal use truck movement.
Steve
1) Traditional truck-based vehicles, with 2-speed transfer cases, solid axles, and technology just south of being Neanderthal. Some feel these will soon disappear, also much like the Neanderthal. I'm not one of them, however.
and...
2) Newly conceived car-based vehicles, with IRS and AWD, that combine car-like driving, but are barely capable of getting their nose dirty. These are currently all the rage, but do they have staying power? I think so, but I also think there's room for a third group being...
3) A combination of the above two groups. You know it's going to happen—it's just a question of when. Those are the vehicles that for me, most likely will have the most appeal.
Bob
http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=5707
Bob
Bob: I think there already are a bunch of #3 types. The ML320 and Touareg might fit that description. Modern, but with low ranges and traditional capabilities.
Now, let's see one in the $20k price range. Tweak the Forester and it could be the first.
-juice
Now, let's see one in the $20k price range. Tweak the Forester and it could be the first. >>
I'm just hoping to see more, and as you say, more affordable models.
Bob
Now, let's see one in the $20k price range. Tweak the Forester and it could be the first. >>
I'm just hoping to see more, and as you say, more affordable models. Haven't seen any pickups that fall into that category yet, however.
Bob
tbreth "VW Touareg SUV (SUVs Board)" Jan 24, 2003 3:31am
Bob
Reminds me of the Vigor, remember?
The BMW 3's changes are so subtle you have to wonder if it was even worth it.
760Li still look hump-backed and ugly.
Isuzu did a nice job with the Colorado. I'd prefer rounded off flares, but the exterior look certainly works, maybe better than on the big pickups. The interior looks better than most of GM's too, less plasticky and no grey buttons. The rear door looks not quite full size, sort of reminds me of the Ram.
Equinox looks cute, except from the front, but just 185hp from 3.4l? That's the old minivan engine. They can do better than that coarse, underpowered mill.
Notice the Malibu's outside stole some crease lines from the Forester? The inside is pure rental-car though. Same weird steering wheel as the Equinox.
-juice
The Bionic Cheetah is ugly, it's that D-pillar. The Murano is so much more stylish, it's almost embarassing. Still, the FX45 in C&D tests outperformed the X5 and ML AMG for less cash. Plus I read it's RWD or AWD, not FWD, and I read it gets 20" rims! But why is the G35 coupe so gorgeous while the G35 sedan and this are ugly ducklings?
The RX330 looks handsome, but the shape isn't squared off enough so I heard it actually loses cargo space with the seats up. Still, more power and torque, and the VC is gone - they let the traction and stability control systems distribute the AWD power, sort of like the ML320. Air suspension, too, interesting. I bet these sell like crazy once again.
The E320 wagon looks nice, more stylish than the previous wagon. Still, it could be squared off a bit more to be more practical, though it looks better than the C-class wagon. For the price it needs to offer it all.
Remember that LA Law episode with the SLs? Bring LA Law back for an encore.
That Endeaver's nose it UG-LEE! Mitsu really takes the cake on overdone nostrils. The side flares are beefy but that means the cabin is more narrow than it needs to be. Looks like a good sized ute otherwise. 215hp is good for this segment, they'd better watch prices though.
The Quest looks interesting, fold flat 2nd and 3rd rows? Still looks small though. Power is good. I'll have to check it out.
The nose on the Titan is ugly, but that's about my only complaint. Looks interesting.
RR Phanton is updated about as well as it could be. Nice job making it look traditional yet modern.
Love the new WRX, though it should get a 3 spoke steering wheel, like the STi. The STi is perfect, and yes, even with the gold wheels and huge spoiler and scoop.
The Sienna looks solid, though the cabin doesn't look particularly wide, and the fold flat seats don't quite fold flat, they appear to stick out an inch or so. Still, with AWD and a split folding 3rd row, it should lead the class. Do the windows open like the MPV's, though?
The New Beetle Cabrio is adorable, I can just see my daughter wanting one in 13 years. But VW just has to dump that 2.slow engine, and offer the 20 valve 1.8 (non T, in 125hp guise) from overseas as the base engine. Or just the 1.8T.
