I only hate people on planes too when they pull up so far next to me so I can’t see to make my turn.
There’s logic holes in the OP that you could drive a. . .something. . .through. But, it makes me feel so damn warm inside that I’m willing to allow cognitive dissonance to take over. Well done.
Yeah, this is where I start to go :dubious: myself. It’s one thing to need a larger vehicle, it’s another to drive it more than you have to. We have two vehicles ourselves–a 2008 Prius and a 1993 Ford Ranger. We kept the Ranger because sometimes we need two vehicles or room to carry something, but except for those circumstances we use the Prius exclusively. There’s no reason to do otherwise when the Prius gets over double the gas mileage, seats more, drives better, and has a working radio and AC
What always confused me was when people spoke of the convenience of their SUV for hauling passengers and cargo. Perhaps that might be true for the largest of the land-yachts. But the standard sized ones are far less practical than just about any minivan in terms of carrying capacity. Heck, I don’t think a Jeep Cherokee-sized SUV had much more capacity than a mid-sized station wagon. So yeah, I would prefer it if people would simply acknowledge that they drive an SUV primarily because they think it looks cooler than the alternative.
Of course, when I bitch about SUVs blocking my view on the road or in parking lots, I realize that my minivan does just about as good of a job in that area!
- The Jeep Wagon wasn’t available with 4WD until 1949.
- The Land Rover Series I was launched in 1948, and did have 4WD.
I suppose the Land Rover would be disqualified as “first SUV” by your criteria because it had an aluminium body instead of a steel one. On the other hand, the Audi A8 has an aluminum body but it’s still a sedan.
Just wanted to add, my experience is from a well-heeled suburb in the highlands of west-suburban Chicago where only a miniscule fraction of the SUVs I see even have trailer hitches. And I’ve got this crazy method for witer driving safety - when the roads are unsafe, I stay home!
Haven’t checked in a while, but I remember looking at the Cadillac Escalade site and enjoying the fact that not a single photo showed the pick-up model with a single item in its bed.
With regard to the OP, I have a much bigger problem with SUVs as vehicles to share the road with than to share fuel with. Blah blah blah, if you’re a safe/conscientious SUV driver this doesn’t apply to you, etc.
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Be careful on highways! My car can stop from 60 in about 115 feet. Your Escalade can stop in 142 feet. That means you should be driving 30 feet further back from me than I am from the car in front. Instead, you’re five feet from my bumper, because you know that if push comes to shove, you’ve got eight feet of crumple zone and you’re too much of a fucking asshole to care what happens to me.
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Given #1, stay out of the fucking fast lane. It’s for vehicles travelling at, or even above, the speed limit. You should be doing neither; your vehicle is twice as heavy as mine and does not take well to swerving at high speeds. We’ve already gone over what happens if you can’t swerve. More importantly, drivers behind you can’t see what the fuck is happening in front of you because your buttocks and several feet of sheetmetal are in the way. That means they can only react to whatever your brake lights are doing, instead of looking as far as possible down the road. Thus, they either have to follow from a greater distance than normal, which means they take up double the road space and increase congestion, or follow like normal and hope nothing bad happens up ahead.
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If you can’t operate a house on wheels, don’t attempt to. I am specifically referring to YOU, Mr. do-you-mind-if-I-leave-this-wheel-in-your-parking-space?, and your friend Ms. 19-feet-long-means-it-will-fit-in-the-spot-marked-compact-right?
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This isn’t specifically aimed at SUV owners, but - I don’t really give a shit about Jordan, Lions baseball #19, or even Hayley, UCBRWXYZ All-Star Cheer Squad. Don’t put those stupid fucking stickers in the window. Also, you did a terrible job of naming your kids, and they will be teased mercilessly until they go off to college and start going by “Goober” and “that skank”.
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Before people thought it would be cool to sit eight feet off the ground, there were station wagons. They still make them. They’re much nicer to drive - you can even go around corners without tipping over!
It’s being used to prosecute nudie bar owners. I feel safer, naturally.
-Joe
Thankfully they’re all cheap crappy ones, so the picture is so fuzzy you can’t make anyone out.
I forget. Why were we trying to blame each other for our crappy countries again?
