feeling guilty about my SUV

[911paramedic]

Get a hummer and physician license plates, no worries.

My ambulance uses much more gas than your SUV, weighs more, and is 2 wheel drive. You don't see people complaining about Fire apparatus and how much gas they guzzle, or the Sheriff's SUV's, Coast Guard cutters, Helo's, and everything else that can save your life. (Not to mention the constant training involved with these vehicles.) I think your use is very well justified and not a problem in the big picture.

I drive an SUV, used to carry SAR and SCUBA gear, now I carry HUGE painting canvasses and they barely fit. (I have to put the rear seats down.) Some of us actually use them like they are meant to be used, but soccer moms shouldn't be driving them. Although, lots of mini-vans don't get much better mileage than an Expedition does.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: mattpegher
Ok, so I drive an SUV and if you believe popular opinion, I should be drawn and quartered. But I don't see any alternative. I am an emergency physician in a rural community, and when it snows here it is often gets over 2 feet on the roads and they never plow before I go. The wieght of the vehicle significantly effects the ability to plow through the snow. Again I do not have the option of staying home and abandoning the Emergency department without a doc. Also when I pack the family in the car we number 6, two of which are in car seats in the second row and my oldest rides in the third row. Did you know with two car seats in the second row most SUV's are still too narrow to fold down the seat to get access to the third row.

After all of this rationalization, I still feel guilty. Now i calculate that I am using 1280 gallons of gas in my Yukon which is only 450 more gallons than if I use my wifes car which gets about 24m/g (audi A6) That is costing me about $1300 extra per year but am I really saving myself and the planet much.

I am thinking about getting an allwheel drive van but I dont think the savings in gas is much and I'm not sure it will have the ground(snow) clearance i need.

How much snow do you get a year in Sparta, NJ? I'm from upstate NY, born and raised there, and I never owned an SUV. I never once got stuck driving on the roads there and whenever we journeyed to my grandparent's house in NJ it never seemed like snow would stick there anyway. Whenever it snowed I used to go out and drive in it just for fun.

My first car was a 1973 SAAB 99LE, FWD, near 50/50 weight distribution...maybe you should get one of those. That car was a tank and it was great in the snow.

Hell, with global warming you might want to consider a convertible. SAAB makes a nice one too.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
Agreed on right tools for the job. You don't blame a emergency helicopter or a school bus for getting less MPG than civic

Now if you were a small lady riding to work with nothing in giant eascalade but you and a tiiiiny briefcase, then it would be a problem.

What if that small lady just dropped off five kids at school right before you saw her, goes on weekend outings with the kids and their friends and has to tow a trailer on occation?

The main problem with the judgmental anti-SUV nutballs is they see a person alone in an SUV and ASSUME it's always that way.

Even a person with a "legitimate" use for an SUV will be alone in it at least 50% of the time.

Here we go with the rationalizations...:roll:

If it is that way 95% of the time then that judgment is largely true (BTW-I pulled that statistic out of my ass just like you did). I could have used a fullsize 7 passenger vehicle once during the past year and I could have used a fullsize truck on two occasions as well. That in no way justifies me purchasing either of those vehicles IMO.

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
Agreed on right tools for the job. You don't blame a emergency helicopter or a school bus for getting less MPG than civic

Now if you were a small lady riding to work with nothing in giant eascalade but you and a tiiiiny briefcase, then it would be a problem.

who the hell do you think you are to tell a person what he should be driving?

who do you think you are to tell them that they can't tell him what they think?

 

[Ruptga]

Back on topic, buy yourself a 250cc motorcycle and use that when weather/other circumstances permit. You'll get in the realm of 50mpg, and such a bike isn't nearly as expensive as a new car, think 2-4K.

 

[Rogodin2]

I'm a full time college student living in the Boston area. I
drive a 1999 Expedition, I have no family, and only haul trailers or large amounts of goods 5-6 times per year.

I drive an Expedition because I like it, I'm a tall person...sedans don't work well for me.

Please, feel free to add me to your hate list.

I don't hate someone for making a foolish decision.

The OP is actually the first person that I've come across who NEEDS an SUV.

Towing a boat isn't a NEED, it's a desire for pleasure.

Rogo

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Rogodin2

I'm a full time college student living in the Boston area. I
drive a 1999 Expedition, I have no family, and only haul trailers or large amounts of goods 5-6 times per year.

I drive an Expedition because I like it, I'm a tall person...sedans don't work well for me.

Please, feel free to add me to your hate list.

I don't hate someone for making a foolish decision.

