Why I love SUVs...

[vi edit]

<< as to fuel efficiency of minivans.... even if they are getting as good or worse mileage than SUV's I am not surprised, minivans are designed to carry as many as 8 adults PLUS their stuff. Additionally minivans are about a million times safer than an SUV. >>



What's your point? SUV's are designed to carry up to 6 adults, all their stuff, and tow a 6,000 pound boat all the while doing this with an off road gearing and drive train. If they are designed to do that and get the same milage as a minivan, then I'd say that's pretty damn good! Once again I ask, where's the problem?

 

[Sluggo]

<< and rent a vehicle to tow something on the rare occassion that I need it. >>




Almost every single rental company specifically FORBIDS towing any form of trailer with a rented vehicle. The exceptions being big U-Haul and Ryder trucks, and as we all know, nothing looks cooler than wheeling up to the lake with your new kick-butt drag boat in the big yellow/orange moving van.

 

[SVTPower]

Well Atleast you made the right choice on SUV's Get one of the 2 big American ones if your actually going to use it for more then causing wrecks and not being able to do any of the S in SUV.

Those also do not fall under the &quot;ROLL-OVER&quot; catagory. They have a very wide wheel base that takes care of this issue.

What advantage does an SUV have over a pickup in snowy weather

The bill is bigger when you hit a tree Wait is that an advantage

Actually in some cases the center of gravity is better with an SUV, getting more weight shifted further back instead of just over the front tires, But thats why most guys load up sandbags.

 

[snut]

Toyota tacoma 4x4 with TRD package, supercharged

 

[Pacfanweb]

<<Get one of the 2 big American ones if your actually going to use it for more then causing wrecks and not being able to do any of the S in SUV.

Those also do not fall under the &quot;ROLL-OVER&quot; catagory. They have a very wide wheel base that takes care of this issue.>>

Exactly. A Tahoe or Expedition is no more top heavy than a short bed, 4X4 C-10 or F-150. I don't see anyone crying about those rolling over.

 

[iamwiz82]

i dont really mind SUVs except when they are driven by soccer moms or when they are behind me at night. People complain HID lights are brights, well, drive in front of an Expedition. I cant just dim my rear view mirror, either, since it attacks you from every mirror.

I laugh when i see a girl on a cell phone, with her $200 shoes and $800 pant suit in one. Its funny, i mean, what use do they have? Its like the old man who buys a sports car. I saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by a woman slide into a telephone pole because she was going 45mph on a 30mph road in hazardous conditions. It snowed over 2 inches in less than an hour and it was dark out. But, she just kept gabbing away on the phone until she slid on the slick surface to stop for a red light.

 

[SVTPower]

I laugh when i see a girl on a cell phone, with her $200 shoes and $800 pant suit in one. Its funny, i mean, what use do they have?

BOOM!!

Right on the money dude. They buy them and have NO CLUE whats going on. They need to stick to their Cars ONLY!

 

[gunf1ghter]

Well that's sort of the problem isn't it?

I mean if someone is yakking away on the cell phone in their Accord and spins out of control and hits someone it's usually no big deal.

Do that in a Chevy Tahoe and it could easily turn into a fatality.

 

[iamwiz82]

its alot easier to control a car rather than an SUV.

 

[Napalm381]

<< I mean if someone is yakking away on the cell phone in their Accord and spins out of control and hits someone it's usually no big deal. >>

Excuse me? That's the biggest pile of sh!t yet in this thread.

 

[shaady1]

I think SUVs are fine, if you will be towing, off-roading, or carrying 4+ passengers...but you realize that most people who buy them will never do any of these. Now THAT is pretty silly.

Driving around town in a 10mpg, hard to park, poor cornering, bohemouth of a vehicle just does not make any sense.

 

[gunf1ghter]

Napalm,

I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here in happy Denver we get a fair amount of snow. Cars get into little fender benders at 30-40 mph all the time and it's usually no big deal. When the highway is closed down it's often because a much larger vehicle (SUV) hit a much smaller vehicle (car) at those same speeds. Two 3000 lb cars colliding that have crumple zones is much different than as 3000 lb car being hit (or hitting) a 6500 lb truck with a ladder frame.

The NHTSA has mucho data to support this, so explain to me how I am incorrect on this.

