SUV Haters

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

A growing trend that I'm seeing of late is a rash of people who have this brilliant idea to set fire to every SUV that they see. No one has actually done this (to my knowledge), but they advocate the actually setting fire to and watching SUV's burn down to a twisted, smoking metal frame.

Are people really not thinking this through?

Are they not aware that while the average SUV may get poor mileage, that they have to pass the same emissions control standards as the rest of the cars on the roads? That they may burn a lot of gas, they still have to burn it cleanly?

That burning the SUV would release more carbon and toxins into the atmosphere than the SUV would do in its operational lifespan? Carpet, Bumpers, Upholstery, Tires, Hoses, Fuel, Oil, Grease, heck all of the plastics that are in the modern vehicle would off-gas a hell of a lot of pollutants.

Or, what about all of the times where driving an SUV is the responsible thing to do? Case in point. Five people went to an SCA event that was a 600 mile round trip. We all piled into our friend's Avalanche and went with all of our gear. Let's crunch the numbers.

Friend with the Avalanche would have taken her Saturn instead and gone by herself, my sister and I went in my Geo Metro and finally our other two friends went in their Dodge Neon. The breakdown is as follows...

Saturn (33mpg) used 18.18 gallons of fuel
Dodge Neon (35mpg) used 17.14 Gallons of fuel
Geo Metro (45mpg) used 13.33 Gallons of fuel.

So all three vehicles together used 48.45 gallons between them for this trip.

or

SUV (20mpg) used 30 gallons of fuel

So gee! The fuel inefficient vehicle carrying 5 people and gear used less fuel than all three fuel efficient vehicles combined. By a whopping 18.45 gallons no less.

<gasp!> It was the responsible choice!

And now we get to the point of my rant. It is not the SUV's fault. It is the fault of the drivers who think that they need to make their daily commute. That it is the fault of people who need to show off their immense wealth and their equally diminutive penises.

Alas, these are sheeple we're talking about and therefore it must be the SUV's fault. Couldn't be the douchewaffle of a driver. No...humans aren't responsible for their actions.

It's the SUV.

[AdminAssistant]

I know that there is a time and place for large trucks and SUVs. However, I cannot stand the people who insist on driving these vehicles in places where they don't belong and without enough experience. I see it all the time here, Mommy and Daddy get Little Billy a brand new 4-door Ford Truck with all the fancy stuff and send him off to college. Little Billy then proceeds to nearly knock over everything in sight, take up multiple parking spaces, and even park that monstrosity in the parking garage, making it extremely difficult for the rest of traffic to get around the damn thing. (I personally think our university should ban SUVs and large trucks from the garages. They rarely fit in one space and always create a problem.)

And having two kids is not enough of a reason to get an Excursion XL. Two or even three kids can fit quite comfortably in the back of medium-sized sedan. If you really need that much "storage," then maybe you should clean out your car once in a while. It's a mode of transportation, not a storage area.

[muses_nightmare]

I think if you live within the limits of a larger city, an SUV shouldn't be your main mode of transportation. What is it with big cities and hummers? Those things don't fit anywhere, they are always double parked. Aside from that, an SUV usually seats the same amount of people as an average sized sedan, so like AdminAssistant said you don't need one to pack around 2 kids.

[Lace Neil Singer]

My main hatred for people carriers stems from all the mombies who insist on driving these huge tank like cars on the school run... badly. Seriously, most of these women would be a hell of a lot better off with a normal size car, rather than stalling it, making a meal out of turning or overtaking, and trying to squeeze it thru gaps that anything short of a mini would find problematic.

[daleduke17]

(I personally think our university should ban SUVs and large trucks from the garages. They rarely fit in one space and always create a problem.)

You need to come around ISU and Bromenn Hospital in Normal. Pull in the parking garage and there are more trucks than cars. Not S-10s or Rangers, but, Dakotas, Rams, 1500s, Avalanches, and even SUVs. Everyone is parked correctly, and you can even see around them. I only run into an issue in one parking structure with my dad's truck due to his extra antenna (and it is a quick fix of moving it to the toolbox for the time being).

So, your thought of trucks/SUVs always creating a problem is misconstrued. Not every truck/SUV parks horribly in garages.

[AdminAssistant]

I would assume that a parking structure in Oklahoma would be designed to accommodate large vehicles. That is not true of a university in urban Kansas.

[lordlundar]

My beef with SUVs is that for the most part, they're overkill for what they're purchsed for. Most of the SUVs purchased never go off road, and some aren't even designed to do so (no 4 wheel or all wheel drive for example). There are far better alternatives than driving one of these easy to tip behemoths.

