tridork wrote:
About 3 years ago, I headed off for another 2 week holiday. This time, 3 adults, all our stuff for the road trip, with 2 of the people doing a 1/2 IM part way through the trip. I have a Mazda 323 sport hatch, 2 litre engine. People inside, 3 bikes on the towbar rack and away we went. On the way home we came across some really awesome canyon type roads so I was giving it death, red-lining the engine and making the sidewalls of the tires earn their keep. Bikes stayed put, all the gear stayed put, driver grinned from ear to ear, one passenger squealed with delight and trispouse kept mentioning that it was our only car and we didn't need it parked in the river below! :-)
More importantly, drive it like you want people to drive when you're out riding.
Wait so you (most likely) overloaded a vehicle beyond its GVWR and beat the snot out of it driving recklessly with your family in the car.. then you tell people to drive like you want people to when they are out for a ride? huh?
Some people like cars, I'm listening to the music of straight pipe V8s and some flat 6s strung out on the track outside my office window.. to me a 323 is not a sensible purchase, so it goes more than one way.
There is nothing wrong with not caring about cars, belittling people who like things you don't (like cars) is quite lame.
Also you do realize that if the escalade gets 20mpg and holds 8 people but the little "sensible" car holds 4 but gets 40mpg and means either two cars or two trips that the escalade was actually the same or more efficient right? Average mpg being reported on fuelly for 323s is about mid to high 20s, that isn't good at all compared to vehicles of that same class produced in the past few years.
We had a 1980 civic wagon growing up used it for camping and such, 2 adults 3 kids.. it was MISERABLE.
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