# An SUV is NOT a small car!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 19, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545 "2002-08-19T03:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/21 "2002-08-19T13:56:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by betenoir \* > \*\* > > There are plenty of things that are totally legal that people still deserve belittling for doing. Emmision standards and the consumption of fossil fuels are enviornmenatal issues that concern the society as a whole. Driving a bigger and less fuel efficent car than you need to (and admit it, while some people, Cessandra for example, have a reason for wanting a big car, lots of them are bought mostly for the status) is selfish and worth belittling. \*\* They may concern you, but they don’t mean anything to me. The economic costs of driving are all that concern me. As long as the SUV drivers carry their weight economically, I don’t care what they drive. \*\* > [@](#): > > Since Zap DOES know why he objects to SUV drivers, no, I don’t get where you’re coming from. \*\* The only “reason” I saw in the OP for hating SUV drivers was because they take up parking spots not intended for SUVs. What, was “Small penis” a reason? Or maybe “Shitty Unnecessary Vehicle”? If those are reasons, I’m afriad I’m gonna have to tell you and **Zap** (whom I have met, by the way, and like) to go and get fucked. I will drive whatever I want to drive. I have no moral or ethical reasons not to, except that it’s just too wasteful of space and resources that you perceive you are entitled to have whereas I’m not. Incidentally, I have to go and pick up a Queen size bed today. It won’t fit in my fuel efficient 2002 Cavalier. What should I do, carry it on my back? :rolleyes: There are times that an SUV is very useful. You just either don’t see that or you choose not to. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/22 "2002-08-19T13:58:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mswas \* > \*\*Hey, I agree with the guy. Most people I know that own SUVs have no need for them. \*\* Luckily, this being a free society and all, I don’t have to demonstrate a “need” to own a legal product. I _hate_ that argument. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/23 "2002-08-19T14:02:01Z")
Now that I see the above from **Zap** , I withdraw my “get fucked” comment. I was wondering if you knew what you were getting into. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/24 "2002-08-19T14:07:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zap\_Rowsdower \* > \*\*I realize that many people have legitimate needs to own an SUV. \*\* Repeat after me: “Need” is not a prerequisite to owning a legal product. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/25 "2002-08-19T14:16:22Z")
I need one of those H2s. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/26 "2002-08-19T15:50:34Z")
Fenris, your last two posts make me wonder when we were discussing the legality of anything in this thread. Basically, I think SUV drivers are like smokers. They really don’t give a fuck that their unnecessary habit is causing other people undue harm. They like to be “Powerful and above the crowd” as Zap said. Every time I hear that argument I get scared to be on the road with them, as in my experience, everyone with that attitude is a bad driver when they get into their SUV. I think that the hostile reaction you get to the argument about SUVs really illustrates the point that most people make about SUV drivers. Why is there such a need to justify your SUV? We’re not trying to take it away, we’re just saying that if you don’t actually need an SUV, then you’re a discourteous heel. Everyone here probably has had a need for an SUV at one point or another. I know I’ve used them to move stuff when I moved my apt etc… Having a need for one once or twice a year does not mean that you need one. The free country argument that Fenris brought up is extremely laughable. Everyone brings up this thing about the country being a free country when it supports whatever particular habit they have, whether it be smoking in public or driving an SUV. I’m not advocating that the government take away your SUV. I just think that it might be nice, that if like smokers, SUV owners would curb their behavior so as not to affect the rest of us. When driving down the road in my friend’s SUV with her, she commented on how the NJ air was barely fit to breathe. I didn’t point out the irony to her. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/27 "2002-08-19T15:54:14Z")
