I have the Honda Civic Hybrid. 50 miles per gallon. If I need to haul crap, perhaps twice a year, I borrow my friend's truck. He can pay out the nose for gas. It's not for me. I spend the money I save on my student loans and Transformers.

Over the next few years, SUVs will become less and less popular. Cars like mine? The way of the future.

 

I'm assuming you are not married with kids yet.

 

Unless they pass some kind of emissions law that makes them illegal, theres really not much you can do about it; no sense in getting furious over something that you can't control in the slightest.

 

Ah, but when that happens to me you know what I do? I slow down to just below the limit. When they finally overtake, they invariably look in to see what asshole held them up, so I flip them the bird.

SUV's on the whole don't get much love from me. Most people I see with them don't need them. With Petrol prices what they are in the UK, I'm amazed how anyone can actually stand to pay so much for petrol, regardless as to whether or not they can afford to or not.

 

How can you know that they don't need them? What is the criteria that they have to show you? Because you see some young guy with a puka shell necklace and a baseball cap? Do you know if he has a kid? Do you know that he doesn't need a bigger car because of his job? No, you don't, you only assume.

and if I see one more link between SUV's and terrorists, I'm going to puke. That is the weakest arguement I have ever heard.

 

Yes, that is getting VERY close to getting this thread closed... Lay off the political stuff and we're cool...

 

I'm glad you don't work at a gun factory or methamphetamine factory. Enabling is enabling whichever way you look at it.

But hey, its your money. Oh, and why does having kids mean you have to have an SUV? How are SUVs superior for family transportation? What family in this day and age has more than 2 kids? What kinda cargo are you carrying around on a daily basis that you need a behemoth SUV for? I can see it being useful for moving but who moves that often? When I do move, there is too much stuff that will fit in one trip and I usually rent out a van.

 

Please, all this is your opinion of what is considered inane or relevant. How is the suckiness/greatness of Cullen/Welker or the appropriateness of Bumblebee as a Camaro more relevant than what company represents the Transformers? We were talking about the movie. GM is the car company that the Transformers will be modelled on. Why is it so wrong to debate the crappiness/suckiness of GM? I, personally, was attacking the entire company, not just the SUV portion of it. Honestly, I am curious as to your answer.

 

Eh, its their money. Maybe they will go broke and take themselves out of the gene pool?

 

I think that's a pretty weak metaphor. Buying a product because you, in turn, manufacture that product, is ostensibly brand loyalty. It's not "enabling" - ambushbug has a vested interest in supporting himself by supporting his brand. You'll notice that his original post does not mention anything about the necessity behind owning the SUV, so ambushbug isn't saying "I buy Fords because I love SUVs."

Also, you asked why somebody would need the size and space offered by an SUV. I have a pretty simple answer for you: Go down to the local high school and watch 2 or 3-children band families unload their instruments from the family SUV. Go down to the park and watch families unload the cooler for the kids' soccer team, the multiple soccer balls and the protective equipment for the game. These are regular, everyday activities that require a whole bunch of space - space which is available in an SUV.

Arguing that this type of space is equally available in a minivan, in my opinion, seems a little silly, too - minivans of the girth and size that are available on the American market have, on average, similarly poor gas mileage as SUVs.

EDIT: Oh, and, I'd suggest showing some discretion with regards to the mods. This is their house. You are but a visitor. If you are eloquent, they'll let you stay. If you are rude, they will kick you out.

 

Yeah, and you know what Razerwire is? Staff.

If you want to debate this, do it in PMs. Not another word about it in this thread.

 

I am sorry but how many groceries bags are you having on one grocery run? We are a family of 4 (3 men, and one woman) and we feed ourselves fine for an entire week with the groceries that we can fit in the back of our sedan.

How many times do you honestly tow trailers or move or buy a big screen TV? I think if you were to see the extra money you spent for buying the SUV and filling it up regularly versus the delivery fees you would hav eto pay if you owned a sedan over the life of the vehicle, the sedan would come out on top. You're talking a premium of a few thousand dollars for an SUV.

