What Do You Drive?

[Marty Mankins]

One is my 2001 Nissan Sentra, which will be paid off this next month (two more payments to make)

And a 2007 Nissan Frontier 4x4 crew cab. My fiance drives this, but it can haul a lot both in the cab and in the bed.

My Sentra gets 36mpg on the highway. The truck gets around 16mpg.

[Steve Maller]

I got rid of my VW Touareg because it had awful gas mileage (required premium and averaged less than 18mpg) and limited cargo carrying space.

The 2006 Escape Hybrid I bought is very boxy and un-sexy, but it's got lots of room, easy access, averages 28+mpg, uses regular gas, and is extremely well-mannered on the road. I also have a 2004 Prius, which is great for short hops with a small amount of gear.

[Gary Mckinstry]

2007 Jaguar x-type estate 2.2 diesel. Excellent drive, loads of space for all bags, tripods etc. Fuel economy pushes 50 mpg.
Gary

[Christopher Witz]

when hauling gear ... 01 toyota sequoia. Big, smooth, quite, with leather and being 4wd gets me down my 1/2 mile crushed limestone driveway when we get snow. We live out in the country on 20 acres and have horses and alpaca, so I need to get a few hundred bales of hay every so often. I wish Toyota would make a diesel... but they don't.

the rest of the time... 07 prius. Actually a very comfy ride... leather as well. A few months ago I was running late to a shoot 3 hours away and went 95 mph the whole way and still got 45 mpg. If I hypermile and take it easy, I can get 65 mpg. My kids actually prefer to ride in this car on account of the display screen that shows the hybrid at work.

I also drive/ride a 71 John Deere 1020 40 horse tractor ( gotta mow the farm ) and a 85 New Holland Skid Steer ( lots of horse manure to move around. )

[Dan Brockett]

I sure do wish that I could buy a decent diesel car in California. Guess I have to hold out for the late 2008s and 2009s that most of the European and some of the Japanese manufacturers will release that can be sold in California. Diesel is more expensive at the pump but the mileage is amazing. 50MPG for a Jaguar!

Dan

[Jim Ross]

95 Dodge Dakota Club Cab with a cap over the bed.

I can load soft cans in the back without taking them apart, or stick my ten foot crane arm and ten foot dolly rails out the hatch. Since it's the club cab I can carry four people if need be. Usually I carry the camera and other expensive stuff in the cab, and gear in the back. Throw in the bags, dolly, pelican cases and then the hand truck, then lock it up. I can't imagine working without having this truck! Only a van might serve me better, but this truck drives like a car. Best vehicle I have ever owned. Best of all, it is paid for! No payments for ten years now. It's a V6 so good gas mileage too!

[Don Donatello]

Audi TT convertible ... doesn't carry much but i do look good in it !!!
no problem for 3 light meters ...

[Kit Hannah]

2007 BMW 328i Hard top convertible

1999 Ford F250 Supercab Longbed V10, gets like 5 miles to the gallon

Drove the truck as a daily driver since 2000 until I purchased the BMW in June. Believe it or not, I have actually saved money because of the gas prices here in Central California. It cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 - $125 to fill the truck up, and I would have to do that sometimes 3-4 times per week. It was bad. Beemer is much more friendly on the fuel. But, it doesn't pull the trailers, so still gotta drive ol "Betsey" every now and again.

BTW, you know what I HATE about still having a truck? Everyone and their Mom wants to borrow it or they want you to come help them move. Pfssshh, Geez Louise

[Scott Aston]

2004 Mercedes S500 when I am schmoozing clients over

1998 Chevy 1500 work truck when hauling gear for shoots.

[Dylan Couper]

Oh heck, here's pics!

My old gear wagon - nicknamed "The Beast"
450hp ZZ4 Fastburn C4 Corvette, X-Ram intake, Borla exhaust, 23mpg on the highway at 120kph, top speed 260+ kph (tested) (cough... and 12mpg in the city)
Cargo capacity: light kit, 1 large camera bag, lightstand bag, and one tripod. Optional: second tripod or light kit in the passenger seat.


My new gear wagon - nicknamed "Storm"
Stock 1997 Toyota 4Runner.
Gas mileage: better in city, worse on highway. Top speed: unknown, but possibly over 140kph.
Cargo capacity: better!!
Ability to drive in snow: Yes!

[Lorinda Norton]

The pics are a great idea (thanks, Guy and Dylan) and it would be even more fun to see who’s driving all these cars, trucks, SUVs … :)

[Robert Martens]

Ah, what the hell, I'll bite. I've got a '91 Chevy 15 passenger van, and let me tell you, I haven't spent a dime on gas in the past two months. Sure, it's sitting on the driveway in need of a transmission rebuild, but man, am I saving money on fuel!