> [@](#): > > I felt that my complaint about parking in spaces marked for small cars was legitimate and had not been talked about AFAIK > [@](#): > > As to the parking issue, I park in “compact” spaces all the time. **Almost always** the Hondas or Toyotas next to me stick out farther than my Jeep – and my Jeep is about the same width as the “recognized” compact cars. So if I can park a Cherokee in less space than a “compact” car, why not? (Of course the Cherokee is called a “compact SUV”.) ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/28 "2002-08-19T16:44:07Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by mswas_ > > \*\*The free country argument that Fenris brought up is extremely laughable. Everyone brings up this thing about the country being a free country when it supports whatever particular habit they have, whether it be smoking in public or driving an SUV. I’m not advocating that the government take away your SUV. I just think that it might be nice, that if like smokers, SUV owners would curb their behavior so as not to affect the rest of us. \*\* The reasoning that you provide for our “Free Country” argument is exactly why we have to make it. How can an SUV driver be “courteous” to you if you’ve already made up your mind that SUV drivers are bad? How can they “curb their behavior” when you’ve determined that their behavior is already bad? And further, how can all of this be changed in your mind? I guess the only thing left is for enough people like you to get together and lobby for SUV elimination. Happened with guns, happened with drugs, and it happened with cigarettes. I guess SUVs are soon to be chased down by the vice squad, eh? “You’ll take my SUV when you pry it from my cold, dead hand”? :rolleyes: SUVs are here to stay. Accept it, and accept that people are selfish and don’t give a rat’s ass about your interests or desires. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/29 "2002-08-19T17:26:37Z")
Why are we stopping at Suvs? Aren’t fat people who eat more than their share harming the environment and being discourteous to the rest of us? Not all you people that have tv sets really need them either, you know? Look at all the resources that are consumed creating them and feeding them endless amounts of electricity. Shouldn’t they be ashamed? What about when people are watching Tv by themselves? Food processers. Oh I guess mister penis replacement is too good to chop food with a knife, and he needs to impress us all with his fancy food processer, the inconsiderate lout. But nothing pisses me off as much people that heat their houses with electricity, oil, or natural gas. Worse yet are those that heat their houses with wood in a fireplace. Do you have any idea how inconsiderate that is, how much in resources it wastes? How it pollutes the air? Considerate and conscientious people like me heat and cool their houses by geothermal heat pump. I’m not saying that everybody who does it some other way, should be outlawed, but I do think that they should be held up and examined for the insufferable scumbags they are. Then of course there’s those incorrigible morons who wear synthetic fibers, and the “Hey look at me, I’m hot shit!” group that occasionally flies in an airplane destroying the environment with those inneficient monsters. They are all so inconsiderate and rude. What jerks! Fortunately I can sit here on my high hourse and pontificate at you about it, as if I had a clue about life. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/30 "2002-08-19T18:11:22Z")
Airman, I fail to see how this being a free country factors in. Why must you make that argument? MsWas: Airman you stink take a shower Airman: I feel I must point out to you that this is a free country and if I choose to have poor hygiene you have no choice in the matter. MsWas: Well it’s still fucking nasty and inconsiderate of you not to shower. Airman: Well I am constitutionally protected. MsWas: I fail to see how your legal rights has anything to do with the fact that you smell like shit. Airman: It is important that you understand that I am protected by the constitution and you can’t make me shower just like you and your kind did cracking down on SUVs. MsWas: I never advocated cracking down on SUVs, I just said they are a filthy excess that forces me to live in the filth of others, much as you are doing now by not showering. Airman: Goddammit man, I told you I am constitutionally protected so you have no right to tell me I stink. MsWas: Actually, my right to tell you that you stink is also constitutionally protected. In otherwords, I think if I have to accept that SUVs are here to stay, insecure SUV owners have to accept that I think that they stink. I never once advocated regulation. I advocated SUV owners that have no need for an SUV get their head out of their fucking ass and realize that they aren’t the only ones that have to walk the streets where they toss out their chamber pots. Though I’d settle for them not fucking tailgating me with their highbeams on. