| Author |
Message |
    
jet
Citizen
Username: Jet
Post Number: 331
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 11:57 am: |     |
I have a SUV , I ski , fish , go to HD , live @ the top of a hill , have a dog , trailer a boat . The vehicle is necessary, I don't feel superior to anyone while driving, it's just another tool. I do have a friend who ownes a large body shop , he repaires about 300 to 400 cars a month . He would not have his children in anything but a SUV. What I do find absurd is people who drive around in $80,000 German sedans , particulary those of Jewish faith. Shake it up. |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 1789
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:02 pm: | |
Right back atcha Yoss! Re-read your post from an anti-SUV pov! You dished first! How can a car in and of itself be dorky if not referring to how you would feel if driving one? In fact, I feel like a queen in mine! I think my van looks queenly, smooth and safe! Not dorky, clunky and unsafe! Only an SUV driver would have such a lowly view! I think SUVs actually look like they are pumped up on steroids and they look unstable so high up off the ground. But I don't mean to infer that you or any driver of an SUV looks like they are pumped up on steroids or hgave mere feelings of superiority being up so high |
canismajor
Citizen
Username: Canismajor
Post Number: 249
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:02 pm: | |
Why do the SUV people seem to have it in for the minivan people? Can't they justify their need to drive an SUV without bashing minivans?
For the record, I'm old school-I drive a car like everyone used to back in the day. I've been along for the ride in SUVs many times and quite frankly, I don't see what the big advantage is. They have about the same amount of passenger space as a car. So you can stack stuff higher in the cargo area than you can in a regular trunk-big deal. It snows here maybe six times a year on average-it's nice out a much larger percentage of the time. A convertible seems much more practical than an SUV. |
Nohero
Citizen
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 2679
Registered: 10-1999
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:05 pm: | |
From a review in Motor Trend Magazine:
quote:Some people say sport/utilities solve more problems than minivans due to their off-road abilities. In truth, a small percentage of SUVs are used on anything but a highway. Sport/utilities offer less room for people and cargo while achieving poorer emissions and fuel efficiency and, if you believe the hype, aren't as safe as minivans, which are also less expensive to operate and insure.
Minivans are the best family vehicles on the planet, unless you do serious off-roading or tow a 6000-pound boat. Get past the stigma associated with them, and there's nothing that can match the versatility, performance, and value of minivans. Certainly, you can't argue with Newtonian physics that suggest Bradley Fighting Vehicles are safer, as they're less likely to move when hit by a less massive object. But we know that's only part of an SUV's safety record.
...
Since 2000, total minivan sales have declined, while sport/utility sales have exploded. Despite the obvious advantages of more practical, less expensive minivans, why have people run away from them and toward SUVs? It boils down to the divergent statements each one makes: "I'm manly and ready for anything" versus "I'm Mommy and don't have time for anything." It's unfortunate; many consumers have no idea what family values they're missing.
In the interest of full disclosure, we have a "dorky minivan" and a "pathetic little Honda". |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 1790
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:06 pm: | |
I have a minivan, I and my family ski, Hike, go to HD, live on a hill, have a dog, have a sailboat and cart loads of kids around day in and day out. This vehicle is necessary. I grew up in the car business, and my family would never ever put their kids in an oversized SUV, unless of course it's a Range Rover |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 1791
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:08 pm: | |
Nohero - we drive the same! |
ligeti
Citizen
Username: Ligeti
Post Number: 41
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:10 pm: | |
In the New Yorker quote that begins this thread, they are talking about people like Jet:
"According to internal industry market research (by the SUV manufacturers!), SUVs tend to be bought by people who are insecure, vain, self-centered, and self-absorbed...and who lack confidence in their driving skills...At the reptilian level, (SUV drivers) think 'if I am bigger and taller I’m safer.' You feel secure because you are higher and dominate and look down. That you can look down is psychologically a very powerful notion."
|
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 833
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:17 pm: | |
"That you can look down is psychologically a very powerful notion."
Funny with all the other SUVs around here I often find myself looking up or across not down on people.
|
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 1793
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:31 pm: | |
It's gotten so you don't even notice us "low" life anymore!! |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 1681
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 12:34 pm: | |
jet, you use your SUV for reasons it's intended for. Ignore the attacks at people who use them purely as cars. They do not apply to you.
