# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/41 "2002-08-19T21:03:37Z")
**mswas** : Have you noticed that the average speedometer on a car in America goes to at least 120 mph? Why on earth would they do that? The speed limit on the interstates in most places is 70 mph, tops. Nobody NEEDS to go 120, right? I’d think you’d want to focus your indignation more on the speedometer thing, since that affects most every car on the road, not just SUVs. ---
**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, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/42 "2002-08-19T22:24:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by minty green \* > \*\*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. \*\* While I agree that saying “screw off” to discorteous jerks who dock their land yachts in compact car parking is a part of freedom, an even better part is exercising both freedom of speech by talking to the property owner about discorteous jerks who dock their land yachts in compact car parking and having said property owner exercise _his/her_ property rights by having said land yacht towed and making the discourteous jerk pay a hefty fine. Of course, the best part of freedom is if you’re the property owner and can exercise _both_ rights. And best of all, no one will question your “need” to do so. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/43 "2002-08-19T22:37:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Because cleaning your gun while masturbating to playboy doesn’t make me sick to my stomach on the Turnpike. Oh, you poor dear. The car I drive makes you nauseous. Forgive me if I don’t give a flying fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/44 "2002-08-19T22:40:32Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by mswas_\*\* > I advocated SUV owners that have no need for an SUV get their head out of their fucking ass …\*\* I’m curious to know what constitutes a legitimate need. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/45 "2002-08-19T22:57:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh, you poor dear. The car I drive makes you nauseous. Forgive me if I don’t give a flying fuck. What if the car you drove were to give me a severe asthma attack? ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/46 "2002-08-19T22:58:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*Why are we stopping at Suvs? > > \ > > 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. \*\* You forgot about the selfish idiots who spend money on computers and use electricity to connect the Internet and post on message boards. > [@](#): > > Considerate and conscientious people like me heat and cool their houses by geothermal heat pump. You use geothermal heat?!?! That’s like stealing body warmth directly from Mother Earth!!! ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/47 "2002-08-19T23:02:30Z")
Personally, I’m amused at how many double and triple posts there are on a thread ranting about SUV’s taking up two parking spaces. ---
**Author:** ![Zap\_Rowsdower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3da27b/32.png) [@Zap\_Rowsdower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zap_Rowsdower)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/48 "2002-08-19T23:27:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Airman Doors, USAF \* > \*\*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. 🙂 \*\* Actually I am giving myself a :smack: over my stupid comments. Also, if I post I will do it before I have a couple of beers. > [@](#): > > Repeat after me: “Need” is not a prerequisite to owning a legal product. I do not disagree, people just need to realize what I mean in spite of what I say or write 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/49 "2002-08-19T23:29:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SpazCat \* > \*\*Personally, I’m amused at how many double and triple posts there are on a thread ranting about SUV’s taking up two parking spaces. \*\* Thank God someone else found that amusing. I was a little worried about myself. 😃 ---
**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 20, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/50 "2002-08-20T00:08:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Goo \* > \*\* > > I’m curious to know what constitutes a legitimate need. \*\* Easy: something that the person demanding to know why you “need” something either likes or owns. In addition an easy way to determine legitmacy need is via the person used. Invariably, a so-called “legimate need” is always in the first person “I need that car”, “We need funding for that program”, “I need to own a computer and post on a message board”. You’ll rarely hear of a legitimate need in the second person “You don’t have a need that big, fancy house”. “You should donate more to charity. You don’t need that computer and that internet connection.” Fenris ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/51 "2002-08-20T00:24:05Z")
> [@](#): > > What if the car you drove were to give me a severe asthma attack? Show me that my car caused your asthma, and then we’ll talk. ---
**Author:** ![stofsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@stofsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stofsky)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/52 "2002-08-20T00:26:00Z")
So as not to overtax the hamster, I’ll just use my nearly imperfect sense of recall, and ask **minty** if it was he who posted a thread about a 1970-odd Caddy recently. And if so, **matt** , considering the much looser emissions standards in the 1970s, wouldn’t you be better off, asthma-wise, getting older cars off the road, since those pollution spewers far outnumber the newer, more efficient SUVs? ---
**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 20, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/53 "2002-08-20T00:53:34Z")
Hey, I’m sorry about your asthma, **matt**. I really am. And I know you hate cars in general. But dammit, if you people are going to make the assertion that SUVs are the cause of all the pollution affecting large cities, I want to see statistics. Otherwise, what you should be doing is hammering on **vehicle** owners, not just SUV owners. Oh, but then you’d have to take a look at what you drive, too, and it’s easier to blame SUV drivers because they “don’t have a need”. :rolleyes: Am I right? I’ll bet I am. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/54 "2002-08-20T02:43:04Z")
