Whats the deal with "SUVs" (1 Viewer)

[Bhagi Katbamna]

. Because your spending $10,000 just for that blue and white checkered logo on the hood of a BMW.

I have to disagree with you. I drive a VW Passat and there is a feel to German cars that you just don't get with American or Japanese cars.

 

[Ron-P]

Sorry Philip, didn't mean to call you Jack in my other thread.
I realize that SUV's have a high profit margin, I do not need proof. But I also believe luxury vehicles/sports cars are over priced for what you get, due to a high profit margin or not. It's not that I have an issue with them, I just think they are not worth what you pay. In my area, L.A./Orange County, CA. A sprots car is more useless than an SUV/Truck.
I guess I am one of the few who use their SUV for what it is designed for, off road. Therefore the older technology is what I prefer. Easy to work with and on. Last thing I'd want is an SUV with a 4 wheel independent suspension. Imagine the alignment problems after hitting the dirt. If I had my way, I'd have an SUV with solid axles front and rear like my old 85' Totyota 4x4, best riding vehicle I've ever had.
Peace Out~

 

[Todd H]

Ok, I can't resist...
Women in big-ass SUVs...penis envy
Guys in big-ass SUVs...overcompensation for certain shortcomings

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Disclaimer...the above was a joke. If I offended anyone with penis envy or the "other" problem, my sincerest apologies.

 

[Jody C Robins]

Hmmmm, everyone keeps talking about the built in "profit margin" of SUVs. I think what you're really talking about is simply the law of supply and demand. There is a bigger demand for SUVs than there is a supply, so dealers can charge more. The same goes for VW bugs, the new Ford Thunderbirds, Honda S2000s, etc. It's not some evil ploy, it's economics. If the demand for SUVs drops, so will the price.

Do you really think Lexicons have $10,000 worth of parts and research?

How about the price of CDs? We know they cost much less than $16 to make, but people continue to pay, so why should retailers lower the price?

I, for one, have no problem with SUVs. And for those folks complaining about SUVs ruining their view of the road but touting minivans...I drive a Mustang, and I can assure you that a Caravan is no easier to see around than an Explorer.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

For the record, I thing that large trucks - 18-wheelers, 5 ton trucks, dump trucks, etc are more annoying and exponentially more dangerous than SUV's

Actually, if you ask truckers and look at accident reports, the cause of tractor trailer and other large truck accidents is usually some a$$hole in a smaller vehicle (more often than not, an SUV) doing something stupid.

 

[Shawn C]

I drive a 98 Mitsubishi Montero. The REAL Montero, not that Montero Sport truck.. Anyways..

If you look at the current trends in the auto world, SUVS are about to be replaced by 'crossover' vehicles which amount to nothing more than station wagons and other specialty vehicles.

Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix: They are marketing these are CROSSOVER vehicles. Half car/half SUV. I know a station wagon when I see one.

BMW X5: The 5-series wagon has more cargo room!

Porsche SUV: WTF? It's cool that it's gonna be super fast, but it's NOT an SUV. It a Porsche station wagon.

Toyota Highlander: No one bought Camry station wagons, so let's change the styling, keep the same basic underpinnings and call it an SUV. It's still a station wagon.

Chevy/GMC Suburban: Superb vehicles that serve their purpose well if they are used as intended. Not a station wagon, IMHO. It's 100% Chevy truck underneath.

Buick Rendevous/Pontiac Aztek: You aren't fooling anyone. It's a minivan. Yeah, the Aztek is a goofy looking vehicle, but it's actually pretty decent under the ugly skin.

Chevy Avalanche: These things are selling like CRAZY here in Vegas. A truly useful crossover vehicle. Some might not like the looks, but it is pretty useful.

Ford Excursion: What gives? Does someone really need something bigger than the Suburban?

 

[Jared_B]

Shawn, you have some good points, but answer me this:

How would a 540iT tow a boat? How would a 540iT get me to the ski slopes in the winter? The 540iT is also more expensive than my X5, even with the exact same drivetrain (the 540 sedan is the same price).

About the Porsche:

Yes, it is a Porsche wagaon. The thing that irritates me is that Porsche claims it will have best in class OFF-road ability. C'mon, give it up and admit to yourselves that it is just a really fast, good handling, tall wagon. At least BMW admitted that the X5 is not supposed to be a SUV.

Those new sport utility trucks are quite useful. But gawd dam, they are UGLY! The Avalanche looks like it was hit by one.