As for Jews buying German-made goods, sometimes, you forgive or forget. I think there's a price for bearing a long-term grudge against the descendents of the offenders. I think it's a personal choice, and I respect both sides.
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
|
jet
Citizen
Username: Jet
Post Number: 332
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 1:28 pm: | |
Tom , your one cool PC dude , I always enjoy your posts . Party on . I hope everything is going well with your family. |
Beth27
Citizen
Username: Beth27
Post Number: 2
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 1:45 pm: | |
If you enjoy the New Yorker article, I must recommend the book "High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way" by Keith Bradsher.
A synopsis of the book, from Amazon: "Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) have become the fastest-growing market segment in the automobile industry. They have an image of being safer and easier to handle in bad weather than traditional passenger cars. But in this new expose , New York Times reporter Bradsher delivers sobering facts about the conveyances: they protect occupants poorly, inflict horrific damage in crashes, guzzle gasoline, spew emissions, and are, in fact, difficult to control in bad weather or panic situations. He traces the checkered past of SUVs and how they came to be classified not as cars but as light trucks, which are subject to softer federal regulations regarding safety, gas mileage, and air pollution. The recent recall of tires and SUVs by Ford and Firestone after scores of roll-over deaths is apparently only the tip of the iceberg. Bradsher makes a powerful case that SUVs are inflicting great damage on their occupants, other motorists, pedestrians, and the earth. While the information has been available for some time in bits and pieces, this book is the first to put it all together with documented facts and figures. In the tradition of Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed, this should be read by drivers of SUVs and all those who must share the roads with them."
Drive safely all, it sure is scary out there !!! |
melidere
Citizen
Username: Melidere
Post Number: 617
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 3:42 pm: | |
i bought one of the first minivans (way before kids) and will probably always drive one. Why? For the first time in my life i can see the end of my vehicle. (i'm short.) The thing i always hated about driving was sinking into a stupid bucket seat, wrenching my neck to see over the dash, and trying to parallel park when the best i could do was guess where the edges were.
In a minivan, i'm up high over my dash, the windows all go down to waist level, and i can where the back ends and where the front ends.
|
bobk
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 4247
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 4:05 pm: | |
Mel, just think how much more you could see from an SUV!! 
Kidding aside, welcome back, we missed you. |
melidere
Citizen
Username: Melidere
Post Number: 618
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, January 9, 2004 - 8:24 pm: | |
heh
thanks bobk |
gemini
Citizen
Username: Gemini
Post Number: 252
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 7:47 am: | |
Personally I love my minivan, it's safety record is impeccible (sp?) also. I Can cart my kids, and my mom and sister around no problem. When I test drove an SUV I felt like I was in a truck (I guess I was) and that I was too high (I would probably adjust, as I did w/ the MV). It was the bumpiest ride, I almost got car sick. Now I'll never go back. I hate when an SUV parks next to me; I know they'll crash my door, and I can't see getting out of my spot. I think personally their size is unnecessary unless for like Jet, who needs it for towing, etc.
Hey, everyone's got their opinion. I'll admit in my older MV I did slip in snow once or twice; so for 2 days a year I"ll trade; not for the other 363. |
gemini
Citizen
Username: Gemini
Post Number: 253
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 7:48 am: | |
Sorry, everyone's got "his or her" opinion- I hate that! |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 269
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 9:08 am: | |
I drive a teeny old Honda Civic ('92) and get the odd snotty look from both late model mini van people and SUV people. I'm sure I'm unsafe as all get out from a crash test pov, but I like being low to the ground and nimble-feeling. Try to remind myself that the really rich, old money types allegedly don't care about cars and drive old ratty chevy wagons. Yeah, that's the ticket, I'm a really cool, old money person... |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 1799
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 9:11 am: | |
I tell that to my kids every day as we climb into the van with 100,000+ miles on it! |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 271
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, January 10, 2004 - 9:21 am: | |
...in the Honda's defense: She has never failed me in bad weather, deep snow, hills, etc. Last Winter and so far in this, I've been able to negotiate the roads successfully when others appeared not able. And you can stuff more into them than you'd think given the hatchback. I feel guilty when I think of trading her in, but in the midst of bigger, heavier cars and more intense traffic, I sort of think I'd better. |
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page