Who'da guessed?

From MSN..

Most Popular Vehicles on MSN Autos
# 2. Ford Explorer
Again, our readers reflect the national consensus: The second most commonly researched vehicle on MSN Autos is arguably the most popular SUV in history. The Explorer is iconic to a fault, becoming a flashpoint for SUV safety concerns after a spate of rollovers and subsequent tire recalls in the early 2000s. But the brand survived and has remained popular as a family-friendly model. The Explorer has also garnered attention with a forward-looking powerplant choice: either the classic 3.5-liter V6 or the new 2-liter 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine, which bumps fuel economy from 25 to 28 mpg highway, equivalent to many crossovers.

With gas hitting 4 bucks a gallon, I figured SUV's would be dead but, I guess people just don't care what it costs to run a vehicle daily.?.?.? Or maybe I'm just to cheap!:LOL:

Yeah, go figure!!!! Almost seems that people like to complain about the price of fuel but don't really want to do anything that would lessen it's demand.... Maybe we just end up getting exactly what we deserve????

Our 2001 Cherokee gets 27 on the road and 18/19 in town if I drive it, worse if the miss`s drives it, my truck `64 chevy 350 gets 18 in town, 17 on highway, but I wouldn`t trade if off for anything as I don`t have to answer to the state for emisions testing.

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Originally Posted by 406Rich

Our 2001 Cherokee gets 27 on the road and 18/19 in town if I drive it, worse if the miss`s drives it, my truck `64 chevy 350 gets 18 in town, 17 on highway, but I wouldn`t trade if off for anything as I don`t have to answer to the state for emisions testing.

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Geez, I wish my 66 Ford F100 got somewhere close to 17 or 18mpg!! But, alas, the FE 352 was never known for fuel economy....:CRY::CRY:

The good thing is no emissions testing and no car payment, but my gas bill is looking like a car payment these days!:eek: But a few waves, thumbs up, and "cool truck!" eases the pain a bit...:)

The market speaks! The Explorer survives! Gotta love it! I've got the makings of a long article rolling around in my head on gasoline, it's pricing, and the real world market for it, but I won't do it here/now.

The reality is that after food, clothing, and shelter, the most important thing you have in your life is energy.......and the first three are dependent on it too the way our modern society/lifestyle is shaped. That's what motivates power hungry politicians to use it to manipulate us. But it's also why folks will adjust their budgets to accomodate higher prices, and why demand pushes prices higher......the rest of the developing world is figuring out the added benefits too, and human nature kicks in. I marvel at the knee jerk hatred that folks have been trained to emote against the energy producers, especially the oil companies. I'm not trying to elevate them to sainthood, but they work day in and day out to meet our demands for energy. Given it's importance to our lives and the value it produces, and the reliability they provide in meeting out needs/demands in spite of political interference is remarkable. Do they profit from it? Yeah.................that's why we have it in comparative abundance, and at our beck and call. Kill that profit potential and it will drop to a trickle........................but if you have to beg some political bully for it, he'll be in hog heaven. Sure, I'd love to be able to have .99 gasoline again, and buy a three bedroom house for $20k, and a pair of Levi's for under $10 bucks............but that ain't reality.

Well, good logic---but not everyone's budget has quite that much adjustment room!!! At least in this part of the country, wages haven't even come close to matching the percentage gain of fuel or a lot of other things.... I'm lucky, don't have to drive anywhere unless the mood strikes me. Many folks gas bill is a result of their own poor planning. At $2.00 a gallon, the daily commute of XXX miles was no big deal so living in the small towns and driving for everything was no big deal. But with fuel at $3.80 it's become an issue, and now it's time to blame someone else for the money shortage!!!! I guess I'm just too tight to spend that much money on gas, made that decision when it hit $1.00! I always choose to live close to the shop and my daily driver had to be first and foremost a real gas miser!!! Even know my big old Bonneville gets 25+ mpg, and the old shop truck will do about 18 or so. (the old truck is on E-85, about $.75 a gallon less locally.)

To me it's almost amusing that so many people are in debt up to their eyeballs and the price of gas put the debt load over their head---and now I'm supposed to feel sorry for them and vote for our already way too huge and involved government to take over everything so these people can get some debt relief???? I still believe a lot of our problems today can be solved by people taking on their own personal responsibility for the way their life is, and quit blaming (or crediting) the government for the problem!!!!

The fuel problem IMO could be somewhat relieved by the application of some common sense---get a more fuel efficient car and drive less!!!! But, common sense just isn't that common anymore, is it????

So many people just refuse to take any personal responsibility for anything, even budgeting their own money or living within their means!!!! Lessons many of us learned at a very young age....

some $$ numbers for this area---see Illinois school district U-46-----------2nd largest district in Illinois--
90 square miles, 40,000+ students, 2012 budjet--$487,300,000----thats right---$12,200 per student, $5,400,000 per square mile for taxpayers, about $.19 per square FOOT, $1.80 square yard----------

I feel like if I look I'll find a dime under either or both feet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!