 

[Ron-P]

That Avalanche is, in the words of Arnie from Predator, "One ugly muther-fucker"
I just wonder how Jeff came up with the fact that more often than not, SUVs are to blame for big-rig accidents Show me some stats, then I'll believe it.
Peace Out~

 

[Jared_B]

I second that, Ron.

I would assume big rigs are involved in accidents because of their extremely poor driver visibility, massively long braking distances, and snail slow acceleration. But I could be way off base here...

 

[Brian Perry]

I think the gas guzzling problem stems not only from SUVs but also the continuing rise of what I consider to be unnecessary horsepower levels in cars. Is there a reason why a Nissan Altima needs to have 240 hp? At this rate, a Camry soon will have 300 hp!

 

[MikeF]

Everyone who drives an SUV (other than for off-road purposes) or a large-engined vehicle should really go live in Europe for a few months. In the US, it seems that the larger your engine the greater your bragging rights (i.e. special V12 badges for Mercedes). The opposite is the case in Europe: the cars are small, efficient, and most popular in much smaller engine configurations than even available in North America. You almost NEVER see SUVs -- even in the Scandinavian countries, which see a hell of a lot more snow and cold than northern California. When you do see an SUV -- even a Range Rover -- it seems to be in a 4-cylinder configuration.

The reality: most people who drive SUVs would be better served by a sedan in respect of anything except, perhaps, perceived prestige. Even those who take advantage of the cargo space of SUVs would probably do better with a station wagon or large hatchback (again, very popular in Europe).

As someone mentioned before, I fail to understand why even in sedans people need V8 engines and 350 hp. I presently drive a Lexus SC400, which I purchased when young and dumb. I've recently had the opportunity to drive, at length, a 4-cylinder Honda Accord. I'm still trying to figure out why the hell I drive a V8 since the Honda is a real pleasure to drive and gives me all the power I need.

 

[Jared_B]

What you didn't say, Mike, is that most of those European countries tax you up the a$$ for cars with engines larger than 2.0 liters. Also, gasoline is taxed like crazy, so a gallon of it costs about $5 US. Europe also has narrower roads and parking spaces. Sending Americans to Europe would not change a thing. Over there, they would just buy whatever car fits their needs. They don't do any different here.

 

[MickeS]

Over there, they would just buy whatever car fits their needs. They don't do any different here.

It doesn't have much to do with "need", more about "want". People buy the biggest car they can afford, that's still easy to use on a day-to-day basis, even if they don't "need" it.

You're right about parking spaces and roads in Europe, they're much smaller, and you're right about the costs. So Europeans buy the car based on the same principles that americans do, but owning a behemoth like Excursion over there would just be completely idiotic, since you basically wouldn't be able to park it anywhere and you'd pay a fortune just for driving it.

/Mike

 

[Jared_B]

When it comes to people buying commodities in an open market, everything is a need. Like someone else said, you don't need that HDTV. You don't need a big house. You don't need to eat out at restaurants. You don't need nice clubs to play golf. You can't say that people should only get what they need without being a hypocrite.

You can't sit there and say most people would be better served in smaller Hondas. If they were, they would buy the Honda! My snowboards wouldn't fit in a honda. My wife and friends won't fit in a Honda (comfortably). A Honda has worse performance than my vehicle. My vehicle also has higher crash ratings than any Honda (or any other car, for that matter). Just try and tell me that I would be better suited in a small sedan.

 

[Ron-P]

It doesn't have much to do with "need", more about "want". People buy the biggest car they can afford, that's still easy to use on a day-to-day basis, even if they don't "need" it.

Well, none of us need Home Theaters, but we want them. Same goes for SUV's. Sometimes the want is more than the need, its part of life, were all guilty of it.
Peace Out~

 

[Todd Hochard]

Cargo and semi truck accident rates are way lower on a per vehicle basis, and WAY WAY lower on a per mile basis. I'd venture to say that it's because the drivers are better trained in handling their vehicles. As a for instance, my father drives an over-the-road 18 wheeler, and logs about 180k to 200k miles a year. He's had exactly ONE accident in a rig in 34 years of driving.

So, I'd venture to say that rigs, comparitively speaking, are much safer on the road than ANY passenger vehicle.

