Archives for posts with tag: SUV

Spotted: Smart Car

April 7, 2013 //

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I drive about 20,000 miles per year and my 1995 Mitsubishi Montero gets about 18 mpg. At current gas prices, which hover just over $4 per gallon in my neck of the woods, that’s a fuel bill of about $4500 per year.

I recently saw that Smart Cars are available for lease for $99 a month. This got me thinking. If I leased a Smart Car, which gets about 36 mpg, and drove it most of the time, say 18,000 year, at current gas prices the fuel bill would come to $2025 per year. Add in $1200 for the lease, and $450 for the remaining 2000 miles of fuel for the Montero and the total is $3675. I’d come out almost a $1000 ahead for the year, use less gas, and save wear and tear on the truck to boot.

If we weren’t buying a sailboat, I’d seriously consider it.

 

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Categories - 4x4 / SUV, - Cars, - Pictures, - Spotted:, FEATURES, MEDIA, VEHICLES

Ray Mears: Desert Survival

February 14, 2013 //

Here’s an informative video on 4×4-based desert survival, including tips and tricks for sand driving. It also tells the tales of others that have been trapped in the desert and made it out alive, and others that weren’t so lucky.

Thanks for the tip, Greg!

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Categories - 4x4 / SUV, - Airplanes, - Videos, Africa, FEATURES, MEDIA, PLACES, SKILLS, VEHICLES

Spotted: EXP 9F, Bentley’s SUV Concept

July 19, 2012 //

Leave it to the English, the inventors of the luxury SUV, to push the limits of that vehicle segment into new, outrageous terrain—understatedly outrageous, that is. Bentley’s new SUV concept, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show this year, makes a mere Range Rover look positively populist.

It’s called the EXP 9F, which—let’s be honest—doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. As for the look and feel of it though. That’s another story. There’s so much style, upon stateliness, upon brawn in this vehicle that it’s hard to imagine these disparate elements coming together in any kind of comprehensible way, yet they do. Whether it will make sense as a functional object remains to be seen. I can’t imagine hitting the trails with a 600hp, W12 engine, quilted, white, leather seats, 23″ wheels, and all-wheel-drive. That said, I’m looking forward to seeing the videos of the first person that does.

Rumor has it that it’ll be out in 2015. If, in three years, you happen to run into Jay Z on some remote hillside, this is the SUV he’ll be driving.

Update 12/8/2013: Bentley has announced that their SUV will be available in 2016.

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Categories - 4x4 / SUV, - Spotted:, - Videos, FEATURES, MEDIA, VEHICLES