a) independent, but mostly vote Democratic just because Republican candidates usually just seem evil to me
b) nope, but I have a pickup truck (4-banger, and I only drive 3k-4k miles annually)
c) almost rural
a. Democrat
b. Yes, a Ford Escape (tiny SUV)
c. Suburbs
First, I’m trying to keep away from the whole pro/anti SUV debate.
But I’m curious. You drive a Scion (cute looking car by the way), but you find SUV’s uncomfortable?
I’m 6’3" and 210 lbs. I like having a car that I can get in and out of easily. I took the running boards off because they just got in the way.
a) Democrat
b) no, a tiny Nissan Sentra, although my last car before that was a Jeep Cherokee (which I sold for fuel economy reasons). I adored the Jeep, but the only way I’d own another one was if it was a hybrid.
c) city
a: Green. I’m Canadian, so we don’t have Democrat or Republican parties.
b) Never owned a car. Couldn’t afford it for the longest time what with paying off debt and all; when I need one I rent.
c- Inner southwest suburbs, an apartment built in the early fifties. I don’t live in the trendy condo forest downtown, nor in the violence-plagued NW or NE suburbs.
(A Ford Escape is ‘tiny’?)
a) Registered independent, fiscal conservative, social liberal
b) yes, and a pickup, and a sports car, all foreign makes
c) large suburban city
By SUV standards yes, and the Hybrid version gets pretty good gas mileage.
It is actually more efficient than my smaller Ford Focus Wagon and has better emissions.
I won’t buy one, as I am holding out for a Plug-in Hybrid sedan with incredible mileage, but the Hybrid Escape is a nice alternative for people that want some room and good gas mileage.
Jim
I’m a conservative independent who typically votes Republican. I have a small SUV (Jeep Liberty). It’s actually so small that it is the same length as my former car…a Ford Focus! I was surprised by that. I live in the city (well, an urban-type suburb), and always resisted getting an SUV because of the gas mileage. Our main reasons for buying it were the following:
- We like to up north to the UP on vacation, and the off-road capabilites come in handy.
- My driveway is on a major street/state highway with a lot of traffic. My husband travels, and it’s very difficult for lil’ ol’ me to shovel the ice chunks the snow plow deposits at the foot of the drive when it snows. With the Jeep, I can just drive over them without risking damage. Getting a plow service didn’t help because the municipal plow comes by several times a day, so even if I get it plowed in the morning, it’s 10 times worse in the afternoon.
- Getting a baby in and out of the Focus was killing my back (I’m too old for all this mom stuff).
Turns out, the gas mileage really isn’t too bad, mostly because the car’s really not that big, and I mostly do highway driving. I must admit, I love the thing.
- Democrat
- Yes, a Ford Escape
- City dweller.
- Unregistered lefty. Have volunteered to fix computers for the local Dems, though.
- Never never never.
- City dweller. Life got so much more pleasant when I left the 'burbs and moved into a city.
- Leftish
- Manual transmission Jeep Liberty (without 4wd, I couldn’t get to work some days)
- BFE
One of mt radical ecological friends is seriously considering a hybrid Escape, so I’m aware of its good points; I just never thought of it as ‘tiny’, is all. ‘Compact’ maybe, but not ‘tiny’.
Dem-leaning independent
No, and would not
City
And here’s another vote for “I see way more SUVs in the city and suburbs than in rural areas.”
Democrat
No, but I’d love a Rav-4 or a small pickup. I have a bad hip, and it’s easier to get in and out of vehicles that are a bit higher off the ground.
Rural
Libertarian
Yes, a hybrid SUV though
City
I agree. SUVs don’t strike me as very good work vehicles. You’re not going to toss a few sacks of concrete and sheets of plywood in the back. Rural dwellers who need a work vehicle are probably going to buy a pickup truck that can take abuse. The original 80’s Chevy Suburban was a work vehicle - painted steel floors and vinyl seats. You could hose it out after a day at the construction site. The new ones, not so much.
I think SUVs are really just jacked up minivans. Sometime in the late 80’s, I think Detroit realized that many men hate minivans. They then thought, hey, let’s make a minivan that is even bigger, harder to manuever, and has a bigger engine. This way, suburban dads can haul their kids to soccer practice without feeling like they’re driving a giant rolling womb. I’ll bet the majority of people who buy SUVs would satisfy all their actual needs just as well with a minivan, or a decent station wagon for that matter. Hell, I even managed to wedge a new storm door into my Prius the other day. It has a lot of room in the back. I can’t pull a boat with it or take it offroad, but again, I’d imagine the vast majority of SUV owners do neither of those things. If I ever have more than four children, maybe I’ll need something with another row of seats. Come to think of it, I don’t really see myself ever buying a minivan either. “It seats seven!” Great, now I just need to find a baseball team to coach!
NB: I scrupulously used the word “majority”. Some of the previous posters seem to have excellent reasons for buying an SUV. This is just my opinion about why most SUV owners are SUV owners.
Or they’re a closed-in truck.
Or they’re tall 4wd station wagons.
SUVs are just as distinct from other types of vehicles as those vehicles are from one another so arguing that an SUV really is something else strikes me as an exceptionally goofy thing to say.
- Non-affiliated (I’m all over the place)
- A small one, yes (Honda CRV) (also referred to as a ‘Cute-UTE’ along with the Escape and Liberty.)
- Suburbs
Which can no longer be used as a truck
I’ll buy that, except for the SUVs that aren’t 4wd.
I think they are superficially distinct, but I suspect not so distinct in the utility provided to most buyers.
I’m really arguing that for most SUV buyers, I would think a minivan or station wagon or even large-ish sedan would satisfy all their needs equally well without being an obnoxiously big gas-guzzler. At least this is the case for the majority of SUV owners I know well enough to know their usage of the vehicle. Again, IMHO and all that.
Well it is all relative, an Escape looks tiny next to a Cadillac Escalade. 