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/31 "2002-08-19T18:17:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mswas \* > \*\* Why is there such a need to justify your SUV? We’re not trying to take it away, we’re just saying that if you don’t actually need an SUV, then you’re a discourteous heel. \*\* But, see, a part of freedom is the ability to say “Screw off” to people who demand that you justify your right to own a legal product. Lemme ask you this: Why do you “need” my justification? Why are you (in general, not you in particular) such a nosy busybody that you “need” to examine the “needs” and motives of those who own a perfectly legal product? Why is your life (again, **Erek** , NOT yours as such) so hollow and empty that you have nothing better to do then to see if people meet some self-appointed standard. I have no responsibility to explain my “need” for firearms, choice of reading material, etc. There’s been an assumption for [a while](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68077) that asking “But why do you _need_ it?” is somehow a valid (or even interesting) argument. I disagree. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/32 "2002-08-19T18:17:57Z")
Airman, I fail to see how this being a free country factors in. Why must you make that argument? MsWas: Airman you stink take a shower Airman: I feel I must point out to you that this is a free country and if I choose to have poor hygiene you have no choice in the matter. MsWas: Well it’s still fucking nasty and inconsiderate of you not to shower. Airman: Well I am constitutionally protected. MsWas: I fail to see how your legal rights has anything to do with the fact that you smell like shit. Airman: It is important that you understand that I am protected by the constitution and you can’t make me shower just like you and your kind did cracking down on SUVs. MsWas: I never advocated cracking down on SUVs, I just said they are a filthy excess that forces me to live in the filth of others, much as you are doing now by not showering. Airman: Goddammit man, I told you I am constitutionally protected so you have no right to tell me I stink. MsWas: Actually, my right to tell you that you stink is also constitutionally protected. In otherwords, I think if I have to accept that SUVs are here to stay, insecure SUV owners have to accept that I think that they stink. I never once advocated regulation. I advocated SUV owners that have no need for an SUV get their head out of their fucking ass and realize that they aren’t the only ones that have to walk the streets where they toss out their chamber pots. Though I’d settle for them not fucking tailgating me with their highbeams on. Erek ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/33 "2002-08-19T18:22:28Z")
Fenris: Because cleaning your gun while masturbating to playboy doesn’t make me sick to my stomach on the Turnpike. Erek ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/34 "2002-08-19T18:28:58Z")
Fenris: Because cleaning your gun while masturbating to playboy doesn’t make me sick to my stomach on the Turnpike. Erek ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/35 "2002-08-19T18:36:16Z")
Fenris: Because cleaning your gun while masturbating to playboy doesn’t make me sick to my stomach on the Turnpike. Erek ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/36 "2002-08-19T18:47:12Z")
I’m definitely getting an H2. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/37 "2002-08-19T19:07:07Z")
All right. I’m gonna ask this, and I want a direct answer. In plain English. No doublespeak, no “subject to interpretation” stuff. Just a straight answer. Since you think SUVs are dirty, filthy vehicles and a public health hazard, what do you want Americans to do about it? I just want to be perfectly clear, since you advocate getting rid of them, but you’re against any kind of legislation that would achieve that goal. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/38 "2002-08-19T19:13:37Z")
All right. I’m gonna ask this, and I want a direct answer. In plain English. No doublespeak, no “subject to interpretation” stuff. Just a straight answer. Since you think SUVs are dirty, filthy vehicles and a public health hazard, what do you want Americans to do about it? I just want to be perfectly clear, since you advocate getting rid of them, but you’re against any kind of legislation that would achieve that goal. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/39 "2002-08-19T20:22:37Z")
Airman, individual responsibility would be nice. Thinking; As much as I want one of these they fuck up the environment and I have no legitimate use for one. People to realize when they choke on the smog on route 36, that they are one of the major contributors when behind the wheel of their Explorer. Erek ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/40 "2002-08-19T20:59:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > But, see, a part of freedom is the ability to say “Screw off” to people who demand that you justify your right to own a legal product. And, see, another part of freedom is the ability to say “Screw off” to discorteous jerks who dock their land yachts in compact car parking. God Bless America. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545.md?page=3)