Of course SUV owners would say they would buy the same car again. What do you expect them to do? Admit their stupidity?

Exactly. And, I call bs on any SUV driver who says it costs less than $40 to fill it up. Ok, ok, maybe those single ladies who fill up when the needle is on 3/4.

This doesn’t completely surprise me. When I think of the boom in SUV sales, those weren’t bread and butter Jeep Wranglers, they were Jeep Grand Cherokees and Lexus RX300’s and Mercedes M-Classes and Escalades and Land Rovers. These are expensive vehicles, especially the popular people-carrying versions (as opposed to the stripped-down, off-roading versions… I mean, who do you know that got an ML320 without leather??) I think as gas prices increase, though, more and more owners of SUV’s may go for smaller cars the next time they visit a car dealer.

Stupidity? Hey now, I need the V8 with seating for nine and the 20 inch wheels! My neighbor can’t out-do me.

What happened to freedom of choice?

If I want to drive a Honda Fit – MY choice
If I want to drive an H1 – MY choice

People have different priorities, and some people are interested in paying the premium to drive an SUV. It’s their money – it’s their prerogative.

For the record I don’t drive an SUV.

Nice comments, it never fails to amaze me how critical people can be. We are going to move from a sedan to a suv, a Honda Pilot, in the next few weeks. Here is a list of the unreasonable reasons we are doing it.

1. Our family, wife & daughter and one on the way, have simply outgrown our vehicle. We travel to northern California, from Oregon, to be with family and do not have enough room to pack all of our stuff for the trip.
2. My wife family lives in an area that sometimes needs 4WD to get into.
3. We move band equipment around and I am sick of hurting my back trying to load 50-75 lbs amps into a trunk.
4. We want to be able to have friends with us when we go somewhere, so we need the 3rd row seat.

Are we that unusual? Most of my friends who have suv’s do use them and a car simply would not work as well or at all.

Please give us all a break and quit with the “your different than me” bashing & judgementalism. It has gotten quite old.

NW_Mike – I couldn’t agree with you more. My wife and I have looked at several SUVs, and would definitely consider one for our next vehicle.

Here at LLN the comments generally bash whichever story is up – I would say as a community the readers ‘objectiveness and willingness to consider an oppinion outside their own’ isn’t their strong suit.

1. Buy a bigger car
2. what did you do before?
3. Get some help.
4. Now that’s just selfish. Make them drive their land yacht.

NW_mike, your justifications for buying an SUV are totally valid, and you arent looking to buy more than you need. But many other americans do not think this way at all, and its those people that need to do some thinking. Most people do not need an SUV and do not think in terms of practicality, and this is leading to the EXCESSIVE consumption of fuel. And here in california, most SUV drivers are fooking lunatics on the road.

I’m all for the freedom of choice, but if that choice is in complete disregard for the environment, the safety of others on the road, and geopolitics, then you dont deserve that freedom.

these are really funny comments — i agree with nw_mike but also with #9 as well, for example i went to jewel yesterday and ironically i was driving my miata cause it was a nice day and i still fit the entire cart load of food in the trunk. and the guy next to me in the yukon xl came out with 2 small bags. it was the most hilarious thing ive ever seen in my life. im fortunate to have both worlds and generally the suv stays parked untill needed. my father always taught me to use the right tool for the job, i think the same applies when buying vehicles

“my father always taught me to use the right tool for the job, i think the same applies when buying vehicles”

Perfect. I couldn’t agree more. I just am not comfortable with all the assumptions and labels that we make and throw around about other people. My dad taught me not to judge, because we have not walked in the other man’s shoes. There will always be cases of irresponsible use, but my experience has been people adopt an opinion and then label people in mass with it. Case in point; all Democrats are liberals and all Republicans are religous zealots. And that, I know is not true.

I’m done-cheers all!

An SUV costs $1500 more a year in gas to operate.
$1500. Now consider a middle class salary of $50,000, does paying $1500 more a year for a personal interest/hobby actually mean much?
I think paying an extra $1500 a year for personal satisfaction is no deterrent.

You can use the EPA website to compare, assuming EPA mpg.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm

OMG Gas prices prices are so high! Oh what will I ever do??? right.

Gas prices are only hurting the people on the bottom, and college students like myself. at $50K a year, $15 extra for every fillup doesnt sting as bad as it does for those making half that.

