Let’s not turn this into an SUV-bashing thread. There’s a thread in The Pit calling Hummer drivers assholes. Instead, the question is this: If you have an SUV, do you ‘need’ it?
I bought my compact SUV Jeep Cherokee (about the same length as a Honda Accord, BTW) when I found my 911SC would not carry my gear. The Jeep allowed me to carry my camera equipment, four passengers, bulky stuff, etc. I used to take it off-road in the mountains north of L.A. , too. I’d wait until after a rain so the narrow, steep trails were nice and snotty.
It was a much-needed asset when I moved north. Twice it hauled very heavy trailers full of my stuff, and once it hauled my two motorcycles. Of course the interior was filled as well. I used my REI dividends to buy a roof rack system. Many times it carried my kayak. One one trip to the western side of Vancouver island it carried my kayak and my friend’s kayak over 45 miles of washboard dirt and gravel roads. My friend’s van would have been shaken to pieces. Its four-wheel drive capability has been very useful here during the couple of weeks every year when there is snow on the roads, and during those times when I need to get off of the paved bits. I have a boat now, and the Jeep is very handy for pulling it to the marina and launching it. (It’s a 14-foot inflatable with a 25 hp four-stroke outboard, so I don’t need a vehicle as powerful as the Jeep; but I prefer very small cars whose short wheelbases would not be good for towing.)
With gas prices as high as they are, I often wish I had a Honda Civic or something. And anyway, as I said, I prefer small cars. (You may recall that I was looking for a '91 - '95 Civic Hatchback a few weeks ago, only no one up here wants to sell them.) But yesterday we were filming. I have my doorway dolly in the back, and it just fits. On top of that I had tripods, a jib, a monitor, a couple of C-stands, the Steadicam, and a bunch of other gear. As much as I dislike having to drive very carefully and still only getting 20 mpg, there’s no way I could haul all of that stuff without it.
So if you have an SUV, do you ‘use’ it? Do you ‘need’ it?
I have a 4Runner. I go on long road trips, do a lot of sightseeing, camping, hiking, biking and photography. Everything fits in the 4Runner with ease, and I sleep in the back when I’m camping. I’m no off-roader, but once in awhile, I need 4WD to get to a trailhead. I’ve had bigger trucks, and smaller hatchbacks, but the 4Runner fits the bill for me. So, yes, for my lifestyle, I do need my SUV.
My parents have an SUV and I know that they are the type of people that others make fun of. My dad has his Suburban and my mom has a little Grand Am. They work at the same office and both drive their separate vehicles (their justification is that they don’t always leave at the same time).
All the kids have left home so it is just them, but they still use the Suburban a fair amount. They are the ones driving everybody around at the holidays. They have two big dogs and when they go camping the thing is packed. They have also helped kids move countless times. And my Grandma who visits regularly has trouble getting into smaller cars, so they need the Suburban for her as well.
So they use it to its full capacity at an average of 2 - 3 times a month, does that justify it?
'87 half ton 4x4 Suburban. 13 mpg. Bought it for $3,000 and spent another $3,000 replacing the engine and other stuff.
I use it when I need to move a lot of stuff and I use it for hunting. It can carry a lot of gear and people and go on roads that a car can’t go on. I don’t use it for commuting and don’t drive it much, but I’m glad to have it.
The key for me it that it’s paid for, fairly inexpensive to start with, and old enough that I only have to carry liability insurance on it. If it was new and I faced a $35,000+ price and the cost of full coverage insurance, I wouldn’t own it.
The main reason my husband drives an Explorer is for the four-wheel drive. He needs that for his 40-mile round-trip to work in the winter. I work about seven blocks from home, so I drive a car. We also need an SUV (or truck, makes no difference to me) to pull our boat. We did try pulling the boat with a car, but it just didn’t work very well and was hard on the car. My husband is also a hunter, so he uses it for his guns and other hunting equipment, not to mention driving around on minimum maintenance roads in the middle of fields. If we go somewhere together, we almost always take the car, except when we’re taking the boat with us.
