New fuel standards and big families

[plumcreekfarm]

Just wondering if a new suburban will be in my future or if I will need to pack my 6 children into a cobalt? I have read in several articles that these standards will be the end of the line for suvs, but I really love my suburban and hope to get a new one in a few years. Big families need the extra space even the 8 passenger mini vans seem very cramped when you add car seats. Plus we want towing ability and the cargo room. My suburban can fit 12 bales of sawdust and my three youngest in their car seats! Those of you with big families are you worried about the ability to get a car to fit your family in the future?

[Macybaby]

Suburbans are relativly new, large families use to be the norm. My folks raised 11 kids and the biggest passenger vehicle they ever had was a four door Old Delta 88.

Of course that was before there were child carseats too . . .

If we wanted to go somewhere as a family, they got Grandparents or other relatives to help - was great when oldest sibling could drive.

For Church, older brother went with a load Saturday evening, then Dad got up and took another load for early service on Sunday, and Mom took the stragglers to the second service (there was an hour between them, plenty of time to get home and back).

I figure if there is a need, someone will figure out how to fill it. Unless they get rid of the market economy too. . .

Cathy

[unregistered29228]

The way I understand it, the new mileage standards will be on the entire fleet of each car maker. So everything Chevy makes, from a Suburban to a wind up toy will have to *average* the new mileage requirement. The Suburbans will still be around, but Chevy will also have to offer tiny little cars that get high mileage to balance it all out.

I resent our government telling me what I can drive and enforcing mileage regulations. Even if I had no children and wanted to drive a Hummer, that's my business. I get my emissions tests done to ensure I'm not polluting overmuch, pay my taxes for upkeep on the roads, and after that it's nobody's business.

[furholler]

Doncha love the way the guvmint wants to regulate everything? Next, they'll be holding everyone to the 2.3 children allotment. Then we won't have to worry about large vehicles.

[HermitJohn]

I suspect big vehicles will still be around, they will just be priced even higher to discourage people from buying them. That and fuel price is rising again so $5 gas and luxury only prices on big vehicles will do them in.

People wanted open borders to get cheap labor. Well burgeoning population means we cant live like we used to. Hope it was worth it to people. Small relatively rural population means we all have lot more freedom. Big overcrowded country means everybody has a lesser lifestyle except the super rich that can buy as much space as they want.

[highlands]

We have a 13 year old extended body van. It carries 6 live pigs, 6 pigs frozen in the freezer and 6 people all at once, plus some cargo and can tow a trailer. It makes no difference in the gas mileage whether we are empty or carrying 5,000 lbs. We always combine trips so even though it 'only' gets 16 mpg it actually does far better than smaller vehicles because you really need to look at the cost of moving a pound. Interestingly, it gets one mile per gallon better than our previous minivan of the same age which could only haul about 1,400 lbs of cargo.

By the way, we were just calculating the other night that it really isn't worth buying a new vehicle. We paid $1,300 for this one, put $1,000 into it in repairs and put about $600 to $1,000 in maintenance/repairs a year. A new vehicle of the same type would cost $33,000 to $40,000 and still need repairs every year of about the same amount according to the mechanic we take it to for big stuff. I've never owned a new car or truck for this reason. The savings in purchase price pays for any difference in gas efficiency many fold.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

[devittjl]

I have eight in my family.. when you figure out the miles per gallon per person my suburban actually gets better gas mileage that smaller cars

[Wisconsin Ann]

What I think is going to go wrong with this current updating of the standards is that carmakers have to make the cars safer (higher safety standards go into effect next year again) AND they have to come up with higher MPG...AND they have to do it economically. wow. Oh yes...I forgot...new fuel emissions standards, too.

Hopefully, someone somewhere is working feverishly on a new battery type that has storage capacity. Perhaps there's a new type of engine on the horizon. Perhaps someone will come up with an efficient way to filter and recycle used veggie oil, or even a cheap way to USE veggie oil (fresh) in diesel engines (they were designed to run on peanut oil originally)

[Callieslamb]

And we wonder why our auto makers are going out of business? This is ridiculous. glad the bulk of our kids are grown and gone, but now they have issues of driving their families around.

