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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v7n50 (12/10/2008) » You Auto Know

…to own one of these vehicles I’ve yet to see on the road!

As someone who’s out there driving for a living, I often find myself straining to stay entertained. One of the games I play I call “Who’s Driving What?” This is where I pull into one of my regular stops and try to figure out which person inside belongs to which vehicle in the parking lot. Without coming right out and asking, this usually plays itself out over a long period of time (on those days where someone happens to be getting in or out of their car as I’m in the lot), and I’ve been doing pretty good so far.

(Another game I play is “Where’s the Nearest Bathroom?” but we won’t get into that right now.)

I also perform very unscientific surveys on what cars I see on the road more, or less, than others. I don’t keep actual tallies, but I’ve got a pretty good memory about cars and such, and I know there are some I seldom see. And I also know there are some I’ve yet to see at all, besides the obvious—this ain’t exactly Beverly Hills where you can turn any corner and see a Lamborghini, Maybach, or Rolls-Royce. (I did see a Bentley Continental coupe on the I-990 one day last summer, and I’m sad to say that as it approached in my rearview mirror I thought it was just another Chrysler 300—good, I guess for Chrysler, but not so good for Bentley, especially at $199,900.) What I’m talking about here are pretty mainstream vehicles which for some reason you just don’t see many of.

Like for instance the Toyota Venza. What? Ven-who? Exactly. The Venza, it would seem, is a Camry station wagon: same running gear, identical wheelbase, overall lengths within a fraction of an inch of each other. From the front it even looks like a Camry. So where are they all? Could it be that Toyota has too many choices in this category? Although they lump the Venza together with their cars on their Web page, it’s still competing as a people/cargo hauler with the Highlander, RAV4, 4Runner, and to some extent the Land Cruiser, FJ Cruiser, and Sequoia SUVs. Sometimes too many choices is just that: too many. Being all things to all people is one thing; being more than all things—good luck with that!

Another vehicle I haven’t seen yet is the Ford Flex, a people/cargo hauler that maybe came along at just the wrong time. I had high hopes for this car when it first appeared a few years ago as a concept called the Fairlane. Little could I know from the photos how big it was! From its quirky squarish good looks I assumed it to be somewhat like a Scion xB, which, looking at how the economy has gone lately, would have been the perfect vehicle for the time. Instead it turns out it’s just a smidgen smaller than a minivan—which isn’t very mini at all. The size, the disappointing gas mileage (17/24 city/highway), the price (starting at over 28 grand) all add up to: I haven’t seen one yet. I guess another part of Ford’s problem sits right on its lot: again, too many choices. The Edge, Taurus X, Explorer, Expedition, and Escape are all people/cargo haulers which just make the decision that much harder.

I also have yet to see a Hyundai Veracruz (see above reasons), Mazda B2300 pickup (really a Ford Ranger in disguise), or a Hummer H3T (do you really have to ask? Hummer’s own Web site, where I went to download some info, named the Word document “09_PIG_HUMMER_OVERVIEW” Even they know).

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