Chevy Volt Halted. Who did not see this coming?

[westcliffe01]

The European policy is that the bigger and heavier your vehicle, the larger the impact zone has to be to protect others who are smaller and lighter than yourself. That approach is not taken here with Trucks and SUV's because they would be more expensive and thereby less profitable. This is not possible with commercial vehicles, which have a job to do and that is basically how trucks and SUV's here are designed. Like trucks in Europe. Just a lot fewer people drive them for recreation...

I leased a Smart Cdi after I sold my vehicle before the move to the US. It has ample room for the driver and passenger, just not space for a whole lot else. It is a REAL 2 seater car, no BS. No-one else had the balls to build a real 2 seater for the cities and some of the old towns which are unchanged from the time of horse drawn wagons. In the town where I lived, over half the population parked their cars in a lot outside town and walked in, because there was no parking at all in many of the streets.

 

[Lt CHEG]

I "also" own a 2008 F250 diesel, since I have to tow my bobcat which is 7700lb without the trailer. But it is not what I would choose to drive down my country road 10 miles 1 way to work, on a daily basis. The only time I do drive the F250 is when it snows a LOT (my wife is a nurse and she HAS to get to work) or when it has a job to do.

I don't think anyone reasonably expects to displace the pickups for the work they were really intended to do. They just make expensive commuter vehicles. It costs nearly $100 to fill the tank on mine...

That's certainly understandable, but there are folks like myself who can't have an extra vehicle. When I'm in my new house it will be much easier but for now I own a two family house in an urban area. I have off street parking for my wife's vehicle and my own. I also have a tenant that parks on the street and I park my take home GOV on the street. For me, another vehicle is not an option. So most of the time we take my wife's car but since I don't like my truck to sit outside unused all the time we do drive it from time to time as well. I would love to have a dedicated car for driving along with a pickup for working but there just isn't any place to have so many vehicles so I picked the best overall compromise, which happens to be a crew cab 3/4 ton 4x4 short box pickup. Hopefully we'll be ready to build by the end of this year. So maybe in two years I'll look to buy a 3/4 ton or even 1 ton SRW regular cab 4x4 pickup for working and chores and have something like a Honda Civic or Accord for me to drive when my wife is out and about and I can't take her car. However, for the time being even though we could afford more vehicles we don't have space for them so I'm left with a heavy duty truck for my only vehicle and I can assure you that it's not because I want to be the big rig on the road. I also know that I'm not the only person like this either.

 

[westcliffe01]

I have rented some space in a barn a few miles away to store things like my trailer and boat. It costs $200 for the entire winter and they are inside and out of the weather. It is not accessible daily, but in an emergency I am sure I could get something out. The local storage units are large enough to store a vehicle, but they cost a lot more ($100/month). If they were more reasonably priced it would make more sense and those are certainly accessible around the clock.

 

[rsewill]

Our two vehicles are VW Diesels. Before I retired my work vehicle grossed out at 80,000 pounds and would have made short work of any vehicle mentioned so far in this thread in a collision, big or really big four wheel vehicles.

Our local VW dealer adds some sort of corrosion protection to the paint so they can jack the price of the current Diesel models $1k above retail. The protection is mandatory. Probably washes off the first trip through a car wash

I will buy a Nissan Leaf as my next car - or whatever all electric is appropriate when I next buy. The Volt is a fine car but just not the right type of vehicle for its niche. GM likes to screw things up that way; look at their old Diesel cars. I will buy another Diesel after the all-electric for long trips. Hopefully it will be a plug-in hybrid. Hopefully an American car made by union labor (for Eddie, the former union steward).

Of my two Diesels, I bought the Jetta because it was the highest rated highway mileage car when I bought it in '03. 48 mpg, even with four passengers, on the highway.

CNG is going to be what you will find in Class 8 trucks in five years. So says Cummins CEO.

It is nice to see all the forty mile per gallon cars now being advertised that just a few years ago Detroit said just couldn't be made. I can't wait to see what they can't possibly make when the stricter fuel standards come along.

 

[Soundguy]

Originally Posted by westcliffe01
I "also" own a 2008 F250 diesel, since I have to tow my bobcat which is 7700lb without the trailer. But it is not what I would choose to drive down my country road 10 miles 1 way to work, on a daily basis. The only time I do drive the F250 is when it snows a LOT (my wife is a nurse and she HAS to get to work) or when it has a job to do.

I don't think anyone reasonably expects to displace the pickups for the work they were really intended to do. They just make expensive commuter vehicles. It costs nearly $100 to fill the tank on mine...

I dunno.. on a 10m communte.. not much fuel savings between an average truck or car?? now if you drove 80m to work.. I wouldn't want to drive my f350 drw.. I'd want to drive something more economical...if i had it. if I'm driving just down the road??? not much savings..

 

[westcliffe01]

My F250 has hardly warmed up in those 15 minutes. When it tries to clean the soot filter it does not have enough time and so it does it twice a day for a WEEK. Kills the mileage on the entire tank of fuel (10mpg). Usually 15mpg. Short trips with no load are the death of a big diesel truck.

I paid $1200 for the 92 Toyota Pickup and it needs some cosmetic repairs (I think it had a little winter driving adventure & busted up the grill and front bumper). Brake lines are rusted to being unsafe, usual problem for this age of vehicle here with the road salt. Nothing too expensive to be done and it has less than 70k miles. It gets pretty good mileage with a 5 speed manual transmission.

 

[Soundguy]

i don't plan on owning anything that needs DEF.. my oil burners are old tech... 99's

 

[westcliffe01]

The ones using DEF are the "next generation". Have better fuel economy, generally seem to be a bit better thought out. The original MY for the DPF was 2007, so you would hope that by 2010 they had figured a few things out. The engine is much quieter too. I just don't like the "hump" in the floor, it seems really pronounced.

But for me, I was looking at rusty 2005-2006 models with dodgy Navistar engines for $18k (more at the dealer) with commonly 150k to over 200k. That sounds like expensive trouble waiting to happen at many different points. My 2008 came from Texas (no road salt) and cost $26k with just over 60k miles. So far all I have had was the RTD's for the catalyst and DPF fail at just less than 70k and without a workaround it would have required towing to the dealer. Yes, and the 3 week wait for the dealer to work off the backlog of warranty work, including several cylinder head gasket replacements (models unspecified).

 

[powerpace]

What's Behind These High Gas Prices? : NPR

It doesn't really tell you why prices are high. Just where it comes from.

 

[Cat_Driver]

...While Googling SUV and Pickup Accidents I did notice a higher proportion on their sides or upside down as compared to passenger vehicles up right.

Yep, but did you notice they all lived.

A few years a go at my daughters school three kids got out of school at 3Pm and were dead by 3:15. They hit a tree on a clear road, no traffic, sunny, no rain, dry road.
No one knows but most assume texting. I saw the three and the imported gas saver they were driving. If they were in a more substantial vehicle they would still be here graduating college about now.

Out here in Ca.a lot of the Highway Patrol Officers buy the biggest gas guzzlers OR the old school big three "boats" made from real steel for their wives and kids.

Since everyone driving the same cookie cutter pale blue anything mobile that weighs exactly 1,500#, will never happen - I'll keep putting my family if the best made poor fuel economy "tank" they build.