MAtt, I'd agree with everything you said excpet:

I'm sure you've seen some of the aftermath pictures of some nasty crashes involving Porsches in particular, and how well the passenger compartments hold up.

 

This is a Porsche board but Porsches arent the only sports cars out there. I was referring to sports cars, in general.

The real point is that unless you are driving a Pruis and an Insight (or walking) you have NO place to complain about the social shortcomings of some other type of car.
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Hey, I rode my bicycle to work today. Does that negate the evil SUV that is sitting in my driveway at home? The pizza that I had last nite did come out as flatulence this morning so I may have affected the ozone layer. I guess that makes the whole thing a toss-up?

 

OMG.. that is hilarious!

Ok.. as far as the the whole suv compatibility issue goes. They are inherently
more deadly on our roads.. one middle aged soccer mom gets on her cell phone in the old expedition and BAM! she can wipe out a family of 4 in a taurus or any other kind of car on the road. In general these vehicles are bought as a alternative to a minivan because the minivan is seen as a soccer mom vehicle. These huge things have a bumper clearance which settles in right about shoulder height of the average passenger car.. in sports cars it is a decapitator. I hate SUV's for the danger they pose to me as a fellow motorist. I could care less if they enjoy spending a ton of money on fuel. All they are feeding is the terrorist regimes in the middle east.

I will never own a SUV unless it is to tow my race car. Even then I would rather have a good old Pick up as they were built for that purpose.
The average SUV never sees any serious off road use, even though the Cayenne and the Touareg were built for off road use.

Anyway.. I am done.

 

My wife was hit, while stopped, at 30 mph by a semi truck in her 540, while the car was damaged and she was hurt she will be fine in the long run. Dont even begin to try to convince me that an Expedition would have done anywhere near the damage that the semi did. If that car stood up to a Semi I have no doubt that a Taurus could stand up to an Expedition.

I do agree with you that most of them never see offroad but plenty of 911s never see the track.
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Which brings us to the real point; SUVs are not irresposible by design. They are just not used effectively. Buying an Expedition to drive to the grocery store or occasionally carry the family dog to the vet, or drop off your 2.5 kids at sports is not responsible use of the vehicle. You would better served by a minivan or wagon that has plenty of space, better gas milage, usually better road handling.

If you tow a boat, haul heavy ****, go camping, hunting, etc where you can utilize the engine and 4 wheel drive that SUVs have, that is a better use of the vehicle.

H2s, Expeditions, Tahoes, etc that never haul anything or never see use offroad, is an absolute waste and was purchased more as a fashion accessory than utility vehicle. [/rant]

 

Might be true but has nothing to do with POPs argument that plenty of other vehicles can do what SUVs do. Lets just take the Expedition:
It can tow a boat, haul 6 very comfortably or 8 if they are small, you can carry plywood in it, remove the seats and you can bring home a couch if you desire. Is it the most practical vehicle for one person to drive 2 miles to work? No, but a sports car isnt either.

FWIW, I think the H2 is a giant POS as well but I would jump on the chance to buy an H1 in a heartbeat.
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I keep telling the wife taht one of these days I'm going to buy a de-militarized HMMWV as a hunting/camping vehicle.....

 

Yep, drove a few in the desert. If I could just get the roof mounted auto weaponry and the sealed electronics package I would be good to go!
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Make sure you get the MK-19 option (full auto, 300rds/min, 40mm grenade launcher) for tree clearing.....

 

Okay, there are obviously a lot of tree hugging, enviromental hippocrits on this board. Complaining that an SUV is irresponsible and that underusing it is some type of crime is ridiculous when you are driving a 20 year old car that has difficulties passing smog tests and is probably leaking oil from at least one spot, is capable of going 150 mph but is being underused by only going 65 mph and is not suitable for car pooling. And if you ever have "fully utilized" it on the street then you are being WAY more socially irresponsible than an SUV driver of any kind.

As for me, I drive a 2003 Expedition 2WD with ABS, Traction control, 4 wheel independent susp., airbags and a rollover canopy airbag. 95% of the time when I drive it, I am alone and not towing or hauling anything. I have never driven it through any endangered grass or run over any endangered animals. And I have never killed a family of 4 in a Taurus. I also feel like my family is pretty safe in the vehicle. The car I get on this board about is an 87 951, airbags disabled, no ABS or TCS, which is driven 95% of the time within posted speed limits. Even in it I am not worried about the EVIL soccer mom in her EVIL Honda killing SUV. I'm worried about the trucker hauling 45,000 pounds of scrap steel while talking on his CB and popping caffeine pills or worse so that he can keep driving 18 hour days for 6 days straight to keep ahead of schedule and hopefully make enough money to get his worn out tires and brakes replaced like he has been needing to for the last three months.

California is getting so freakish about smog control that ya'll are now requiring CATS on fricking motorcycles.

 

Someone is feeling a little defensive......

No one wrote that driving an SUV is a crime.

 

I don't know about you, but I had no problems whatsoever passing smog. . .

As far as putting the cats on motorcycles, I'd love to see the study of how much smog / pollution is created annually and attributable to bikes. I'm not against the idea - the technology exists and why not use it, but I think in this case the motives are likely economic rather than truly environmental. The state can regulate more and collect more tax / fees / surcharges based on it. As with most "environmental" government policies, the benefit to the environment is an afterthought. . .

 

I would just like someone to answer my question...which cars/vans can are as practical as an SUV?
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What is the sound of one hand clapping?