Freeper incident I have to rant about...

[Javaman]

Living here in Texas, there are not only the monstrous SUV's but no one ever seems to talk about the monstrous PICKUP's!!! Take a ford F250, Damn that thing is the size of a train car!!! And sucks up as much gas as any of the other cabin cruising SUV's! Arrggg!!!

So anyway, I'm driving home from work, I drive a 2 door manual 4 cylinder jeep. It's the same length as my old escort and only 6 inches higher. Less an SUV then a blotted escort.

Anyway, I'm minding my own business, when an F250 barrels through a stop sign and cuts me off. I could easily fit my car in it's bed.
The back of it is plastered with moron* stickers. So I yell out my window, "hey, you cut me off!" And the guy responds, "fuck you SUV, fuel sucker!"

I started laughing, it was just so absurd. Incidentally the guy saw me laughing, flipped me the finger and peeled out.

So call me kooky, but as much as people bitch about SUV's, me being one of them, it seems no one bothers to say anything about the giant pickups and "duelies" out there that are just as bad.

End of rant. LOL

[Bassic]

1. Nobody says anything about all those huge cars out there either

Such as the Dodge Magnum or that Chrysler that looks like a tank.

[Cyrano]

10. Filling up next to a Hummer last week.

I drive a Ford that gets about 20 mpg and I was filling up last week next to a guy that was filling his yellow Hummer in the pump across from me.

He was dressed in a suit and tie, so I was pretty sure he wasn't headed to do battle in the outback. I just couldn't resist, so I looked over and asked him, "How many miles per gallon do you get on that?"

"Oh, it varies," he said. "It gets a lot more on the highway than in town." (No shit. So does a motor scooter.) Incredibly, he then went on to bitch about the price of gas. "But it's getting more and more expensive to drive to work every day."

I don't know whether it was pity for a moron, or just trying to avoid confrontation, but I shook my head, tried to look profound, and said, "Uh huh."

Perhaps, had he been wearing fatigues and his Hummer wasn't yellow, I might have found some way to explain to myself that he wasn't an idiot.

[China_cat]

17. Most ridiculous vehicle on the road

seen here in Charleston, SC yesterday by me...a Hummer stretch limo. With what looked like the reefer unit off a frozen food trailer perched on its roof. About the length of 3 1/2 normal Hummers.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a joke.

[Bassic]

22. I live in a somewhat yuppie neighborhood in Hull, Québec

And I counted 3 different Hummer H2's around the place. Incredible.

[lectrobyte]

2. There seems to be a lot of free-floating anxiety out there.

I was sitting in a red light this morning. A BMW X5 SUVish car rolled up to about 2 inches off my bumper, rolled his windows down and turned his stereo up so lound I could not hear my radio. He proceeded to tailgate me until he passed me and was shouting something at me, but I couldn't hear him over his stereo. Still not sure what's up with all that. Maybe he don't like DU bumperstickers on cars? Who knows?

[pocoloco]

6. Reminds me of the difference between a bmw and a cactus!

a cactus has the pricks on the outside!

[izzybeans]

3. Big trucks are invading everywhere. I just moved to Indiana and in the

process of buying a car. The lots are flooded to absurdity with huge trucks. I think I even saw an old military style hummer retrofitted for street use for sale somewhere. It was an old one anyway. Driving into my parents hometown feels like driving through a demilitarized zone for red necks. Armies of F250's lined up at the Expressway Dodge or Ford or whatever, no cars in sight. I wouldn't mind if the people driving them were farmers or even contracters, but there are so few farmers these days. But I swear when I head that way tonight, I'll drive buy the local chicadeli, (the place where they buy big dripping boxes of chicken, cases and cases of Busch Light, and buckets and buckets of coleslaw), there will be 15 of the biggest trucks you ever saw parked there, just back from their work at the local mall, or Hooters, or whaterver. At least for the farmers then there'd be some utility in having a huge utility truck, double wide dualy thingy.

My rants over too.

edited to add: "and buckets and buckets"

[progressivebydesign]

5. I've found that the rudest drivers are always pick up truck drivers.

Not SUVs, not luxury or sports cars. It's a joke in our family.. whenever one of us is driving and we look in the mirror to see we are literally TOWING another car, and it's always a pick up truck. I'm not sure why the white men are so angry, but they are always the ones driving aggressively and angrily. If Bush's world is so hunky dory, why are they so angry all the time?

