[ThorSanchez]

It's also pretty difficult to take a load of rubbish to the dump, or take a quad bike to the beach, or pick up a few sheets of ply or a load of firewood with the VW Golf. Which is why utes outsell everything else at a considerable margin.

My 16-year-old cheap beater pickup does all that just fine, while allowing me to drive something dramatically more fun and efficient 95% of the time.

[Rondec]

It's harder to pull off a cosplay cowboy if you're in a VW Golf instead of a SuperDuty King Ranch F350. It's important for those 46-year-old logistics analysts in Fairfax to believe that they're 15 minutes from being in a real life episode of Bonanza.

Your post feels pretty judgmental. People drive vehicles for a lot of reasons and I doubt that most of them think they are modern cowboys. SUV style vehicles often are more comfortable if you are driving any distance, particularly if you have kids and much luggage and if you live in a rural area you end up driving a distance to get to almost anything.

In the US you have a combination of poorly developed public transportation systems (completely useless in rural and many urban areas) and cheap gas (currently around 2.15 a gallon in the Lynchburg area) that gets people to drive as much as they do and to buy less fuel efficient vehicles than maybe they could. If you spend 7 or 8 hours a week in your vehicle, you certainly want it be comfortable.

[SSGGeezer]

My 16-year-old cheap beater pickup does all that just fine, while allowing me to drive something dramatically more fun and efficient 95% of the time.

Find me one that isn't rusted out and runs well enough and passes state inspection after 16 years of Maine winters and salted roads for a reasonable price. When ten year old 4x4 1/2 ton trucks with nearly a quarter of a million miles are going for $17K USD, it isn't happening. Just like the additional cost of an EVF is not for me.

[normhead]

Your post feels pretty judgmental. People drive vehicles for a lot of reasons and I doubt that most of them think they are modern cowboys. SUV style vehicles often are more comfortable if you are driving any distance, particularly if you have kids and much luggage and if you live in a rural area you end up driving a distance to get to almost anything.

In the US you have a combination of poorly developed public transportation systems (completely useless in rural and many urban areas) and cheap gas (currently around 2.15 a gallon in the Lynchburg area) that gets people to drive as much as they do and to buy less fuel efficient vehicles than maybe they could. If you spend 7 or 8 hours a week in your vehicle, you certainly want it be comfortable.

My favourite vehicle of all time was my Volkswagon beetle and after that my VW Rabbit diesel, right now I'm driving a RAV4, because I have 4 dogs. It doesn't matter that I'd like a more fuel efficient vehicle, I'm carrying live cargo. The funny thing is, I bought it at Red Tag sale, right off the lot, and had to take a V6 and the package offered, which because it was a really good sale came in $2000 under the base price with a $3000 package on it. I looked it up on line and low and behold, the V6 was more fuel efficient than the 4 cylinder model. One has to be careful with their assumptions these days. I should be going around asking 4 cylinder RAV4 owners why they are driving those gass guzzlers. Yet I'm sure they look at the V6 emblems on the back and feel all self riteous feeling their vehicle is more fuel efficient. What you might think is not always what is actually true.

And truth behold, my RAV4 get 28 MPG, and my Beetle got 33. OF course, I doubt anything will ever compare with the 58 MPG of my Rabbit diesel, but you have to remember, those vehicles had almost no pollution control and were exempt from the usual emissions regulations.

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Last edited by normhead; 09-05-2019 at 06:48 AM.

[luftfluss]

The funny thing with using a Hoodman (or other) loupe on our DSLRs is that it results in a fairly low resolution EVF, albeit a large one, with the same disadvantages as the dedicated EVF in a modern MILC. This is one of two disagreements I respectfully have with those who say it's the same as a mirrorless EVF... (1) it's lower resolution, which is definitely noticeable - especially for manual focusing operations, and (2) it's ergonomically inferior... IMHO, at least. That said, it works, and I use such a loupe on my K-3 with no problems...

I don't disagree. Using the LCD as an EVF with the Hoodman is definitely a kludge. But back when I was using that with my K-01 mainstream EVF's were 1.4M dots and small.

[luftfluss]

Y'know, with all this talk of vehicles in a "Mirrorless vs DSLR" thread, I realize that we are inching closer to mirrorless vehicles.

"Don't trust your mirrors!" - Mom, 30+ years ago, who now trusts her RAV4's backup camera.

[SSGGeezer]

Y'know, with all this talk of vehicles in a "Mirrorless vs DSLR" thread, I realize that we are inching closer to mirrorless vehicles.

"Don't trust your mirrors!" - Mom, 30+ years ago, who now trusts her RAV4's backup camera.

And two days ago a woman skipped the rear view camera and actually turning her head also, as she backed out into the road and into the side of my car which was stopped for a red light. She was setting a great example for her recently permitted daughter in the passenger seat

[luftfluss]

[ThorSanchez]

Your post feels pretty judgmental. People drive vehicles for a lot of reasons and I doubt that most of them think they are modern cowboys. SUV style vehicles often are more comfortable if you are driving any distance, particularly if you have kids and much luggage and if you live in a rural area you end up driving a distance to get to almost anything.