The OP is actually the first person that I've come across who NEEDS an SUV.

Towing a boat isn't a NEED, it's a desire for pleasure.

Rogo

At least the OP is asking the question...

More than I can say for 99% of the population who own them.

 

[Rogodin2]

I wasn't referring to the OP in the first sentence JM.

I was quoting rpbrmi.

Rogo

 

[Chaotic42]

Who cares what other people think? The only people who freak out about people driving SUVs are people who are out of touch with reality.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Rogodin2
I wasn't referring to the OP in the first sentence JM.

I was quoting rpbrmi.

Rogo

My bad...post edited.

 

[Rogodin2]

The only people who freak out about people driving SUVs are people who are out of touch with reality.

I can only laugh at such an inane comment, ROLF!

Feel free to elucidate us 'knowdledgable one'!

I'll ask you one simple question. How many gallons of diesel does a John Deere 8820 use to harvest 300 bushels of wheat?

The one without knowledge is you Chrapotic.

Take a class if you need to, just don't post fluff.

Rogo

 

[Rogodin2]

Oh

Before the DOE seperated road diesel and farm diesel we only had one 10000 gallon diesel tank. After the seperation we had two 10000 gallon tanks one for red and one for green .

Since red (farm diesel) was cheaper the farmers' wives would fill up their diesel SUVS with red, and then get nailed for $1000 fines.

They don't use their SUVS to pull boats, they drive 30-50 miles a day to pick up 3 kids.

This is in a region that is basically desert, except for the columbia basin reclamation project.

They at least have gravel roads to justify an SUV (which isn't a valid justification), the women and men that drive SUVS in Seattle, Spokane, and Portland, sure as hell don't need them.

NP JM it wasn't a lucid post.

Rogo

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Rogodin2

The only people who freak out about people driving SUVs are people who are out of touch with reality.

I can only laugh at such an inane comment, ROLF!

Feel free to elucidate us 'knowdledgable one'!

I'll ask you one simple question. How many gallons of diesel does a John Deere 8820 use to harvest 300 bushels of wheat?

The one without knowledge is you Chrapotic.

Take a class if you need to, just don't post fluff.

Rogo

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[Rogodin2]

Thanks for proving my point.

You've not ever made a 'point'.

You've posted invalid opinions. I can't prove a belief of a single inane poster.

Rogo

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

God .... I have a truck and when I can afford it, plan to buy a Civic for commuting. You don't have to live on one car.

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
Or you could just pick up a 4 cylinder beater car that gets 30MPG for a couple grand and use that for tooling around town and general purpose use when the weather isn't bad.

Sounds like about the best solution if you don't want to drive the SUV around all the time.

Assuming you don't have to transport a passenger, what about a snowmobile for the winter?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Rogodin2

Thanks for proving my point.

You've not ever made a 'point'.

You've posted invalid opinions. I can't prove a belief of a single inane poster.

Rogo

You know, Rogo, I take back what I said. I'm sorry. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[IGBT]

..don't buy into the eco-thiest dogma. Enjoy your vehicle. Life is too short.

 

[natto fire]

Sweet, another thread where the first reply is the best. I hate SUVs, but if I ever let myself judge someone because they drove one, I would punch myself in the face. (Not saying I don't make a facetious comment when cut off by one, but never true judgment)

Edit: Also, this user ignore feature seems to work for threads created by the user, but not posts in threads by that user. (I think we all know who I am referring to)
Not a perfect system, but hey, it partially works!

 

[soydios]

You have a valid reason to own an SUV.

 

[zerocool1]

Originally posted by: pac1085
do you like the wife's a6? if you do, buy an a6 allroad.

i think toyota makes a hybrid SUV IIRC. I know there's the escape hybrid as well.

 

[deerslayer]

Originally posted by: mattpegher
Anyone have experience with more than one vehicle per driver and how that effects your insurance

My daily driver is a 98 Cavalier (liability only) , my truck is a 2003 Silverado (full coverage). My insurance was MORE without the car on it than it was with the car.

Having my beater work car saved me money on my insurance.

 

[RU482]

the amount of gas a Yukon uses compared to the amount of gas a Prius uses is, well, moot compared to the amount of fuel a Semi Truck hauling rubber dildos from Los Angeles to New York uses

 

[rh71]

Who drives a sports car on this forum ?





Uh huh.

 

[j00fek]

Originally posted by: Amused
You have a valid use for the car.

Even if you didn't, who's fscking business is it?

Don't let busybody nanny-staters run your life.