CagerOn Mon, 8 Aug 2005 15:48:05 -0400, "C. E. White" While I may be a "fat guy" on a bike I'm lucky enough to have a very good looking wife. She is far...
Well, there are all sorts of reasons for buying an SUV. Some people do get their use out of them. (Been there, hauled and towed and off-roaded that.) There's no doubt, though, that faddishness had a LOT to do with it. That and a very arguable perception of safety, with their heavy build and commanding view of the road ahead. SUVs were just the It Car for several years, capturing all the mostly subjective reasons why most folks choose one vehicle over another.
As for their usefulness in *most* drivers' scenarios, the question is "how often and with what amount of advance notice do you need those features?" People who haul large objects (SUVs aren't necessarily all that great for this anyway) or tow trailers only very occasionally might well be better off renting a suitable vehicle for the occasion. That frees you to do your single-pbuttenger commuting and routine running around town in a vehicle that gets quite a bit better gas mileage and is almost certainly more fun to drive.
It's the people caught in the middle who have the problem: the ones who have more than just an occasional need for hauling or towing that's beyond minivans or wagons, but can't afford an all-occasion family fleet. There is after all a substantive reason why the SUV got popular: it comes closer than anything else to being the one set of wheels that does it all.
And that's how at least some of the people who aren't using any of the sport or utility features of an SUV at the moment you see them came to possess such a thing. Maybe they use it at other times and places, in ways that justify putting up with its hay-wagon handling and braking and its ability to chew a $100 bill into rags at the gas station. Maybe they bought it because it seemed like the thing to do and now are stuck with it for several years. And maybe they just like it; you can argue whether that's in the best interests of society but there's no doubt it's a prime mover of all parts of the consumer economy in a free society.
Cheers, --Joe
