Do you own an SUV, and do you like it?

They did a study and Ford found that consumers responded better to names starting with an 'E', and then some other car builders joined the bandwagon.

After owning an SUV most of my life, my wife wanted a Ford SVT Raptor. We put a 4" lift and 37" tires on it and drive it everywhere. It is a fabulous vehicle. The Escalade just sits there.

And then there was Edsel.

We also love our Raptor, and use it for most of our long-distance road trips. Just drove it from Seattle to Florida over 7-weeks.

Don't buy a Range Rover like I did. Biggest piece of horse manure I have ever had.

I've heard this so many times that I swore-off buying anything from LR, but when the new Sport model came out I talked my way into a test drive only to watch the transmission act-up. We returned it to the service department, I shook my head, laughed and drove off in my ultra-reliable F250.

My 2 year old vogue had the same problem, transmission went, as did the alternator, water pump and the sunroof leaked.

My grocery getter (for when the groceries are in really hard to get to spots):

Geez, posting from an iPhone makes for really huge pics. My bad. I'll resize after supper.

On my fourth Range Rover, fifth Land Rover over the course of the past nineteen years with no major issues, even as a few topped 100K+ miles. I've heard the horror stories but fortunately my ownership experiences have kept me coming back.

Fixed.

Well ... wife wanted to "look" at the 2017 Ford Raptor even though we have a gorgeous 2014. While we were sitting with the salesperson doing the deal, my biggest problem was that I couldn't imagine trading in the wonderful 2014 that I love. Then it came it me ... sell the 2011 Escalade! We now have a 2014 and a 2017 Raptor

Here is the 2014 that has effectively become mine ... hmmmm ... Whipple makes a supercharger that would go so nicely with the 6.2 liter V8.

I love Raptors... even if they are a one-trick pony.

Hey Carl... when's the last time you got your 4R dirty?

Still a virgin. Hoping to break the shackles of this keyboard and get lost in the NC mountains next month.

Do it man... do it. Find some rocks to climb over, creeks to crawl through, mud to play in. The Appalachians are one of those places on my "gotta' drive there" bucket list.

Haven't been offroad in NC, but I got whipped by the Tail of a Dragon in a rental car. If you ever decide to check NC trails off your bucket list, I'll start packing.

Apparently "Parks Canada" doesn't appreciate people driving on beaches... so I only parked next to it.

(We drove on another non-Parks beach 2 days later... )