A thread all about... cars!

[AVService]

Had to chime in on this from my 17' Casita Fibwerglass Trailer in Brown County Park in Nashiville Indiana.
Got here with my '01 Tundra V-8 4wd Standard Cab Longbed pickup.
This is my 2nd 1st Gen. Tundra and I love them.
I tow this combination all over the place and et around 13 mpg towing and maybe 15 mpg not towing. This one has around 93K on it and they go forever without incident.
I drive between STL and South Florida several times a year and out to Colorado a few times and to Boston a few times,I drive a lot!

I also have an '05 Sprinter Van,it is a 118" Window model with the Mercedes 2.5Liter Turbo-D and it weighs around 6500 lbs,is huge and I get around 25 mpg around town!
It will also tow the Casita but I have only done so Local to date. It has around 150K on it and they are known to reach 500K before needing and overhaul.
Amazing vehicle great mileage and can get 6 50" plasma tv's in her while getting 25 mpg and mine is the baby Sprinter model.

I also have a 94 Land Cruiser and an 00 Odyssey.

I have a thing for wheeled vehicles too.

Right now there are 3 Fiberglass Rv's in the Driveway.

Who is surprised?

Ed

[brian]

Maverick - I love those Mercedes Sl's! It is a shame yours had to meet with an untimely end. The Subaru Legacy is a great car too, Subarus seem like a particularly good idea in Seattle with all of the rain and steep hills.

AVService - I have no personal experience with Toyota trucks, but they certainly seem invincible. I remember an episode of Top Gear UK in which the presenters tried to kill an older one and couldn't. My dad has one of those Sprinter Vans; he loves the fuel economy but I think he is looking at an American-built van for his next van purchase.

[Flinx]

I like my old beater - a 1993 Dodge W250, extra cab, long bed, 4x4, 1st gen Cummins. Still gets about 17 mpg too, loaded or not.

I would get a better ride out of a covered wagon though.

[Katy]

Hey, at least you *tried* to get an Element.

The best mpg I've ever gotten in the Element was 26, and considering I usually drive very short distances around town, I usually get <20 mpg ... the CR-V beats it for sure that way, along with some creature comforts (unless your "creature" is a dog!). The Element really is great for dogs, and that's the reason I got it after the Civic just wasn't cutting it for two 40-70 pound dogs and two adults. Life circumstances have changed and I don't have the dogs anymore, but a pug is on the horizon and she will surely have crazy pug dance parties in the spacious back.

One thing I really love is how easy it is to take the back seats out or hang them up on the sides. A negative for some, but not me, is that the Element only seats four - there's no third belt in the middle. I've had one seat out for quite awhile now, but it's going back in today. The versatility of the seats makes the Element a true utility vehicle and I take advantage of it all the time! Trips to Ikea, anyone?

The Element is also really modifiable. People in our Element Owners Club do crazy awesome mods! I've even taken apart the door panels and added sound deadening stuff, and I was never a person to work on cars before. I camp in it a lot, and love sleeping in the back (I'm 5'3" and fit just fine). Others have built great platforms that stretch the entire length of the interior. My platform just fits behind the front seats, but I usually sleep on the floor on a pad.

I'm bummed that they won't be made anymore, but my 2005 is paid off and has less than 80,000 miles on it, so it'll last me as long as I want.

Uh ... clearly I could talk about this car for a long time. I'll stop for awhile!

I used to think the Element was ugly. But you're changing my mind.

Plus, the Nissan Cube is just so ridiculously ugly that anything else is beautiful at this point.

[Badger]

the Nissan Cube is just so ridiculously ugly that anything else is beautiful at this point.

Did you notice that the Cube has a weird thatch of carpet (?) on the dashboard? When we were in the Nissan dealership we inquired about it and the sales guy just gave us a pained look. Not a good sign at all.

[bltkmt]

I drive a 2007 FJ Cruiser (pic below) and love it. Tough as nails and very dependable - about 69k miles in. My wife drives a GMC Acadia and is pretty 'meh" about it. We just bought a third vehicle since my son is now driving - a 2007 Chevy HHR (pic below)...too early to tell about it, but they have proven pretty reliable so far.

[brian]

Did you notice that the Cube has a weird thatch of carpet (?) on the dashboard? When we were in the Nissan dealership we inquired about it and the sales guy just gave us a pained look. Not a good sign at all.

I think the idea behind that "feature" was to be able to put stuff up there and not have it roll around/slide off the dash. In actuality, I think the designers were just trying to be weird for the sake of being weird. I'm not too crazy about the Cube either, the asymmetrical rear hatch on these things drives me nuts!

[Katy]

Did you notice that the Cube has a weird thatch of carpet (?) on the dashboard? When we were in the Nissan dealership we inquired about it and the sales guy just gave us a pained look. Not a good sign at all.

I refuse to get close enough to one to know about the carpet piece. Brian's explanation makes sense.. but..wouldn't rubber be a better idea?

Ewwwwww It's just a circle of shag carpet? Ew..

[Badger]

Ewwwwww It's just a circle of shag carpet? Ew..

It's the Cube's soul patch!

sorry.

[backpack]

The Nissan Cube was created to compete directly with the Honda Element.

One of our forum member tCook, owns the Element.http://forums.tombihn.com/customer-p...trip-bags.html

An Ixquick search of pictures of both cars, clearly shows the design edge of the Element.

There is even a picture of ridiculous Cube shag carpet cover which looks as good as a bad wig. A sliding plastic or pop up rubber cover would have been a much smarter way to work out this ingenious idea.

[tCook]

I used to think the Element was ugly. But you're changing my mind.

Plus, the Nissan Cube is just so ridiculously ugly that anything else is beautiful at this point.

The Element surely isn't for everyone, but with the Scion coming out around the same time and several more "boxy" style vehicles made since 2003, the Element's design stands out less.