Are hybrid SUVs a good or bad thing?

[DifferentPointofView]

Another reason people are turning to large SUVs is that General Motors has "abandoned the minivan," Rosten said.

GM spokesman Jeff Holland confirmed that the company has stopped production on all of its minivans except the Chevrolet Uplander and it, too, will end its run with the 2007 model year. The vans, Holland said, are being replaced with the three crossover vehicles because they hold just as many people and get better gas mileage.

Nonetheless, Fulford says there are many reasons why he bought the Expedition.

"I'm 6 feet 4 inches and I weigh 250 pounds, so for me, it's a comfort thing," he said. "It's a comfortable and convenient vehicle. I have a son who is 4 and a daughter who is 16, and we use the SUV to haul kids around, take them to parties. We use it to go to the mountains and we pull a water-skiing boat behind it."

Fulford says he loves the car because of "all the functional aspects" of it, and his wife loves it "because of all the nice amenities," such as heated leather seats.

"It would be nice if they could get this fuel thing together," Fulford said of the Expedition's comparatively miserable gas mileage. "And as a citizen of the United States, I'm concerned about global warming. It's not that I don't consider those things. We try to do as much as we can. We try not to drive that far."

"We know the technology is out there to increase fuel economy about 60 percent without compromising size (of the vehicle)," MacKenzie said. "It could go from just under 25 miles per gallon -- the government's average of all cars and trucks -- to about 40 miles per gallon.

That last quote kinda makes ya think... right? Maybe the oil companies are blackmailing everyone

[SVOboy]

I love how it car drivers "drive" their kids around and suv drivers "haul" their kids around. Just like sacks of dirt!

[DifferentPointofView]

With how and what kids eat nowadays they might as well be sacks of dirt! If ya get stuck in the snow have the kids go sit at the drive wheels.

[Unforgiven]

The hybrid vehicle issue is the one I feel to be the best thing going. Compared to hydrogen fuel cells and ethanol or biodiesel, the numbers I find suggest to me that hybrids are the best thing out there. Too bad the manufacturers wont make the vehicles into real mpg winners. Especially sad since GM had the old 5.0L v-8 doing 40+mpg, while Mopar took one of the old 2.2L 4cylinders and broke 90 mpg back in 1982!!
So far the biggest improvement I have seen is recently is the Malibu hybrid, but am still researching that vehicle. I was very disappointed with the Escape hybrid wannabe, and the other recent SUV hybrid attempts. Even Toyota failed to impress me when the current generation of Highlander hybrid came out actually faster than the non hybrid version. Come on America, we do NOT need to race stoplight to stoplight so quit making and using those idiot 0-60 under 8 second vehicles. Leave it for the modders that actually go to the tracks and race, not the street.

[Big Dave]

I'm definitely Position #1. People will buy what they want to buy, so why not give them the option of getting better MPG in a vehicle that suits their needs? You reduce gasoline consumption a lot more that way.

Hate to tell you this, but most people don't want little cars. They want something thay meets their perceived missions and if it gets better MPG, then they are sold.

I think all the development work needs to be SUVs, crossovers, and minivans. Those vehicles operate in the urban/suburban stop-and-go environment and that is where regenerative braking really shines.

Keep in mind that hypermilers are far outnumbered by people who want to text while they are driving. You cannot change people. Change their tools.

[SuperTrooper]

I agree with Dave. After driving a Trooper and an Explorer for the past 10 years my wife has emphatically stated she will NEVER go back to driving a car. When the time comes I expect we'll buy an Escape/Mariner Hybrid. She really likes them and for the driving she does it would be a major improvement in gas mileage. She also likes the upcoming Toyota Venza and when it comes out as a hybrid it will probably be on the short list.

The problem with hybrids is the additional cost. At $4/gal the payoff happens over reasonable amount of time. At <$2/gal hybrids will never payoff for most people. We tend to keep our vehicles for many years so it might make sense for us, but I will look long and hard at hybrids before deciding if they truly make financial sense.

For myself, I'm on a list for a Volt. It will be pricey, but I look forward to being on the leading edge of PHEVs, and as a hedge against fuel prices going up in the future.

[jamesqf]

[QUOTE=Big Dave;74311Hate to tell you this, but most people don't want little cars.[/QUOTE]

Sure, keep chanting that old "Americans want big cars" mantra while gazing into your navel, ignoring the reality of what Americans have actually been buying these past decades. (Make that half a century or so, since the original VW Beetle.) Americans want big cars: that must be why GM, Ford, & Chrysler are weathering the current slowdown so well, while the execs from Honda, Toyota, and all the other small-car makers are flying to Washington to beg for government handouts to stave off bankruptcy.

[Unforgiven]

Bottom line... Greed wants bigger and better. Nothing more, nothing less. It is not practicality that built and gave us Expeditions, Excursions, Suburbans, and Skyjacker (just pulled a name out of the head, no attack meant here) but simply G R E E D. Watch how many of those oversized vehicles are driven by folks that actually only need them once a month if even that. A construction company, that I can buy... the 30ish wife of an office exec that has to make sure she does not break her nails opening the door...(snorts) Come on folks, bigger is not better in MOST cases, and definately not in the automotive industry.

[Cd]

( I just wanted to add that students at U.C. Davis' mechanical engineering class modified a Chevy SUV ( the same chassis that is used for the HUMMER ) and it gets 30 MPG. It is also plug in capable.)

I'll have to search for the link.

" Keep in mind that hypermilers are far outnumbered by people who want to text while they are driving. You cannot change people. Change their tools."

Well said Big Dave.

If SUVs could run several miles in EV mode alone, then that would be their saving grace in my eyes. ( That and powering accesories like A/C while parked in EV mode - I see a lot of folks just sitting on the phone with the engines on .)

[captainslug]

Current offerings are a bad thing, because the improvement is absurdly negligible.
In the same way that the Toyota Prius is kind of a bad thing because it adds a ton of extra complexity while still delivering gas mileages comparable to cheaper and more finely tuned cars of comparable size.