-juice
Bob
Nothing small about either of them. Well over 4000#'s and 200hp too. Sienna offers optional AWD.
Too big for my tastes, but that's what this market demands.
Mini-vans are clearly going not so mini. The only "small" (read mid-sized) mini's left are the MPV and the DC Caravan.
-brianV
Bob
Interesting to see what was popular and what was not. Lots of interest in the Mini, ugly Porsche Cayenne, behemoth Hummer H2, Honda Element. Totally dead at the Oldsmobile and Saab displays. I really liked the Infiniti G35 coupe, Mini, and suprisingly the Jeep Liberty. The wing on the STi isn't so bad in person. The bright yellow Evo at the show would attract a lot more attention from our local law enforcement.
I wish the Auto Show happened more than once a year. Next year I won't forget the digital camera.
http://www.dakar2003.nu/
This Volvo was enter in this years Dakar race. It has portal axles* from the Volvo C-303 truck, as well as other running gear.
* = For those who don't know what portal axles are: They are any axle that, at the very end of the axle where it meets the wheel, there is a portal drop box (which contains a gear) which moves the hub and wheel centerline below the axle tube. The net effect is that you get MUCH more ground clearance. Portal axles can be had on IFS/IRS (Hummer H1, some Pinzgauers) or with solid axles (Unimog, Volvo C-303/C-306/C-308). This Dakar race Volvo has a solid portal axle.
I found this info in the latest issue of Petersen's 4Wheel & Off-Road magazine, which has a great article on portal axles.
Here's another link with some interesting off-roaders not often seen in the USA.
http://www.real4x4.com/
Hmmm... Can you imagine a Forester or a Baja with a portal IFS/IRS setup?!?!
Bob
Can't concentrate.
-Dave
In comparison, the slab-sided Odyssey looks huge.
Love that Volvo. You could get your annoying friends to stop calling it a station wagon, LOL.
That chopped WRX should've been made into a coupe. Chopping was about making tall cars look cool, and that doesn't really look cool. It should have just 2 doors.
I've seen kits that make current Jeeps look like that. The bed doesn't seem very big. I liked the Dakar concept better, but the Liberty got watered down from it.
-juice
I love it! What a perfect fit, and what a great idea for a new advertising campaign!
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31- 0248
Bob
Don
Lance will be a good spokesperson, and I seem to find more bikes on top of Subies than anything.
Now, let's refine what's inside and offer VTD and shiftronic along with turbos on every model...
-juice
Where can I get me one of those!?
Actually, he's wrong, the ST-X only had a single supercharger, no turbos.
-juice
Either they added a dealer incentive, or the Sport models have started to trickle in.
If it's an incentive, then the Sport models could end up costing well below $20 grand. Heck, delete just the automatic and they'd already be below $20 grand.
-juice
Greg
Don- It'd be a fantasy come true to meet him and go on a bike ride but I'm afraid I'd be too intimidated (which isn't easy to do).
-Frank P.
-juice
I don't know Juice... It'd have to be a pretty steep hill :(o)
-Frank P.
Bob
Frank: it would have to be a cliff!
-juice
The best writer left at Autoweek is Denise McCluggage, and I often disagree with her lately.
-juice
-mike
Ed
The Outlander just came out, and now the Endeaver is coming, plus the EVO. But they're not offering anything new, really.
-juice
Bob
I actually got to race against Lance in '98 at the Cascade Classic in Bend, OR. Actually, it was more like we raced the same race for the first few miles but as soon as it went uphill we were in different races! LOL! He was still coming back from cancer but I couldn't tell. IIRC 1998 was the year he finished 4th in the Vuelta Espana as well as 4th at the World Championships. Boy, was that a sign of things to come!
BTW, this has cemented my decision to by a Subaru. After all, gotta help 'em pay that $12M. ;-)
-Ian
-Dennis
Bob
The write up in Autoweek included a lot of track time, they loved it. I think the front end looks a little like Lutz' "Angry Kitchen Appliances", and I don't like the interior dash much. I think the Impreza is a much better basis to build upon.
-juice
Bob
-juice
More HP than the WRX, but none of the good traction items of the STi or the True EVO, nor the 6-speed.
-mike