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Twenty SUVs Damaged in Texas Attack

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
Ha, well, you've been in my element. Its not in the same league as the SUVs - its not really an SUV, its in its own class and much smaller.

But its also the car companies making these things, if you want to start throwing around blame. Make a minimum fuel efficiency rating for private vehicles.....set it at 20MPG - that would cull the field of many SUVs...;)

D
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Right. And i'm not singling out your element but there was that one time when parking....

People in general these days pay less attention. People in ANY SUV seem to pay even LESS attention to their surroundings. It's the "i'm bigger i'm better" thing.

And to hell with the 20mpg rating. What i'm saying is that, unless you're a licensed contractor, or a park ranger or whatever, where you need 4x4 and an SUV, you pay a luxury tax. And that lux tax goes into say, a kitty for education.

And if the SUV DOES get under 20mpg, then you pay a luxury tax as well.

I also think that there should be a minimum height for driving an SUV. My 5-2 sister has one and it's terrifying to drive with her in it.

And with that there should be specialized licensing for SUVs like there are motorcycles.

And yea... i think it should go to include ALL SUVs, whether they're small range (like you element, which is an SUV, i'm sorry to tell ya) to the Escalades. It could be tiered to reflect size and consumption.

And i'm sure idiots would pay these taxes for the privlege. But, if it were doing somehting good, i'd be ok with that- i.e. funnelng it into education, repairing roads, etc etc etc.
 
escalade? what's that? ;)

a bit of a tangent but... something that's annoying nonetheless

why haven't car/truck/suv manufacturers been forced to aim their headlights lower? i mean, clearly since their lights are higher up, they will be up in peoples' eyes moreso than a cars. and everyone knows about it... "does that person have their highbeams on? oh, it's a truck/suv"... i don't get why this problem hasn't been fixed. doesn't seem terribly complex.
 
Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
escalade? what's that? ;)

a bit of a tangent but... something that's annoying nonetheless

why haven't car/truck/suv manufacturers been forced to aim their headlights lower? i mean, clearly since their lights are higher up, they will be up in peoples' eyes moreso than a cars. and everyone knows about it... "does that person have their highbeams on? oh, it's a truck/suv"... i don't get why this problem hasn't been fixed. doesn't seem terribly complex.
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nice point. ever notice how even 18 wheelers have lower lights than SUVs?


Urban Assault Vehicle—The Escalade
 
Originally posted by Moxiemike
And if the SUV DOES get under 20mpg, then you pay a luxury tax as well.
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you do pay a 'luxury tax' - every time you fill it up at the pump. luxury taxes are DUMB - true Democrat ideology.
 
Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
yeah, that's true now that i think about it


i guess you didn't catch my joke. re-read my previous post (before i asked about escalade)... ;)
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brilliant. :) asscalade. What to circumvent the censor filter. ;)

Man. I'm just so glad I drive a nice, efficient, spunky Saab. I had some guy in a SOB, er... SUV tailgate me for a little while last night. Almost went blind.

Just dropped my car a gear, took off, and STILL managed to get 27 miles to the gallon. :)

Hehee.

Oh. And I can take turns quickly as well. :)
 
Originally posted by bitfactory
you do pay a 'luxury tax' - every time you fill it up at the pump. luxury taxes are DUMB - true Democrat ideology.
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So? Tax them more. :)

If we're going to narrow the amount of freedoms we have here, why not go all the way and tax the living crap out of SUV owners??
 
Originally posted by Moxiemike
brilliant. :) asscalade. What to circumvent the censor filter. ;)

Man. I'm just so glad I drive a nice, efficient, spunky Saab. I had some guy in a SOB, er... SUV tailgate me for a little while last night. Almost went blind.

Just dropped my car a gear, took off, and STILL managed to get 27 miles to the gallon. :)

Hehee.

Oh. And I can take turns quickly as well. :)
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you can say "ass" all you want here. hah

riding in my bro's civic hybrid is a real treat. i mean, my 98 prizm isn't bad (roughly 30 mpg), but 50 mpg would be a nice jump.
 
Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
you can say "ass" all you want here. hah

riding in my bro's civic hybrid is a real treat. i mean, my 98 prizm isn't bad (roughly 30 mpg), but 50 mpg would be a nice jump.
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very nice. you guys should take me for a ride sometime. We could go sticker SUVs in Shadyside. It'll be fun

My mom had a prizm. it was nice. then she bought a 626. Now that car is a guzzler.
 
Originally posted by Moxiemike
Ummm. Let's see... how about that whole pre-emptive war on iraq from a few months back?

The one where americans are still getting killed. And so are iraqis.
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The war with Iraq was to protect us from Terrorism, remember 9/11!

The American I live in still does not condone violence. Here in Boston Blacks in the inner city had a march not long ago. They wanted to take ther city back from kids killing kids!
 
A luxury tax isn't going to keep the SUVs off the roads. You're talking about people who pay of $50k for a new SUV - a little tax is not enough.

There needs to be a movement from the car makers to change this.

D
 
Originally posted by wdlove
The war with Iraq was to protect us from Terrorism, remember 9/11!

The American I live in still does not condone violence. Here in Boston Blacks in the inner city had a march not long ago. They wanted to take ther city back from kids killing kids!
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what did iraq have to do with september 11/al qaeda? the links that were brought out were a stretch, and very weak.

al qaeda=radical muslim group
saddam=non religious

have you watched the news lately? what is 90% of the stories? violence...


mikey-shadyside? sure... pittsburgh is a dump dude

duke- as mike said, if the tax goes towards something good (education, etc) at least it's a bigger penalty. likewise, i think we should pay the real cost of gas, a la europe. problem there is that everyone suffers, including the poor with crappy old inefficient cars...

also, you really think the car industry will change without pressure from gov't? why would they? it'd cost them money. for research. and their suv margins are massive. why give that up?
 
Originally posted by Abstract
How does this hurt the cause? People are more responsive and attentive to violent actions and protests than to "talking". The 10 Commandments "thing" was highly publicized because it involved a lot of angry people from all surrounding States, and because it involved religion. It got by without the need for violence, but this is a rarity.

Nobody pays attention to stories that indirectly condemn their lifestyle. If theres a news story about inhumane working conditions and paltry salaries at clothing manufacturers.......just change the channel. Sure, you may be indirectly enslaving the 3rd world, but you don't have to hear it. This is a 1st world attitude. That's why anti-corporate, anti-materialist protests (eg: G8 summit) end up involving spray-paint, destruction of commercial property, and sparse violent outbreaks. If they didn't, it wouldn't get more than a brief mention on the news, either print media or televised media.

If somebody talked about how bad SUVs are, do you think it would be in the news? No, but if 20 kids scratch up a few cars, we hear about it. I'd say they're helping their cause, as bad as that sounds to you..........and I.
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Totally agree. Their message is getting spread out. I don't think people would feel the brunt of it all unless more and more people's SUVs were damaged at the mall with a note attatched. These guys can blow up car dealerships but the average household isn't going to care. However, if your friends SUV keeps getting keyed, slashed tires, smashed windows, hood dents and notes left saying your vehicle is damaging the earth Love, the ELF. People will stop buying them because why do they want a car that gets smashed?
 
Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
A luxury tax isn't going to keep the SUVs off the roads. You're talking about people who pay of $50k for a new SUV - a little tax is not enough.

There needs to be a movement from the car makers to change this.

D
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Range gas prices from $2-$2.30.

Then watch those SUVs disappear.
 
Originally posted by NavyIntel007
Range gas prices from $2-$2.30.

Then watch those SUVs disappear.
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We're already there in CA, no-one has anything cheaper than $2.05 here.

If it persists long enough maybe, but I doubt it.
 
Question

Is it just SUVs in general or gas hogging SUVs?

Toyota through their Lexus brand will introduce a hybrid SUV next year I believe. Should get 40MPG. Much better than an H2.

