Why I Love My SUV

“FOR SHAME! YOu guys killing our planet!”

“Alright Mr. Mountain Biker! Outta da gene pool!”

“There is a problem with this sentence

“Why the F?@# would someone own a 2WD Explorer?”
Bison

The word "2WD" should be removed.”

“Haha! Friends don't let friends drive Fords.”

“Friends don't let friends drive motorcycles (for DDX.)”

“I'm used to taking my wrangler in the woods. I have 4 HD snows on it. I carry saws, hundreds of feet of cable, nylon straps & a couple of come-a-longs (manuel winches). I carry bridging material (for washed out roads & rotten-broken wooden bridges. I have an 8,000# winch on the front. I'm kinda used to washed out roads.

I used to ride the sides (from my rotten subaru days) untill I got stuck in spring snow/mud. Backed up on the side & hit a small stump & that turned me into a tree in front. Had to winch my jeep sideways & come-a-long for a hundred yards to get out. This ended THAT hiking day.

Now, my 8,000# winch can be moved front or back on the Xterra. My wife wants me to part with my jeep but there are separation problems. Don't like the new Damilier / Chrysler. THey're turning into a crummy company with their policies so I'll get rid of it.”

“The Rover goes anywhere. It has a terrible turning radius, but it'll go.”

“

Men overcompensate when their masculinity is threatened, Cornell study shows

By Daniel Aloi
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Threaten a man's masculinity and he will assume more macho attitudes, according to a study by a Cornell University researcher.

"I found that if you made men more insecure about their masculinity, they displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq War more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle," said Robb Willer, a sociology doctoral candidate at Cornell. Willer is presenting his findings Aug. 15 at the American Sociological Association's 100th annual meeting in Philadelphia.

"Masculine overcompensation is the idea that men who are insecure about their masculinity will behave in an extremely masculine way as compensation. I wanted to test this idea and also explore whether overcompensation could help explain some attitudes like support for war and animosity to homosexuals," Willer said.

Willer administered a gender identity survey to a sample of male and female Cornell undergraduates in the fall of 2004. Participants were randomly assigned to receive feedback that their responses indicated either a masculine or a feminine identity. While women's responses were unchanged regardless of the feedback they received, men's reactions "were strongly affected by this feedback," Willer said.

"Masculinity-threatened men also reported feeling more ashamed, guilty, upset and hostile than did masculinity-confirmed men," states Willer's report, "Overdoing Gender: Testing the Masculine Overcompensation Thesis."

"The masculine overcompensation thesis has its roots in Freudian psychology, but it has become a popularly accepted idea that I felt should be empirically tested and evaluated," Willer said.

He questioned subjects about their political attitudes, including how they felt about a same-sex marriage ban and their support for President Bush's handling of the Iraq War.

"I created composites from subjects' answers to these and other questions," he said. "I also gave subjects a car-buying vignette, presented as part of a study of purchasing a new car."

Masculinity-threatened participants also showed more interest in buying an SUV. "There were no increases for other types of cars," Willer said.

The study produced "the predicted results," he said. "The intention of the study was to explore whether masculine overcompensation exists and where. But the point isn't to suggest these are the only factors that can explain these behaviors. Likewise, there may be a wide variety of other behaviors that could increase when men are concerned about their levels of masculinity."

In a separate study, Willer verified that support for the Iraq War, homophobia and interest in purchasing an SUV were all considered masculine by study participants.

Willer said he and a colleague are planning additional research on subjects' attitudes regarding violence toward women, using the same method for manipulating masculine insecurity.

"I'm planning another follow-up to the study that involves taking testosterone samples from participants to see if testosterone levels are a mediating factor in this process," he added.

The research involved 111 Cornell undergraduates and was funded by the Department of Sociology at Cornell.”

“Gosh yes, Violin. I hop in my Explorer with my .45 and shoot sperm all over the world.”

“LOL! Good one Geo.”

“Good thing I gots me rain gear! Don't leave home without it!”

“Dangit Geo, I was just sitting here eating dinner when I saw your response and just about choked! Argh!”

“And here this whole time I thought it was the 4 wheel drive I loved. Turns out it was my little wiener the whole time.”

“At least now you know.

Admitting the problem is the first step.”

