The SUV is dead — long live the SUV

MSNBC ^ | April 10, 2009 | Dan Carney

[Lorianne]

SUVs, crossovers dominate at 2009 New York auto show ___ The smart set here in New York has long declared the SUV dead.

That gas-guzzling, pollutant-spewing darling of suburban and rural America is a passé relic of a bygone era, according to the book editors, fashion photographers, literary critics, Broadway choreographers and other practitioners of the bedrock industries that built this country.

They’d better stay away from the New York auto show this week because there they will see car manufacturers showing off their latest off-road contenders, and the majority of the new models unveiled at the show’s press preview earlier this week were SUVs or crossovers. Why? Because while these vehicles may have been declared dead in Manhattan, the residents of the Fly-Over states have kept buying them (to the extent that anyone is buying anything more than food and water these days).

“While the perception coming from the mainstream media is that there is a hatred of SUVs, the numbers don’t show that,” observed Rebecca Lindland, director of auto industry research for IHS Global Insight. “Consumers want a mixture of utility, fuel economy, safety and practicality.”

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I tried pulling my boat with a Segway......

Didn’t happen....

[goldstategop]

People like SUVs because they are practical vehicles. Liberal snobs hate 'em. Every one else loves em.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[television is just wrong]

I hate prius’

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The smart set here in New York has long declared the SUV dead.

Well, that settles that then. It's well known that the rest of us out here in the boonies can't make a move until we find out what the smart set in New York thinks we should do.

[Secret Agent Man]

I’ll be driving one for a long time.

[Windcatcher]

P*ss on the “NY smart set”. I left there in ‘77 and haven’t been back since.

[Inyo-Mono]

Here in heavy snow and rural mountain fly-over country, they can take my 4WD Jeep Wrangler from my cold, dead hands.

[Saundra Duffy]

Went to a classic car show in the Tower District in Fresno today. What a blast!! I miss the good old days.

[EyeGuy]

“The smart set here in New York has long declared the SUV dead.”

Not smart.

Never were.

Never will be.

About anything.

[Professional]

Yeah, in 74 and 79 they thought they had it all figured out too...

Me, last August, at 4.25 per gallon, got a Yukon Denali, fully loaded, for nothin...

Who’s driving in style, and who’s lookin like a dork on a moped?

[RayChuang88]

Alas, SUVs--because they are such big vehicles--are also fuel guzzlers (unless we start seeing more diesel-powered ones!). As such, the days of the large SUV are coming to an end.

It's more likely that in the next 4-5 years we'll be see a lot more in the USA vehicles that Europeans describe as multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs). Two models in this category are already on sale in the USA:

Kia Rondo

Mazda5

There are persistent rumors that Honda is looking at bringing over the next-generation version of the Honda Stream or FR-V to the USA market within a few years.

[neodad]

I’ve got five boys. My Suburban is getting too small.

[Myrddin]

My choices are the 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid, 1999 F150 4x4 and 1998 Explorer 4x4. All of them are serviceable through the months when my street is covered with 6 inches of ice plus as much new snow fall as has occurred the previous night. When I arrived from San Diego with a Saturn SL2 and SW2, I got caught short on the first 6" snow fall. I couldn't get out of my driveway. I've had no repeats of that problem with the 4x4 vehicles. It's Spring now. When it isn't raining, I'm riding my motorcycles for casual transport. The Mariner serves to fetch a week's worth of groceries. That's a bit over the top for a motorcycle.

The NYC weenies can put their noses up at the SUV. It's a perfect compromise in my world. I wouldn't live in their world.

[Myrddin]

The wheel diameters and ground clearance are inadequate on both of those vehicles. Freezing to death in a vehicle trapped in snow is a poor tradeoff for saving a little money on what you really should have purchased. It's easy to snag a vehicle like that in a "high centered" condition. Nothing short of a tow truck will pull you out.

[Myrddin]

2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrd (4x4)

[RayChuang88]

The vehicles I just described are more for drivers in the West and southern states, where dealing with snow is much less of a problem.

But where winter snows are a problem, we'll be seeing a lot more smaller 4WD SUVs replace the large gas-guzzling SUVs. That's why the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 have done quite well in the US market. And Ford is working on bringing a version on this model:

Ford Kuga

...to the US market within a few years as a replacement for the Ford Escape small SUV.

[dalereed]

I’ll keep my pickup with it’s modified 350HP engine!

I wouldn’t have one of the Tonka Toys if it was free.

Pedal to the metal with gasoline only!

[mamelukesabre]

An off road version of the mazda 5 would be perfect.

[BigFinn]

Today I saw one of those smart cars on an LA freeway. They are no match for any other car in a wreck. You'd get squashed like a bug. I can only think of that Limbaugh parody of the Elvis tune... "In A Yugo"...

Probably a couple of well edjacated libs with a short shelf life.