Sure it is - people want vehicles that will do everything they want them to in all situations. Some of those situations include size.
I just recently bought a Subaru Imprezza WRX. Great car, probably 20 - 30% better milege than the Jeep. But I kept the Jeep. Yesterday I had to go to Home Depot and pick up, among other things, an 8' long piece of aluminum for a small construction project. I drove the Jeep, as I could get this piece just barely inside it. If I couldn't have done that, I could have strapped it to the roof. The WRX has no roof rack (and isn't going to - its a sports car) and that piece of aluminum definitely won't fit inside.
What do I do without a big car truck SUV? Have them deliver this $8 piece of aluminum 20 miles out into the country sometime this coming week when I need it today?
That's why big cars and trucks and SUVs sold so well.
Unfortunately, I don't need anything bigger than the Jeep Cherokee, but Jeep canceled the Cherokee and brought out the Liberty, a big, fat pig that's about 1000 pounds heavier, wider, taller, and longer, with not quite a proportional increase in horsepower, and with no cargo room. So, its going to be slower, and a car magazine that did an early-on test said it was getting 13 mpg in their tests. My Cherokee gets 18. I will keep the Cherokee untill the wheels fall off, and if Jeep hasn't come to its senses by that time and again built something Cherokee-like by that time, I'll get a Subaru wagon.
Dave Head
