Trapped in a Ford Excursion!

Across America, people are finding themselves trapped in their gargantuan Ford Excursions as well as other over-sized SUVs. When gas was under $2 a gallon they seemed like a good idea if you had absolutely no regard for the environment, had places to go and wanted to feel like the captain of a large ship (the Exxon Valdez, for instance) getting there. However, as the price of fuel has gone up, owners are now finding themselves in the predicament of not being able to drive them anywhere because of the expense and not wanting to sell them and take a $20,000 beating on a more efficient trade-in.

Such is the situation Derek Hunter of Lima, Ohio has found himself in. To make matters worse, the other vehicle owned by this two-vehicle family of 7 is the massive Ford Expedition. As he explained to Steve Inskeep on NPR, his Excursion gets 8 to 10 miles a gallon in town if he doesn't turn on the air conditioning and, although his initial investment in the vehicle was in the neighborhood of $50,000, the best offer he's gotten for it is $11,500. Ouch. We'd feel a bit more sorry for him if he wasn't so dismissive of the obvious option of buying a used mini-van that can carry his entire family and get over double the gas mileage. Click the "Read" link below for his tale of woe.

[Source: NPR]