I know there have been a lot of SUV rants, and that the general populace of this boards puts in the same category as ‘Fuck the Niggers’ rants. But if I may rant for a second.
The reason people like me hate SUV’s is the invincible feeling it seems to give imbiciles. A fucking SUV is not invincible. 4wd drive doesn’t increase the braking ability, All wheels break anyway, 4wd only increses the ability to go. The extra weight only counteracts the phenomenon of friction to fuck up stopping on snow and ice. Plus the extra heighth only creates a peception of seperation of reality that encourages idiotic speeds. You may fucking feel safe, but you are incresing the danger to yourself and others. Those SUVs are not nimble and well handling, no matter what the slick brochure tells you. You are driving an elephant on slightly more surface area of tire than any other car.
The instigation for this rant lies in my trip home tonight. I was at a friends grabbing a couple beers before I went home. Denver had a bit of a freak snowstorm tonight(freak in the sence that the snow fell faster than the ready snow plows could take it off the main arteries, on a slippery type of bean bag snow). On my ten mile trip home from Littleton I saw probably 25 SUVs dangerously out of control, 5 street signs taken done by SUVs, 3 accidents caused by SUVs(one likely fatal, in my perception), and two accidents avoided by me, while I was stopped, by evasive action because I have a Subaru SVX AWD with studded tires and was able shift backward and hit the gas and get out of the way before the idiots with no concept of momentum while turning, and got out of the clear path the morons were obviously going to pass throught.
If you are one of the ‘Im afflunent so I deserve an SUV’ crowd just ask your self “Do I undertstand how to drive the damn 5000 pound piece of High-center-of-gravity shit on snow, or do I just assume that my ass is so fucking important that friction and inertia will bow to my will”. Cause you very might well kill somebody if your answer is wrong.
Someone pointed out to me recently that soon we will hit the point where early model SUVs (4WDs in Australia) will be cheap enough for young kids to buy them when they get their first licence. And since no government in Australia has the guts to make people obtain a differential licence in order to drive one, they will be being driven in an even more hair raising manner than they are today. Cheery thought, eh?
Anyway the (hopefully to be well meaning) part could be expressed more constructivly as.
If you have a big ass SUV, do you understand how to drive it and what the physics of the that much wieght are? if not please enroll in an ice and snow driving course, because those cars arn’t magical, and can pose a serious danger if not handled correctly. Please learn about your vehicle!!
I cannot understand the popularity of SUV’s in southern California, where gas is currently in the $2.10 per gallon range and where we have horrible public transportation.
It seems to me that there’s a congnitive bias at work in that people tend to assess their own circumstances by comparing them with others. Subconsciously, it’s easy to get into a sort of competitive feeling on the road. So if your lane is moving at 10mph and the guy in the next lane is moving at 5mph, you feel better than if you were moving at 20mph and the next lane is moving at 30mph. Even though the second scenario will get you where you need to go quicker.
So perhaps, people in SUV’s feel that they are more likely to come out of an accident better than the other guy and therefore they feel safer. Even if they are at increased risk.
Being an idiot on the highway does not require owning an SUV. Unfortunately, there’s more idiots then there are SUV’s.
Just because a vehicle is designed so that it can be used off-road, doesn’t mean it has to ever be used in that manner.
If a consumer wants to buy an overpriced vehicle that gets poor gas mileage, that’s their choice and thankfully we live in a country where they can still choose.
As a prior SUV owner, I understand their appeal. I just couldn’t personally justify one for myself any longer now that the kids are starting to leave the nest.
Unless I’m misunderstanding your circumstances (you weren’t driving, or you were acutally picking up beer without drinking them), YOU are the road menace.
Half the fun of the occasional snow fall here in Atlanta is watching all the hard-charging suburban go-getters in their LandTanks careen out of control cause they don’t know how to actually drive while my little Toyota cruises by.
No, but give some people a costume, and they transform. Drive a little tin can car and you plod along without any style or presence. Drive a penis vehicle, and voila, you are SUPERMAN! (or Superwoman…your choice.)
They get behind the wheel and lose all common sense. They are now able to stop on a dime, no matter what the road condition, but if they can’t…they can take the impact into the tinier vehicles, moose, whatever, without a scratch. Able to pass and change lanes effortlessly on snow laden highways, burrowing through the drifts and causing tidals waves of snow, blinding all other drivers, but BY GOD, they can still see. Able to maneuver and weave in and out between those pesky other vehicles who don’t belong on their road, and able to run red lights with superspeed, getting to work/favorite fishing hole/bar faster than all others!