[izzybeans]

12. "Where an empire now...we make reality" I guess. They can't

sit and wait for things like speed limits and common courtesy anymore. They feel they own the road. Their big trucks hide small hearts. Coming from new Jersey, the opposite was true in my experience. The bigger the price tag, the smaller the heart. The angry bush voter was likely to be in a shiny beamer there. The joke rings true for me in Indiana however. I had a guy in a monster truck (literally) pass me on the shoulder a few weeks ago-(had a rebel flag sticker in the window, and this was on the north side of the mason-dixon line, "if you catch my drift". They can't even make the argument about heritage when they display it in the north, even though we all know that argument's a big load as well.)

[MindPilot]

4. Most of the people I know who own those huge trucks

need them. They are construction workers, or they have horses, or something along those lines. Not true with the SUV.

But that being said, don't you just love how the assholes always manage to make it YOUR fault?

[izzybeans]

8. I'd say the opposite is true here. That is legitimate use. I many

construction workers and they all have big trucks filled with the tools of their craft. It's overwhelming how many trucks there are. I asked an old friend recently, who I hadn't seen since high school, what he was doing these days. (we were sitting at a bar, we had ran into each other serendipitously) He said he as in sales, had a company car, spent all his timeon the phone, and all that...When we left he hoped into what had to of been the largest pick up truck I have ever seen on factory tires. I couldn't even tell you what it was. I'm sure it was a ford of some sort. His was not the only one in the lot and I didn't see too many construction workers in the bar-given it was quitting time and everyone there had come straight from work.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Oh. MAN! *lmbo*

[ucmike]

9. we call them "personality amplifiers"

or "cock extenders".

they're perfect for people who aren't really confident in their own personality, so they amplify it with their vehicles. its the easiest way to scream "look at me!!! i'm a huge personality!!! pay attention to me".

or they are lacking in stature in other regards, hence, "cock extenders"

[trekbiker]

11. ever seen those huge mirrors on the F250???

one of the funniest things I saw was two Ford F250's heading towards each other on a narrow mainstreet of a small 49'er era CA foothills town (Sutter Creek). This is a tourist town and both sides of the main street were crammed with parallel parked cars. There just wasnt enough room for the two F250's and BAM!!! those big mirrors smashed together as they flew past each other. The mirror on one truck took out his drivers side door window and tempered glass flew everywhere. The other truck's mirror was left dangling by it's control wiring...

[MindPilot]

18. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I would've paid money to see that!

Some of those vehicles have an option where the mirrors automatically retract--fold back against the window--when the key is turned off.

Maybe they need a proximity sensor too!

[sakabatou]

13. Hypocrisy in action

BTW How much does your jeep get?

[Javaman]

19. 20/23 it's a 96, I'm saving for a Pruis. :)

[sakabatou]

20. Better than what he gets I bet

[Javaman]

21. oh, hands down. LOL

Actually, I put a self imposed limit on my car. I had been riding to work on my bike about 2 to 3 days a week, but when gas hit 2.50, I vowed to go everyday. Well, guess what? LOL

[I concur]

14. I have a Jeep Liberty...

...is it considered to be an SUV. I only have it because of the winter snow we get here. It gets only 18 MPH and I'm considering trading for a Mini Cooper--I figure I could just about lift it out of a stuck spot.

[MindPilot]

15. And another thing...!

I spend about an hour a day on a freeway commute. I have NEVER seen an SUV or full-sized truck pulled over. It's always an Asian guy in a little souped-up rice-burner.

Yesterday as I merged onto the freeway, I saw a CHP coming up fast in the number one lane. As I was maneuvering through the slow merging traffic (the on-ramp is a hill, and there was a fully loaded 18-wheeler a couple of cars ahead.) I found a nice spot in the number two lane just as the CHP car came up on my left rear. At that very same moment a Ford Expedition came up on my right going at least 85, cut across in front of me, into the number one lane and in front of the CHP.

