the wave

[Mark R]

C'mon Tess... The escalade EXT (pickup bed) is AWESOME!.  It even comes with
built-in rap music.  (OK, I made that up).  Seriously, it's a good vehicle
for me, and here's why:

I'm in corporate management, so when taking clients or suppliers out to
lunch or visiting them, I need a vehicle with a certain "image."  (The 4KCSQ
just doesn't cut it).  I also need to haul parts for work and my own
projects.  Also, I need a tow vehicle.  I own a boat as well as instruct for
a number of car clubs... so there's a need to tow cars to the track.   I
also do some tuning, and that requires picking up and dropping off race and
trackable street cars.

I'm a big promoter of only driving a vehicle sized appropriately.  In my
case, the Escalade fits a LOT of needs in one vehicle.  And it gets 50%
better fuel economy than my old tow vehicle (K1500 with a built 350 and
4L60E), despite being larger.  Also, the Escalade has a self-leveling air
suspension, something which makes a big difference when towing as well as
making a more comfortable ride (I added air springs to my old tow vehicle as
well).
Oh, and wanna know something REALLY freaky?  In the timed event on ice snow
(timed against yourself for consistency, but we still compare for bragging
rights), at the NAAC winter driving school... I hustled the Escalade faster
on the course than any other vehicle there (mostly Audis and Subarus)!  OK,
so I really hustled, and wow- the slalom was tight for such a big
wheelbase... but still.  It ain't so bad!  ;-)

My wife wants a little SUV... I'm trying to convince her that a used A4
Avant is perfect or a Rabbit GTi 4-door (which she does like).  She also
likes the WRX, so we'll see.... when we're ready, I'll be pushing her
towards something with good handling and a lower center of gravity.  And
safety for our boy (due in May!).  A3 1.8TQ is supposedly coming... that
would be perfect.... although Audi will have to apologize to me for lying
(documented) to me and my family.  The sales they lost due to that fiasco a
few years ago.... I recently calculated it to approx $400,000.00 of cars I
influenced family and friends to buy that were considering Audi and
purchased another brand.  Love the cars, but have issues with the company.
I'm not alone, and have some ideas on how they could EASILY fix the
situations... but that's for another discussion.
And yes, I'd rather drive a sedan daily, but the Escalade fills a lot of
needs in one vehicle.  And I wave to OLD Audi owners when driving my Audis,
or Vette owners when driving the Z06), or anybody else when passing them.
LOL!

Mark Rosenkrantz
'87 Bertone X1/9 (in pieces)
(used to own a VW 16V GTi and a VW GTiVR6)
'87 4KCSQ
'00 S4 (most expensive on insurance... go figure!)
'02 Corvette Z06 (best fuel economy... go figure!)
'03 Escalade EXT

On Jan 31, 2008 1:18 PM, Tess McMillan <tessmc at eskimo.com> wrote:

> Taking a step away from german and american-bashing for a sec.... (but my
> god, an escalade? just shoot me now and get it over with.)
>