Big Vehicles Still Outselling Small Ones

I've found a front-wheel drive car to be better on ice than a pickup any day!
Pickups are even more noticeable with all the weight in the front. ...Over the non-driving wheels.
You're right regarding clearance though. High centered is high centered no matter what you're driving. And if your vehicle is closer to the ground, it's going to be easier to high center...

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

A followed a link to a gov.com site from the Chevy site, sorry I don't know how to do a link.
You can only get the clunker money if your car was supposed to get 18mpg or less when new, I guess there is not a realistic way to prove what it gets now. And cannot be older than 25 years LOL
I am in a catch, my car is falling apart but still gets over 18, and there is a shortage of good used cars to go to.

I used to have a Ford Escort that got me just about anywhere I wanted to go - off road or in snow. I also had a Mazda 626 that took me through some good snow and the pole lines on the mountains. I've always said 4WD is a state of mind.

But the day I climbed a snaking hill covered in ice - passing both a Blazer on the ditch on one side and a 4wd truck in the ditch on the other side - in our AWD Subaru wagon, I was a believer! Front wheel drive is nice, AWD is amazing.

Regarding the OP, I would like one vehicle that I could use to haul coal or wood and pull a trailer. Other than that, give me small, ugly and cheap. I don't need my car to make a statement. The only statement I'm concerned with is the one I get from the bank every month telling me what I've got left. I neither want to put money in the pockets of the big 3 execs nor the oil big wigs.

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Anne
Give me a sweet home set among the trees,
With friends whose words are ever kind and true.
-Phoebe Carey-

LONE PINE FARM
Barnesville, PA
Boer goats, Angora goats, Eclectic mix of poultry

Unless the car makers and dealers give some incentives for more than the C4C, the progam will fail, IMO.

A C4C deal was done in Germany, I think, and was very successful. The WSJ says they sold a ton of cars. But the deal was much more lenient than the US version.

Ken Scharabok is right...the dealers are trying right now to use the $4500 as your trade, instead of giving a super discount, then throwing on the added $4500.

A month ago, Andy Mohr Ford was advertising a new F-150 for $12,900....the same truck now is $16,900, after the C4C rebate. If you will let me have the $12,900 price and then give me the $4500, you probably have a deal.

I wonder how many people will blindly trade in their old truck, easily worth $10,000, and get duped by the dealer for just the $4500?

One reason this bill will fail is that lots of people have vehicles that will qualify, but are they the type to buy a new car? My neighbors have a 93 Chevy pick up, worn, but decent, and this truck qualifies for the $4500. They have the cash to buy outright, but are too conservative to do so. Driving old vehicles for their entire lifetime is what saved them enough money to be able to pay cash for new cars. We fall in the same boat, as do thousands of others.

What about all those people that are driving the older, bigger vehicles, but cannot afford to buy new? This plan isn't going to get them to trade either. Our old neighbors drive an old Astro van. Going to be hard to sell them a new car without a job and awful credit.

One driving point with old conservative Clovis: Why give up my 95 S-10 with 170,000miles, when it runs and drives great? I would drive that thing to CA if I had to. Should I really plunk down $10,000 for shiney paint and new tires, even if I could get that deal?

We really, really like the new Chevy Malibu. We love our Chevy HHR. But give up my old truck? Wow...that is going to be hard.

Clove

My 2000 F 150 holds 25 gallons, so it was near $100 for a full tank.
My 89 F 150 has 2 tanks and holds 35 gallons

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Your smart car observation is funny (at least to me). We are "full size extended cab Dodge Truck people"...but living in Hungary has changed us a bit. There are a few real full size trucks here (Ford and Dodge), and every time we see one we say we wouldn't be caught dead driving that here. We see a smart car and they look like a great idea, for here. With the streets so narrow, gas so expensive and NO place to park anywhere....we now "get" the smart car, for here. Just like we would never drive a full size truck here......there is no way you would get us in a smart car in the US. Each has it's place....but they don't work everywhere.

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Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
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My GMC Suburban, which I just replaced, held 42 gallons. My F-250, F-350, and E-350 each hold 35 to 38 gallons. So, it cost more than my old clown car. I say clown car with affection, I loved that baby but I outgrew it once I left home.

Sorry, but I just don't comfortably fit in subcompact or compact cars. IN order to get thru the door I have to fold up like a pretzel. Once inside, I have to move the seat all the way back and then lean the back rest to a 45º angle...after doing that, I can't reach the steering wheel.

I'll stick with my full size pick ups, thank you very much.

Speaking of price, I bought my 1999 Chevy extended cab 4WD Z71 brand new in the fall of 1998 for just over $25,000.

Recently, we bought a new 2008 GMC Crew Cab 4WD Z71 for the same price! More truck, 10 years later, same price!...just over $25,000.

