I laughed my head off once when I saw a man driving his Dodge Durango with a “WWJD” bumper sticker on the back. My first thought was “Jesus wouldn’t drive a Dodge Durango you jerk!” Sure, he’d need some room for his disciples and all, but I think he’d make do with the already mentioned Country Squires station wagon or - better yet - a Volkswagon Vanagon, both of which would obviously be used. He’d spend the money he saved on gas on more lofty ideals, I think.
I find this thread just one more example of SUV bashing and simply intolerable. SUV owners are people with real feelings and emotions and really don’t deserve this kind of verbal abuse.
Why must everyone who does not own a sacred… I mean SUV feel the need to bash the feelings and question the motives of those who do?
Do you think your snickers and derisive comments are not heard by SUV drivers at the gas pumps and in the parking lots of this great land of ours? Did you ever stop to think that you could hurt someone’s feelings talking like that?
Do SUV owners not have places to go, groceries to buy and items that need to be transported? Do only vehicularly challenged people have the right to drive to work, run errands, and play?
People, can’t we all just get along?
Don’t make me drive my hubby’s Official Evil Surburban of Doom over there and convince you to see it my way.
I’m not fond of SUVs. I don’t loathe them, but I don’t really like’em, either. They’re rather tough to see past when you’re behind one. I don’t think they’re all that neccesary (even convenient) where I am - a fairly flat, very paved suburban area.
And yeah, I’ve almost never seen a family in one - usually it’s just the driver.
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What really burns my ass is when I see an SUV parked in a handicapped spot. I know that not all people who deserve handicapped permits have serious mobility problems, I’ve just never met one who could make it in & out of an SUV. I’m sure they’re out there.
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Part of the reason, Cosmo, is that people who are NOT handicapped can get state plates if they transport someone who is frequently - my boss has the plates for transporting her (eldery, very sickly) mom around, who can’t drive. They are easy to get, that’s why NYC window tags, which are harder to get, are worth more, and give street parking privileges, not just lots.
One advantage the SUV does have sometimes is the height - my mom, who has a bad back, was looking at an Explorer a few years back - she found it easier to get in and out of than my Nissan where she’d have to bend. She could just step in (she’s fairly tall)
That said, I think the plates are too easy to get, but for cars too, not just SUVs.
I don’t understand why people think that SUV’s have so much more room in them? I’ve ridden in plenty and they hold 5 passengers and about the same cargo room as many trunks. Where do you get more room? I drive a minivan and wish I had a VW Golf. We only own one vehical and my husband is 6’2", the minivan is for him.
My parents have two SUVs, both fairly recent makes (I believe 2000 and 2001 or 1999 and 2000). They spend a ton of money on gas.
My Dad has a Ford Explorer, Eddie Bauer customized. The only thing of substantial size he has EVER hauled in it was my college dorm room stuff.
My mom has a Dodge Durango. This was purchased in order to haul our too-frickin-big boat. It, at least, has a purpose.
I get very, very annoyed when my parents complain that they can’t send me money, seeing as they are more than willing to pay through the nose for these things. But at least I can use the experience to explain why people buy them:
Status symbol.
That’s it. It’s just a “I make more money than you” thing. My parents had already bought one SUV. My dad wanted another one, not because he needed it, but because it provided a way to show off the fact that he can afford one.
If I say anything more, it’ll turn into a rant. And the anti-SUV thing is so passé ;).
**
I drive a 1996 Saturn and I felt perfectly safe sharing the roads of Dallas with SUVs. Now that I’m in Little Rock I still feel perfectly safe.
Same reason there’s always ONE person in a puny, gas conservative type vehicle. Most people just don’t like to car pool.
Marc
Originally posted by lurkernomore:
Oh, I know. I just like to bitch & moan. 
The hangtags/plates ARE too easy to get, at least in NY state. All you gotta do is get your doctor to write you a note.
After that, you can do with the tag/car what you wish. To park legally in a handicapped space in NYS, all you gotta have is non-expired plates/hangtag . No need for the handicapped person to be the one using the thing; you can give the car/tag to your grandkid if she’s driving to the mall & won’t be able to find a regular space. It happens to me @ school sometimes- perfectly able-bodied college students use Grandma’s sticker to get the closest (handicapped) spots & I have to park in East Bumblefuck. Luckily, there’s usually one handicapped spot left in E. B.