SUVs are an offense to society. But hell, if someone gave me an X5 (diesel please), I wouldn’t mind driving it.

The gas price in the US is far cheaper than here in Europe, where, nonetheless, people still buy SUVs.

But, since gas will become more expensive, I expect many american SUV owners to ‘migrate’ to regular cars.

I don’t care for (large) SUVs either. They’re like “bullies” of the road and parking lots.

Oh. And #14; don’t tailgate and you should be fine.

Adios, amigos!

Yeah I dont, but you understand… On the highway, it gets packed… you cant avoid it. I always try to stay far enough back to be safe, but you know how it gets– You stay too far back, and someone is just gonna slip in the gap between you and the car in front. Its unavoidable.

Who cares about the cars that people drive they are going to drive what they want to drive so what if they drive an SUV who cares if they drive a mini cooper fine,Even if gas becomes 30 dollars a gallon there will still be an suv on the road.

OH BANF OR WHAT EVER YOUR NAME IS YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN.

1. NW_Mike – a minivan would do most of the things you mentioned just as well and isn’t near as waistful or plain big (like a rolling blindspot).. Problem is that minivans don’t show how ‘cool’ or ‘hip’ someone is compared to a Pilot.. Get over it, please..

2. – Most SUV buyers are ‘appearance’ buyers who get them to make themselves ‘look’ and FEEL more important then they are.. Low self esteem?? Loose a few pounds, get some new meds or a more satisfyng job instead.. I’d say less then half are used for anything close to their actual intent. Most are just about “I’m driving a bigger vehicle then you are” and “I love to intimidate you on the road cause I’m a self-centered, arrogant asshole”.

I can’t tell you how many times on the way in to work (on the bus) that I’ve seen a 7 or 9 passenger Excursion/Suburban/Escalade, etc., etc. going down the road w/ a single person in it (usually on the phone as well).. Why couldn’t that same person be driving to work in a normal car like an Accord or Taurus?

BTW – Agree with BAMF.

First of all it is no one’s place to tell others how to spend their money. If your complaint is that someone is stupid for buying something that uses some much gas then shut up. It isn’t your problem. If you want to be reasonable about it your complaints should be environmentally driven or maybe like BAMF’s argument about not being able to see, but to call someone stupid for spending the money on gas is stupid in itself.

Right on man. Thanks. I gotta say I agree with everything you’ve been posting.

“Whats the personal satisfaction you get? Making everyone aware that you’ve got money to blow? Hooray for you. I’m gonna go ahead and try NOT be a big asshole.”

So what about people who buy luxury or sports cars? They are spending money to get noticed, they are blowing gas. With these comments, you are the asshole. Stop worrying so much about what other people want to do with their money and go support a real cause like whales or something.

Here is an idea:

What if there is a law that requires SUV buyers to already own a small sedan before buying an SUV? This way they can use the sedan for commuting and most other things, while using the SUV when needed? This way it will be safe to assume that the SUV will not be used to grab a newspaper from the store.

No Derek, my comments weren’t about gas, were they? No, rather they were about how SUVs make the road UNSAFE for smaller cars. Nice try though.

Derek,

How many gas-guzzling exotic cars are sold worldwide, in one year combined? (Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, etc…) compared to SUV’s? If you look at the numbers you’ll see that your argument has nothing to back it up.

My argument can also be applied to large, luxury cars like RR’s, Bentley’s, MB S-classes, BMW 7-Series, etc… How many of them are sold per year?

Jon.

Oo oo Jon, pick me pick me!!!! I know the answer!

Post #19 said:

“If your complaint is that someone is stupid for buying something that uses some much gas then shut up.”

Think about the Environment, the world you live in. Have you heard of Global Warming? We are all on the same boat here…

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to fill my Porsche Cayenne Turbo before the petrol station closes for the night.

Buy what you want and don’t bash those who do. I have a 2001 Tahoe and would love a 2007 Tahoe. But for the price of the vehicle and operating expenses, I will continue to drive my 2001, which will eventually be replaced by some sort of SUV or cross over vehicle that gets better gas mileage at a yet to be determined date.

As for selling lots of vehicles and under estimating the demand in GM’s comment, why don’t you ask my dealer who has had the same 8 or 10 new Tahoes sitting in front of the showroom for the past month how well they are selling.