Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
SUVs are for soccer moms :-)
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I have to figure that at some point, the early SUVs of America were utility vehicles like Jeep CJ's, Ford Broncos, and Toyota Landcruisers.. used chiefly by people who actually needed their braun and were happy to accept the compromise that they were fairly crude compared to the family sedan of the day. They became more comfortable and refined to attract a wider audience into showrooms, and more people began to buy them just to cart the kids back and forth - why? Because it really does feel good to feel capable - and SUV's feel capable. They knock a whole layer of "what if?" off your drive, so what if a rock rolled into the road from last night's rain? I can clear it!
The negative here is that as the SUV buyer shifted to soccer moms, the vehicles themselves have been getting more and more carlike, developing into the crossover thing we see today. This is good, because it's realistic to achieve 30+ mpg out of a crossover - they're effectively a station wagon with a couple extra inches of ground clearance. It's bad, because the men and women who actually wanted a utility vehicle all along are stuck using 20 year old iron because anything stout enough being sold today is saddled with $20,000 of extra "luxury" that the utility buyer doesn't need or want and often has compromises that make them unsuitable to use as a utility (less ground clearance, breakover angles, etc than their 1975 equivalent, etc)
As a twist of irony, we spend so much on our cars that we don't have the time or money to use them - like if you fancy yourself an outdoors kind of person and just signed up for a year's salary of debt to buy an Xterra, you might not have enough cash left over after your payments to drive 200 miles to the ski slopes or canyons at 15mpg (factoring some uphill driving and a bike/canoe/etc strapped to the roof) - so now your ruthless 4x4 machine with 80lb all terrain tires is shuttling you exclusively back and forth to the job that's paying for it.
We're funny creatures, us humans.