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Granted, I attend a school with a ridiculous parking problem. During the first two weeks of the semester, the most popular way of getting a space is to spot someone [anyone] with keys in their hands & shout an offer to drive them to their cars in exchange for the spot. Seriously. I might resort to borrowing great-aunt Ethel’s car/tag as well.
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A couple of weeks ago, I (almost literally) ran into another reason why SUV’s are a hazard on the road. I was driving behind one (not tailgating, and not speeding) on a fairly high-speed road, and the circumstances of the road created a situation where the SUV veered off to take the ramp onto the highway, and I was left looking at the row of traffic stopped at the light that I couldn’t see while the SUV was blocking my view of everything except his back end. He hadn’t slowed down for the light because he was turning off, and I hadn’t either because I couldn’t see what was ahead of me because of him and the curve of this particular road. I will grant you that this particular unsafe condition wasn’t caused by an SUV per se; any large, view-obstructing vehicle would have had the same effect. My beef with SUVs is that they are so pervasive on our roads, and there is virtually no reason for most people to be driving these road hazards.
(Just for the record, Cosmopolitan, here in Calgary, handicapped parking tags are to be used only by the handicapped person when they are the ones actually driving. And it is even recommended that the handicapped person monitor themselves, and not use their handicapped tags if they don’t need them on any particular day. Your laws may be different, of course. Just pointing out that a handicapped tag on a vehicle probably isn’t the carte blanche that people are using them for.)
Hows about, “I drive one because I f*cking want to!”.
Ed Begley Jr. be damned, if I’m willing to pay thirty grand for a vehicle that gets ten miles to the gallon I have every freakin’ right to do so.
Eat flaming death enviro-weenies! 
Because you’re blocking my view, hogging the parking spaces, guzzling gasoline at 3x the rate of a regular passenger sedan, and increasing my chances of getting killed if you happen to lose control of your Suburban Behemoth and plow into me.
Frankly, the fact that I’m paying more for gasoline and endangering myself further all because you don’t have the sense to drive a Honda Accord doesn’t predispose me to be considerate of your feelings.
My main gripe with SUVs is that they are hard to see around. I’m trying to turn right, but I can’t see the oncoming traffic because their is a big ugly SUV in the lane next to me. I pull forward just a little so I can see - the SUV inches forward and I can’t see anymore. I pull forward a little more, SUV moves forward. Finally the light turns green. As I’m turning right the SUV zooms through the intersection as they cross over into the right lane and turn into the parking lot - I guess he was matching my forward progress because he knew he had to get in my lane to get to where he was going, didn’t realize I was turning (despite my turn signal), and was afraid I would get in front of him.
Hmm, I guess maybe my main gripe is that most SUV drivers are inconsiderate jerks, judging from my post…
The best thing about Minnesota winters is seeing SUVs in the ditch…
4x4 does NOT mean “I can do 70 on an icy road”.
Marcie recently bought a Dodge conversion van, which we planned to use only for weekend camping trips. Our regular vehicle was a Honda Civic. Once we realized that SUVs wouldn’t challenge the Dodge van, we began driving it more often. I admit that it gets relatively poor gas milage but I think it is worth it in order to be able to see around SUVs at corners and in parking lots. Plus, since we have been driving the van, we have yet to be cut off by an SUV and that happened routinely when we drove the Honda. Maybe the van is just more visible to SUV drivers than the Honda.
Funny, I look at 'em and think “That guy has more debt than I do”.
On the “Poseur” Anti-SUV site quoted earlier in this thread, they say driving an SUV is like driving a great big middle finger.
Wanting roads to get safer instead of more dangerous as we become more technologically advanced doesn’t make me an enviro-weenie. Hating SUVs because they are guzzling more gas and polluting more than your average sedan might, though.
chique–that’s so true. In fact, I hardly ever see a non-SUV in a ditch after a snowstorm. Maybe because drivers of those cars don’t have an overinflated sense of security that seems to be common among many SUV drivers.
Ohh, ooh! I have an idea! What if (due to the fact that SUVs are so hard to see around) we required that they all be made of glass! That would solve a lot of problems in one fell swoop.
As an urban dweller I particularly loathe SUV’s. They’re hard to see around. I usually find them parked at the end of the block where there’s a stop sign, making it impossible for you to see oncoming traffic. I hear there’s a law about parking such a vehicle so close to an intersection, but I rarely see the SUV’s ticketed. The scariest think is the drivers who in my opinion drive far to fast given the size of the vehicle and the damage it can do.