This past Saturday I was driving on a really bad street and I was driving the speed limit +5. But I took a sharp turn and hydroplaned. I ended up swerving all over the road and finally hit a spot with wet gravel and spun out, then almost flipped on the road, but my wheels finally got a grip on the ground. But it sent me off road and I hit a spot where they had cinder blocks and it caused me to go airborne, and I did a roll and a flip, and crashed into more cinder blocks. I was hanging upside down by my seatbelt (it saved my life). EMS came, pulled me out, not a scratch/bruise on my body. They were stunned. I did some slight damage to the muscles in my back and neck (I'm finding out about muscles I didn't really know existed). My car is totaled (by totaled, I mean front windshield caved in, passanger side of car torn up, 2 other windows broken, roof gashed open, rear axle split in half and sunroof hanging inside the car. So there's no salvaging the car.
Now the next part, I need to get a new car sometime soon. I'm looking at getting about $20,000-$25,000 from insurance because my car was not even 2 years old and didn't have but 18,000 miles on it. Oh, almost forgot to mention, it was a Mitsubishi Endeavor; as much as I loved that car, I hated the dealer and I would honestly be a bit reluctent to get another one. So I'm looking for a new car, preferrably used, SUV, have 4-wheel drive (preferrably not all wheel drive), be able to take the weather out in Colorado, gas mileage is not an issue, and it needs to be below 20,000, if at all possible. I looked at some old Range Rovers, an Acura LX 4x4, and a Lexus GX. All of which were in my price range. Anyone heard anything about these cars or have any other cars that would be really worth looking at?
Buying a SUV with the current price of gas? 
And I dont really get much of a say in the matter. My parents are forcing me to get an SUV, and its under the condition that they pay for my gas, while the price is up. When the price drops I'll have to pay for some of it, but I'll get a "gas allowance" every month (this is if it ever drops again before I graduate high school/college).
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Random Insanity Generator wrote, obviously thinking too hard:
I'd think about taking the cash and sticking you in a nut farm.Buying a SUV with the current price of gas?
OMG they said it was no problem.. You know.. kind of a sideways bragging.
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Tareshinal had this to say about Optimus Prime:
Sorry, didn't mean it to sound bragging. Just didn't want people to worry about suggesting a good car because the gas mileage is low. I really do appologize if that's how that came across.
I think Trent was more poking fun at me for what appears to be my lack of reading your post completely than it was about you 'bragging'.
I'd still lock yer ass away and take the cash though. 
SUV's are nice, but from what I've found you can't replace a Truck for moving things, and cars are still the more efficient way to go as far as fuel and upkeep...
Of course, if a car had tipped, he'd have been dead, but it's not nearly as likely.
Gas is not the only reason. Everybody who drives a suburban looks like a tool. Especially when there's only the driver in there.
Woops, sorry, the previous is merely an opinion and should be completely ignored. Snugglits fucked around with this message on 08-30-2005 at 12:03 AM.
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Random Insanity Generator had this to say about Robocop:
I'd think about taking the cash and sticking you in a nut farm.Buying a SUV with the current price of gas?
The small ones you might as well consider cars.
Ify ou are going for a Truck though, get a standard transmisson, the fuel saveings really count, my '89 F-150 gets better gas milage than a brand new automatic F-150, bizarro 
I would rather gor Diesel, but Diesel trucks are rallllly expensive, and keep their value a long time.
That or I lik e thos eoddball Ford Explorer sport tac Truck-like Things. Be warned, onc eyou get used to driveing a big Vehical, it will feel odd to drive anything smaller again.
--and if it is for saftey reasons, throw that idea out of your head, Suv's and trucks may Survive a crash better, but they are require more handeling than a car. Peter fucked around with this message on 08-30-2005 at 12:18 AM.
But then again, I drive a little truck that looks like them. A Mitsubishi Mighty Max with a topper on it, so it looks kind of like a station wagon or a mini SUV.
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Tareshinal thought about the meaning of life:
I'm mainly looking at another SUV because I've driven them my whole life. Like I learned to drive on a Suburban. Plus like I said, it needs to survive colorado weather, because that's where I'll hopfully end up going off to college and it would be wonderful if I got a car that could carry my snowboard and skis, as well as handle any bad weather conditions. But thank you for the advice.... and trucks arn't out of the question so the F-150 sounds nice.
Well to look at it the F-150's are of a new design, much like most of the F-series right now, so they still have a chance to come up with a few big recalls still. I know my old man had one already on his 250's transmisson the day he bought it. Though a new ruck might be out of the question, they are not Cheap, f-150's star at about $2100, A Ranger might be more in your budject, but IMHO, those little pickme up are not worth a dan, better off going for the SUV. My step mom and Step sister both have Escapes, not bad vehicals, but they are more like a minvan than a SUV, only have litttle 2-3 liter engines in them. ---Hon=estly, iff you are spending aloooot of time in Colarada, might look into getting something turbo charged, I know or trips back home the turbo's really helped the truck keep their power up in th emountians.
