Quoted:
Not really. I would amend that though. I only make fun of/don't like bro dozers.

Stupid:


http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t103/gtiyr87/brodozer.jpg

http://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/t_article_image/sht2syddluexx6proorb.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c40/Rizzlenoss/Brodozer.jpg


Not stupid:

http://image.fourwheeler.com/f/27374282+w660+re0/129_1005_01%2Bfour_wheeler%2Bknik_glacier_alaskan_travel_adventure%2Bfullsize_off_road_trucks.jpg


http://www.f150online.com/forums/members/blown2run-albums-f250-s-picture144081-truck-trailer.jpg


http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/general-4x4-discussion/8577d1013566404-f250-towing-my-jeep-scott-2jeep-trailor.jpg
 

Quoted:


It's funny you say that. An earlier post mentioned that there's a perceptible difference in the way the people around you drive based on what you're driving. I've driven a pretty wide range of vehicles, and I've found that to be especially true about that van, and especially on the highway.

I'm not a particularly aggressive guy, but I do tend to be an assertive driver, and I usually drive faster than most people. In rare cases, I'll tailgate a left lane lurker if I've been stuck behind them for a while, I can't pass them on the right, and they're not getting the hint. Otherwise, I'm courteous, predictable, and easy to share the road with.

But when I'm in that van, there are a lot of people who do not want me to pass them. They don't want to drive the speed I'm driving, but they don't want to get passed by a van. The way it usually plays out is that I approach them at whatever speed I'm cruising, and move into the left lane. As I start to overtake them, they match my speed thus initiating the mile long drag race. I don't want to be stuck in the left lane, and I've been in this situation enough times to know how it goes, so I slowly accelerate. The other vehicle accelerates with me. I usually have to pick up an additional 5-10 mph to pull ahead. Once I'm ahead, I'll merge back into the lane to my right. At this point, the vehicle that was once driving 15 mph faster than their original speed just to stop me from passing them drops back to their cruising speed and they quickly disappear into the rear view. It's really damn annoying, and it's easily the worst part of driving a van.

But about the pickup driver d-bag stereotpe... that stereotype comes from somewhere, and it's not just brodozers. When I'm driving a more common, boring vehicle like my '09 Civic sedan or a rental, if I'm going to have a problem with asshatery from other drivers, there's a really good chance that driver is in a pickup. That chance is disproportional to the percentage of pickups on the road, too. Not all, and probably not even half, but a very large percentage of pickup drivers are kinda like sterotypical BMW drivers, only in vehicles much bigger, clumsier, and sometimes more obnoxious vehicles than your average BMW. Turn signals are an unpopular option, parking is a mysterious secret of the ancients, and regardless of how fast they want to drive, they want to be in front. And that's where the hate comes from.

Quoted:

Sort of,  AWD.  My mom drove one way back in the early nineties.  It was actually a tough little van.
 

Quoted:


The Astro I posted a picture of on the previous page is a 1999 with AWD. The system seems a bit clunky / crude, and it can get fooled when cutting it tight in a parking lot (like a 4x4 engaged on dry pavement), but it's a pretty effective system. I've had that van on soft mud and in some pretty deep snow without issue.

The only time I've ever had it stuck, I decided to test my luck on a tall, well packed curbside snow plow pile and I got it high centered. I chipped at the pile a little and drove it right off.

It needs a bit of attention now, but I think it's worth it, and I'll be saddened when it's time for it to go. No production vehicle I know of has the same set of capabilities, and the closest thing I know of is a Suburban.

Quoted:

Sure you can.  

You can also pull an Explorer out of a snowbank, haul a face cord of firewood, pack away a surprising array of weapons, etc.

I swear my car hates me.
 

Quoted:



I've always wanted a lifted Astro with a part-time case, just for lols.

Quoted:


Thankfully the foolish folks in CA can't pass EPA regulations outside of California. Why idiots in other states want clean air too is fucking beyond me. The population here since the 1970's has tripled - three times the number of trucks (not the little ones we're talking about - 18-wheelers), three times the number of SUVs, factories (CA is still the manufacturing capital of the US), and three times the number of ships sailing out of the ports ... yet the air is cleaner by a factor. I'm from Minnesota but people who lived here in the 1970's tell stories about how for weeks on end it was unhealthy to go outside in the summer, about how they couldn't see the mountains except for 5-10 days a year due to the smog, about how it was killing kids with breathing diseases. We're now mandated to drive electric cars or 4 cylinder trucks that have to get +30 mpg. We pay $3 a gallon in CA taxes. Vehicles are inspected annually and the inspection costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Starting January there's a new tax on miles driven with the requirement to enter the number of miles driven at the pump while filling up.

Quoted:
WOW! You're kidding right?

Quoted:
Stopping?



Not so much.