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Home Front Economy
High Gas Prices Driving Midsize SUVs to Extinction
2008-06-13
DETROIT — Even in northern Wisconsin, where midsize sport utility vehicles are as common as deer, people are starting to abandon them because of high gasoline prices.

It's one of the last places to back away from the class of SUVs, which includes the once-popular Ford Explorer and Chevrolet TrailBlazer. Some industry analysts are already declaring the midsize SUV extinct. "They're dinosaurs. Put a fork in them," Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for the consulting company IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids, Mich., said in an interview.

It's no secret that drivers are flocking to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars as the cost of gas marches higher. And midsize SUVs are built on the same frames as trucks, which add extra weight and drink more fuel.
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC

#15  A plymouth fury.

Didn't God have one of those?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman   2008-06-13 23:11  

#14  My old man was a Mopar Man - Plymouth Fury, so us 4 boys all fit in the back seat, and he'd drive like a maniac on the Blue Ridge Parkway (Bedford Mountain) and up at the backroads on the way from Roanoke to Smith Mountain Lake - we slid all over the back seat (not belted in) and played "slam the kid in the corner/middle"
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-06-13 22:52  

#13  I had a Pinto station wagon, took the automatic out and put in a 5 speed, it got 25 MPG and had factory AC to boot, Had enough power to cruise the Blue Ridge Parkway, Bring them back.
(I don't give a damn if it's PC or not.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2008-06-13 22:32  

#12  Hell I got ya all beat.

6 Sons and a mom in a.... we we really didn't have a car so we walked everyplace.

(uphill both ways!)

People don't appreciate that not that long ago the primary mode of transportation was a horse or a horse drawn carrage.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2008-06-13 22:09  

#11  The irony here is that the first few generations of George Jetson's OWG FLYING CARS are as big as SUVS anyway, or larger, and just as OFF-ROAD capable and beyond, espec as the world moves toward NUCLEAR MICRO/NANO-MOTORS.

OWG GLOBAL CONSUMER NUCLEARIZATION > means BIGGER IS BETTER = "IT". The Cold War JAPANESE ECONOMY CAR ISN'T GONNA DO IT ANYMORE.

GOOD FOR COMMIES BUT NOT FOR SPACE TOURISTS + "MUUULLLTTTIIIPAAASSS" FIFTH ELEMENT SPACE-ALIEN BABES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-06-13 22:04  

#10  Four kids plus the parental units in a 1960 Ford Falcon. It actually had a metal dashboard -Guarenteed to bust your lip wide open should you hit it; ask me how I know.

After that, the ever popular 1968 Galaxy - you really can stuff eight kids, two adults and a dog in one. But you need to put the babies in a laundry basket on the floor.

Makes me want to fight with my sisters just thinking about it.


Posted by: GORT   2008-06-13 18:34  

#9  Four kids in a Volkswagen Beetle. I think I may out-suffer you there, Scooter. ;-) Of course, my family runs smaller than the average American, so it may even out.
Posted by: trailing wife    2008-06-13 14:53  

#8  The U.S. has two addictions that help fund World Wide Terrorism, Drugs and Oil.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2008-06-13 13:56  

#7  Gas prices wouldn't be that bad if we still had local jobs in my state. You pretty much have to drive to Cincinnati or Lexington to find a job that will pay enough to keep you off the food stamps though. By the time you get there you have gone 40 to 50 miles from the house each way. The few businesses that were in our little town were bought be European competitors and sent to Mexico.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2008-06-13 13:06  

#6  So Scooter, you recommend they hang their head out with the dog's :)

Just make sure Daddy/Mommy has good spacial perception before trying this on the roads kids!
Oh, that's right, we strap them down these days :)
Posted by: Procopius2k   2008-06-13 12:50  

#5  I spent my youth cramped and sweating in the back of an un-air-conditioned early Honda civic. No one NEEDs an SUV "for the kids".

Let 'em suffer like I did. It builds character.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder   2008-06-13 12:19  

#4  It's guaranteed not to rust, bust or collect dust.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2008-06-13 11:43  

#3  It's special TW.
Posted by: George Smiley   2008-06-13 11:25  

#2  Mixer has hers on the market, asking $27,995.

That's Mrs. Mixer's problem right there. The Kelly Blue Book puts the value of her vehicle, were it one of the 5% in excellent condition, at $16,000-20,000 depending on which package she got with it. A fool and his money, and all that.
Posted by: trailing wife    2008-06-13 11:18  

#1  "There are a lot of perfectly normal families who were driving their kids around in these things who now feel the need to show up in your driveway to apologize," he said.

Apologize for what? I don't give a flying if gas goes to $20/gal. The cars I drive and what gas mileage I get are nobody's business but mine. This lib needs to be on the receiving end of several major-league dope-slaps. They just might give him a clue as to how little his opinion means to non-Kool-Aid drinkers.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707   2008-06-13 11:07  

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