We have an '02 Honda CRV. It doesn’t have 4WD, and it only has a four cylinder engine. Does it even count as an SUV?
If so, we use the hell out of that thing. In the past two years it’s hauled 5 people on 5 week-long road trips, usually packed to the gills with camping equipment. The roads we drive down are not always paved, nor level/straight. Small weekend, offroad camping trips occur almost monthly.
I’ve got a ‘97 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I rarely carry passengers, so the back seats stay folded. I’ve been using it lately to move furniture and other household things (Mom moved in with me after my dad passed away in July). I’ve been amazed at how much furniture fits inside. One of the last pieces I moved was a kitchen island. I had to relocate the spare tire to load the island, but once it was in place I had plenty of room left. I also use it for storage; right now, it’s holding several empty cardboard boxes, some bubble wrap, and all the towel sets from my parents’ bathroom (long story short, my mom was afraid that a certain person who has access to the house was going to take them). I also have a large toolbox that’s always in the vehicle; in a pinch, I can fit it on the floor in front of the passenger seat. It’s great for off-road and winter driving too.
We are the only full time residents on a dead end gravel road at 11,200 feet in the Colorado Rockies. I drive over the continental divide every day.
Just last October 10th we received 28 inches of snow. This morning we had another 8 inches. I suspect we see over a foot today. Maybe two. Once winter really sets in, I’ll be using 4x4 every day. That will last for about 6 months.
I’ve already pulled one car out and it’s not even Halloween.
I definitely need the ground clearance and 4-wheel drive. Along with low-range. I run snow tires year round. Not much point in taking them off. They double as pretty good off road tires.
I also need the cargo capacity and towing ability. I have a 16’ two axle car hauler/utility trailer. Actually, my SUV is a bit small for towing it.
I’ll be buying another in about a year. I’ve considered a truck instead, but the SUV serves me better.
All the people I know that own them have good use for them. Towing, off-roading/hunting/camping, snow. Seem to be the most common uses.
I’ve been driving Jeep Wranglers for a while now. Do they qualify as SUVs? I never have to change my plans due to snow, I do some minor off road driving, etc. Gas prices hurt, but when my current Wrangler needs replaced, I’ll probably get another.
My parents have a minivan and an Explorer - no kids in the house any longer. My dad uses the Explorer as a bail bondsmen, so he’s frequently on the road traveling to jails, and he wanted a comfortable car. He’s always driven mostly small cars. However, the Explorer doesn’t necessarily get used as a hauling car most of the time - he does, however, help move an awful lot of things and people. I used the Explorer last year when I was home for my wedding - it was great for hauling around my bridal party. My parents also frequently take care of my brother’s two large dogs, so they need room for the pups in a car. And now with my brother and SIL’s first baby arriving (hopefully, SOON), they’ll need room for the dogs and the carseat often.
My brother and SIL have a truck and a CRV. My brother drives the truck, but will probably be trading it in soon - there’s nowhere to put the baby. I expect he’ll be getting another SUV. His wife drives the CRV - again, they needed it for the two large dogs and the baby. My brother also owns a restaurant, and hauls a LOT of stuff around for the restaurant, so they do need an SUV.
I would like an SUV, but we don’t need one (we drive two small cars now that fit our needs) and we can’t justify the price when we can pay less for a smaller car that still meets our needs (right now, we’re looking into getting a PT Cruiser in January). Plus, we both hate filling up our small tanks, even though our cars get great gas mileage. We’d drive each other nuts if we had an SUV. Doesn’t mean I don’t want one, and if we ever need the space, we’d probably think about it. But in cases like my dad and my brother, I can easily see why they need one.
I’ve a year old Chevy 4x4 that I drive about a mile into the woods almost every Saturday to play paintball. I lug most everybodies gear. Most of the guys I play with have cars or are afraid to get their dainty SUV’s dirty.
