ralper

For some, yourself included, that is true and you probably will continue to own an SUV in one form or the other regardless of fashion. But for most, I think, everything that can be done with an SUV can also be done with a more traditional car. It is those people who will abandon the SUV as fashion changes. I believe that those are the people who make up the biggest part of the SUV market.

paS2K

I guess 'small' is in the eyes of the beholder. What's the curb wt of the ML? Why carry around the extra underchassis weight when an out-of-fashion mini-van would: (a) carry the same stuff; (b) get better fuel economy.

My neighbor has an ML and it's in the shop every other week. To replace their other car, I talked them into a year-end Odyssey

paS2K

Spoken like a true EX-SUV owner

ralper

Jerry,

You confuse me. Do you deny that some people might actually have a use for an SUV?

silvershadow

Every time the SUV topic comes up, I see the same people making the same negative comments. I notice they are all from CA or the Northeast, except the lone Kiwi. Draw your own conlusions from that.

You guys need to find some other devil to castigate, the market will sort out whether SUV's will evolve (I bet they will) or die out.

There is a contingent of people that love SUV's for their capability at hauling people and things and will buy one no matter what the price of gasoline. For the people that treat SUV's as a fashion statement, they will find some other fashion and move on.

I can tell you that after watching a PT Cruiser get T-boned and flipped right in front of us by a woman running a redlight (while talking on her damn cell phone), the first words out of my wife's mouth were "I want my Tahoe back".

Sure I'd love to see an SUV with an aluminum frame and the aforementioned efficient turbodiesel. I'd love to see a full-size SUV get 25 or 30 miles per gallon. But as I have said before, when you have to cover lots of mileage (we can't drive across the state in an hour like you can in MA), some SUV's are extremely comfortable highway vehicles that can haul 4 people, dogs, saddles, etc and still get 17 MPG at 85 mph. That's better than my neighbor's BMW 740i, and I don't see people wondering if BMW or Mercedes are gong to stop making big cars.

If you have a gripe about the people that drive certain types of cars, believe me there are plenty of people that don't like the way some of us drive our S's.

Lainey

[QUOTE=paS2K,Oct 5 2005, 01:51 PM] I guess 'small' is in the eyes of the beholder. What's the curb wt of the ML? Why carry around the extra underchassis weight when an out-of-fashion mini-van would: (a) carry the same stuff; (b) get better fuel economy.

My neighbor has an ML and it's in the shop every other week.

cordycord

paS2K

[QUOTE] I guess 'small' is in the eyes of the beholder. What's the curb wt of the ML? Why carry around the extra underchassis weight when an out-of-fashion mini-van would: (a) carry the same stuff; (b) get better fuel economy.

My neighbor has an ML and it's in the shop every other week. To replace their other car, I talked them into a year-end Odyssey

i_heart_my_DB8

[QUOTE=silvershadow,Oct 5 2005, 10:07 AM]Every time the SUV topic comes up, I see the same people making the same negative comments.

ralper

Shadow,

As I said before, I have no doubt that there are many people who have a good reason to own SUVs, and I have no doubt that they will continue to do so. On the other hand, I know that there are many who own them simply because they make a fashion statement about the person driving them.

Take my sister, for example. My sister and brother in law live in a rather affluent community in middle/south New Jersey. He is a very successful tax attorney with an office in New York City. She is a homemaker/artist. They have three kids. My brother in law drives a Tahoe, mostly into the city each day, and usually by himself. I find it hard to believe that he "needs" and SUV for any other reason except fashion. My sister drives a Toyota Land Cruiser with every possible option. She uses the supermarket, art supplies and etc as her excuse for needing it, but in reality, she too "needs" it because in her community it is a very fashionable vehicle to drive. They have three kids, on recently married and out of the house, one in college, and one in high school. All three drive SUVs. The two oldest drive Pathfinders and the youngest a new X3. Without question these are fashion statements.

So while I won't argue with you about some people actually needing an SUV for what it is, I think the reality is that many, many people drive them because they are or were in vogue.

PokS2k

I have a CRV and was going to replace it with a new one. I like having it to carry things when I need something larger. I have moved my kids in and out of dorms using it.

I have decided however to keep my older CRV and buy a new Civic. I'll drive the Civic as my daily vehicle and use the CRV when the weather is bad or I need the carrying capacity.

ps. I get around 24 mpg with the CRV