Personal transport methodes.

[Desertfox]

Toyotas just refuse to die. I'm just imagining a post-apocalyptic landscape populated by giant Twinkie-eating, Toyota truck-driving, roaches.

[maddox]

Ya'll don't have 87 Octane gasoline?

Nope, regular gas is 95 octane in Western Europe. "Super" is 98 , at least. Some brands give 99 or 100 in their "premium".

My wife has a new Nissan Kicks, its a fun little car. Little by American standards (smaller than the focus).

Full size SUV by European ones?

Depends who's talking, but I would rate the BMW X3 as the smallest of the full size SUVs.

And a SUV isn't a type of car I would buy. For the same money, I can buy a van, and that has some advantages concerning taxes here in Belgium.

[The Rock Doctor]

I've often had SUVs but we've gotten by without one for the past two years.  If the weather's so bad that we would not be able to travel without one, we just don't travel.  It isn't that frequent (by our standards).

Big cargo needs mean we call a friend and borrow their van.

[Darman]

I'm looking at a compact SUV (CR-V or Forester) to replace my old Accord. 

[Guinness]

I helped my mom by a CR-V late last year. It's a solid vehicle. You can get (almost) all the creature comforts. The one thing she wanted that she didn't get was parking sensors which for some reason aren't a factory option. It's got Carplay/Android auto, satellite radio, a good backup camera, etc. and scoots around pretty ok. She's a very loyal Honda person and it took her '99 Civic's transmission breaking to finally get her to buy a new car. I wanted her to cross-shop a Forester, but she'd have none of it. It was Honda or bust.

[Kaiser Kirk]

The work Dodge Rams get horrible gas mileage. 
Part of that is low speed driving, and some 4WD.  My truck in the past 10mo is averaging 10.8mpg.

Yesterday a coworker got out of her brand new truck and complained about how bad the transmission was.
I've had the same conversation with another coworker.  The transmission does not do well with speed changes on hills and curves.

Then heading back to the office, we're going down the steep rutted, rocked road and at the bottom she was worried her brakes had a problem.
So we talked it through and I concluded it was because the ABS system has fits with 4WD, Rocked Roads, and Ruts, and all three were causing it problems.
So we did some testing on a flat...they worked fine. It's the ABS sensors...

Stupid RAM trucks are meant for flat pavement.

[snip]

I looked at a couple Ram 1500s before getting the Ranger. Glad I didnt pick one, they seem to be all flash.

[Kaiser Kirk]

I looked at a couple Ram 1500s before getting the Ranger. Glad I didnt pick one, they seem to be all flash.

My old place of work was private industry, and bought a fleet of RAMs around 2008.
They were cheaper...and then had higher maintenance costs.
The trucks they have replaced them with are not RAMs.

[Darman]

I looked at a couple Ram 1500s before getting the Ranger. Glad I didnt pick one, they seem to be all flash.

How do you like the new Ranger?  I drove one of the old Rangers 10 years ago when I worked on my university's farm.  It was a good little pickup truck, perfect for what we used it for and I always figured I'd look at one when they started making them again.  But the new ones are bigger.  Part of what I liked was that the old ones were smaller. 

[snip]

I dig mine a lot. Test drove all sort of trucks while looking, and the Ranger (along with the Colorado/Canyon and Tacoma) felt much better on size compared to the F-150/Silverado/Ram. Those felt more like tanks than I really wanted, and the tradeoff between fuel economy and max tow was out of whack for what I use the truck for. I came from an 03 Avalance, and while they are around the same physical size (Ranger a bit smaller), the difference of feel is huge. I can get the Ranger into my 1-car garage with lots of stuff inside without issue. Never would have tried that with the Avalanche.

I found the convenience of a bed to be better than something like a CR-V for my needs. Since the wife has a CV-R, another small CUV/SUV didnt make sense, and we get enough snow to require 4WD/AWD. I'll have to give her a bath and post a picture or two.

[TacCovert4]

I have a 2010 F150 crew cab I bought 2 years ago.  The wife just upgraded to a 2018 CR-V. 

My work car is a Taurus Interceptor,  slick top in dark blue. God how I hate everything about that car except for who pays for it.  They're slow, uncomfortable,  and generally annoying as hell.  I loved my patrol charger.....carved corners and 157 on the straits.  Which I of course can neither confirm or deny.

[maddox]

You drive a son of Ford Timelord as work car.  Not shabby...

[TacCovert4]

You drive a son of Ford Timelord as work car.  Not shabby...

Ford bombed with this model.  The only thing it has going for it is an inch of ground clearance and all wheel drive.  So if I'm in a chase on a farm path its useful. 

I had 6 successful chases in chargers.   All in triple digits.  Only one chase in my ford.....and the trans am would have gotten away if he hadn't spun out into a tree.

[maddox]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR3ycyuEY5U