IN
DEFENSE OF THE FORD EXCURSION
Mr.
Turczyn, your website has published the following:
"The
Excursion is probably the least silly looking of our Bottom
5 contenders, sporting the most truck-like exterior. But it weighs
7,700 pounds. This bears repeating in a slow, hushed voice: seven thousand,
seven hundred pounds. That's heavier than three Toyota Celicas combined.
Do you really think you'll be bounding over sand dunes or tearing up
mountain ridges while driving (perhaps "aiming" would be a more accurate
term) the Ford Excursion? No. Here's what you'll be doing with your
Ford Excursion: parking it at the mall and watching people's mouths
flap open as they exclaim, "That's one big-ass truck!" Sure it's a lot
of money for a vehicle you can barely drive, but you can't put a price
on that kind of public adulation."
I
would like to respectfully take exception to your opinion. You have
clearly equated smaller as better when it comes to SUVs. Sometimes that's
not best. I have four kids and we also need to tow things. There is
only ONE vehicle on the market that lets you take up to eight people
at once (more economical than driving two cars), take lots of stuff
if you need to (won't fit into small cars no matter how few people),
tow heavy trailers AND get good gas mileage. That vehicle is the PowerStroke
diesel-powered Ford Excursion. My 2002 Excursion reliably gets 18 mpg
on the highway solo, and gets 12 mpg towing a heavy trailer while full
of the kids and their stuff. Now that sure isn't the mileage you will
get with a hybrid vehicle, but no Toyota Prius, or two together, will
ever be able to tow my trailer. By contrast, my 1992 Suburban with its
smaller gas engine got worse mileage even though it was a lighter vehicle.
Towing I got between 6-8.5 mpg. By upgrading to a diesel I am helping
the environment by using less fuel than before. Plus, you get lots more
diesel from a barrel of crude than you do premium gas (which you need
when towing due to 'octane creep' as a gas motor gets older).
Some
people need vehicles that are HEAVY DUTY and that can WORK. The Excursion
is excellent at that.
Frankly,
in my humble opinion, I think the U.S. would save LOTS more oil and
better preserve the environment if we really, truly, pursued alternative
energy sources for fixed installations like buildings. No one ever complains
of the gas mileage of homes heated with fuel oil! What a shame! Vehicles
need portable, powerful fuel. Buildings do not. If you wish to go on
a rant, please do so about outdated buildings all over the US that leak
energy like a sieve and burn petroleum when they could use other, alternative
sources. How many millions of barrels of petroleum could be saved that
way?
No
one gasps at the sight of my Ford Excursion. It has about 70 percent
common parts with the Super Duty pickup truck line, so coming down the
road you can't tell which it is until you go by it. It maneuvers very
well in tight spaces (you would be surprised, and obviously have never
really driven one) and does much, much better than my 92 Suburban did
in the parking lot. It comes with a 100,000-mile warranty on the engine
and I intend to keep mine for ten years. No need to recycle my truck
in a few years! Another contribution to the environment I will be making
soon is to ensure that the house I am now building will be wired for
solar power so that in a few years it will be easy and relatively inexpensive
to add the solar arrays. You should check out Mother Earth News for
some excellent information about solar.
Ford
did a terrible job marketing this truck. It should have been named the
Super Duty Crew Wagon instead of giving it another Soccermommobile name.
They should also make the diesel engine standard, not an option. After
the hit from the media, they wimped out and haven't marketed it at all.
Too bad. It is a unique vehicle that does things that no other vehicle
out there is capable of doing. They have a new smaller, more efficient
diesel engine out this year in the Super Duty trucks and the Excursions.
Folks are getting more than 20 mpg solo and about 14 mpg towing with
their brand new Excursions. Pretty good for a vehicle that will tow
12,000 lbs., hold up to 9 people and get 20+ mpg solo.
Hope
this was informative and useful to you. I never intended to become a
passionate Excursion owner, but it was the only thing out there that
could do what I need.
Thanks
for reading.
Gary
Shrout
(E-mail address withheld)
IN
DEFENSE OF THE FLOWBEE
Hello,
I found your page interesting, and agreed with most of it.
I
have, however, been using a Flowbee
to cut my hair for about 10 years and while I need to look in a mirror
while doing it, I figure I have saved thousands of dollars on haircuts
from a barbershop.
Best,
Chuck
Sanders
(E-mail address withheld)
IN
DEFENSE OF THE COPY-TOT
I
want to defend the Copy-Tot
kit.
When
my daughter was born in 1985, the brochure was in my "goodie bag" from
the hospital. I ordered one and it was the best purchase i have ever
made. 2 years later i ordered another one for my 2nd child. These kits
REALLY work, and i could send a picture to prove it!!! It shows detail
of their toenails & wrinkles & everything. I was doing a search
to see if they are still sold when i came across this site. But i just
wanted to say that if they were still being made, it would be well worth
it to buy.
Joan
Appel
Atlanta,
GA
(E-mail address withheld)
R.I.P.:
POPCULT LEAGUE OF DISCERNING READERS
Greetings
from the great state of Texas. So glad to see that the normal tidal
wave of bad taste continues to meet with intelligent opposition. I logged
on while looking for info (which I would have read with righteous glee)
re: Thomas Kincaid's recent legal problems, and discovered feedback
from other like-minded souls. It's lovely to have an online gathering
place for the curmudgeons of the world, where they (we) may air our
offended sensibilities.
LMJ
(E-mail
address withheld)
Alas,
the PopCult discussion boards are no more… mainly because nobody
was really using them. Although 75 brave individuals registered for
it, none of them apparently had anything to say. So, after a pathetic
year or so of little discourse, I finally pulled the plug. PopCult now
offers the newer, and much more exciting weblog, Stuff Worth Investigating,
which also offers the opportunity for commentary.
–Ed.
SEXY?
FUN? GIGLI?!
Just
wanted to drop a line saying that you were a little ahead of the curve
by knowing that that brain-dead movie reviewer, Sandie
Newton, is a suck-ass, as I didn't know who she was until I read
that Gigli is really supposed to be "Sexy and Fun."
It
is really astonishing what people will do these days...
Peace,
Grant
Canada,
Toronto
(E-mail address withheld)
THE
WOLF DOES NOT SLEEP
Wow
what a website.... I got up early this morning and decided to mess around
this morning until I really needed to get busy.... came across your
website... three hours later I am still having.... but also getting
none of my planned chores done....
Thank
you for such a neat place...
Sleepingwolf
(E-mail address withheld)
BRUSH
WITH GREATNESS
While
waiting to get on a plane in DFW in the early '90s, I saw Robert
Tilton boarding the plane ahead of me with no carry-on luggage at
all, in a polo shirt and slacks. As I walked down the aisle to be seated,
there was Tilton ensconced in first class, browsing through an "American
Way" magazine. He seemed quite absorbed; maybe he was checking out the
"Sky Mall" section.
Mike
Ransom
mike@tulsaTVmemories.com
Tulsa
TV Memories
