[grey_whiskers]

Cheers!

[Black Tooth]

What is a dinsaur?

[TADSLOS]

I thought all of the SUVs were in prison for wreckless driving and manslaughter...

[radar101]

Get hit by a drunk:
IN a Sentra, you are history.
In an Expedition or a Suburban.. you will walk aawy.

[Xenalyte]

I'm down with it.

The issue for me is not safety. I choose to drive a small car and accept the risks.

The issue is that SUV drivers can't drive the damn things.

If you SUV drivers would STAY INSIDE THE FREAKIN' LINES, I would have no problem with you.

The constant demonstration that your vehicle is too big for lanes, and parking spaces, is why I wish said vehicle to disappear from the earth.

[Fresh Wind]

If they're not "sport" vehicles, how come so many SUV owners drive them like they're Ferraris?

[CindyDawg]

I gave my son our 6 y/o Suburban. Why? I didn't want my grandsons riding around in a sardine can.

[pa mom]

I drive my SUV because it seats three in the middle. A minivan only seats two there so if I take out the back to haul the dogs, I cannot seat my whole family. When a minivan will seat three in the middle, I'll buy it.

We show dogs so we need the back. Can't put them in the trunk, you know! Lots of dog folks, even without kids, have SUVS, though often the small ones.

Then again, I'm Starbucks sipping Yuppie scum, so what do I know!

[canalabamian]

Still have that Yugo, huh?

[staytrue]

Excellent analysis regarding the boomers.

I do like riding high and I like AWD for snow.

[goldstategop]

I've my eye out on the Hummer H3. The death of the SUV is overrated.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Reactionary]

So the idea is that, since SUVs are pretty much uesless for older people, the SUV as such is doomed to extinction.

No. People will always have children. They will always have home improvement projects and groceries and rugrats. Until, that is, they grow older.

And then? Well, their children will buy the SUVs.

[Babu]

My theory is that over the next few years, gasoline prices will either stay the same (currently $2.39/gal where I live) or continue to rise. Probably rise.

The reason this gas crunch is different than gas crunches of the past, such as 73-74, and will have legs, is because of China and India. China and India are huge and successful growing economies, and are net buyers of oil on the world market. They produce little of their own oil. That is what is driving up the worldwide price of oil.

Americans always adapt and change, and this situation will be no exception. The mix of vehicles you see on the roads will change significantly, almost drastically over the next few years. Many much smaller cars with smaller engines, less SUV's, less pickup trucks (at least punk trucks).

There may be more hybrids, but not for the reason of better mileage, mostly for performance. The economic value of hybrids remains to be seen. The extra cost of the vehicle versus the increased mileage makes it hardly worth it.

[randog]

I've never seen the "utility" in SUV's. You can't haul a load of trash to the dump when the bed or your "truck" is carpeted and has seats.

Mrs. randog and I were driving to church this morning and were looking at the new Dodge Durango SUV. Right next to it was a Dodge Caravan. I pointed out that the Durango was just a Caravan set on top of a 4WD chassis.

[R. Scott]

The current crop of SUVs are the modern day equivalent to the old station wagon – “…good for ferrying half of a boy scout troop, or hauling home several months' salary worth of goods from Best Buy or from Home Depot in a single trip.”
“…several months' salary worth of goods from Best Buy or from Home Depot” ????? – isn’t that just a tad bit too much hyperbole?
Try hauling the family to the grocery, or department store for a normal shopping trip in a PC Genuine Imitation mini car.

[Cagey]

You talking to me?

[RightOnline]

I have seven kids. Tell me what else I should drive. I'll sit back and take notes from a sage such as yourself.

[Nachoman]

The author seems to think people are going to quit having children. I think its a bit premature to announce the death of the SUV.

[230FMJ]

You won't get me to give up my 4 wheel drive full sized pickup because my .50 cal M82 Barrett won't fit behind the seat of anything smaller. (BTW-I got rear-ended when I owned and drove a '91 Sentra. Loved the car, but after seeing how it folded up in a low-speed rear end collision, I went back to a truck)

[Eagles Talon IV]

Of course no one can say you are wrong in your assumption because yours is as good as anyones. But much of what you say makes no sense. Not only families with children own SUV's. I cannot tell you how many young people 20-45 and older are buying these things. They are not needed to haul children, etc anyway because a choice of a van has been another option all along. Gas actually does make a difference but with the coming intro of hybrids (Toyota will introduce a 35 mpg full size SUV within a year)that won't matter nor will the price. People, when it comes to their vehicles seldom use common sense. Having been in the business some 30 years I can attest to this.

SUV's may indeed lose their position as the number one seller but that will only be because something else has caught the eye of the fickle public.

[humblegunner]

This is not because the drivers are Starbucks-sipping yuppie scum, nor because they are chain-smoking over-the-hill-trophy wives, nor because they are preoccupied with their cell phones (though these are all true).

Bite me.
I drive an SUV, I also have a 16 year old Chevy 4x4 hunting truck.
I have never been to a Starbucks and I leave my cellphone on my dresser.
I dislike small cars because you can be easily killed or maimed in them.

Been there, done that.. 1988 Camaro and one reattached leg.

I prefer to maintain a bit of authority on the road, and I suppose
that your Cooper-mini, while getting phenominal mileage might also provide
outstanding traction surface beneath my tires.