Runners and small cars

Giddy wrote:

an SUV can tow your ski-boat to a camping trip.

Yes they can, and it's the image of that capability that people pay for. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of SUVs never get further into the wilderness than the shopping mall parking lot.

You might be the exception to this rule.

Minivans are fine for guys who are mature enough to recognize that there comes a time when their practical obligations to their families outweigh their need to engage in childish GI Joe fantasies.

Plus, when you take out the rear seats in a minivan you have room to carry a couple motocross bikes - who needs towing capacity?

I drive a small station wagon. Best car ever. Tons of inside storage, can seat 5 easily, but small enough and manuverable unlike a giant gas-hog SUV. Can get 30+mpg on the highway. Got a Yakima rack on top that can hold my kayak one one side and bike on the other.

I'm over the "parent" stereotype of wagons. It's all about functionality after 30.

Which is why I got the best of both worlds. A 2003 Audi S6. It's a wagon, 340hp. With a light modification to the ECU stock shifting program, some exhaust work and it really hauls. Best part is everyone assumes it's your typical wagon until they hear it or get smoked by it. Mileage sucks though.

Town and Country minivan is MONEY. No joke, the seats all fold flat, you can take naps back there, plenty of room, bring babies back to the minivan, etc.

That car is great. No joke.

If you think and SUV is somehow percieved as manly by the population at large, then you are as diluted as the skinny white boys here who think running is still percieved as a sport rather than a charity parade.

Running is a charity parade?

I'm a single male, why on earth would a mini-van apeal to me. Hmmm, i'd rather take the town and country over an Escelade... shea right!

My point is this, I said the connotation of people with mini-vans is that of family with kids. How many single, childless 27 year olds do you know crusing around in an Oddessy? None that I know of.

People use mini-vans like SUV's, and people use SUV's like mini-vans... if they're functionally similiar, than why is it such a crime to prefer one over the other, no matter what you base your decision to purchase on. So I don't like mini-vans, big deal, does that mean I don't like you... no, it just means I hate your car.

I drive a 1992 Honda Accord 4-door with 254,000 miles on the odometer.

I bought it for $3000 in March 2002 with 160,000 miles on it.

I put $3000 into it: mag rims, fat tires, a Thermal exhaust, a budget paint job, plus a free-flow intake.

Another $200 later on for high-performance point, plug, wires, etc.

Last December I invested $3300 in a candy apple blue paint job. Also $200 in Altezza rear tail lights.

Two months later, had a small accident and trashed the front end. Another $2500 at the same body shop. New hood, new lights, new grill, new paint as needed.

Recently I invested another $1400 in American Racing rims (19") and 225/R70 tires.

Please don't ask me to add all that up. But I have one heck of a great looking car and when I stomp down, you know I'm in town.

The license plate reads: JCKRBBT.

Small cars are cool. Hondas are the deal. I'm in for the long haul.

You are an idiot.Hondas suck.

porsche boxster(986)-handling

audi a4(b5)w/quattro-all-weather handling/snow-mobile

I agree with this point. What others are saying is that the manufacturers have used this negative connotation of minivans to sell a boat load of SUVs to persons who's application would be better served (or served more economically) by a minivan.

My single and childless couple friends are generally more than 27 years old, but of those that are into gear intensive sports (bicycle and motorcycle racing and windsurfing for example) quite a few of them have opted for minivans because they've got past the image thing and gone for the vehicle that best serves their transportation needs.

What you buy is your decision. I think we can agree that "image" is not why people chose minivans. However "image" is clearly a significant factor in many vehicle purchases.

Case in point . . .

Some minvan users need them for work, not families.

Been driving Nissan Quests since 1993, but only with alloy wheels & leather and because I was a professional timer and needed to carry equipment and pull a trailer. And because I think they're the least plain-vanilla minivans you can get. Last one had 17" wheels, woooo hooo.

But I retired and next week my 2007 328xit should be delivered.

So there. Recovery is possible.