| Author | Message | ||
     ligeti Citizen Username: Ligeti Post Number: 38 Registered: 7-2002 |
See "Road Killers" in the current issue of The New Yorker. "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." | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1670 Registered: 1-2003  |
I will definitely read that article. The cartoons in this week's issue are pretty good, too. But before I read the article, I will say that the description above fits lots of people. I don't exactly buy the "you are what you buy" viewpoint. Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| newone Citizen Username: Newone Post Number: 110 Registered: 8-2001 |
I agree with you Tom. I see an equal amount of those trends in other drivers be it sports cars, sedans, mini vans, etc. | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1671 Registered: 1-2003 |
http://poseur.4x4.org/ Actually, there are trends and there are exceptions. Yes, bad drivers drive all kinds of vehicles. I'm trying to be fair, but it does seem that a larger percentage of driving is done with SUV's. Let's read the article and see how we feel. I see the author of the article is answering quesions online at http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/?040112on_onlineonly01 Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| ligeti Citizen Username: Ligeti Post Number: 39 Registered: 7-2002 |
One of the major points in the article is the false sense of safety SUV drivers feel -- and subsequently (if subconsciously) impose on drivers of the smaller vehicles that dare to stray into their power path. "Jettas are safe because they make their drivers feel unsafe. The car is so small and close to the ground, and so dwarfed by other cars on the road, that an intelligent driver is constantly reminded of the necessity of driving safely and defensively. An SUV embodies the opposite logic. SUVs are unsafe because they make their drivers feel safe. That feeling of safety isn't the solution; it's the problem. | ||
| sportsnut Citizen Username: Sportsnut Post Number: 831 Registered: 10-2001 |
Actually, I find that it had the opposite effect on my wife and I. I do not feel more secure in our SUV, in fact I am very cautious about driving it because I have inadvertantly cut people off. On the other hand since there are so many blind spots (we have a "normal" size SUV) I find myself turning my head around and relying less on my mirrors than I had in the past, which is a good thing. I do this when driving our other two cars as well. I was out and about today and I saw two instances in which women were driving with small children in their vehicles and they were acting like they were at the indy 500. One was driving a Highlander and the other some brand of mini-van. The highlander driver was on Valley headed towards the home depot and at the intersection of and Valley and Vauxhall and Valley tried to leapfrog cars by darting left and speeding up only to realize that the two lanes quickly moved back to one. The other woman was driving down SO ave. from Livingston. We had just crested the mountain and she swung from the left lane to right behind me in the right lane obviously thinking that the driver in the left lane was moving too slow. When she realized that I was doing the speed limit she quickly swung back to the left lane only to have to stop at the light by the school. She continued switching lanes until we got to Walton? She then tried to leap past me until she realized there wasn't enough room so she backed off. Then when we were at the light under the train tracks I stopped even though the light was green to allow traffic to turn left towards the train station. I figured I wasn't going anywhere because the light ahead was red. The nutcase behind me actually tried to pass on the right until she realized that there were parked cars blocking that lane once you passed the intersection. Unfortunately, I see more and more of this rude aggressive driving around here its amazing. | ||
| tjohn Citizen Username: Tjohn Post Number: 2039 Registered: 12-2001  |
Sportsnut, You must be one in a million. In a previous life, I drove an armored, tracked vehicle in Germany. Now, an armored vehicle is more cumbersome than an SUV in all respects save turning radius and off-road performance. Like all of my fellow track drivers, I felt reasonably invincible and could hardly be bothered with minor issues of right-of-way and such. Fortunately, all civilians in Germany were aware of the mindset of armored vehicle (aka SUV) operators and exercised appropriate caution around Army vehicles. | ||
| lumpyhead Citizen Username: Lumpyhead Post Number: 597 Registered: 3-2002 |
You would think living in an overwhelming Democratic town which leans to the left there wouldn't be so many SUV's but there are so many in Maplewood. It's almost impossible to see when pulling out of a spot in the Maplewood Village if you are lucky enough to find one. What's up with that? | ||
| Ukealalio Citizen Username: Ukealalio Post Number: 349 Registered: 6-2003 |
My preference would be for a station wagon but most companies stopped producing them. I already have a VW but they got so expensive, I looked elsewhere. Saturn makes a decent one but the reviews from both experts and users were real mixed. I finally settled for a Subaru Forrester which, while technically is considered a SUV, is just barely taller then a regular car and so far is getting better gas mileage then my VW wagon.So, you can call me a greedy gas guzzlin American that likes to sit up higher then standard car owners but if you look at this technically, Forrester owners don't really fit into that category. | ||
