YankeemovingAbroad

I've heard the Yukons/Tahoes called alot of things but never inefficient.Very effective Suvs enfact its the suv of choice for most government officials,celebrities and families with children.They are extremely comfortable seating up to 8 passengers quite brilliant as cargo movers and if packaged as a Hybrit very good on gas 23 city 24 highway.The R class is made in the States a right piece of crap I agree but the S-class (made in Europe) quality rating is also for crap.Mercedes Benz as a brand has been poorly ranked for years.Would not buy another.

iaink

LOL, you are having a laugh right?

http://www.fuelly.com/car/chevrolet/tahoe


Sure, if you are towing a 10000lb horse trailer it might be a good option, but if you want to move people, get a minivan

http://www.fuelly.com/car/honda/odyssey

You have been in the US too long, the rest of the world laughs at comments like "very good on gas 23 city 24 highway"

Most families with children? Really? I see a lot more minivans. Celebs and Governments dont probably worry too much about fuel costs, although to be fair a lot of celebs like to be seen in those Prius "limos"

Eve N

Looks like a site I should be looking at before we but our car.
I can't made head nor tail of the jardon...Whats Fuel up? (everytime one puts more gas in the tank?) and MPG ?

iaink, what would be your advice on which make and model to buy? OH wants a SUV but realises it not practical nor eco friendly we are looking at mini vans..
Thanks

iaink

Users (real world people, not government statisticians) enter data everytime they fill up. MPG is miles per US gallon (so multiply by 1.2 for UK MPG), or find the setting to change it to the ungodly l/100km used here


What to choose is dependent on many things, how many people, how much stuff, how much towing, how much money to spend, image considerations, personal driving preference (sporty or spongy) etc etc.

I did the SUV thing at first., 4x4 for the winter, intimidated by the size of things here. Fun for about two months, then fed up of feeding it gas and having ponderous supertanker like handling and stopping distances, and a spine jarring truck suspension ride.

As far as vans go, if you have the money for a Toyota or Honda, thats the way I would go. Failing that the Hundai looks a good deal, although without much of a track record to go on. If money is short the Domestic GM offerings (pontiac / chevy) offer a lot of bang for the initial buck, but typically dont hold up all that well over time and are not much fun to drive. The Kia might be worth a look too, cheap and cheerful, but an unknown reliability record.

Maybe you dont need a van at all. We have two kids, 2 and 6, and get by with a Honda Civic.

YankeemovingAbroad

I stand by my opinion as a proud admirer of large suvs.24-23 is quite good gas milage for a enormous vehicle.Plus....Plus what would you rather be protected by in a car wreck a prius or a full size suv?

Oakvillian

I'd rather be in a car with sufficiently good ride and handling characteristics to avoid the wreck in the first place. That is such a spurious argument it's not really worth a serious response.

24/23 is crappy mileage, period (Canada uses Imperial gallons when we use gallons at all, by the way, so that's really around 30mpg, still well below par). It's an unnecessarily enormous vehicle, period. Unless you habitually tow a large boat or several horses, the number of times in a year you need a vehicle that size it would be more cost-effective, not to mention significantly less bad for the environment, to rent one.

BTW I've just looked up the interior cargo space specifications for your enormous vehicle. Max cargo space behind the front seats in a Tahoe is 3084 litres. In my Honda Odyssey van, also admittedly an enormous vehicle (gas mileage 7.8 litres/100k highway compared to 9.8 for the Tahoe, or in Imperial measures 36mpg vs 29mpg) there's 4173 litres of cargo space behind the front seats. So the Tahoe is pretty inefficient in terms of space as well as fuel. I know which I'd rather be in.

iaink

Oh, but it is!

I'd rather be driving something I can stop and steer around an accident than something thats two to four time more likely to kill anyone it hits in an accident.

The argument that SUVs are safer is not bourne out by the facts Im afraid, The death rate in SUV accidents is actually slightly higher than in a regular car (16 deaths per 100k vehicles, compared to 15 for cars), probably as a consequence of all that extra mass/ momentum. They are also more top heavy, and likely to flip, and that where the news for SUV occupants is even worse. Fatality rates in rollover crashes were three times higher in SUVs than cars (perhaps due to the extra mass).

Vans have a fatality rate lower than both cars and SUVs (11 deaths per 100k vehicles), perhaps because they dont tend to be driven aggressively.

So the choice between a full size SUV and a prius is tricky... On balance I'll take my chances in the prius I think. My risk is about the same and the chances I'll kill anyone else are much lower, and thats not even getting into the emmisions argument.

Eve N

Yeah,didnt want to fall into the trap of buying that gas guzzling SUV and realising 6 months down the line once real life settles in that maybe it was a mistake.
We have 2 kids 12 & 15 they both ski and ride so would imagine with all the gear and friends being dropped off here and there a mini van would be the way to go.We also like to camp and go away weekend when poss'
I'll check out the Toyota and Honda once we arrive.My friend has the Sienna and loves it.
Thanks!

GavinR

Mass higher up, if it were lower down it'd be less likely to roll. Also there are bugger all safety requirements for SUVs and trucks compared to cars.

YankeemovingAbroad

"I'd rather be in a car with sufficiently good ride and handling characteristics to avoid the wreck in the first place."

Have you ever driven in America? The accident can come at you while your car is parked or while waiting at the red light.I rather be in the suv aka in the four wheel tank.

scrubbedexpat091

I've never owned anything but GM, Chevrolet and Pontiac and never have any issues with them.

I have a Sunfire right now, and its never given me an issue. I have no reason to not buy GM, their cars have never been a problem for me.

I was looking to buy a new car this year but decided not to, but I did not notice a huge difference in efficiency between the small GM vehicles and the small foreign models.

Using the site mentioned above GM doesn't seem that bad to me in the small car market.


http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/yaris

http://www.fuelly.com/car/chevrolet/aveo5

http://www.fuelly.com/car/kia/rio

http://www.fuelly.com/car/hyundai/accent

http://www.fuelly.com/car/smart/fortwo

Looks to me in the small car range, GM is about on par with everyone else.

http://www.gm.com/experience/fuel_economy/

GM claims to have more vehicles with an EPA of 30mpg or more then any other manufacturer so that's worth something if you ask me.

iaink

GM also has more cars and trucks with worse economy....GM just makes more models and brands of cars worldwide, so its kind of a trick with words.

I have grave doubts about the solidity of the small GM imports, remember Daiwoo...most of them are rebranded Daiwoos. Check out the safety ratings of small cars before you buy too. In a small car design is a lot more important.

Novocastrian

Just under 4 years ago I made the mistake of buying one of those rebranded Daiwoos, the biggest saloon, sold as a Chevy Epica. The positives I saw were that it was cheap and came without a bewildering array of useless and expensive "options". It's a piece of shit which I only still own because I've been in Europe for half a year. It's getting traded soon after I get back.

scrubbedexpat091

I buy only on price. It can have all the safety in the world, but its useless if its not affordable.

Yes I know the small ones are re branded daewoo, as are the small Suzuki Swift.

I just can't see spending a premium on a foreign makers car when I have never had an issue with any GM vehicle I have ever owned.

iaink

If you cant afford it then dont buy new... Id rather have somethignw ith a good crash test record thats a few years old than a new vehicle with a poor test performance.