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....

Check out a Focus, Cabin.
We got one last fall.

DH is 6'3", with a 40" inseam.
Because he's so long-legged, his complaint is always that the seat is too short (depth-wise) to properly support his legs.
While not quite as comfortable as our Powerstroke, he thinks it's still fairly comfortable for about 300 miles. Better than the Metro, anyway, which he'll only drive for short distances.

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

You know there is a middle ground here. The choices are not either full size truck or Smart car.

And the clunker program is just an incentive. Won't work for everyone, but it may help tip the balance for someone on the edge of a decision.

It's not going to make you change if you're happy with what you've got.

But for all the talk about schemes and programs - gas it going to jump back up in price soon enough. If you can afford $100+ to fill up your tank then good for you. If you replace your car now, and make a decision to buy a full size, (i know that there's work situations for many), then you have no right to complain when gas hits $4, $5, $8 a gallon as it no doubt will when any of the major consumers in the world show signs of economic recovery.

The trick is not to eliminate big cars and trucks, that's what Americans want. The trick is to get people to drive less. Unfortunately Americans want their cake and want to eat a lot of it too. Drive a 15mpg vehicle less then 1/2 of what people with a 30 mpg vehicle do and you'll be doing a better job of conserving energy.

The real joke of the auto industry in this country is that we really don't need any new or more vehicles. If they stopped producing vehicles for a couple of years everyone would still be driving.

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Robert Frost

http://tennessean.com/article/200907...ers++incentive

Until the end of August Chysler (Dodge/Jeep) is offering to match C4C vouchers. Apparently they will also offer a steep discount if your cannot qualify for C4C.

Thats the trick i put 9,000 miles or under a year on my truck and i go ever where i want vactions, races, work. The way some people put miles on a car is crazy it's like they never shut them off. My sister put 40,000 miles on a car in under 3 years it's just crazy.

If someone can afford to buy a new truck that can cost half the price of a house, they can afford the gas.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

So that old 77 Dodge pickup I bought for 400 bucks a few years back is worth $4500 now towards a new vehicle. Lucky to get 12 miles a gallon on that old beast. It has a flat tire and needs a battery though. Somewhere there has to be a catch. Even the government is acting like car salesmen. No intention towards car salesmen who are honest but they are few and far between, kind of like politicians.

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We have now officially entered the twilight zone.

I am one of those people as well Clovis. I have a 73 dodge club cab, and 3 cars that are nothing newer than 93 and they all run good and are paid for. DW drives an 05 but she only knows how to put gas in anyway. Heck I even have an old Yugo out back that I paid 250 bucks for and drove 60 miles RT daily for a year. Now it needs a starter for 100 bucks and I can't justify it, (yet).

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We have now officially entered the twilight zone.

Good point!

With the exception of dirt roads with a foot of muck, than 4WD could be handy.

Otherwise a FWD car can go anywhere.

Fortunately I live here in rural Maine, where we simply do not get that much snow.

We do not see snow on the roads deep enough that required 4WD.

We do have a few dirt roads that do get very wet, and on those roads 4WD is needed [until they get stuck then you need a crawler].



Remember to stay off the pavement with them locked in.

The front and the rear wheels spin at different rates, every foot you go you are breaking traction.

It works great off-road but sucks when you on pavement.

And stay away from icy roads.



On slick roads, we watch RWD vehicles fishtail every day. FWD vehicles simply can not.

On RWD your steering wheels point in a different direction than your power wheels, it is a formula for fishtailing.

Whenever a RWD vehicle turns and accelerates it wants to fishtail.

Stay off icy roads with such a dangerous vehicle.

In a FWD vehicle, everytime you accelerate, your steering wheels also provide power in the same direction. There is no fighting between these two forces.



I am sorry however I disagree.

I have been LEO, and I went through EVOC [Emergency Vehicle Operators Course] many times.

FWD is the way to go if you ever plan on turning, or if you are on ice or hydroplaning.

I agree.

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It takes a lot to get our 98 rwd crown vic to fishtail, and it won't do donuts. Traction lock and a lock right differential make a world of difference. Of course the proper tires for the conditions help too.

They can't have my E-350 until they legislate it away from me or they smash it with a much bigger vehicle. It's the only vehicle I can easily get into and out of and the only one with enough leg room for me to take long trips. And in an emergency it doubles as short term housing.

My next vehicle, since there are no longer any full frame cars available to the general public, will be another full size van. I've been the recipient of too many rear-end collisions to settle for another little bitty car. My current car was hit 3 times and still gets me around town. I'd rather spend the money on gas than risk getting messed up again because some idiot doesn't remember that they can't move forward when my car is sitting there! Insurance money doesn't put you back to the way you were.