Actually that commercial wasn't a flat-out race, rather a highway passing situation where the Hemi-powered Magnum's low-end torque powered it past the Lotus, mildly surprising the Lotus driver. And the message of the commercial was not that the Magnum was faster, rather that it could hold its own AND has a lot of utility. At the end the Lotus driver rolls down the window and asks, "What have you got in that thing?"
The Magnum driver turns and looks behind his seat and says, "A guitar, amp, surfboard, and a dozen 2x4's."
As for big cars and SUV's I figure to each his own. If my neighbor wants to buy an over-priced gas-hog of an SUV when a smaller car would probably serve his purpose, well that's his right. He's the one that has to fork out the cash to fuel and insure the darn thing. He accepts those consequences when he buys the vehicle. I prefer a smaller vehicle that sits low to the ground. (though it's got a decently large engine, so the mileage isn't great) I often have trouble seeing around large SUV's. I knew that when I bought the car. That's a consequence of my purchase and my decision. I'm not one to say, "I can't see around these *#$^&% SUV's! And they're dangerous to other cars and burn too much gas! They should be banned!". See, my preference is to drive a 16-year old Japanese import because it's rare and RWD and a good balance between performance and economy, and maintaining and modifying it provides a nice challenge and taxes my ingenuity. And I paid cash for it. Now, if I start saying that those SUV drivers shouldn't be allowed to drive their behemoth gas-guzzlers because they're too big, or inefficient, or hard to see around, or dangerous to other cars, then what right would I have to complain if someone else said that the cars I like should be banned because they're too old, or they don't have the latest emissions and safety technology (what's an airbag?) Or maybe Ferraris should be banned because they burn too much gas and no one should spend that much on a car? See what I mean? I dislike SUV's as much as anyone, but what I despise more is hypocrisy, so if I don't want my own decisions and preferences to be attacked, then I will not attack the decisions and preferences of SUV drivers.
Aside from SUV's American cars aren't that big these days. Even the "full-size" category, cars like the Crown Victoria and the Chrysler 300, are much smaller than full size cars were 20 years ago. And they were that big than because they were mostly holdovers from the '70s, before the gas crunches, when fuel was REALLY cheap, no one thought about emissions, and the bigger your car the cooler you were. And yes, the roads here in the US are for the most part much less demanding on suspension and handling than European roads. Most routes were laid out during the 20th century, many during the Depression when the government was doing all sorts of projects just to make work for people, lots of highways were built, tunnels blasted through mountains, hills flattened, etc. The end result is that our roads are for the most part relatively straight and flat. And then starting in the '50s the Eisenhower Interstate System was built (and continues to be built), which features even straighter, smoother roads, banked turns, etc. They're designed to allow you to hold a constant speed for hours and hours and miles and miles and keep traffic flowing. They usually go around large cities, using connecting spurs to reach into the more populated areas. And yes, they're often painfully boring, but they are a very efficient way to get from point A to point B. Of course there are some good twisty roads in the more mountainous areas.
Last edited by cls12vg30; 07-19-2004 at 02:46 PM.
"The good news is, not one of the 50 states has the death penalty for speeding....although I'm not too sure about Ohio."
Sesquipedalian -- a really cool word. It means long-winded, polysyllabic, or verbose. See the word describes itself...isn't that neat?
1988 Nissan 200SX SE V6
UCP's most hardcore S12 fan!