I'm glad that Thor pointed out the comparison between suv's and the minivans that preceded them and served the 'same purpose'. People often think that automotive choice comes down to either buying a huge SUV versus a Honda Civic- and yeah, if you have 3 kids and a spouse and occasional friend to drive around, a Civic might not be the most comfortable vehicle (but that doesn't describe most people's car use these days). But look at what most suv drivers are doing most of the time- the same jobs they did in minivans until a few years ago (plus a lot of jobs they did in Civics- commuting alone).
Minivans, the popular selling vehicles of 10 years ago, got somewhat good fuel economy (compared to 8-cylinder SUV's). One obvious problem is that many of them weren't built well- but neither are many of the minivan-like SUV's (the 'cheaper', smaller SUV's. I haven't driven, say, a Cadillac Escalade or a Hummer of Mercedes suv so I can't comment on the more expensive ones- but I absolutely agree with Foltarz' assessment of SUV's being 'luxo junk' much of the time after having driven my (borrowed) share of Isuzu Rodeos and jeep Cherokees) - I imagine they'll have all the same body problems for instance as cheap american minivans did past a certain age (by the way I'm partial to minivans as a perfect size utility van). I think that whatever popular trendy vehicle Detroit is building 'in a hurry' tends to be poor quality (for a funny look at this problem, look for a book called Rivethead by Flint autoworker-turned-writer Ben Hamper, about his experiences building Suburbans in the late 1970's, and why they were so terrible). In the case of SUV's the quality issue is masked by the large engine (they MIGHT last a little longer than a 4- cylinder Dodge minivan engine- but I wouldn't bank on it) mark <big snip:> > > Fact: SUVs are not the safest cars out there; > minivans are, and they have more room, get better > mileage, and cost less than SUVs. But minivans are > not "cool" which tells me that people are thinking > about styling and image (the advertising influence) > and not about economics or practicality. Also, most > people are bent on ownership versus receiving a flow > of services from an automobile. Let me explain. > > I live in Seattle, where it seems that every other > vehicle is an SUV or a truck. People insist they need > a 4wd vehicle. But we have mild winters, with little > snow to speak of, and the one time a year it does snow > you stay at home since Seattle is full of hills and > people here don't know how to drive in snow anyway. > So 2 inches shuts everything down. Now a lot of > people I know who own SUVs claim that they need them > to go to the mountains, to go skiing, etc etc. > However, most ski areas you can get to just fine with > a front wheel drive car. And who's really going to > take a $55,000 Escalade or Navigator or Mercedes > off-road? But let's assume that they do indeed go > somewhere where an *only* an SUV can go. How often is > that? 2, 3 times a year at most? So they purchase an > SUV ostensibly for those rare occasions, and the other > 355 days they commute in a gas guzzling behemoth. If > instead they had an efficient car for their daily > needs, they could take all that money they save in > capital and operating costs (licensing, fuel, > insurance) and rent an SUV for the few times they need > it, and have cash left over. Would you go out and buy > a dumptruck if you needed to haul a load of dirt, and > then drive it to work every day? But, people are > taught by advertising and by example to think in terms > of ownership, not in flows of services. > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> New Yahoo! Mail Plus. More flexibility. More control. More power. Get POP access, more storage, more filters, and more. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Hcb0iA/P.iFAA/46VHAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
