DU Vehicle Ownership/Usage--Your Main Transportation

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Poll question: DU Vehicle Ownership/Usage--Your Main Transportation

[Sammy Pepys]

1. Public Transportation during the week....

Car on the weekends. DC traffic sucks too much to contend with it during the AM/PM rush hour.

[Atman]

2. SUV is a false choice

A Suzuki Vitara or a Cadillac Escalade? Both are SUVs. You could park the Vitara in the back of the Escalade.

For that matter, you could park the Vitara, or the Honda CRV, or many similar "SUV"s in the back of the average mini-van.

[noamnety]

6. That's why I'm not answering

My SUV gets about the same mpg as a car, better than minivans. I'd rather see a poll that breaks it down by fuel economy, rather than shape of vehicle.

[madokie]

24. yeah like miles per dollar

[CornField]

21. Yup, I kept trying to decide if my Jeep was a real SUV or a baby one

I also get better gas mileage than many of my friends who drive minivans and larger cars. ???

[tenshi816]

26. My last vehicle was a 4-seater Suzuki Vitara

four-wheel drive and I got nearly 40 mpg. My current vehicle is a Honda CRV. I need 4WD because I live high up on bad roads that get impassable for regular cars in the winter, but I've never seen the need for the kind of behemoths I see some people driving.

So I didn't vote in the poll either.

Edited to add that I only drive about 4,000 miles a year, tops. I'm a big fan of public transportation.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

31. There's no value judgements here, and besides it's anonymous.

[Atman]

33. It has nothing to do with "value judgment."

SUV simply isn't a properly descriptive term. You might as well say "Do you drive a car or a truck," without saying whether or not you mean a Mack Truck or a Ford F150, a Cooper or a Ferrari. What information do you glean from it?

[DemonGoddess]

3. I walk to work (3 blocks away)

and we only use the car to go the grocery store and such.

[ClassWarrior]

4. No place for economy car (non-hybrid)?

NGU.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

5. Coupe ... 1996 Acura Integra that gets excellent mileage. I downsized

once my older son obtained his own car (an Integra too).

[DiverDave]

7. You forgot "sports car"

While my wife drives an Accord, I drive a 1990 Honda CRX.
Great on gas (30-35MPG) and a blast to drive.
Yes, it only has 2 seats, and yes, they are getting hard to find in good shape, but the "fun factor" is through the roof.

The cop that see's me driving it has to think "Guy is just saving gas".
What he doesn't see is the motor that I put in from Japan that has 60 more horsepower and goes like stink.
Having fun driving is one of my only sources of entertainment.

[importDavid]

25. Ditto - need sportscar!

My wife and I commute together 80% of the time - we take our two preschool girls to daycare in our Grand Caravan. We work about 6 miles away from each other - 20 miles from home.

On my wife's day off she gets to drive her BMW 330xi - I take the girls and the minivan.

On Fridays and weekends I drive my Lotus Elise in to work - she takes the girls and the minivan.

Works fine for us.

[Ready4Change]

28. Another bid for sportscar.

Gets 28mpg. I also used to drive a CRX, with the original motor, that gets 42mpg. Since I drove that over 10 years, my personal average mpg could be worse.

Although, almost all my driving is solo. (Why I've gotten away with owning 2 seaters.) So I've missed out on the carpooling or public transport personal mpg bonuses. :)

I wonder if there's someplace to figure out your personal lifetime mpg. Plug in vehicles, milage, miles, # of passengers, some base values for bus or subway ridership, etc...?

[Caution]

8. I drive a MINI cooper. Not a sedan, not a hybrid.

Economy car?

You need options for economy car, sports car, coupe

[RebelOne]

9. I clicked Sedan, but I drive a Ford Taurus station wagon.

[bottomofthehill]

37. Me too

Taurus SES. It burns ethenol when I can find it. It also burns thru flex fuel sensors, two so far and the check engine light is on again.

My weekend car is a Buell Blast, the little one but fun to run

[Totally Committed]

10. A Sedan --

but, our next car will be a hybrid.

TC

[dogfacedboy]

11. Nissan Frontier 4-cyl. pick-up.

I need it to haul things. Mrs.dogfacedboy drives a Honda Civic Hybrid. Excellent vehicle.