Got it in 2002 from the Terrapin Trader at the University of Maryland (go Terps, or so the bumper sticker said) for $651. Even after some light repairs, one can't complain about a price like that. Liked it so much we went back and got a cube a few years later (the one I used in my second DVC entry, for you trivia buffs).

The van used to be one of the marching bands vehicles, rarely if ever left the campus, only had fifty-two thousand miles on it. I even found a book of routines they left in the back, underneath the couch they were apparently using in lieu of real seats. Up to about fifty-six thousand miles now, and would still be a great, reliable truck if some mental giant in the band hadn't backed into something at top speed. It'd been getting worse since we got it, finally gave up the ghost at the last inspection; couldn't back it into the bay, so that was that. Just about ready to spring for the rebuild, and it shouldn't be long before I'm waiting on someplace to go so I can drive the damned thing.

I keep the seats out most of the time, since it's usually carrying stuff (up to three thousand pounds worth; it's a passenger vehicle, but it's still a one ton), but if I so desire I can fit fourteen other people inside. Now if I only had fourteen friends, we could be going places.

Not that I'm a real gearhead myself, but for interested parties the van weighs about fifty-six hundred pounds curb, eighty-six gross (though you mathematicians probably figured that out already), and features the 350 V8 (15 city and 17 highway empty, 13 and 15 loaded, respectively; hybrid and diesel people kindly keep your smarm to yourselves), 4L80-E (not bad as far as automatic transmissions go, or so I'm told), along with the heavy duty package from the factory. This includes not only the heavy duty radiator and exhaust system, but several in-engine upgrades (valves, and the like) that I understand are no longer performed on GM vans. Fancy that. Hundred and forty-six inch wheelbase, Dana rear end, blah, blah, blah, I'd need to go find the spec book to tell you the rest, but you get the idea.

Until such time as that's running, though, I'm using a member of my dad's fleet, the '88 Chevy "pickup" (that or my mom's '97 Aerostar, but there's no interesting story behind that). Formerly a tall, enclosed, steel utility body truck from Metro North (NYC area railroad for you out of towners), the maintenance division kept the body when they sold it. The guys that won the auction put a pickup bed on to make use of the vehicle, and we in turn got it from them. Twelve thousand pound rear springs, power-steering fluid assisted brakes (Hydro- or Hydra-boost, I'm not sure), and a nice rack that we added and modified ourselves. So if anybody in the New York area wants to test their Steadicam or ruin their kidneys, give me a call, we can hit the BQE.

I've really got to cool it with the parentheticals, but I've got so many little asides! What can a guy do?

[Kris Holodak]

And it's the very cheapest model so the seats don't fold down. Fortunately I don't have to haul gear very often. Though about a year ago I ended up taking almost every piece of gear we own at work (2 cameras with tripods, 3 boxes of lights, a bag of stands and stuff, a bag of sound gear, and assorted junk) and it all fit as long as I didn't want to look out the back window. I drove very gently.

Then I built myself a dolly and realized everything would no longer fit. I did a lot of looking at cars then. I settled on the Subaru Outback thinking I'd rather have a station wagon than an SUV. That fantasy ended as soon as we ran the financing numbers. Oh well. I console myself with the fact that after 130k miles I still get 32 mpg going to work and 37 or so on the highway. And in the year since I haven't actually needed to carry everything I own at once. And every time I try to save up for a new car I end up finding some new piece of gear (or a trip) that I'd rather have instead.

I'll be driving this till it dies and that could be quiet a while.

Originally Posted by Robert Martens

I've really got to cool it with the parentheticals, but I've got so many little asides! What can a guy do?

Don't worry about it Robert. Most of my thoughts are parenthetical.

[Noa Put]

You all have very big cars! in Belgium, Europe you see a lot of Ford, volkswagen en French cars like Renault or Citroen. Japanese cars you see less because they are more expensive compared to European cars.

I drive a Renault Kangoo which is a 1500cc common rail turbodiesel, it only uses 5 liters diesel every 100km. The diesel tank is not so big but I can drive about 900kms before I have to refuel.
Here in Europe diesel is very populair, about 8 out of 10 cars sold is a diesel!

[Mike Andrade]

2007 Mazda RX8- Fits a small camera and a box of tapes. Not a good production car. Especially when its 20 degrees and roads are iced over. (Bill Pryor can attest to that)

2004 Pontiac Grand Prix- Can hold a small studio when the seats are down.