Sequoia High Clearance: Fill & Download for Free

Fact is, in the US, people aren't buying SUVs anymore. They're buying CUVs, crossover utility vehicles. We call them SUVs because they're cooler and it's the popular term. The original SUVs were built on a truck platform (body on frame) and had proper 4wd with a transfer case. But they rode like a truck and burned gas like a truck. So now there are very few built on a truck platform. They are built on a car platform (unibody) and are basically raised station wagons. They have awd systems rather than transfer case based 4x4.For example, the original Ford Explorer, which helped propel the SUV category, was truck based. After seeing sales of the Explorer decline as buyers were choosing more comfortable car-based SUV’s (in other words, CUVs), Ford redesigned the Explorer to be car based.A Jeep Wrangler is still body on frame and very capable off-road. But not very spacious and is an ancient design. I believe the Toyota Land Cruiser is still body on frame. Maybe the 4Runner too. But the Highlander is a glorified Camry.SUVs promise adventure and a life spent outdoors doing all kinds of fun, active, and aspirational activities with fun, beautiful active people — hiking, biking, skiing, surfing, camping, boating. They have lots of room for all your family/friends and stuff. They can embrace the possibilities. What if? What if it’s snowing? What if I need to haul a lot of gear? What if it’s raining? What if I need to tow that boat I’ve always wanted? What if I want to drive up that gravel road to see that awesome waterfall and need 4wd and high clearance? It’s a very powerful appeal. It helps people connect with the life they wish they were leading (and sometimes are).CUVs retain the promise of the possibilities, while being more practical vehicles for the 99% case.Minivans, there is no embracing the possibilities. No romance. They are giving in to life’s responsibilities not life’s adventures. That’s why people want SUVs — and buy CUVs.PS. I looked up a current list of body on frame SUVs. They include Chevy Yukon and Suburban (and GMC and Cadillac versions); Ford Expedition (and Lincoln version); Toyota 4Runner, Landcruiser, and Sequoia (and Lexus versions); Jeep Wrangler; Mercedes G-Wagen; Land Rover LR4 (Range Rovers are now unibody); and Nissan Armada (and Infiniti version). All old school designs.

California has everything: mountains, deserts, forests, seashore, big cities, some of the most productive agricultural areas in the world, more national parks than any other state, and vast areas of wilderness. You could spend a lifetime exploring California and not see it all. My advice is to not focus most of your time on the big cities, which are a small part of the state. There is so much more to see. California has far more ecological, scenic, topographic, and climatic diversity than any other state. Even if you travelled a month in California you would barely scratch the surface of things to see and do:Don’t miss the drive up Highway 1 through the Big Sur coast:Mammoth Mountain has a ski lift that takes you above 11,000 feet. In some years there is skiing into July:Bring footwear suitable for hiking in mountainous terrain:California has the biggest, tallest, and oldest trees in the world. The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is the biggest tree in the world:At 14,505 feet elevation, Mt Whitney is the highest mountain in the United States south of Alaska:The Desert is unpleasantly hot in the summer, but very pleasant from November through March:You can visit buildings dating back to when California was part of the Spanish empire:There are lots of wine producing valleys in California:Look for sea otters around the Monterey Peninsula:You can rent a kayak and see whales in Monterey Bay. Moss Landing is the best place:Keep in mind that California is huge. The UK and Italy are each only two-thirds the size of California. Here is a map showing California next to the UK and Ireland:Here is a photo of me and my friend Don relaxing in my favorite hot spring in the Owens Valley in eastern California. I won’t tell you how to get there:Here is a photo of a place even few native Californians know about. It is at an elevation of more than 11,000 feet in the White Mountains just east of the Owens Valley in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada. Here, the bristlecone pines, which are the oldest trees in the world grow. The air is so dry that dead wood can lie on the ground for more than 5,000 years without decomposing. You can get to this spot with a high clearance vehicle:

Mr. Mukherjee took the words right out of my mouth... if mashing them up together meant destroying it, yes certainly a Chrysler PT Cruiser, except with a Pontiac Aztek.Actually, well, i can't specifically decide. It feels like there is something I can't remember, which I so desperately want vaporized that I'd mash it with an M1 Abrams.Maybe it was the Prius? It's not actually a bad car, but... Ah, doesn't matter.(Warning, long answer ahead)When it comes to mixing together in terms of design, there would be a ton of different cars I'd love to mix, though each has a somewhat specific purpose. I drive a Toyota Camry and a Mazda RX7 (well, not really, since it's in pieces at the moment) regularly, and I'd really like to turn the Camry into a ridiculous sleeper and the RX7 a track monster. In their respective guises, the Camry would probably be mated with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and the RX7 with a McLaren F1.This would be a fun mix, a 2010 Camry LE and a 2012 Lancer Evolution MR.The Camry would retain its practical interior and passable exterior to look like your prototypical family hauler. From the Evo, you would swap in the powertrain (4B11T with its TC-SST), traction/suspension management computers, nearly the entire suspension, and maybe its sport seats, though reupholstered in the Camry's cloth. This would literally be the perfect sleeper (aside from a Mercury Cougar or Subaru Tribeca) as it would blend in like a wolf in sheep's clothes with the hordes of diagonally parked Camrys. The two share a transverse I4 layout, though the Evo brings with it its DSM madness, AWD, and honking great turbocharger. The 4B11T has already been proven to have the potential of 800+HP (thank AMS Performance), and its TC-SST transmission with its automatic overdrive and six gears would fit perfectly with the original shift lever layout in the Camry. With an effective enough silencer, modest tailpipes, and a conservative camshaft, the Frankenyota would probably sound like a stock Camry, too. As I said before, perfect sleeper. Some people might not understand it, but there's something so satisfying about having such an inauspicious car that is livable to fetch groceries in, but has tons of power primed under your foot to boggle your local Camaro owner at the lights. Perhaps I'm just being nostalgic of a time when car makers would take bland old family cars and used the age old recipe for excitement of turbos and AWD to spice them up. I wish they still made cars like that. Oh, wait.It's a Ford, and I personally have reservations about them, but I can't deny it's a phenomenal car. The Taurus SHO is a Turbo V6 AWD family sedan, and the definition of a rocket propelled moose. Though what if you wanted to combine the low price tag and simplicity of the Camry with the Evo's turbo AWD speed obsession? Good news, it's already being built, too. Meet the 240HP turbocharged I4 AWD TC-SST four-door nephew of the Evolution, the Lancer Ralliart:Granted, it still costs near $30K and has less horsepower and less of the Evo's rallying technowizardry, but is a surprisingly capable car. Coincidences, huh? Well, moving onto the RX7.To clarify, a second generation RX7 is what I was referring to.I said I would like to combine it with a McLaren, but just the spirit of the F1. The McLaren is a beast of a car in all respects and wouldn't make much sense mixed with an RX7, but relaying the absurd, unadultered pursuit of speed at whatever cost would be perfect. It was that crazy intiative to try something new, let engineering run wild that I love about the F1 and wish I could apply to the RX7. In its stock guise, it's a great car, well balanced, handles like a dream, has a well-sorted chassis, and was powerful by 1985's standards. The issue though, was that Mazda was frustratingly restrained, despite having built one of the most unusual cars. The car was locked down by constraints that hobbled it as a docile street car. If only Mazda had gone to the lengths to make the RX7 a purist, truly unadulterated driver's car, then it would be magical.I forgot about that. But in my case, I'm kind of stuck with the second generation RX7. Is there nothing I can do?Perfect!The last topic is targeted towards roadtrips. To escape the Southwestern heat, I regularly head north on roadtrips, family in tow. To haul everything and everyone, we usually take the family SUV, a 2002 Toyota Sequoia. At its age, it handles like a crappily designed boat, which makes driving through the miles of mountain road hell. Moreover, it seems like a waste that these exciting mountain roads were just been driven on by family haulers. On a separate occasion, I took the Camry through these roads and it was the most (legal) excitement I've ever had driving on a roadtrip. It would be simple to just get a V6 stationwagon and declare the problem solved, but once we arrive up north, we frequently end up on rocky dirt or snowy roads. For once, a benefit of the Sequoia's high clearance and massive SUV wheels. So basically, it would be a match made in heaven if I could merge the Sequoia and the RX7 whenever I wanted to go on a roadtrip. It would be able to zip through roads, paved or otherwise, safely, excitingly, and with all things necessary for a roadtrip in tow. In short, a road going honey badger. Maybe I'm asking a bit much from automotive technology (and general physics)...... Or maybe I'm not. Sadly, the STi Hatchback was dropped when the MY2014 STi debuted, but it's still a great car and probably available as leftover stock at the Subaru dealerships. With its rallying heritage, super sophisticated traction/stability controls, hatchback practicality, four doors, five seats, turbocharged 280HP flat four engine, AWD, low center of gravity, and navigation system, it pretty much perfectly fits the bill.I suppose my subliminal message was that with a little research and imagination, you can probably find the perfect mix for you. A lot of "combinations" my friends have suggested would be the ideal car for them was really just another car they had never considered.