Todd

 

[MickeS]

Ron-P, I agree. My point was that the europeans are just the same as americans: if they had the same roads, parking lots, garages and gas prices, there'd be a whole bunch of SUV's over there too. Conversely, if the parking spaces, garages, roads and gas prices here were like in Europe, I bet we'd see a lot more Nissan Micras and Suzuki Swifts .
/Mike

 

[Jeff Kleist]

They had a big expose on the local news about why so many 18 wheelers have wrecks.
I have a feeling the SUV part is more that the big car tends to attract the buttheaded drivers because of the "i'm bigger than you" factor, rather than a fault in the actual car design.
I still hate them with a passion, and think frankly that the Expedition (or whatever that tank is called) should be taken off the road. NO ONE needs a car that big. If they want to sell me a tank I'd be much more interested frankly
Honk at me will you *wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* *chack chack* *BOOM!*

 

[kevin_tomb]

RON P
Good point about luxury cars being over priced also...thats a given. I guess where some people have a problem is that SUVs "NOWADAYS" are being promoted as a luxury vehicle , but there is no real prestige, other than the high price. Go back to the early to mid seventies, there were plenty of SUVs (then called four wheel drives or jeeps) there was absolutely no prestige then. But in those days they had a reasonable cost and were used for what they were designed for actually.
I actually wish people thought more the way they did like 25 years ago. Like I said Ive owned SUVs and used them appropriately, its these yuppies and soccer moms driving them that pisses me off....THE RAGE of seeing some 40 something woman driving a tahoe or expedition and knowing she will NEVER OFFROAD or do anything even remotely using the capability of the 4WD seems so pointless and wasteful.
Whats sad is these people are gonna jump from the 4WD bandwagon so fast the minute gas gets expensive or there is a shortage of petroleum ..(which in this day and age could happen SOOO easily)...where will that leave our country as a whole??
It will leave us with millions of gas guzzling trucks and people trying to dump them really fast. Kinda like the same thing that happened in the seventies with large boat cars and station wagons that got 10-13 MPG...The energy shortage woke up the USA really fast then. Thats what started the wake up of US car corporations to start designing efficient cars, cause HONDA, TOYOTA, NISSAN , VOLKSWAGEN and a few others at that time were killing us as far as sales of efficient reasonably priced cars go.
Its kinda like we havent learned a thing in the last 30 years, sadly to say. If or WHEN a shortage happens again, our country will be up the creek again. We are so tooled up and used to seeing trucks and SUVs every other vehicle nowadays what will people rush to buy this time??
Obviously smaller and mid size cars, but what will happen to all the plants SUV production capabilities???..We wont be able to produce enough compact to midsize cars to keep up with demand then....SO guess who will benefit...most likely HONDA TOYOTA VOLKSWAGEN etc etc...
Its not a matter of just "HEY I CAN DRIVE WHATEVER I WANT ITS MY MONEY" It has long lasting economic efects on the country if there ever is a gas shortage (and everyone knows thats very likely) The auto manufacturers know this but just dont care..they are looking at short term big time profits not the long term picture. It kinda sickens me when I hear sales of trucks and SUVs are so high. It means J6P has all these millions of "fad" vehicles they could want to dump at the first sign of a gas shortage. Where does that leave SUV and truck production in our country??
Back to the same that we had in the seventies, when trucks were trucks and were used to what they were made for.
I can just see it now, all the american truck manufacturers crying for government bail out cause noone is purchasing their SUVs and trucks. Drastically dropping prices and crying they arent making any money and its "unfair" that all the foreign companies are eating up all the sales of autos. Then they will beg for restrictions of foreign imports and put tarriffs on foreign cars etc except one problem this time....Most so called "Foreign" cars are more domestic content than a lot of so called "american cars" So what do we do?...lay off all the guys employed by honda, toyota etc that work in the USA?????.....makes ya think

 

[Paul Jenkins]

kevin_tomb, you may hate when "soccer moms" drive SUVs, but most "soccer moms" love them. They look better than a minivan and hold just as much if not more. The have great UTILITY, the U part if you remember. Offroad capability is hardly a factor in the purchase of an SUV for most people anymore, and, here is the part you hate, it doesn't NEED to be a factor, it is just a car!

What I loath is people attempting to tell me that what I purchase is somehow 'wrong' or that because I don't offroad, i don't 'need' an SUV. This country seems to have more than its fair share of whiners and people trying to impose their view of the world on others.

Also, the economic 'theory' floating in this thread that somehow SUV sales will drag down the economy is complete and utter horse****. Its funny that economic ruin is always quoted but never established, as if saying it somehow makes it true...