 

[wyvrn]

I saw a SUV and a big rig collide this weekend, talk about not pretty. The SUV survived and so did all of the passengers. If that rig had hit a car at the angle it rammed the SUV, then I am sure someone would have died when it rolled over the car and caved in the roof. I think the main reason people buy these is safety and because it makes you feel invincible driving. You can see everything.

The thing that pisses me off is how many 1 passenger SUV's there are on the road that bogs down traffic in rush hour. If you are going to buy one, then at least commute with some buddies.

 

[gunf1ghter]

and how many big rigs are there out there? sorry but you use a rather atypical example to prove your point. for every time someone in an SUV gets hit by a big rig there are probably 10-20 times that one gets rolled over from an impact with even a car. I have seen &quot;police cockpit&quot; video of a small civic hitting a Jimmy broadside and the Jimmy flipped over.

 

[kiranv]

the offroading is always betta with an SUV, very handing when goin camping, etc. out in the wilderness

 

[gunf1ghter]

Yes, If I wanted to truck out in the middle of nowhere I would need a TRUCK. Not a rolling living room that had leather upholstery.

Honestly, how many Navigators or Escelades do you think have EVER been off road? I doubt even 1 in 100.

 

[Napalm381]

You claim that somebody getting in a car wreck is &quot;no big deal&quot;. How any sort of car wreck is &quot;not a big deal&quot; is beyond me. Take your sedan and ram it into another vehicle, then come back here and type with a straight face that it wasn't a big deal.

 

[gunf1ghter]

No it's not a big deal.

When it snows (they don't plow the residential streets) most counties have so many fender benders that they go on &quot;accident alert&quot; ... drivers exchange insurance information and leave the scene if there's less than $5K of damage and the vehicles are driveable.

 

[Napalm381]

Fender benders are one thing. Colliding with another vehicle at 30 or 40 MPH is most definitely NOT a fender-bender last time I checked.

 

[Pacfanweb]

<<I mean if someone is yakking away on the cell phone in their Accord and spins out of control and hits someone it's usually no big deal.

Do that in a Chevy Tahoe and it could easily turn into a fatality.>>

And? People shouldn't drive SUV's because they might talk on the phone and have a wreck?

Nobody yet has answered why doing the same thing in a pickup is any different.

 

[Napalm381]

Incidentally, your comparison of a &quot;6500 lb&quot; truck hitting a 3000 lb car is way off base. According to the NHSTA, midsize SUVs weigh around 4000 lbs, give or take 200. Compact SUVs are closer to 3000-3500 lbs. Tahoes and Expeditions weigh 5000-5400. Suburban- 5600. Getting these up to 6500 lbs would require quite a load, and since none of us evil SUV drivers carry more than 2 people at once, it's almost impossible. The only SUV that I can see consistently weighing 6500 lbs or more would be the Excursion.

For comparision, compact sedans weigh 2500-3000 lbs, midsize sedans weigh between 3000-3500 lbs, and full size sedans weigh 3500-4000. Weight wise, a collision between the most popular mid-size SUVs and the midsize sedans is not too unequal. To use your own terminology, &quot;sorry but you use a rather atypical example to prove your point.&quot;

 

[MajesticMoose]

I still say the Tank wins in all the catagories, except mileage. In a crash, its no contest. Plus those things a re pretty easy to park as long as the space is wide enough because there are no doors to ding (and you won't be dinged) and a tank can turn on a very tight radius because of the treads

m00se

 

[gunf1ghter]

Napalm,

Fair enough for calling me out on the discrepency on the weight. For the record, my A4 with the dinky 1.8T four banger engine weighs a hefty 3200 lbs. This is considered very heavy for a compact four door sedan. My Integra weighed a measly 2700 lbs. These are typical cars being driven by a large number of drivers. I think a more interesting comparison would be what the average weight of the vehicle is per capita and age group (I have noticed many more baby boomers and soccer moms driving SUVs in this part of the country), but that's a different topic.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that it's not just the weight difference. There's a big difference when a vehicle with a rigid frame and a high center of mass hits a vehicle with a conforming frame and a low center of mass. That's why in many car/SUV collisions the SUV overrides the cars safety features.

The only reason to prevent SUV's from having a slightly lower center of mass and meeting safety requirements is to keep them cheap. The &quot;I need a high center of mass and high ground clearence&quot; argument would hold more water with me if even a fraction of these things ever left pavement. JD Powers published something where over 90% of them were never used off-road.

So I guess the question is, why are so many SUV owners so opposed to having them re-designed to be safer?