SUV's. What's the attraction?

I can tell you it's not the $600+/Mo payments.... and I have 2 of them.

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

 

I do find it annoying that a SUV/CUV/whatever can have worse headroom than our dinky Focus. I’m looking at you, Traverse/Enclave

I was thinking the same thing as I read some of the comments. I drove one of those for a week and kept hitting my head getting in.

I'm 5'6"

Suprf1y said:

BlueInGreen - Jon said:

 

I do find it annoying that a SUV/CUV/whatever can have worse headroom than our dinky Focus. I’m looking at you, Traverse/Enclave

I was thinking the same thing as I read some of the comments. I drove one of those for a week and kept hitting my head getting in.

I'm 5'6"

5'6" you should be driving a stretched and lifted Chevy Kodiak dually SUV. 

ebonyandivory said:

In reply to SVreX :

Well said!

Please let's NOT start to judge people for wanting an SUV. It's bad enough reading the judgement about driving a pickup truck.

OMG! You brought up pick up trucks! Now we will have to discuss motor oil also.  The trifecta of discontent. SUVs, pick ups and motor oils. Hmmmmm...........maybe throw in Nascar too? 

yupididit said:

Nor do I generalize the entire wagon driving population based on one person and their stupid reason. 

There's a wagon driving population to generalize in 2019?

Daylan C said:

yupididit said:

Nor do I generalize the entire wagon driving population based on one person and their stupid reason. 

There's a wagon driving population to generalize in 2019?

Yes, all 13 of them frequent GRM. 

Actually I guess you can generalize them.

Kentuckians driving their Vista Cruiser to a rock gig? Weird.

Texans driving a CTSV wagon on OneLap? Weird.

People who pay 27k for a decade old V70R? Weird.

Idiot who pays money for a rusty Caprice with a truck transmission? Weird.

Jordan Rimpela? Weird.

In reply to yupididit :

I drive an Echo hatch, but only til I get something smaller

Knurled. said:

SVreX said:

Bigger people fit more comfortably.

 

This is demonstrably false.  The seats sit so high that they are uncomfortable for people over 6 feet tall to drive due to headroom issues.  It's a real PITA to try to drive something where your feet can't touch the floor AND you have to lay back like you're in a dentist's chair because of the lack of headroom.

 

Generally speaking, the shorter the person, the larger the truck.  The only actually-tall people I have known, drove cars exclusively.  One drove Miatas except for his winter beater, which was a C4 Corvett

I didn’t say tall.  I said big.  I meant wide.

I live in the South.  Lots of SUVs.  Lots of heavy people.  I am CONSTANTLY hearing people say that they don’t fit in smaller vehicles.

I don't know where you guys are shopping, but around here SUVs are wayyyyy more expensive than pickups.

In my neighborhood, most of the full size SUVs don't even have tow packages. They're the choice for the country club crowd to get a minivan that both mom (not a minivan) and dad (not a minivan and not a CUV) like. My minivan does everything better except look "tough".

Honestly they don't bother me half as much as the mommy crossovers. Who do you think you are fooling with your Highlander or Buick Enclave? It's a minivan, but without sliding doors.

Rotella T6. Period.

Sigh.... are we really doing this again?

You know what else is impractical and doesn't make sense to buy? Sports cars.

People drive what they want to drive, it's not my job to tell them otherwise.

We have an '06 Rav4 we bought new. It's coming up on 200k, and it's been a great car. Compared to a mid-size Toyota sedan of the same vintage we get:

- 3.5k towing capacity (I tow a HF 4X8 foot trailer almost every week, and have tested the full capacity on a few occasions)

- AWD 

- A higher ride height, which gives better ground clearance and better visibility on the highway. It also means fewer headlights in my eyes.

- More cargo room than a trunk - I use this capability every week when I take our garbage  and recycling to the dump.

In our case, it was about the same price as a decently equipped Camry, is almost as fast as a V6 Camry, and gets good mileage around town and on the highway (and doesn't require premium). I've put many 500+ miles days on it, and a few 1,000 mile days, and it's great for road trips.

Overall, we've been happy with our SUV/CUV.

What's the attraction of SUV? 

I don't want a minivan, and a decent wagon is hard to find. So, Yukon, baby. 

I think the SUV thing started in a time when sedans had become very flimsy and unappealing and coupes were nearly extinct.

That era is over; you can get a V6 Accord or Altima that's legitimately fast. You can get a Tesla. You can get an Outback if you want a station wagon. You can get a Charger with a 392cid motor, or a Focus ST, or any number of things that simply didn't exist in the USA back when the Explorer started selling.

Why are the gross SUVs still around? I think it's a verticality arms race. You can't see a damned thing without an SUV anymore.

If they were taxed into oblivion I wouldn't missed them.

How has this thread gotten this far without this one simple truth?

SUV's are more profitable for manufacturers so they pay advertising companies lots of money to convince consumers they are better/more desirable/safer/of elevated social status.  A few dozen years of this it takes hold.

Tract home on wheels. Bonus addition - bully people in smaller vehicles.

Don't believe me. Uber 1,200 miles every week in a Versa.

Want to really get them juiced? 

Be courteous to other drivers.

Satans way of encouraging us to treat our fellow man like utter E36 M3 at high velocity.

In reply to Suprf1y :

Ya know I've been having naughty thoughts about the tiny Mitsubishi. 

nutherjrfan said:

Tract home on wheels. Bonus addition - bully people in smaller vehicles.

I drive a full size pickup and a Yukon XL. I have a small hootus, I'm a bully, a have Napoleon Syndrome and every other stereotype you can make up.

Suprf1y said:

In reply to yupididit :

I drive an Echo hatch, but only til I get something smaller

Lmao I love it

Why?

Because a minivan can't tow 5000 pounds.



Or go off-road.




I mean, a minivan could tow a light trailer and carry some cargo and people... but so can the SUV.  And the SUV can tow the boat in the background, too.





Pickup trucks can do those things, too, but they don't have a good way to lock up all of your E36 M3 in an enclosed cargo area without adding extra stuff. 

 

In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :

But just not Rocks in Omaha. Those are invisible. :)

Also, just to be pedantic, there is no apostrophe needed in the plural form of SUV. It's "SUVs" unless you're talking about something the SUV owns or possesses, like the SUV's ability to do crap a minivan doesn't do.  

In reply to yupididit :

Lol...Yup. Got 2 of them at the house. We are the holdouts.