“I love mine becuase I sit up high, I can carry tons of stuff and did I mention it is soooo roomy? Sure paying for gas sucks big time, but I have had her since 2001. Love my 2000 Explorer.

My boyfriend has had his Xterra since 2000. She is the one we take offroading. The truck is so much fun to be in.

Us in the snow 2 years ago:

last edited: 12/23/05 1:14:27 PM”

“I love the J Peterman. He is my friend. : ) I love to race up and down the Forest Service roads making my passengers nervous. he he he”

“love my xterra.”

“Mine's bigger than yours!
”

“Why am I not surprised sarbar has the booger pickin' Calvin sticker on her X? LOL!”

“Ain't my 'X'-it is my man's ;-) I drive what he calls "the minivan on steriods"..ie..my Explorer.
On teh other side of the 'X' is the glorious "Chicks Dig Body Damage" ;-) I do love him!”

“Here's some scary numbers for the SUV crowd: The Ford Excursion with the Power Stroke option has a 44 gallon fuel tank. Given the average price for a gallon of diesel fuel today, that would run you about $108.00 to fill it up. Given an overall best MPG of 15, that would give you a range of about 660 miles, and an average cost of a little over 16 cents per mile.

Am I an eco-terrorist? Hell no! I'd love one of those things. But I'm an economist, and I can't afford one. The diesel option alone is about a $4400 premium. My fuel costs are only about 12 cents a mile for my full sized pickup truck with a gasoline V8. All just interesting food for thought.”

“I imagine the owners of those big boys are always humming..'we be strokin'”

“Well, the Dodge boys with the Cummins have a saying of their own.... use your imagination.”

“My Chevy Tahoe has a 30 gallon tank and I'm getting 18 miles per gallon with the 5.7 litre V8 (350 cu in). I live in a small community in eastern NC (gas station 4 blocks away, grocery store 1/4 mile, job 14 miles) I fill up twice per month ($120.00)”

“Hobbit, I drive a V6 2000 Ford Explorer....An average fillup on empty is 17.5 gallons of gas. In WA state this runs around $35-45 a fillup. I get about 350-375 miles per tank. As SUV's go, most drive the same size as me, the mid size. Small enough to fit into compact parking spaces-yet big enough to haul everything you need-the mid size is the most popular of SUV's-that is what most companies are making these days. Suburbans and Excursions are not as popular-due to being so much bigger.”

“Watch it!:

http://www.chevyapprentice.com/view.php?country=us&uniqueid=e858c0ce-1131-1029-98eb-0013724ff5a7”

“Oooh that's evil! Lol!”

“good one”

“Think I'll win the contest?”

“I made one. How do I link it in here?”

“Now that was funny!”

“Wolfeyes - You have to email it to yourself. The email will contain a link. I had to send it to 4 different email addresses before it came through on one.”

“OK, that explains why it is taking so long then. Thanks, Violin.”

“2nd Victim Dies; Driver Is Charged In 2-Vehicle Crash

By Debbi Wilgoren and Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 14, 2006; B02

A second man died yesterday of injuries stemming from a dramatic car crash that ended with a sport-utility vehicle slamming into a Northwest Washington rowhouse, D.C. police said.

The victims were passengers in a Honda Civic that was struck by a speeding Honda Pilot at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, police said. The driver of the Pilot then plowed into the rowhouse at 605 Florida Ave., triggering a cascade of bricks on top of and around the SUV and leaving the living room, fireplace and chandelier of the house exposed. Two people in the house escaped unharmed, police said.

The driver of the Pilot, Jesus Flores-Cardenas, 23, was charged with driving while intoxicated and negligent homicide. Flores-Cardenas, of the 1300 block of Randolph Street NW, was hospitalized yesterday with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, police said.

Police said Flores-Cardenas was driving west on Florida Avenue, "at a high rate of speed," when he rear-ended the Civic, which was stopped at a red light. Sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said he might have been going as fast as 80 mph.

Yonas Gebrehi, 37, of the unit block of Buchanan Street in Mount Rainier, was thrown from the back seat of the Honda Civic and died at the scene, police said. A front-seat passenger, Simon Asfaha, 30, of the 6000 block of Seventh Street NW, died yesterday at Washington Hospital Center. The driver of the Civic, Mussie Yohannes, 38, of the 1800 block of M Street NE, was hospitalized with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.