Remember, these are (for the most part) designed to go off road with a fair amount of gear for outdoor entertainment activities. Want towing capacity? Get a pickup truck. Want storage space for city travel? get a mini-van. Don't need either? Get a goddamn car. Unless you do a lot of travel into the wilderness, an SUV is a waste of materials, both during and after production. And ones that are not even designed for it, why make it in the first place?

[blas87]

I have a friend who was stupid and when she got pregnant with her 2nd child, thought "OMG I need a bigger vehicle!"

She had a Kia Optima, which are either midsize or large sedans, not compact or small sedans. Two kids would have fit fine. Instead, she fought a Ford Explorer, and is still to this day kicking and screaming about how much it costs to put gas in that tank and how crappy of mileage it gets compared to her old car.

So I have to agree that people who buy SUVs or large vehicles just because the addition of one new person to the family, is just stupid. Or people who just use SUVs and large vehicles for status symbols, when they never go outdoors or off roading or ever have to pull anything.

[LewisLegion]

I have a Rav4. Does that count as an SUV? It gets the same gas mileage as my Corolla did and interior wise is about the same size, if you count the Corolla's trunk...I got it mostly for the four wheel drive (I live in a small town in the mountains and winter driving to work is...problematic) and to have the small cargo space for safer riding with the dogs rather than having them twist themselves into knots in a back seat.

If someone set fire to it I'd be supremely pissed.

[protege]

I never really understood some SUV owners either.

Namely people who buy bigger ones because they "need the room." In fact, that was the main reason my cousin listed for buying one. Need the room, what the hell do you need all that space for? You don't take long trips, your kids are grown--it's just you and your cat

Then there are the ones that "need" an SUV to get around in the winter. Anyone want to guess what type of vehicle was most often *stuck* or *wrecked* during the February storms? Yep, SUVs. I'm sure it pissed off their owners to see me in my 2WD Corolla, which managed to *not* get stuck, and even avoided the half-dozen or so stuck Ford Explorers, Chevy Blazers, and other vehicles stranded on Beechwood Blvd. Did I mention that the 'hill' they were stranded on wasn't even a steep one? Trust me, you do not need an SUV or even 4WD to get around in Pittsburgh during the winter. Sure, it helps, but if you know what you're doing, you don't need it.

[guywithashovel]

Most of the time, the statements about burning SUVs are probably just the products of dark senses of humor.

Then there are the ones that "need" an SUV to get around in the winter. Anyone want to guess what type of vehicle was most often *stuck* or *wrecked* during the February storms? Yep, SUVs. I'm sure it pissed off their owners to see me in my 2WD Corolla, which managed to *not* get stuck, and even avoided the half-dozen or so stuck Ford Explorers, Chevy Blazers, and other vehicles stranded on Beechwood Blvd. Did I mention that the 'hill' they were stranded on wasn't even a steep one? Trust me, you do not need an SUV or even 4WD to get around in Pittsburgh during the winter. Sure, it helps, but if you know what you're doing, you don't need it.

When I was shopping for a new car a few months ago, my Dad was encouraging me to get a crossover, something like a Chevy Equinox, since I'm "living up north." I thought that statement was odd, since Ohio is hardly "way up north," and I only live 80 north from where he lives. But I digress.

I ended up getting a Chevy Cobalt LT. I bought it in mid March, so I haven't yet had the chance to see how it does on snow. I guess I'll find that out this winter. I wonder if the SUVs and trucks skid off the road in the snow because the drivers get overzealous?

[muses_nightmare]

I ended up getting a Chevy Cobalt LT.

Same car that me and my bf own. They do pretty well on snow, though that also depends on your winter tires of course.

[daleduke17]

I would assume that a parking structure in Oklahoma would be designed to accommodate large vehicles. That is not true of a university in urban Kansas.

Actually, I'm in central Illinois. A city that gets a lot of urban influence from Chicago, as well as some of their building styles.

[BlaqueKatt]

Most of the time, the statements about burning SUVs are probably just the products of dark senses of humor.

not really-it's done quite often by eco-terrorists

[Lace Neil Singer]

I wonder if the SUVs and trucks skid off the road in the snow because the drivers get overzealous?

I would think so; a lot of people carriers ended up skidding off the road and getting stuck in the snow we had last winter, where I am; my dad reckoned it was cuz those vehicles are heavy, and people tend to panic and gun the engine when they feel themselves slipping. That means that the weight of the vehicle ends up taking it down the bank. A lot of roads have soft verges and ditches, and when my dad had to collect me from work in his Golf, we saw about five people carriers stuck on the verges or in ditches. Also, my mum couldn't get into work cuz the road she goes along was blocked by a four by four that had gotten stuck.