Although I have noticed many stupid drivers in SUVs. They think just because I drive a car they can jam themselves in whenever they can regardless of the space/distance between us. That does not happen much at all when I drive our minivan which comes on par in size terms with an SUV. Then people don't seem to be the stupid road hogs when a vehicle of comparable size is around. But when I drive our Saturn Ion then people think I am bigger, haha watch me run over you. I hate those kind of drivers. Too little respect for the rules of the road.

Of course my wife and I take the bus every day to work. We only drive 3 minutes to the park and ride and from there wait for the bus. I fill the gas tank in our minivan about once a month. Gotta love that.
 
Carbon emissions in the United States have risen at an average annual rate of 0.8 percent during the past 25 years.
U.S. carbon emissions are the product of : (1) demand for energy services; (2) end-use energy efficiency; (3) energy transformation efficiency; and (4) the choice of fuels used.
The use of energy services has tended to track the growth of the U.S. economy. But, emissions have grown much more slowly than the U.S. economy or even energy consumption, because of the increases in energy efficiency and large-scale fuel switching.
Periods of declining emissions have tended to coincide with periods of prolonged higher energy prices.
In the 1990's, with real energy prices at lower levels than previous decades and further fuel switching of marginal importance, energy consumption and emissions track economic growth much more closely than in the preceding two decades.
The carbon emissions range between 5 and 6 metric tons per person per year.


The average annual rates of carbon dioxide emissions varied by sector during the past 25 years -- Residential, 0.7 percent; Commercial, 1.6 percent; Industrial, -0.04 percent; Transportation, 1.4 percent.
Carbon dioxide emissions grew in all sectors during the past decade.
Carbon dioxide emissions in the Industrial sector are still lower than they were in the 1970's. This is partly due to a shift in the structure of the U.S. industry from energy-intensive basic industries (steel and chemicals), towards more complex and less raw material-intensive products -- a shift that can be partly due to fuel switching and increasing energy efficiency.
Carbon dioxide emissions in the Transportation sector were stabilized in the early 1980's by the increasing fuel efficiency of post-1980 model cars. However, as vehicle fuel efficiency gains have diminished, transportation emissions have resumed their growth.


Source: For 1990-1997, Energy Information Administration, Emissions of Greenhouses Gases in the United States 1997, DOE/EIA-0573(97). (Washington, DC, report in preparation). For other years, EIA estimates based on unpublished analysis.


Just some food for thought. Some of this is good news and some is bad.

Some other facts:

The U.S. (with 5% of the worlds population) uses 25% of the worlds energy resources.

Since 1988, vehicle energy efficiency has stayed static. Actually, it has gone down in recent years from 28.7 mpg (average) to 27.7.

Transportation pollutants replaced all other sources (including industrial pollution) as the top source in the late nineties.
 
Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
A luxury tax isn't going to keep the SUVs off the roads. You're talking about people who pay of $50k for a new SUV - a little tax is not enough.

There needs to be a movement from the car makers to change this.

D
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I disagree. I drove a car for 6 months and I have decided it isn't for me. I will most likely never buy a car for my personal vehicle, so I imagine that the car manufacturers are going to keep making what the consumers want. I am sure that I am not alone in wanting an SUV.

If the elves do not like SUV's they will have to change public opinion. But the problem is that they can't. The SUV thing isn't a big deal for most people. Kids getting raped and killed in Africa scores a little above SUV's guzzling gas on the average American's concern list. And you see how very little is being done by the average american to help the war torn african children...

I think the elves are just bored yuppie kids looking to rebel from their parents. Who else would care that much?

Edit: I hope my point came through in my cryptic sentences. I am tired and can't think of a good way to rewrite them so they are clearer. :)
 
Originally posted by Stelliform
I disagree. I drove a car for 6 months and I have decided it isn't for me. I will most likely never buy a car for my personal vehicle, so I imagine that the car manufacturers are going to keep making what the consumers want. I am sure that I am not alone in wanting an SUV.