[lectrobyte]

12. a better poll would be how much gasoline do you buy each week

but then that would leave out folks who bicycle, walk, or use public transportation. Would be more informative perhaps.

[jedicord]

15. Good point. I only put less than 5,000 miles on my car in a year.

And that includes a trip to Tulsa, OK. It's great living 5 miles from work!

[Binka]

13. I Drive A Silver Vespa!

"Silver Charm"

[jedicord]

14. Need a space for small car.

I drive a Toyota Matrix, mileage is excellent. Although it now costs more to fill this 10+ gallon tank as it did my Toyota Highlander's 15+ gallon tank. Looks like I made the trade at the right time.:shrug:

[DODI]

16. Focus station wagon

[MadHound]

17. A Bajaj scooter

I have a fifty two mile round trip commute, and had to do something, gas prices were killing me. So last fall I bought a Bajaj scooter. OK, technically it is a motorcycle, but just barely.


It gets 100mpg, and it cruises at 55-60mph. A lovely little bike, easy to ride, fun too! And with the great gas mileage I'm getting, it is easy on the wallet and easy on the enviroment.

For those days when I don't ride, I drive a little Nissan pickup. I'll drive that until it drops, and then probably pick up a diesel pickup, and start making my own biodiesel for it.

[fed-up]

18. '89 Honda Civic Wagovan-30MPG-250K miles and still running nt

[dogfacedboy]

30. Two years ago, my '91 Corolla bit the dust at 249.5K.

I so badly wanted it to make 300K !
That car saw the East Coast, the West Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and Canada.
I was still getting 28-30 MPG at the time of her demise! The only car I ever bought brand new. I even replaced her with a late model used vehicle.
The Times We Had!!!

[AllieB]

19. I take public transportation everyday from the suburbs to the city

and use our car (a Subaru) for grocery shopping and other errands locally.

[William769]

20. SUV.

[roody]

22. Volkswagon Golf TDI using

biodiesel made from used vegie oil. Biodiesel: no war required.

[Swamp Rat]

23. bicycle... feet. n/t

[theHandpuppet]

27. Station Wagon

1997 Ford Escort wagon, 4 cyl, good gas mileage. Most people who say they need the extra space really don't need a big-ass, 6 or 8 cyl SUV. They just like to think they do. And the old-fashioned station wagon is really a lot safer.

[Jim Warren]

35. Sleeper

'94 lx wagon w/80k miles, bought it for not a lot 4 years ago w/40k and had to put very little into it in the way of repairs.

There is a site, feoa.net, (ford escort owners assoc.)of carheads types, most of them in Canada, who regularly get 200k+ miles on these cars and are glad to help anyone do the same.

[ThatsMyBarack]

29. Small car:

2001 Honda Civic (2-door).

[greendog]

32. Small pick-up...

...4 minute drive to work.

[Ohio Joe]

34. 2002 Tbird - nt

[Thirtieschild]

36. Subaru Forester

Didn't vote because the Subaru doesn't seem to fit the SUV category. We needed all-wheel drive out here, still drive our 1990 Honda Accord when we don't need the all-wheel drive. We drive cars until they collapse - drove our 1967 Country Sedan 21 years, even though the mileage was horrible, the hoses broke and broke and broke, the engine caught fire twice and it was wrecked three times. Would drive a hybrid if we had the money to buy one.

[libnnc]

38. '93 Eagle Summit Wagon

Just big enough. Mine's green.

[B3Nut]

39. No hatchback entry?

2006 Kia Rio5 hatchback here.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[LibertyLover]

40. It's a toss up between driving and public transportation

I drive our Mini Cooper to the closest Metro station, which is about 12 miles away, and then take the Metro from Prince George's county into DC to get to the office, approximately another 12 to 14 miles. The Mini gets excellent gas mileage, is a blast to drive and holds quite a bit, especially if I don't have the kidlet, her car seat or my husband in the car.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

41. Honda scooter...

and I put in around 1 gallon of gas a week.

Most days I absolutely love it, but with this wet as hell weather we've been having here in SF, it is not so fun.