 

Hey.

Hey.

(knocks on Superion33's head)

You missed my well-written response to your post.  

 

I see your argument, Ops. I just don't see it holding water. Cooler? Soccer balls? I played on a soccer team. I could fit everything I needed in my Civic (Cooler included). Soccer balls aren't that big and neither are the shin guards or cleats. Thats all you need to play soccer. I was also in orchestra/band. Unless you play the cello, bass, tuba, or drums - you could fit your instrument in the back of a sedan. The tuba could possilbly fit in the back seat.

 

It's a good counter-argument in theory, but it's hard to agree with in practice. I've seen kids desperately trying to fit a set of drums into the back of a sedan more than a few times myself only to be offered help by those with more space in their trunks (by and large, the SUV owners.)

Most kids that are part of high school bands own (or their parents own) midsize SUVs - the Cherokees, the Explorers, etc. - for this exclusive purpose. For these musicians-in-training, it's just not practical to squeeze a baritone, a trombone and a trumpet (and yes, there are a lot of kids in bands these days that play more than one instrument) into the space of a small sedan. I know, I was one of them for a while.

Additionally, it seems like the primary market for SUVs is parents. If we expound on the "why do you need that much space" argument, think about the average middle-class parent's afternoon (either gender) - buying groceries and picking up kids from sports/band/whatever. This means that we're filling the vehicle with several groceries and sports and/or band equipment. If the parent has their choice - and they probably do, in a middle-class environment - which do you think they'd choose? The sedan that cramps everyone and everything together, or the large-size suburban utility vehicle that allows parent and child some breathing room?

On top of that, nearly every state-owned or government-owned institution uses SUVs for at least 50% of their vehicle work-force. Trying to argue efficiency and economy to the US government would be like teaching a blind man about colors.

 

I come from a family with three brothers and two parents where each kid played three or four different sports and spent $400 a week on food alone. We owned a minivan and it was only used for then all four kids had to be present in the car along with the parents. Other then that we had a four door pymouth sundance that could fit almost most of everything you talked about including $400 worth of food a week.

At the gas station I work at I see the same people almost every week with their famlies and a lot of them I know personally so I know if they need an SUV for not. Around my town a lot of them are kids in highschool who's mommy's and daddy's baught them an SUV that they can't even afford themselves to put gas into. But like I said before, if you have reason for it then go for it. But if you have an SUV just because you wanna own the road and look like you have money then you are a complete terd.

And you can't tell me that if there weren't SUVs gas wouldn't be cheaper. Its supply and demand. If there isn't as much demand then the price will go down... at least until China gets driving.

 

Exactly. Or that have babies. It's unreal the amount of stuff needed for a simple day trip to the local zoo for example.

However, we have opted to go the minivan route instead of another SUV/truck. In fact, the reason we're getting a top of the line Odyssey is for the engine offered. It is computer controlled to shut down half of the valves when not needed. The end result is an additional 3-4 highway mpg (total of 28 or 29 mpg I believe).

I'm on my way now to the dealership to pay for it. Bye bye $40k!

 

I concede - and agree completely - on this point. I remember seeing some of the uber-well-off frat girls and sorostitutes at Indiana driving around in Ford Excursions carrying nothing more than...themselves. Yeah, there are a lot of cases where people own an SUV for one-person utility, and the volume of utility they need DOESN'T match up with the owner.

 

I drive a 97 Jeep Wrangler. It doesn't get very good gas milage because of a gas leak. I can't afford to fix it. I tried to get an estimate once and they told me that they couldn't give me one until they started tearing shit apart to see exactly where the leak is. They told me maybe about $600 or more. I don't have that kind of money. I thought about selling it and buying a bike for the gas milage but I live in the country and have to take alot of back roads so when it snows, I would be screwed. I have cut back on driving it as much as I can but sometimes its not possible.

 

My car seats five. What's the problem?
50 miles per gallon.
If it's not enough room for the brats, they're welcome to walk.