If the elves do not like SUV's they will have to change public opinion. But the problem is that they can't. The SUV thing isn't a big deal for most people. Kids getting raped and killed in Africa scores a little above SUV's guzzling gas on the average American's concern list. And you see how very little is being done by the average american to help the war torn african children...

I think the elves are just bored yuppie kids looking to rebel from their parents. Who else would care that much?

Edit: I hope my point came through in my cryptic sentences. I am tired and can't think of a good way to rewrite them so they are clearer. :)
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Christ. America should look at it's own problems first! Horrid educational scores, rampant drug use amongst teenagers, a liar and murderer for a president, etc etc before we should be involved in Iraq, Africa, North Korea, whoever!

The SUV IS a big deal for most americans. There's book written about them. Studies done regarding their dangers and inefficiencies. And on and on and on.

I dunno what rock you've been living under.... but god.... thinking that America, a country in what I see as complete disarray, should get involved in another country's business is utter stupidity and another 4 billion per month Iraq in the making!

Your cryptic sentences only have made me think you're not well informed at all.
 
I love america and its ways :D I hope gas stays the way it is, SUVs continue to be sold, and that every person that complains about america drops off the earth. :D :cool:
 
Originally posted by chadfromdallas
I love america and its ways :D I hope gas stays the way it is, SUVs continue to be sold, and that every person that complains about america drops off the earth. :D :cool:
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Hmm.. I'm assuming that you are just being sarcastic... and youre not really serious so I won't take this too seriously... but by denying someone's right to "complain" about america makes YOU the un-american. Oh and btw, I'm not sure if you heard... but there was a recent discovery regarding the earth's shape. Its round. Cant drop off. Sorry.
 
Originally posted by vwcruisn
Hmm.. I'm assuming that you are just being sarcastic... and youre not really serious so I won't take this too seriously... but by denying someone's right to "complain" about america makes YOU the un-american. Oh and btw, I'm not sure if you heard... but there was a recent discovery regarding the earth's shape. Its round. Cant drop off. Sorry.
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Wasn't being sarcastic, and if it makes you a little happier, I hope they tie these kinds of people to fossil fuel burning rockets and blast them off into space :D . I don't care if its un-american to deny someone the ability to complain, its annouying. ;)
 
Originally posted by Moxiemike
[B
Your cryptic sentences only have made me think you're not well informed at all. [/B]
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If you mean informed as in listening to what organisations like ELF have to say, then I guess I am not informed. I do not listen or believe a word they say.

I wasn't referring to the government getting involved with helping people from other countries. We all know the last thing we need is another government program. I was referring to the nuts who trashed those SUV's. I think they should be fighting for humanity's biggest problems, not the driving preference of the middle class.

Also I personally believe that our responcibility to humanity does not end at the border. I am sad that you think a car that gets 18 miles to the gallon is more important than the suffering and deaths of millions.
 
Originally posted by Stelliform
I disagree. I drove a car for 6 months and I have decided it isn't for me.
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But you drove one car for 6 months or several.

There are plenty of options out there the bridge the gap between an SUV and a car. Subaru Outback, Volvo SUV (which really isn't like the ones we're talking about), etc. These vehicles have all wheel drive (one of the main reasons I like them) and get better than 20 mpg.

There are options and if the manufacturers tried, there'd be even more.

And gas prices over $3 could be a deterrent - but it would take years at that price to have any long term effect. You'd have to see that its not changing and the car companies would have to shift their production agenda to accommodate all of that.

D
 
Originally posted by chadfromdallas
Wasn't being sarcastic, and if it makes you a little happier, I hope they tie these kinds of people to fossil fuel burning rockets and blast them off into space :D . I don't care if its un-american to deny someone the ability to complain, its annouying. ;)
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proud americans who can't even speak english should be tied to fossil fuel burning rockets and then blasted out. because, not speaking english is un-american.


seriously. "annouying"?

oh? typo? right. ;)
 
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