Suvs Winter Snow Ice Malibu
Everyone tries to place the blame for the world’s environmental condition on the automotive. In addition, it is considered a crime by some people to own an SUV because of the large amount of gas and oil they require to continue running. That being said, not one of the people complaining about the SUV has ever been stuck in serious snow. The Sports Utility Vehicle has saved more than one stranded Malibu driver.
There are some serious benefits to having a vehicle that is designed to go off-road. The primary benefit of the SUV is that the tire base is wide. The wide wheel base gives the SUV better traction when dealing with grass and dirt. This is the same wide wheel stance that provides the driver with steady traction through icy and snowy conditions. The wheel base on an SUV is also placed on a suspension that lifts the vehicle higher than the average vehicle. This higher stance keeps the vehicle from scraping the dirt when off-roading. This also prevents the vehicle from being lifted off its wheel base when dealing with heavy snow.
There are some disadvantages to an SUV. The Sport Utility Vehicle is expensive to maintain. They do use a lot of gasoline to power the large engine that is essential to providing it the power to tow the stuck vehicles out of the snow. The engine does require more oil to remain properly lubricated. The insurance on an SUV is often higher than it is for vehicles with smaller engines and less power.
While most people wonder if the SUV is worth the cost to the environment, let us think about this. The average person burns more gasoline trying to get out of snow and pass icy patches than they do any other time while driving. An SUV does not have this problem. The frustration caused by snow and ice difficulties is not felt by the SUV driver and that results in less aggressive driving and therefore fewer accidents. The SUV is also a safe vehicle, placing the driver higher than the accident. Most SUV’s have more safety features standard, the driver is less likely to be injured due to a collision. The recent advances in engine performance and efficiency have also made the SUV a more environmentally conscious vehicle than it has been before. Many new SUV’s are either hybrid vehicles or they can be ran off of ethanol or other non-traditional fuels.
While you decide if you think it is worth it to buy an SUV or not, those of us in the north will continue to drive our SUV’s. Not because we have no regard for the world, but rather it is more affordable for us to purchase a single vehicle handle the weather conditions than it is for us to switch vehicles back and forth. For those of us in the north, where the snow can fall in feet per hour, the SUV will always be worth it.