I thought cool, I'm finally going to see one these SUV pricks get nailed! But no, that cop stayed right beside me for a good thirty seconds, staring at me the whole time. I drive a Nissan 240.

[Javaman]

23. Just remember, there is no such thing as profiling...

Heavy heavy :sarcasm:

[Catherine Vincent]

16. Those big pick up trucks is all you see here in Houston.

I'm sick of those and SUVs. I have family members that own them both though, so they never want to hear me get started on their vehicles.

[City Lights]

24. We saw a ridiculous pick-up yesterday.

It was one of those with 2 rear wheels on each side (pardon my ignorance for not knowing the term for this :-)) and it had some sort of custom top on the cab, which made it look like a friggin' A-frame! I've never seen anything like it. Of course, it had a _w'04 sticker on it.

You sure encountered a dumb-ass moran! :crazy:

[ThomWV]

25. Did It Ever Occur To You That Trucks Are Made To Work? SUVs Aren't.

I drive just the truck you are talking about. It is a Ford, F-250 "Superduty" with the 3-door cab and the long bed. It is indeed the size of an ocean liner and takes about as much room to turn around. However it has the Diesel engine and on the highway it gets over 20 miles per gallon and in fact has clocked as high as 24 MPG when maintaining 55 mph on good road.

A truck is made for work and mine does exactly that. It is used to tow an 8,000+ pound load and does other duty hauling farm materials.

This is no SUV. There isn't a damned thing sporty about it and while its as pleasant to drive as something that size can be made to be its still a pig, but a working pig. All pickup trucks in private hands are not boy's toys.

[Redstone]

26. I don't think they're talking about your truck or any other one that's

used as a truck. Nobody would object to that.

They're talking about the large percentage of trucks the size of yours that have pickup beds you coult eat off, because they've never been used.

PS: 24 MPG with an F-250? That's a hell of an argument for Deisels, isn't it? That's one efficient engine!

Redstone

[flvegan]

27. You're absolutely right.

The difference between your truck and a lowered, customized, high-dollar paint schemed Dodge Hemi (getting 11 or so mpg) is a vast one.

[Javaman]

28. Yes, there are trucks for work and an then there are...

the vanity types that must have these huge pick ups. However, most of these people are driving around a city and I bet don't get the kind of gas mileage that you state.

There are people who actually use the truck for what it was made for, such as yourself and then there are the others that need to have that boost in personality.

Those are the ones that are very prominent around here and those are the ones that are as bad as the SUV's.

I don't know what you mean about private hands = boys toy?

[B3Nut]

29. 24mpg is excellent for a truck like that...

...and you could concievably burn biodiesel in it without too much fuss. That's better mileage than the gas F-150! I could see myself using a truck like that to get the Hammond to gigs, or crates/dogs/paraphernalia to the dog adoption events we set up a rescue booth at.

I'd have to festoon the tailgate with liberal stickers tho, wouldn't want to be mistaken for a freeper who never gets any work done LOLOL :D

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Bigmack]

30. Your workhorse truck makes me think...

....about when fuel is REALLY expensive. How will this country function?

Even if every unnecessary SUV and pickup was off the road tomorrow, what will we do to MOVE stuff like heavy tools, and gravel, and cement, and FOOD?

I fear we are in the deepest of shit.

The election(?) of 2000 may well be the tipping point in US history.... the election where we had a chance to survive.. and blew it.

[Fleshdancer]

31. So true. The trucks down here are getting ridiculous.

I drive a '96 GMC Jimmy which is pretty small for a SUV but it looks like a toy when parked next to a Ford F250. And you just know most of the people down here don't use their trucks for work because they don't have a single scratch or a speck of dirt on them. They're just as much of a status symbol in Texas as a sports car is in California.

[Norquist Nemesis]

32. Didn't Bush give tax breaks to pick-up trucks?

Something about if the depreciation of pickups for small businesses (as in ranches and farms). :shrug: Not my area of expertise.

[rbjensen]

33. Mileage is great

but what about safety? I'm an EMT and can tell you there is no contest with small cars. I've scooped too many kids out of little cars. My wife and three kids are in an SUV. We just try and limit trips. I won't look at a rice racer until side curtains are mandatory and they publish honest crash ratings. They are death traps even in parking lots.