No kidding, one has a Jeep Liberty and another an Explorer. I give them all manner of shit for not driving back there. Hell my truck had about 50 miles on it the first time I took it off road. *That’s what trucks are for dammit. *
Plus hauling around tons of firewood, lumber, my ATV, or a garage full of beer cans I don’t know what I’d do without my truck. This time of year I use it as the biggest wheelbarrow you ever saw when I rake leaves in the yard.
I can’t sleep in the Cherokee very easily. I’ll only fit if I lie diagonally, and then only if I don’t have camping gear. The cargo area (with the seat folded) is just too short.
I bought my Rav4 when my cousin gave me his sailboat. I use it a few times a month to take the boat out, and right now, I’m moving, so I and my future roommates have been using it a lot to haul our stuff around. It looks like we might be able to get away with not renting a truck at all.
It’s certainly a lot more practical than my Miata.
I have an Escape, which is pretty much a Mini-SUV. It doesn’t have much power (more than my Escort did) but it’s not like I’m going up mountains. It drives pretty much like any sedan.
I got it because I’m a 26 yo woman who’s dad works at Ford, and other than a Mustang or a Focus, they didn’t have a car for my age. I needed space to go places with my dog (pretty big) but not a Taurus or 500.
When i got my Escape my folks had just gotten rid of their Taurus wagon, which had been the “hauling big stuff” vehicle of choice for my friends and family for many years.
Since I got it a year ago, I have helped several people move including myself, done large work projects involving hauling stuff, picked up large items from Home Depot, took 4 friends on a weekender (because they all had sports cars) and hauled my dad to the ER when he hurt his back and couldn’t sit down.
So, I’d say I use my SUV as an SUV (seats down) 2-3 times a month.
We use the 16-18mpg SUV to move things that don’t fit into the Civic. Dogs, Dog food (120lbs at a time) wood, people, costco purchases. flooring, etc. It’s a 1999 with 54k miles on it.
The 1994 Civic has 85k miles on it. It’s for tooling around without the stuff listed above.
I live in big truck/big SUV land so I often feel small in my jeep and practically invisible in my civic. We don’t have to commute anymore since we both work from home–which is great!
And yes, I do shake my head at the soccer moms in their Escalades waiting (engines running) to pick up their 1 child after school.
If by ‘need’ you mean ‘performs a function simply not available anywhere else’, then I have to say I don’t rightly know. I bought both of my SUVs (a 94 grand cherokee & an 01 Montero) because I wanted something with decent ground clearance & had 4 wheel drive. Those New England winters can be tough. There was also a certain sense of “if you can’t beat em, join em” to it.
We have a Subaru Forester. I’m not sure this really counts as an SUV. But we have it for several reasons:
-AWD, which is good for commuting in winter;
-Cargo capacity, because our other cars are a convertible with a tiny trunk, a two-seat very fast sports car, an old piece of American Iron I’m restoring but hasn’t run in three years and gets worse gas mileage than any SUV on the planet, probably, and a caged race car. The Subaru is the only thing we can carry anything, including four people, in.
Sadly, I’m going to need to buy a real SUV soon, preferably deisel. I can’t tow the race car with the Forester.
I have a Wrangler. I average about 17 mpg. I don’t need it at all. Any car would fit the bill for me. I drive it about 8 miles a day, to and from work, and never on the weekends. I don’t haul anything with it, it doesn’t fit even 3 people comfortably, and its not at all practical or useful for me.
The problem is that I love it and will never get rid of it. I don’t have the cash for a 2nd, more practical car. I own my Jeep out right and don’t drive it enough for the gas prices to break me.
No, I don’t need it. I’ll also never get rid of it. When my money situation improves, I’ll be buying a more gas-efficient vehicle for everyday driving.
I don’t have an SUV, but I do have a UV (Ford E-350 van), and I don’t need it. I used to, though; we’d go on weekend trips with eight or nine people, or 4-5 people with a crapload of stuff, and the full-size van came in very hand. Nowadays, we hardly ever go on that kind of trip, and we’re planning on selling it and buying me a station wagon that gets at least twice the mileage.
