Hiking vehicles

[rally_toad]

What kind of vehicles do you guys all drive when your going hiking? Im thinking about investing in a 4wd high clearance Jeep or something of the sort so I could get to some places where I definitely couldnt get to with what Im driving now (73 mustang):) I saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee today for $2600 and I was thinking about checking it out. What "hiking vehicle" is easiest to drive and which gets the best gas mileage (even though I know most wouldnt be too fuel efficient.)

[CannondaleKid]

I'm happy for you Jim, now you can really enjoy your Suby!

they isolated it to a bad tire.

And that was on the second set, wasn't it?

I believe tires are like most of our products nowadays... just as likely to get a bad one as 4 good ones. In the last four sets of tires I've purchased, each time I had one that was far from ideal, requiring excess weight to balance them. Only one time did the tire dealer replace a poor one with another, and even that one was marginal. But such is life...

[Jim]

it was set # 2. It is hard to believe tires can be that bad. I had a set I bought 8 years ago, I had to have them all replaced, they were so bad. That or the balance was way, way off. My tires on my car for the last 25 K miles were some cheap performance tires I bought so I could go 110 on the REZ. They were actually a very good tire. They kept the car smooth at high speeds, and handled great. Cheap, and were doing very well. Lousy in any snow, though.


Either way, things seem to be working out well. If I hadn't had someone tell me the vibration was normal, I probably would not have mentioned it. The Subaru engineers told me right away it was not normal and they (being in back over the tire) were able to feel it a bit before I could.

[Alston_Neal]

@Jim_H
Sometimes it's the simplest things that one overlooks. Plus they created doubt in your head with the vibration thing being normal and then there was the "minor" damage thing in shipment that clouded the issue.

[Alston_Neal]

Reminds me of someone...
Some big person words are used here.
http://enid.craigslist.org/cto/41192809 ... %3C/div%3E

Check out the odometer reset button.. ;)

[PLC92084]

@Alston Neal
That's got to be one of the best CL ads I've ever seen!! I was almost tempted to make an offer but I need another project like I need psychological help... (OK... bad example - I don't need another project)

[outdoor_lover]

[Alston_Neal]

With the holidays and the season of giving upon us, I think we should all chip in and buy Grasshopper a new Jeep.
He obviously needs more cargo space and matching luggage.
http://www.filson.com/aev-brute

[kingsnake]

I'd buy him a new stove first. Priorities ...

[Grasshopper]

I'd buy him a new stove first. Priorities ...

I prefer Alston's recommendation My Coleman Stove works just fine .. igallery/album.php?id=402 ;)

[PLC92084]

@Alston Neal
If you're in a giving mood, put me down for one as well... Do they offer gun rack and in-cab bar?

[Alston_Neal]

@Alston Neal
If you're in a giving mood, put me down for one as well... Do they offer gun rack and in-cab cat cooler?

Would you like the 3 or 6 cat pack?

[CannondaleKid]

The Filson Edition AEV Brute = $130,000

What? ONLY $130k?
Which reminds of the statement "If you have to ask you can't afford it!"

Hmmm... $130,000 divided by the number of active HAZ members = more than I can afford.

[ASUAviator]

You guys can help pay off my truck instead!! Its far cheaper I promise

[PatrickL]

Anyone have experience with Jeep Liberty(ie)s, maybe '06 to the newer '08s? How about Jeep Patriots?

[Jim]

I think Subarus are garbage. Don't buy one. Cheaply made, poor performance, and problems, problems, problems. I never had so many issues with any other car I have driven, or one relatives have bought in the last 30 years. No, it hasn't actually broken down on the side of the road, but that is about all that separates this car from being a lousy car from the 1970s; my parent had a new Plymouth Volare that broke down on the ride home from the dealer.

After rotating the tires, the vibration came back worse than it ever was. This car is clearly a lemon, or they can't build cars that work properly. I don't care if it is just the tires, it isn't worth having to deal with this kind of thing from a pretty expensive and brand new car. I drove home for 9 to 10 hours last night with it shaking and vibrating like I was mixing paint, I felt like I was vibrating when I went to bed, and now I am faced with trying to go through the entire process like last summer, or just doing what I should have done last year: buy a different car.

It isn't even very good off road, and after having representatives from Subaru tell me the car is not intended for the use they advertise it, why would you want a piece of junk that just rides and handles poorly, costs more than a comparable comfortable and useful car, and has had so many issues?

[kingsnake]

1982 Pontiac T1000, bought brand new for $6000. In the five years I had it, I put $3000 into it in repairs (including the timing belt breaking 10 miles north of Pine in the middle of the night, and replacing the alternator at least three times). That is the equivalent of paying $20,000 for a car today, and putting $10,000 in repairs into it by 2019. Never a bigger pile of steaming in automotive history.

I was to see GM put a stake in Pontiac's poisonous black heart in 2010 ...

[SuperstitionGuy]

I was to see GM put a stake in Pontiac's poisonous black heart in 2010 ...

The stake needs to go into the heart of taxpayer funded GM if you were to ask me!

[Jim]

Yeah, thats pretty bad. Those sort of issues are exactly why American cars got such a bad reputation and so many people started buy imports, such as a Subaru. My 1991 Skylark was junky like that, but the alternators were cheap and it was in a front end accident before I got it. It drove/ road, very nicely at least. At least when a car won't go, it's really easy to say, "it's broken", but it is very angering to have a car that shakes and vibrates and yet they say, "it's fixed", or, "it's fine". Rotating my tires should not have caused the problem to return.

[FOTG]

@SuperstitionGuy

Tell that to the thousands employed by GM, ...yes government lost 11 billion in total money paid to car company to keep afloat, however, that number pales in comparison to the amount of economic damage caused if government would have allowed company to go bankrupt ie: loss of tax revenue, unemployment claims, strain on social security funds, lost pensions, etc..its about the bigger picture man..see below, however, please don't allow the facts to distort and cloud your hasty opinion, two cents worth and false conclusions ;) I don't know about you but, I hate when facts get in the way of my opinions

A study released Monday by the Center for Automotive Research concluded that the government bailout of GM spared 1.2 million jobs in 2009 and preserved $39.4 billion in personal and social insurance tax collections in 2009 and 2010. “Any complete cost-benefit assessment of the federal assistance to GM in its restructuring must consider the total net returns to the public investment…”
-researchers Sean McAlinden and Debra Maranger Menk wrote in “The Effect on the U.S. Economy of the Successful Restructuring of General Motors.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller ... -any-more/

just saying...not a rant or anything

[FOTG]

@Jim_H
sorry for getting off topic...teach Econ, from MI..my apologies..