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King Of The Road

Just when we thought they couldn't possibly get any bigger comes the biggest family car ever, the Ford Excursion for the year 2000. CBS News Correspondent-At-Large Bill Geist checked it out.



At nearly 7 feet tall, 19 feet long and weighing 9,000 pounds, the Excursion eclipses every car on the road.

And, most cars don't have sonar.

"The sonar system begins to emit a beep, notifying the driver there's an object behind the vehicle," says a Ford salesman.

Why do we want such humungous cars? There are roughly eight sedans worth of cargo volume in the vehicle.

We buy big, bad cars that make us look like adventurers, then we venture off to malls and McDonalds.

How do you make it from one gas station to another in a 9,000-pound vehicle? "Well, the Excursion has a 44-gallon fuel tank," says the salesman.

Does it fit in most garages? "Because it is less than 20 feet in length and under 7 feet tall means you can get it in what is today's standard garage," says the salesman.

But some say these cars have reached ridiculous lengths and there are already signs of a backlash.

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