ALT-9 Should we still be Buying Suvs – No
I used to be a big SUV van. I learn to drive on a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee and spent some fun times behind the wheel of a 2000 Dodge Durango. I loved their aggressive looks, smiled about all the cargo room I had, the proud feeling knowing that I could go anywhere I wanted to, both on- and off-road, and the ability to tow anything I would want or need.
After awhile, the novelty of the rough-and-tough wore off and a couple interesting revelations came to light. The first was the steady increase in price at the pumps. What once took me ~$25 to fill up my tank was now take me $30-$35. And it didn't stop. Suddenly, getting 16-17 mpg wasn't as spectacular as I first thought. I read about station wagons and minivans offering the same space receiving almost 50% better EPA gas mileage ratings than what my SUV was receiving.
Second was the 88 cu. ft of cargo space available in the Durango was pretty much going to waste. My family and I never went on trips or filled the back end with enough supplies to justify the need for the room. Most of the time, the family Bouviers were the only occupiers of the trunk space. To add insult to injury, the Volvo 850 station wagon could carry the same amount of dogs/bags that the family usually traveled with, but returned much better gas mileage as well as a smoother ride.
And even looking at other sport-ute drivers, the majority don't use the SUV they own for anything other than carting children around or going to the store to pick up milk. These vehicles were designed to tow thousands of pounds, offer room to carry anything needed safely inside the vehicle and to take people places where a regular car would be destroyed. They weren't designed to keep your Starbucks coffee from falling out of the cup holder.
Finally, a big wake-up was what occurred one faithful day in February, 2002. My mother and a family friend were out in the Durango on the way back from shopping when there was an unfortunate incident with a 2002 Nissan Sentra. Not a small fender bender, but a large one which left both vehicles immobile. What irked me was how much damage the Durango caused the Nissan, even though the Durango was traveling at a police-estimated 10 mph. While the Dodge was repaired, the Nissan, with it's rear bumper now part of the back seat, was totaled.
The problem was not the fact that the Sentra was an unsafe vehicle (it does receive an "Acceptable" rating from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety), but how the big truck-based Dodge took all the force from it's end and transfered it to the Nissan, causing even greater damage. That's the problem with most SUVs. They are built using thick, stiff truck platforms that are not designed to dissipate crash energy like a regular car. So, when an SUV and a passenger car in an accident, you usually see the car receiving much more of the damage than the SUV.
The point I am trying to make is that automobile companies do produce other vehicles that not only offer the same utility as an SUV, these vehicles also offer buyers better fuel economy as well are much safer not only for you and your occupants, but those in any other vehicle you may hit.
Sadly, the few people who actually use their sport-utility vehicles for their designed purposes are grouped by people who believe the SUV is the best mode of transportation out there for everything. Hopefully people will wake up and realize their mistakes.