[Sawmill Jim]

Diesel engines will run on vegie oil .Remember the stink caused by the guy making biofuel made from McDonalds grease they hit him for back road tax Do a search on history of the diesel engine .Believe first successful one was German made an ran on coal oil .

This was real oil extracted from coal .Later when Kerosene was developed the old timers to this day still call it coal oil or down south here they do .

[RosewoodfarmVA]

We have a 1986 15 passenger van and plan to fill it up

On a side note, I know of few (perhaps none) families with many children who also have the financial ability to purchase a new vehicle. Seems like most of us large family lovers make do with older/less efficient but more spacious traveling accomodations! Do they even make 15 passenger vans anymore?...

[Txsteader]

The point that many are missing is that the gov does these things because we allow them to. IOW, if you disagree with the proposed legislation, do something to make sure that it's not passed into law. Get vocal. Get involved. WE are the goverment, not the elitists sitting in Washington (who, btw, won't be adversely affected by the legislation..they have plenty of $$ to buy new cars).

While, as I understand it, the companies will still make the SUVs, I predict that they'll do everything in their power to discourage their use....like making them so expensive to own/operate, you'll either pay through the nose to own one or comply. I guess nobody in this administration has large families to transport.

[LandRover]

And the same people who complain now will also be the ones complaining loudly when gas hits $5, $6 $7 and more a gallon. Oh, and that's not to mention the support this gives to America's enemies.

Time to deal with reality. The reality is that oil is a scarce resource and it's dwindling as the world's population grows. Either we takes steps to prepare for that as a nation or we fall. Pretending that this is not a reality or that it's the lawmakers who'll force you out of your suburban is sticking you head in the sand.

You make choices when you have very large family. Fortunately for you there will be plenty of transportation choices in the future.

[LandRover]

And that's from someone called LandRover. HA!

[chamoisee]

I have a little Kia Spectra and I have 6 kids. At first I was worried about ths, but as it turns out, I rarely take all 6 of them with me anywhere, and when we do, my SO uses his truck. We only use both vehicles to transport all 6 3-4 times a month at most, and almost never because we *have* to, just because we want to go and do something all together. Since I commute long distances almost every day, the Spectra saves me a ton of money compared to the clunky van I used to have.

[wy_white_wolf]

Originally Posted by LandRover

And that's from someone called LandRover. HA!

Even worse when you realize that Landrovers will no be affected by this. CAFE standards only apply to companies that manufacture and sell over 50,000 units in the US.

So long to the Corvette and Viper, but the Ferrari and Porche won't have to worry. Bet there sales go up.

[coffee]

Originally Posted by Helianthus

I have a little Kia Spectra and I have 6 kids. At first I was worried about ths, but as it turns out, I rarely take all 6 of them with me anywhere, and when we do, my SO uses his truck. We only use both vehicles to transport all 6 3-4 times a month at most, and almost never because we *have* to, just because we want to go and do something all together. Since I commute long distances almost every day, the Spectra saves me a ton of money compared to the clunky van I used to have.

don't know about you but we try to go as a family ,as much as we can ..
that means 4 - 5 + times a week

[woodsman]

Originally Posted by LandRover

And that's from someone called LandRover. HA!

I don't know about the new pansy LR models or the ones made for US market but the older UK military series with aluminum alloy bodies and 4 cyl gas or diesel engines do about 25 MPG.

[indypartridge]

Originally Posted by Macybaby

Suburbans are relativly new, large families use to be the norm.

"The Chevrolet Suburban is a large sport utility vehicle from Chevrolet. It is the longest-lived continuous automobile nameplate still in production, dating from 1935."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Suburban

[michiganfarmer]

We dont all go every time. We dont want to drive 2 vehicles, so sometimes one person stays at home. Next time a different person wil stay at home.

...and there will always be larger vehicles available. Even if you have to buy an older one.