Posted on 05/09/2005 6:52:14 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
It's a Saturday morning on San Leandro's Marina Boulevard auto row, and the big SUVs have been sitting on the lots, waiting for someone to come in and start that dealer dollar dance that ends up with the customer slightly bewildered but paying a lot less for that vehicle than he thought he was going to.
Once in a while, there are takers, although the dealer has to discount the SUV heavily just to get it moving.
Salvador Sotello, for example, recently paid F.H. Dailey Chevrolet in San Leandro $41,000 for a new Chevy Tahoe LT (yes, with leather) SUV that had a sticker price of $58,000. The sale was an anomaly in what is otherwise a pretty dismal selling season. "It's been pretty quiet," saleswoman Crystal Gonzalez said the other day. "Been pretty slow."
At Broadway Ford in Oakland, the grilles of the Mustangs, SUVs and the lone Thunderbird smile at the passing traffic, but the showroom is empty, it appears, of customers; several salesmen are in sight. Up at Albany Ford-Subaru, salesman Myers Howard, sitting a few feet away from a big Ford pickup truck, says things on the Ford side of the showroom "are slow." That might be the understatement of the day.
Just this past week, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. underwent the humiliation of seeing their credit ratings reduced by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services to the status of junk. The reasons are becoming clear -- the two big companies can't sell much of what they produce.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The following driver did not give himself enough time to react. Being aware that his line of sight was blocked, the responsible thing to do was back off.
Thank you SuziQ.
I think it's funny to see so much vile and venom spewed against the EEEVIIILLLL SUV's on a conservative web site. What happened to our love of freedom?!
I can hit Sam's Club for a few month's worth of toilet paper, laundry detergent and assorted canned goods, pick up the dog and head over to get the kids, plus a couple of their friends from school and still have room to spare in my SUV! And because I'm sitting up high when I drive it makes me feel safer as well. I can see, so sue me!
p.s. And as opposed to a minivan, I can seat eight, plus still have plenty of cargo space. My old minivan only sat seven and had about a foot of cargo space. That meant if I picked up my kids plus my friend's four, one of them would be in the front seat near the airbag.
"There are places near here where 4WD is an absolute necessity....and Suburu's suck."
I don't know many places like that. FWD gets you through most snow around here, (up to 2 feet). And once the road gets icy, all cars slide, 2, 4 whatever wheel drive becomes no wheel drive.
You're a fellow Indians fan, so I'll be polite.
It is definitely true that 2WD and 4WD slide equally well, but front wheel drive does not CLIMB as well as 4WD, and once in a ditch, front wheel drive cannot EXTRICATE itself like 4WD.
The difference is the hills.
"and once in a ditch, front wheel drive cannot EXTRICATE itself like 4WD. "
Well, stay out of the ditch! :P
Ok, well, I don't have to deal with a lot of climbing in the snow, so I'll take your word for it.
As for the Indians... it's very difficult to be a fan right now, seems like we're back to the dark ages of the 70s.
How much? Xena's Guy is looking to get me out of the Amazing Fiberglas Saturn, and that's gotta be right around the corner from us. ;)
I don't EVEN want to know what you provide by way of safety restraints. ;)
If the auto makers would respond by giving us the American rear wheel drive station wagon back(like Chrysler has begun to do), the SUV craze would wither on the vine.
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Has anyone looked at those Dodge Magnum wagons? Tiny, tiny rear windows = poor visibility. Underpowered - unless you get the hemi V8 - and expensive (around $30 grand or more)
WHO NEEDS THAT? Just buy an SUV and be done with it.....
I agree. Show me the sticker. Even a loaded up Tahoe is not gonna sticker for $58K.
What happened to Jake Westbrook!?! It's sad to say, but I think he should be sent down.
There are quite a few SUV's in far-left New England, which exposes the "one for me, but not for thee" hypocrisy of the extreme leftists infecting this area. Many of the 'finer' homes in Vermont have three or four SUV's parked in their driveways; most of them sporting some sort of 'Save the Environment!' bumper sticker.
You can do that in LA? I really don't want to live there but you're making me want to visit and rent an Expedition. ;)
Tahoe LT - Yukon SLT basically the same truck.
Salvador just paid $12,600 to much!
EBAY:
GMC : Yukon SLT
05/Yukon/Auto-V8/Lea/Fact.Warrty/TV-DVD/3rd.Seat/R.Air. Miles:3409
"What happened to Jake Westbrook!?! It's sad to say, but I think he should be sent down."
Only if he promises to take Aaron Boone with him!
I'm sorry, apparently my copy of the "So You Want To Be A Good Conservative" handbook seems to be missing the page which states I must adore all of the oversized SUVs on the road.
People have every right to spend their money on whatever they chose, but they should be required to demonstrate a certain amount of skill in operating a vehicle before being allowed to drive it.
Let's face it, a suburban does not handle the same way a samller SUV or car handles. The roads around here are full of soccer moms in suburbans who can't make a right hand turn without using up 3 lanes of traffic. If you are going to drive something that big, you should have a commercial license or a cheaufer license. Letting anyone drive those big SUVs just because they have a civilian drivers license is like letting anyone who ever flew a Cesna hop into the cockpit of a 747 and take off without getting certified on it. It's dangerous. I'd much rather find myself on the road surrounded by student drivers than by soccer moms in suburbans.
But by your statements, you imply that the government should have the power to define wha, when & where people are allowed to drive.
Because I have a larger family, would you propose I file an application to have a bigger vehicle, and only be allowed to do so with government authority?
How & why would or should any government of a so-called free country rule over what people drive? Granted, stuff light headlights, etc are fair game, but why shouldn't I be allowed to drive an SUV even if I am single?
Don't you think the government already has too much authority, and with the black boxes becoming commonplace far too much authority?
Sure, it would be nioce to elimiate the need for foreign oil, but if I can afford to buy it, and it's a legal commodity, why shouldn't I be able to buy as much as i want?
What you said seems to go against the princicples I think all conservatives (and all humans for that matter) should hold very dear. Your statemnts seemed trollish for a conservative website, and I called you on it. If you feel that's a personal attack, so be it. They are YOUR views.
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US $28,900.00