In the US you have a combination of poorly developed public transportation systems (completely useless in rural and many urban areas) and cheap gas (currently around 2.15 a gallon in the Lynchburg area) that gets people to drive as much as they do and to buy less fuel efficient vehicles than maybe they could. If you spend 7 or 8 hours a week in your vehicle, you certainly want it be comfortable.

That probably did come off too strongly. I used to work with a guy who drove a very large pickup truck which he loaded his four-wheeler into the back of for hunting trips so he wouldn't have to walk to the deer. He'd regularly wear a Stetson, a bolo tie, big belt buckle and cowboy boots to his office job as a mid-level program manager for the DoD. Then his 65-year-old admin support person started dressing the same way. They had both lived in suburban Maryland for decades. It was more than a little ridiculous.

But sorry if my preferences came off poorly.

[Trickortreat]

Y'know, with all this talk of vehicles in a "Mirrorless vs DSLR" thread, I realize that we are inching closer to mirrorless vehicles."Don't trust your mirrors!" - Mom, 30+ years ago, who now trusts her RAV4's backup camera.

Yeh - just look at all the new cars having LCD dashboards. If that doesnt change soon im not buying a new car again

[MarkJerling]

That probably did come off too strongly. I used to work with a guy who drove a very large pickup truck which he loaded his four-wheeler into the back of for hunting trips so he wouldn't have to walk to the deer. He'd regularly wear a Stetson, a bolo tie, big belt buckle and cowboy boots to his office job as a mid-level program manager for the DoD. Then his 65-year-old admin support person started dressing the same way. They had both lived in suburban Maryland for decades. It was more than a little ridiculous.

But sorry if my preferences came off poorly.

Ah yes, I see your point. Most people I know have an actual use for the vehicle. Having said that; trying to carry a large deer several kms out of the bush is not much fun.

[BigMackCam]

That probably did come off too strongly. I used to work with a guy who drove a very large pickup truck which he loaded his four-wheeler into the back of for hunting trips so he wouldn't have to walk to the deer. He'd regularly wear a Stetson, a bolo tie, big belt buckle and cowboy boots to his office job as a mid-level program manager for the DoD. Then his 65-year-old admin support person started dressing the same way. They had both lived in suburban Maryland for decades. It was more than a little ridiculous.

During my years in London and the South East of England, large, luxury SUVs became the cars of choice for well-heeled Mums to take their kids all of two miles back and forth to school, adding to the already horrendous congestion. Such 4x4s would never see anything more challenging than a kerb or speed bump. In honour of the area of London they were most prevalent, they were nicknamed "Chelsea Tractors"

[RonHendriks1966]

During my years in London and the South East of England, large, luxury SUVs became the cars of choice for well-healed Mums to take their kids all of two miles back and forth to school, adding to the already horrendous congestion. Such 4x4s would never see anything more challenging than a kerb or speed bump. In honour of the area of London they were most prevalent, they were nicknamed "Chelsea Tractors"

In The Netherlands they are called "P.C. Hooft tractor". Named after the most expensive shopping street in Amsterdam that is in our country.

[monochrome]

I guess the point is that people use what works for them, not what others say they have to use (I'm agreeing with you). If everyone else goes mirrorless except for a few top end cameras, it could be a real boon for Pentax.

I think it even goes beyond the idea of using what works, unless you consider works to include satisfying a want

It's harder to pull off a cosplay cowboy if you're in a VW Golf instead of a SuperDuty King Ranch F350. It's important for those 46-year-old logistics analysts in Fairfax to believe that they're 15 minutes from being in a real life episode of Bonanza.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with other people driving large vehicles because they like and want large vehicles and knowingly made the economic decision to prioritize driving a large vehicle.

For a decade I drove a Suburban, partly because I hauled around Boy Scouts and a Troop trailer and Lacrosse and Marching Band players with it, and partly because at that stage of my life I was taking driving vacations and making college visits with my family. Because I had a lerge truck, rather than paying for delivery service I hauled mattresses and furniture home, or estate sale finds, or whatever else it would do. I didn’t buy a city car for the daily work commute because that just didn’t make sense, but if one saw me parking in the office building garage in a suit and starched shirt and tie it certainly looked wasteful. You never know the whole story.

At this stage of life I drive a sedan and we have a Mini Hardtop. I rent a pickup a few times a year. But because I want it I have a 6-cyl. Engine in the Accord and a 4-Cyl. “S” engine in the Mini, and I’ll defend those choices all day long.

[RonHendriks1966]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with other people driving large vehicles because they like and want large vehicles and knowingly made the economic decision to prioritize driving a large vehicle.

Last year there was an accident in the USA with employees of the Dutch firm ASML (they make the maChinese where the wafers for our sensor come from). They had not much chance in that accident. They rented a small European like car and had an accident with a truck.

ASML accident

If employees now go overthere there will be a large vehikel rented and not a small one anymore.