Airman: I don’t own a car, I use public transportation almost exclusively. I drive other people’s cars from time to time. Including SUVs. I think SUVs are for the most part unecessary, and that people do get them for the status angle, and that they are above and beyond the pale for American excess. Yes I do realize that my computer is a good example of a pollutant, but it’s really the only major output in that regard that I have. I haven’t told anyone what they can and cannot do in this thread, though many of you have told me what I can and cannot do. I also mentioned other types of cars that are offenders in much the same way SUVs are offenders if you feel like scrolling up. Corvette’s for example. While the environmental issue is something that annoys me, I’m far more annoyed by the driving style that pervades SUV culture. The reason I don’t get uppity about old cars is many people drive old cars for economic reasons. You can’t tell me you paid 40k for your SUV because you couldn’t afford a more fuel efficient car. Also, I have no problem with the more fuel efficient SUVs that people have brought up. If you people would just stop tailgating me with your high beams and maybe drive like you’re in an SUV and not a sports car, it would be nice. One last request, that you recognize that your added safety means everyone else on the road is a little less safe, but I guess that goes along with the more courteous driving request. So I guess I’ll have to say that I have more of a problem with SUV culture than the things themselves. As Spoofe said, he doesn’t care if I get sick from the added smog from his beast. I find it rather telling how much insecurity there is among SUV owners that they feel the need to tell us we “have no right to complain” and then go on to talk about their protected right to own an SUV, last I checked my right to say whatever the fuck I want was the _1st_ amendment. Erek ---
**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 20, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/55 "2002-08-20T03:23:07Z")
At no point did I say that you had no right to say stuff about SUVs. You don’t like them, fine. But you have no right to insult their operators. None. They don’t drive any differently than anyone else, there are just more SUVs than there were a few years ago so you notice it more. The alleged “SUV driving culture” is a myth. It consists of people that drove like assholes in Civics driving like assholes in Expeditions. If you think it does in fact exist, the burden is on you to prove to us that it is, otherwise your allegations are unfounded, inappropriate, and just generally in poor taste. That’s what I’m annoyed with you about. As an aside, just be glad I don’t own an SUV. I’d need an Excursion just to be able to fit my penis in, since having the SUV would make it too big for the wheelbarrow it’s already toted around in. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/56 "2002-08-20T04:19:06Z")
lol Airman. Something I am wondering though, is when personal experience became an invalid source for personal discussion. This is after all the Pit and not Great Debates. If you want to say that SUV Driving Culture is a myth, that’s fine. In my experience, I have seen people drive differently in their SUV than they would drive in another vehicle. These are usually the same people who say they like being up high, or feel safer in their SUV. I tend to get tailgated by bigger vehicles more often than small ones. I was driving my friend’s Integra around New Jersey on Saturday. I had an issue with four vehicles. One was a gigantic panel van, two were SUVs and one was a smaller car. One of the SUVs was tailgating me even though I was doing 40 in a 25 along with the flow of traffic. When I was with my friend in her Montero there were a few times that I felt the need to grab onto the vehicle. I personally haven’t been driving very long, but I see that I am a better driver than most people out there, I am generally more aware of the road, and I guess, I’d rather someone be a jerkoff in a Civic or an Integra than an Excursion. Though, I never understood the whole “feel safer” argument. I drove both the Integra on Saturday and the Montero on Friday and I felt a lot safer in the Integra that I could stop on a dime, accelerate quickly or just swerve out of the way, than I did in the Montero. Erek ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/57 "2002-08-20T04:20:19Z")
Oh, in the interests of full disclosure, I don’t personally have asthma. (“What if” generally introduces a hypothetical situation.) However, the smog alert over the last five days comes complete with warnings to people with asthma, that they should basically stay in the house. You’ll notice I didn’t attack SUVs in general - merely riposting to the individual who said 1) since my SUV burns more gas, I’m paying more for it so it all works out; and 2) I don’t care if it affects you in any way. Neither of those are particularly laudable developments in human social ethics, to my way of thinking. I’m sure that SUVs aren’t the only car on the road that pollute more than their share. All cars are responsible, and a hell of a lot of them are unnecessary. I have statistics somewhere in this shambles of a room to demonstrate that automobile transportation accounts for a substantial plurality of the air pollution in Canada. Frankly, I think just about everyone should get off the roads. (And before you come back to me about the doctors and the emergency vehicles and the people who live on farms and the people who need to haul 1,000,000 pounds of shit every day, stand on the corner of St-Marc and Rene-Levesque with me some day and count the cars that are being driven by just one person.) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/58 "2002-08-20T04:25:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Considerate and conscientious people like me heat and cool their houses by geothermal heat pump. Or hydroelectricity, like me. Oddly enough, my primary mode of transportation is also driven by hydroelectricity. And I work for a company that’s responsible for removing the potential vehicle exhaust of 600 000 passenger-trips a day from the air over this fair city. Do I get to complain now? I think us guys have the balance. Us guys don’t want people to poison the atmosphere unnecessarily; you guys don’t want people to _complain_ about people polluting the atmosphere unnecessarily. Are we spoiling your peace of mind? ---
**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 20, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/59 "2002-08-20T04:30:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stofsky \* > So as not to overtax the hamster, I’ll just use my nearly imperfect sense of recall, and ask **minty** if it was he who posted a thread about a 1970-odd Caddy recently. Not me, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545/60 "2002-08-20T04:31:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh, but then you’d have to take a look at what you drive, too, and it’s easier to blame SUV drivers because they “don’t have a need”. Actually, I _did_ choose my mode of transit for ethical reasons, based on the lack of pollution it emits - I take the metro. [sub]I love it when _argumentum ad hominem tu quoque_ falls flat on its face.[/sub] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-suv-is-not-a-small-car/124545.md?page=4)