Australia's love affair with SUV's

CFox

CFox

Banned
Yeah yeah, we get it, the safety.

Have an "intellectual/ethical" female friend who after years of scoffing has got a Defender to coincide with her popping out a child.

Yeah yeah, we get it, the ride height.

Thing is,how can you see over the car in front when its an SUV too ?
 
Don't start me...

There is an argument with kids that they're easier to get in and out of 4WD/SUVs, and of course the space for the Maclaren pram and the fit out that seems to accompany infants these days is handy, I get that, but it's also a classic example of the tragedy of the commons in terms of the ride height thing. I'll just take a little bit more because I can...

But try having that conversation with a mother, who will do anything she feels is in the best interest of her mewling sprog...

You can't have the "it might be safer for you but what about the pedestrian / car / cyclist you hit?" discussion with an SUV driver either - they just don't care. No feeling of common good/wealth there.

The various tragic stories of people accidentally mowing down children either at home or near schools all seem to involve an SUV.... no surprise.

Can you tell I've just moved to a smaller car... :laughings:
 
I have an SUV. It's great. I love it. I can haul all of my gear in dry comfort, drive through high water, do donuts on the beach without getting stuck, and run hipster bicyclists and vespa riders right off the road without a worry.
 
I have no fondness for SUVs.

But it is popular with mothers . . . and the reason is, apparently, that they don't have to bend over as far to get kids and shopping in.
 
Amerikans may give you the comfort, ride height, carrying capacity, etc. baloney, but the real reason they want an SUV is that uncomfortable feeling sitting in a 2000 pound shitbox knowing some dweeb in a 7500 pound Excursion is hastily trying to text his way out of doing anything constructive while picking Cheetos crumbs out of his pants in the next lane.
 
drstawl said:
Amerikans may give you the comfort, ride height, carrying capacity, etc. baloney
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That stuff isn't baloney. SUVs really do provide all of that. And as an added bonus for you specifically, you and your cat/girlfriend could actually probably live in one.
 
Or because the price of gas has gone down...
You certainly can't get 40MPG out of most of the SUVs I've seen around.
 
Greg_L said:
That stuff isn't baloney. SUVs really do provide all of that. And as an added bonus for you specifically, you and your cat/girlfriend could actually probably live in one.
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I'm not saying those amenities aren't real; just that the buying decision is pure fear of being crushed while sitting at a stoplight.

And BMW showed that you could get amazing driver visibility out of a little car with their 2002.
 
we have two...well ones a crossover, wouldnt drive anything else here. My xterra drove through over a foot of snow like it was drizzle.

Petrol consumptions laughable in it though. Got a rogue awd, feels like a car inside and can handle most of the lighter stuff and daily shops etc.
 
BroKen_H said:
Or because the price of gas has gone down...
You certainly can't get 40MPG out of most of the SUVs I've seen around.
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i get around 15 in the xterra. Problem is folks get confused what a real SUV is...an xterra is just a 4x4 frontier with a back row of seats, itll go around the world...hardly the soccer mom crap most think are SUVs.
 
drstawl said:
I'm not saying those amenities aren't real; just that the buying decision is pure fear of being crushed while sitting at a stoplight.
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Might be for some people. People buy what they buy for different reasons. All of them are valid, and none of them are your business or concern.
 
The running joke here is that the most likeliest vehicle to be in a ditch during a snowstorm is an SUV. The problem is that while you have more traction to move than a two wheel drive you don't have more braking power to stop you, and apparently a lot of SUV owners haven't figured that out.
 
acidrock said:
The running joke here is that the most likeliest vehicle to be in a ditch during a snowstorm is an SUV. The problem is that while you have more traction to move than a two wheel drive you don't have more braking power to stop you, and apparently a lot of SUV owners haven't figured that out.
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AMEN to to that - ability to GO is not equal to ability to stop. My Subaru Impreza AWD was awesome on dry tarmac, a deathtrap on ice and snow.
 
doesnt matter if my xterra goes in a ditch, I just keep driving through the ditch, over the field, through the woods, then arrive at my destination (Trader Joes) 5 minutes early
 
My excuse is the need to, fairly often, carry a bunch of sound gear. My rig barely fits in the SUV so smaller isn't really an option.

Frankly, if we could justify being a two car family I'd rather potter around in something smaller and keep the SUV for carrying things/people or long trips. However, we don't need a second car so SUV it is. (Our previous was a "people mover but it was even worse on petrol/gas.)
 
I'm actually looking to pick up a used 4WD SUV (something newer though) as my pick-up truck is pretty much dead, and my car isn't the greatest for extreme winter driving (I have a 45 mile haul to work).

I don't hate SUVs (well, actually I do)...but they have their uses.
What I do hate is the fact that even here in the US, 7 out of 10 SUVs are driven by women, who 1.) have a hard time driving them and 2.) don't give a shit that they have a hard time driving them.
So they're in the left lane barely doing the speed limit, ignoring the line of cars behind them...and when the weather is bad, they drive their SUVs even worse.

Seeing how most women are generally smaller in stature...climbing into a big ass SUV where they can hardly see over the hood, never mind behind and in the rear quarter blind spots, as they white-knuckle the steering wheel with one had and hold their cell phone with the other...just makes little sense AFA "safety".
"I'm safer inside an SUV"....yeah, but your also an annoying nuisance and danger to every other driver on the road.
 
Jeeps are being flogged on the TV mercilessly down under.
Funnily enough the fine print on the screen says the models are 2WD but the promo is pure off road & estate van stuff.
I loathe 4WD/estate waggons unless they are used OFF ROAD.
The big selling point of personal safety is a) a fib & b) at the expense of everyone's safety other than those occupants of the easily tipped over, rarely off road except on the drive way, too high to see what's close & low, fuel guzzling, air polluting expressions of insecurity.
I cringed even more when they started calling them SUVs. This was resisted for some time in Oz but the dam burst and damn...!
My wife has a station wagon & I have a motorcycle (or use the bus).
 
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