I didn’t realize they were a plaque all over, but after reading this thread, apparently so. I don’t leave the state much. I’m sheltered, yes. We have a lot of SUVs here where I live. It’s a rugged rural area, so mostly they are not for show but practicality. The conditions are harsh and commuting is an absolute. I just got one myself a couple of weeks ago after being convinced by my husband it was time to get rid of the 8 year old jalopy I was driving. So now I have an SUV. However, I still drive my cautious self. The ice and snow conditions haven’t changed, the assholes driving out there seem to be a constant. Other SUVs (as well as non SUVs) continue plow me down, pass me, tailgate me, run red lights. Apparently there is no courtesy amongst the brethren. It’s a “each man for himself” attitude out there. It seems people are more inclined to drive like bullies when they are in a tank rather than a tin can. however.
I was driving on the loop highway around town today and saw a compact sedan suddenly veer across two lanes of traffic to make an exit, do about 80 mph on the exit road and then veer across yet another car’s path to take the exit ramp.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people in compact cars do foolish and dangerous things, become involved in accidents and get hurt.
They must believe that “I drive a small car, therefore I am invisible and endowed with special powers to do what I want”. Obviously some sort of remedial training should be required before they are allowed on the road.
No matter what the vehicle is, there’ll be idiots who drive it.
I’ve got nothing against the SUV as a vehicle type. I used to live out in the middle of nowhere, on a road that was maintained by nobody. This road looked like a beat-up river bed. A variety of vehicles can drive down it (a Ford Aspire, a Ranger, and a 1982 Dodge Mirada went down it regularly). But when it gets icy, forget about it. If it weren’t for the fact that we also had an old Ram Charger around, none of us would have been able to leave the house. It pulled all the other vehicles out of there, no problem.
On the other end of the SUV spectrum, a co-worker has a big BMW SUV he picked up in Germany. It doesn’t have much on my Honda Accord, though. We can both seat five, but rarely will ever do that. There’s not a huge difference in cargo space, either. I don’t even think he has 4WD.
I’m not one to tell people how to spend their money. But why buy a massive machine capable of going up a mountain when you’re never going to drive it down anything rougher than pavement? I’d be willing to bet a good chunk of these people have yet to take their behemoths down so much as a well-groomed gravel road.
Even better- these folks who buy Hummers. I drive a real Humvee, skeezix. It might be government property, but I can drive it. Between the exorbitant sticker price and the fuel consumption, it’s clear that the H2 is aimed squarely at those with much more money than brains. G’wan, have fun with it. Just bear in mind that they weren’t built to take it like the genuine article.
Before my main point, I’d like to address the penis - SUV link that people seem to find so entertaining. Most of the people I know who drive SUVs are women. So do all the women feel they need an SUV since they lack a penis? Beyond this, it is interesting to see how the vehicle of the insane uncaring asshole penis wanting driver changed over the years. It used to be the small penis rich asshole who thought he owned the road drove a luxury sedan or a sports car, now it’s an SUV. This doesn’t even get into the change from minivan driving soccer moms now being called SUV driving soccer moms. Whatever the outrage, insert currently popular vehicle
Anyway, two weeks ago my inlaws, wife and myself are going home after a Mardi Gras parade in my sister-in-law’s SUV. Notice it’s a female owner, which I guess means she wants a penis. About halfway home a drunk driver slams into the back of us hard enough to push the SUV 30 feet or so(I’m bad with distances so that’s a guess). The front of drunk asshole’s car was badly damaged while her truck was not. He made contact with her trailor hitch which transfered the energy to the frame. Based on the fact that we had 5 people in the car including two kids and no one was hurt, I say hu-fucking-ray for SUV’s. With the number of stupid people on the road, I’d consider nothing less than a multi-ton vehicle to protect my family. If you run a red light because you’re running late and plow into someone, I hope they are driving an SUV and you suffer dire consequences for being a fucking idiot.
Oh, come on, bucko, I’d down half a bottle of Jack ‘fore takin’ to the road. Luckily, most people in my area are good at jumping out of the way…
(Kidding. Or am I…? :D)
Anyway, as to the OP…
C’mon, man, you know those same imbeciles would feel just as invincible if you put 'em behind the wheel of, say, a Civic. In fact, I’d say it’s BETTER that they’re not in a small car, 'cuz then they’d have to try to compensate for their car’s lack of size with really aggressive driving.
Not that I have any… y’know… evidence for that hypothesis…
That is exactly the sort of thing I am bitching about. It’s a simple matter of physics here people. Idiots who don’t understand that post replies like this. Large heavy vehicles handle much differently under emergycy circumstances. There is a reason Commerical drivers need a special license. Because the fucking physics of driving a larger vehicle are fucking different. Fucking physics, fucking physics, fucking physics!, Am I making my point clear yet! It’s fucking physics that makes SUVs different, and your absurd complex of trying to feel discrimnated against doesn’t change the fucking physics.