Contractors were at the 1895 brick-front rowhouse in LeDroit Park most of yesterday, tearing it down after inspectors from the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs declared it uninhabitable, officials said.

The homeowner said she was heartbroken when she saw the devastation. "It was very hurtful to see," said Ozie Quarterman, who bought the house with her husband 20 years ago and was renting it to two Howard University students.

The Quartermans, retired architects, had used the house with a rounded room topped by a turret as their architecture offices and dreamed that someday their son, a lawyer, would be able to convert it into a law office. They hope to rebuild it, Quarterman said.

"It was a beautiful, revival-style townhouse. It had an extraordinary wooden staircase with a widow's walk on top," she said. "A fireplace in every room but the kitchen. Ball-and-claw tub. Just beautiful."”

“Inquiring minds want to know....is the driver an illegal (i.e. Wetback) and if he is...whats the money bet he will never pay a dollar of restitution, or do a day in prison (other than the time he will spend waiting for trial)(....LOL) Luckily illegals without insurance will soon be protected when the Criminal Amnesty program goes into effect...(LOL).....”

“I've been SUV shopping lately. I'm still dreaming of owning a Ford 4WD Diesel Excursion. The surburban is more comfortable but they still don't offer a diesel. The Excursions were canceled in 2005. The gasoline burbs and Excursions can be had really cheap. Most of the Diesels are selling way above Blue Book.”

“Why are you "LOLing" ovr such a serious matter?”

“My wife wants one of the new Dodge Nitros. Typical horrible Chrysler gas mileage though.

”

“I am LOLing over the irony if this guy is a criminal (i.e. Illegal alien) meaning that he will go to prison for what...a couple of years, come out...A US CITIZEN (LOL)”

“Even the smaller Chrysler cars get crappy gas mileage.”

“Nigal I am getting close to 20 on the highway with my Toyota Tacoma Crew Cab. (oh to the Union Thugs here...built in Baja California by AMERICAN AUTO UNION THUGS)>”

“Sometimes I miss my old GMC Sierra. It have a 4.3L V6 that averaged 20mpg combination city & highway driving. It sure was nice being able to get 600 miles on a tank of gas. I however don't miss getting it stuck in the driveway every time it snowed because I didn't have 4-wheel-drive.”

“As some my recall, a few years back I ditched my big van for a Chevy Cavalier. Great car, but the wife did not dig it at all. I can understand, it only had two doors and manual shift. I loved it; it got great gas mileage -- however, we traded it in for a 2003 Saturn L300, fully loaded. We're paying the same amount per month (payment and insurance), loosing out some on the gas mileage (22/29), but boy, what a difference.”

“laqtis, I've owned a 2000 L200 for about 5 years now. I always got 30 mpg (90% highway), my wife now drives it and she's only getting 27 driving almost the exact same route I did to work. The difference is she leaves later and hits big backups, I rarely did. Much better than a Cavalier, yes.

Now I drive a 1993 Chevy Caprice V8, 25 mpg overall. We parked the minivan my wife was driving because it only got 21 mpg, even though its 1000 pounds lighter and only has a V6. Go figure.”

“I love Saturns.

Funny, I got rid of my SW2 for the big van. Boy did I get burnt on that deal! lol

I've been trying to replaced that SW2. It's exactly what I need/ed now.”

“Yeah, I used to drive a '95 Geo Metro. 52 mpg overall for me! (and they say the 53 mpg for an '06 Prius is good?) Got rid of it when I got the Saturn, actually looked into getting a used Metro for a while until the Caprice came along. Kind of wish I had kept the old Metro around...”

“The problem with the Metro was its size compared to everything else. My college roommate had one until she hit a deer at highway speed (70mph). The 90lb deer caused the car to flip end to end 4 times before resting in the median. My roommate only suffered some cuts and bruises, but had anyone been any set besides the drives, it’s unlikely they would have survived, as the roof would have crushed them. I can’t imagine what would happen had she been hit by another car. I won’t get in one of those things even if someone paid me. I just don’t feel safe.”

“70 mph? ... flipped 4 times? ... survived?

Not bad.”

“You should have seen the car. The roof was pushed down to about 6" above the passenger side seat and about 18" above the rear seats. I don't know why the drives seat didn't suffer the same.

I guess you're safe as long as you are the driver.
last edited: 11/17/06 1:27:46 PM”