That’s a pretty good point. In 1986 or so, my dad bought a new five door Land Cruiser (it was two words then) which was, at the time, huge. By modern standards it would be a medium-sized SUV - about the size of the current 4Runner I think.
The funny thing was, unless you folded the seats down, there was just about enough trunk space for one large (hard-side) suitcase. And only if you stood it up. The trunk was a good five feet tall, ie. the height of the passenger cabin, but only about two feet deep.
Even at the age of four I could look at that, and then look at my mother’s tiny Civic, and realize that something wasn’t quite right.
*we lived in Bahrain at the time and dad actually had to do quite a lot of dirt-road driving, so it was a need purchase rather than a fashion one. Off-roaders bigger than a Jeep weren’t “cool” yet anyway.
Quite simply not an option when winter is 6 months long and the roads are snowpacked and icy the whole time. I use 4x4 about 180 days a year.
Yeah - actually you were the reason I pointed out my location. Us flatlanders have these things called plows and salt trucks! 
And on those occasions when we get winter weather advisories, there really are few trips that cannot be postponed until driving conditions improve. Especially if you keep your head out of your ass and plan in advance when dangerous weather threatens.
Of course, anthing that involves foresight and works against immediate whim gratification is downright un-American. 
I lived in Park Ridge until I was 9.
Well, I’ve got to work.
I think **Dd’**s point was that the people around where he lives should be planning ahead, etc., not you.
Well, that’s a nice idea, but not too practical when winter can last up to seven months (snow in April—it’s fun!). We live in a very small town and my husband works in another very small town ~20 miles away. Now, my husband usually doesn’t drive the Explorer to work. He has a mini van that his employer provides for him to use. But when we wake up in the morning and it’s snowing or they’re predicting a six-inch snowfall that day, he takes the Explorer instead. The alternative is to stay home and not get paid. 'Round these parts, staying home when it snows is simply not an option.
I’m sure Metra will extend their west line up into the Rockies any day now!
I thought I was being clear that I was commenting solely on the suburban species of SUV owner. Farmers, tradesmen, folks living in rural areas - I have no issue with their claims that pickups or SUVs are sensible vehicles for them. But in my environs, my opinion is that the vast majority of SUVs are bought/driven for image far more than utility.
(For whatever reason, whenever I think of where you live enipla I think of an older SUV TV ad, where the guy happily hopped in his SUV and tore off on a perilous journey over cliffs and through streams and such, heading down to his mailbox!)
I am always intrigued by the adds for LANDROVER. To see them , you would think that L-Rs are driven up mountains, through creeks, and into muddy bogs. I very much doubt that even 1% of these vehicles are driven this way. Plus, the negatives:
-they drink gasoline
-the handling 9on the highway) stinks
-they break…constantly and are expensive to fix
I guess that is why you see 4-year old LR’s on EBAY for $5000!
Are you thinking of the Suzuki one where the guy hang-glides from a tall cliff down to his shiny Grand Vitara?
I always wondered how he gets back up again at the end of the day.
Land Rovers are advertised doing those things because that’s what they were actually used for for years and years. If you’re an British farmer, you probably own (or owned) a 25-year-old Defender/LRII which can get anywhere on your farm with a minimum of fuss.
If you’re a well-heeled Briton and you live in a rural area, then perhaps you’ve got a Range Rover - almost all the go-anywhere capability of the Defender plus leather and wood and air conditioning and such.
Of course, the Freelander is a bit more of an on-roader - but even so, it’s a much more serious off-road vehicle than anything else in the CR-V/RAV4/Escape category.
The question I have with the OP (assuming a significant % of people with SUV’s are dumping them) is that if SUV’s are a status symbol…the efficiency at that would be improved with higher gas prices…
See, I am driving a gas guzzler SUV even though gas prices are high! I am successful…you should envy me/have sex with me.
If people are buying them for status, then they should be keeping them…unless they are posers - truely cannot afford the increased cost.
Thank you. I sometimes think “city folks” don’t really have a clue what it’s like to live in a rural area during the winter. Even so, we really do try to only use the Explorer when we need it, and have done so for much longer than there have been high gas prices. We take my New Beetle whenever possible, and my husband has no issues driving that, despite accusations upthread that SUV drivers such as himself do so in order to look cool.