| Lydia Citizen Username: Lydial Post Number: 209 Registered: 5-2001 |
Ukealalio - Ahem! Subaru makes a fine station wagon (Legacy), but yeah, if you have to go with an SUV, the Forrester is better than most IMHO. The scariest thing about SUV's is that a lot of parents think they're safe and give their old ones to their (inexperienced) teenaged drivers. I've been cut off, passed on the right, tailgated, etc., by more SUV's with teenaged-looking drivers lately. At least I think they were teenagers, at my age, anyone under 35 looks too young to drive | ||
| Ukealalio Citizen Username: Ukealalio Post Number: 351 Registered: 6-2003 |
Yea but the guys from Car Talk liked the Forrester better, gets around the same gas mileage and you can load more musical equipment into it. | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 4239 Registered: 5-2001 |
I am a little like Sportsnut. I find when driving our midsize SUV I drive slower and with more caution than when zipping around in our Protege. Basically, the SUV doesn't handle or brake as well as the sub compact. I will give you this isn't always the case. On the snowy Sunday a couple of weeks before Christmas we had to pick someone up at Newark Airport. 78 was snow coverd with some ice underneath. In the stretch from Vaux Hall Road to the Airport we saw four accidents, three involving SUVs. My favorite was the guy in a Pilot who blew past us doing over 60 mph and then lost control on a curve, catching the skid just in time to head off on to the median.  | ||
| Yossarian Citizen Username: Yossarian Post Number: 160 Registered: 8-2003 |
How about this everyone. I drive a BMW SUV. I do so because I have a family and pets to drive around and I hate minivans (I find them dorky, clunky and unusafe). Wanna get into an SUV vs. minivan debate? SUV's win, hands down. Ever see a minivan in the snow? Now that's dangerous. I'd wager any amount that my BMW SUV is safer and drives better than all of the minivans and probably 50% of the sedans out there. So my question is, can anyone tell me why we don't have umpteen threads bashing minivans? I get the anger over Hummers (I hate them myself), but come on people. My SUV in and of itself is no threat to anyone. | ||
| ffof Citizen Username: Ffof Post Number: 1786 Registered: 5-2001  |
well fancy that, a BMW SUV, aren't we lucky?$? And the dorky comment proves that you're driving it for what is the perception to you that you are not a dork. But my perception of someone who drives a BMW SUV is that that driver is indeed a dork for falling for all the phony prestige gobbed all over the advertising. My minivan can get anywhere your SUV can and I bet I have better carpool capacity!  | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1678 Registered: 1-2003 |
I read the New Yorker article last night. Very interesting. There is the distinction between active and passive safety. Both are important, but it's an alarming trend of buying safety instead of acting safely that's so disturbing. And it turns out that whatever feels safe is likely to be dangerous and vice versa. I highly recommend the article. SUV's are not better in snow except at acceleration, especially from a standing start. They don't corner or brake better. In fact, they are worse at cornering and braking in snow. As for handling crashes, minivans and sedans fare better in most crashes. But most importantly, they are far, far better at avoiding them in the first place. Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| shh Citizen Username: Shh Post Number: 846 Registered: 5-2001 |
I was much happier with my Subaru Outback in the snow than I am with my Mazda MPV. However, needing the extra kid room and cargo space makes it all worthwhile the other 350+ days of the year. | ||
| vicciepiel Citizen Username: Vicciepiel Post Number: 112 Registered: 2-2002 |
Yossarian: Read the New Yorker article and you'll see why minivans are far, far safer than SUVs. | ||
| Yossarian Citizen Username: Yossarian Post Number: 161 Registered: 8-2003 |
vicciepiel -- i will track down the article. i'm intrigued. ffol -- what's wrong with you? in my post, i said minivans are dorky. They look dorky. They are not, in my opinion, attractive vehicles. i made no comment about the people who drive them. yet you don the cap of amateur psychologist and attack me, they try to explain why i drive the vehicle i drive. you have no idea why i drive the car i do. and to think you can figure it out from a message board post is comical. how do you know i even read a single advertisement before buying the car i did? and your comment about $ is disgusting. how do you know that mine is not a company car? you don't know how old it is, or what i paid for it. or whether i bought it new or used. what a joke. | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1680 Registered: 1-2003 |
It's time for me to buy a new (used) car anyway, and it's down to either a station wagon or minivan. I'm on my third Saab in a row, and those have a sort of yuppy image. I think I better pick the dorkiest looking car now. Then maybe I'll be Tom Reingold the dorky-pants. Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| ligeti Citizen Username: Ligeti Post Number: 40 Registered: 7-2002 |
Despite all the evidence, Yossarian is pretty much confirming the conclusion of the article: that people confuse feeling safe with being safe. As I was driving down Maplewood Ave. towards town this morning, yet another hideous SUV roared at me from Durand. The woman had a 'No way am I going to yield to your pathetic little Honda, buster!' scowl on her face. |
