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We have an SUV, a big truck, and a Mini Cooper. The Mini is what we normally drive, the truck is used for our business, and the Jeep is my vehicle.
Our business is fitness and the truck is used to haul around a lot of weights, mats, etc.. Generally heavy stuff. I don't think that 90% of the large vehicles on the road are ever used to capacity but some are. I tried to make it work using a Jetta wagon, the rear shocks were blown out within 10K miles, literally leaking fluid all over the place. It was also unsafe to haul around heavy items in the back of an essentially open vehicle. I tried to get my wife to strap equipment down but it never seemed to get done.
The truck is a Nissan Titan and generally gets 14 mpg in town and 18mpg highway. Pretty impressive since it's so much larger than my Jeep that gets similar mileage. I think the American manufacturers have really missed the boat on engine technology, instead spending development dollars on stock dividends and chrome. The Corvette may be an exception but I haven't heard of many Hemi owners talking gas mileage.
And yes my wife has had people stop her in a parking lot to tell her how she's ruining the environment. For one A-hole she opened the back of the truck and asked "are you going to fit all of these weights in the back of your Prius? Some people actually use these vehicles genius."
We have the Jeep because it's paid for and I drive less than 4000 miles a year. I hope to be back in a 911 some day for a daily but it'll be a little while.
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-Jess
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