And for clarity's sake why are the parents making you get an SUV?
Acura, meh. Don't know much about them, but they should be reliable.
I've owned a Lexus, on the other hand, and it was hands-down the best car evar. As long as it's not been trashed by previous owners, I'd jump on the Lexus without giving the others a look.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
Might be worth a consideration.
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Peter got all f'ed up on Angel Dust and wrote:
Well to look at it the F-150's are of a new design, much like most of the F-series right now, so they still have a chance to come up with a few big recalls still. I know my old man had one already on his 250's transmisson the day he bought it. Though a new ruck might be out of the question, they are not Cheap, f-150's star at about $2100, A Ranger might be more in your budject, but IMHO, those little pickme up are not worth a dan, better off going for the SUV. My step mom and Step sister both have Escapes, not bad vehicals, but they are more like a minvan than a SUV, only have litttle 2-3 liter engines in them. ---Hon=estly, iff you are spending aloooot of time in Colarada, might look into getting something turbo charged, I know or trips back home the turbo's really helped the truck keep their power up in th emountians.
YHO sucks 
I love my little Ranger. 82,000 miles on it and I've never done anything except normal service.
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From the book of Alaan, chapter 3, verse 16:
And 4WD doesn't give you any magical safety powers. YOu still have to drive within the realm of the vehicles ability.And for clarity's sake why are the parents making you get an SUV?
No, your right, it doesn't give magical safety powers, but it does give the option to switch into hi and low gears. Which can be quite a big help, in some circumstances, either that or I'm just not understanding something about the differences in the twwo.
And my parents want me to get an SUV because they do survive crashes better, and it's what I'm the most comforitable driving. Honestly, I prolly could if I really tried bargain them to a sedan, but I dont really want to. I really enjoyed having an SUV over a sedan.
-edit- Bloodsage, what problems does the Range have? I know the breakpads are quick to go out cause it's such a heavy car. But aside from that what generally breaks down? The reason I ask, is because my mom has owned several, and aside from the first new model she got which had computer chip troubles she never had to get much work done on them aside from a break change every 3000-5000 miles. Tareshinal fucked around with this message on 08-30-2005 at 08:30 AM.
On the issue of shifting up and down gears, that's called a manual transmission, and you can get it in almost any vehicle, often for less than the cost of an automatic transmission, which does the shifting for you. You'll also want to get an anti-lock braking system (ABS) in any vehicle you choose (some come standard with ABS, others offer it as an option), to reduce the likelihood of events such as skidding and hydroplaning. Four-wheel drive does not help you steer any better than front-wheel drive, though it should reduce the likelihood of getting bogged down in bad weather or on poor roadways.
[EDIT] Found a place to split into paragraphs. `Doc fucked around with this message on 08-30-2005 at 09:11 AM.
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Tareshinal put down Tada! magazine long enough to type:
I'm glad I'm ok too.
And I dont really get much of a say in the matter. My parents are forcing me to get an SUV, and its under the condition that they pay for my gas, while the price is up. When the price drops I'll have to pay for some of it, but I'll get a "gas allowance" every month (this is if it ever drops again before I graduate high school/college).
Don't worry, gas isn't going to to come down in price in the near future, or even in the next dozen years. If your parents are willing to foot the bill, then go nuts. I'd personally suggest a 4-Runner, if you're willing to have a truckish ride.
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. - John Kenneth Galbraith
As much as I like SUV's, I just don't think that they are as safe as people think they are.
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Check out the big brain on Tareshinal!
What I meant by shifting gears between hi and low, is if you get a 4-wheel drive car you can allocate wheter or not you want 4-wheel drive hi gears, which is fuel inefficient but helps with getting out of messy places, 4-wheel low for bad wheter driving and then you can also put it into 2-wheel hi and 2-wheel low. AWD works like 4-wheel low all the time (or at leasts that's what I've been told, and like I said I could be horribly wrong).
You've got it backwards. 4-Low is high torque, low speed, 4-high is for normal bad weather driving. AWD is most comparable to full time 4-high.
Also, only rarely is the weather in Colorado so bad that you need 4wd. Every once in a while there'll be huge blizzards (or flash floods, like a couple weeks or so ago), but for the most part it's not too bad. The real problem is all the dang sand that gets thrown down on the road. Arttemis fucked around with this message on 08-30-2005 at 03:03 PM.
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Quoth Arttemis:
You've got it backwards. 4-Low is high torque, low speed, 4-high is for normal bad weather driving. AWD is most comparable to full time 4-high.Also, only rarely is the weather in Colorado so bad that you need 4wd. Every once in a while there'll be huge blizzards (or flash floods, like a couple weeks or so ago), but for the most part it's not too bad. The real problem is all the dang sand that gets thrown down on the road.
That, and there are very few on-road situations that will ever require 4-wheel low. AWD and chains ftw.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
