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| Hybrid car costs (Read 534 times) |
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posted: 6/18/2008 at 2:18 AM |
I just don't like little cars. *sigh*
I'd love to see a concentrated effort to expand rail service in large cities. I remember my teen years when the Rock Island railroad went out of business in my home town. They tore up hundreds of miles of track after it was sold at auction. Bet they wish they had it back.
As for cars, I have no plans to dump my truck or my wife's Maxima. They both get around 25 mpg, and that's fine for us. |
| Statistics are human beings with the tears wiped off. --Paul Brodeur |
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posted: 6/18/2008 at 2:58 AM |
| Quote from zoom-zoom on 6/18/2008 at 1:19 AM: That reminds me...I hear SO many people who claim they NEED a truck because they occasionally do things like replace windows in their house, remodeling, yadda yadda.
Exactly! I had myself almost totally convinced that I NEEDED a new 4wd Tacoma to get to the 4x4 trailheads out here in Colorado. I've since decided that I can run or mt bike the extra few miles from the 2wd trailhead just as easily (and oftentimes quicker... the 4x4 roads out here can be atrocious, where you can walk as fast as you can drive). Good for the body, good for the wallet, good for the environment, not as good for Toyota.
I will need a 4x4 to get myself and my aid station supplies to my aid station that I'm running at the Hardrock 100 (Chapman Gulch, mile 19, if anyone's running it... I'm taking food requests!). I'll just rent one though, and save about $30,450. 
As an aside, this is an interesting article on the history of the SUV, and it's rise to popularity despite the fact they are much more dangerous in a crash and hardly anyone needs one:
http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html
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| view log Bloody Nipple |
posted: 6/18/2008 at 3:07 PM |
| Quote from cgerber on 6/18/2008 at 2:58 AM: Exactly! I had myself almost totally convinced that I NEEDED a new 4wd Tacoma to get to the 4x4 trailheads out here in Colorado. I've since decided that I can run or mt bike the extra few miles from the 2wd trailhead just as easily (and oftentimes quicker... the 4x4 roads out here can be atrocious, where you can walk as fast as you can drive). Good for the body, good for the wallet, good for the environment, not as good for Toyota.
You should get one of these
or these
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| view log Runs With Snowplows |
posted: 6/18/2008 at 3:33 PM |
Quote from cgerber on 6/18/2008 at 2:58 AM:I will need a 4x4 to get myself and my aid station supplies to my aid station that I'm running at the Hardrock 100 (Chapman Gulch, mile 19, if anyone's running it... I'm taking food requests!). I'll just rent one though, and save about $30,450. As an aside, this is an interesting article on the history of the SUV, and it's rise to popularity despite the fact they are much more dangerous in a crash and hardly anyone needs one: http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html
And the beauty of renting is that you can drive something new each time and if you get a little dirt on the seats it's not nearly as big a bummer.
I'm always amazed by the # of SUVs in cities. Seriously, does anyone living in a big city truly need AWD/4WD? I live in the sticks of the MI snowbelt and have never needed more than FWD and snow tires. 3/4 of the time the vehicles in the ditch in the Winter are SUVs or other vehicles with AWD/4WD. If there's so much snow that driving is dangerous we stay home--generally schools and other institutions are closed those days, anyhow. |
Kirsten
• Ladies Locker Room •
.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
• 1st trail race |
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posted: 6/18/2008 at 8:57 PM |
For me the "time to break even" equation is important, but probably secondary to the moral imperative of not using up the entire supply of something we can't replace.
Planning travel so as to avoid needless miles is also a (free) part of the solution, but i wonder if we will see more trains in our future, and higher density residential development?
Getting a 2009 Corolla this weekend, to replace a 2000 Maxima. |
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posted: 6/19/2008 at 2:46 AM |
What's all this talk about whether people NEED an SUV or not? 
It isn't about NEED. It's about choice, and it always has been. This is America, and we don't have to justify ourselves to anyone for the choices we make in life.
I say this because I've made a good living in the aviation industry, where very rich people make choices every day to buy extravagant things they don't NEED. Some buy gas-guzzling Learjets when Kingairs would do just as well. Some buy Challengers because they wouldn't be caught dead in a Learjet. I've even worked on aircraft owned by some "environmentalists" who brought their jets in for work.
My point is, if it weren't for real people making real choices about things they didn't necessarily NEED, countless other real people would go without a living. A poor man never gave me a job, as they say.
Just two more of my cents. I hope you all take it in the spirit of good debate, and understand I enjoy this forum very much for its lively exchanges. |
| Statistics are human beings with the tears wiped off. --Paul Brodeur |
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posted: 6/19/2008 at 3:57 AM |
| Quote from modal on 6/18/2008 at 3:07 PM: You should get one of these
or these
I'd love to have one of those as a 3rd vehicle, just for the off road stuff here and in Utah...but D*&M they are expensive to buy these days!
- Chris
Regarding needs and wants: I really don't care what people buy... but if they are dumb enough to buy something they don't need they shouldn't complain about it's cost (or it's cost to operate). An SUV is a totally silly purchase for most of the people who buy one... they are more costly to own, they depreciate at a greater rate than cars these days, they are far less safe than most sedans... but hey, it's not my money... I couldn't care less 
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| view log Runs With Snowplows |
posted: 7/1/2008 at 10:05 PM |
Quote from modal on 7/1/2008 at 9:55 PM:
"orginary"?
Who the hell proofreads their website? Someone who should be out of a job, that's who. Sheesh. |
Kirsten
• Ladies Locker Room •
.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
• 1st trail race |
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