Sunday, July 24, 2005

Today's Hoot!

Michael Kane at the NY Post test drives a Hummer Crusher around Manhattan:
Hummers are for wussies.

That's right, I said it.

Who's sweating a Humvee when you're behind the wheel of the ultimate monster mobile — the International CXT?

This behemoth stands a towering 12 feet, six inches above the ground. It weighs a pavement-crushing 25,999 pounds (purposefully just one pound less than commercial-vehicle classification). And it takes a stegosaurus' worth of fossil fuel to top off its 70-gallon tank.

And yes, it's street-legal.
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Mine is the first to menace the mean streets of Manhattan.

Wheeling around TriBeCa on Friday, I got more shouts, whistles and cellphone pics than a supermodel in fishnets. Who cares that it gets only nine miles a gallon?
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Looming above three lanes of cabs, you're actually sitting higher than the roof of an SUV. You look down on Greyhound drivers. And aside from a McDonald's drive-through or bank window, you can take the CXT anywhere, even off-road with four-wheel drive.

"The thing about this truck is, it's totally safe because all the other drivers on the road stop to stare," said Shaune Swift, the unofficial test driver at Mid-Atlantic.
The spare tire weighs 90 lbs.