How SUVs are the problem

[Lotus49]

The large truck/SUV topic is an insight into what I hate about America today. It's full of a bunch of type-A personality @-holes, all on steroids (due to the 'treated' meat they stuff their guts with), all with chips on their shoulders, and love to to go on power trips. "I'm bigger, more powerful than you - and I'm going to push you around the first chance I get".

It's a crap culture. Full of morons. Total morons. I'm going to move to Europe, or some place, and drive a small, highly maneuverable car, handling it with skill and style, being smooth - and having some courtesy for those around me... not trying to bully them at every turn.

All a bunch of fools. Their leader represents them well. They will fall. It is inevitable. Fools can only stay at the top for so long.

 

[Strider]

The large truck/SUV topic is an insight into what I hate about America today. It's full of a bunch of type-A personality @-holes, all on steroids (due to the 'treated' meat they stuff their guts with), all with chips on their shoulders, and love to to go on power trips. "I'm bigger, more powerful than you - and I'm going to push you around the first chance I get".

It's a crap culture. Full of morons. Total morons. I'm going to move to Europe, or some place, and drive a small, highly maneuverable car, handling it with skill and style, being smooth - and having some courtesy for those around me... not trying to bully them at every turn.

All a bunch of fools. Their leader represents them well. They will fall. It is inevitable. Fools can only stay at the top for so long.

It's the same culture that almost any decent country in the world has copied, with their own unique modifications. Try visiting Japan some time, it's an exact copy of the U.S. just alot more extreme.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

The large truck/SUV topic is an insight into what I hate about America today. It's full of a bunch of type-A personality @-holes, all on steroids (due to the 'treated' meat they stuff their guts with), all with chips on their shoulders, and love to to go on power trips. "I'm bigger, more powerful than you - and I'm going to push you around the first chance I get".

It's a crap culture. Full of morons. Total morons. I'm going to move to Europe, or some place, and drive a small, highly maneuverable car, handling it with skill and style, being smooth - and having some courtesy for those around me... not trying to bully them at every turn.

All a bunch of fools. Their leader represents them well. They will fall. It is inevitable. Fools can only stay at the top for so long.

Do you feel better now?

Would you like to actually add anything to the discussion or did you just post to rant, insult and make quaint predictions?

 

[CamBot]

The US auto market has been slowly moving away from the big Monster SUVs, with the exception of the Hummer and a few others, in favor of more "crossover" types like Chrysler Pacifica.

The whole SUV class will probably go the way of the dinosaur because gas is bound to go up and up, and interest in hybrids, cars and trucks, is skyrocketing already.

 

[BasketCase]

@Sakunder (sorry, had a helluva time trying to spell that! ): What Lotus failed to mention is that the anti-SUV forces can't last forever, either. The old line "all things must come to an end" doesn't just apply to those alleged "pro-SUV morons". Every now and then, people have this sudden swing from the practical, back to the ostentatious and wasteful.

 

[Sahkuhnder]

@Sakunder (sorry, had a helluva time trying to spell that! ): What Lotus failed to mention is that the anti-SUV forces can't last forever, either. The old line "all things must come to an end" doesn't just apply to those alleged "pro-SUV morons". Every now and then, people have this sudden swing from the practical, back to the ostentatious and wasteful.

The irony is that if he had actually taken a moment to read the thread he would have seen me admit to using more than my fair share of resources and give an explanation of why I do so.

I can't help but read his angry post accusing others of being on steroids and having anger and dominance issues as anything but the height of hilarity. Whose posts seem more "type-A personality @-holes, all on steroids, all with chips on their shoulders, and love to to go on power trips", his or everyone elses?

 

[Swiss Bezerker]

Another crap analogy that is simply not the case. If you are happy driving your little 4 cylinder honda then fine...but let other people drive what the hell they want as well.

Oil isnt goint to run out anytime soon (if ever). If you are really that concerned become a chemist/engineer and design an automobile engine that works on something common..like water.

This is not about oil. Its about people using more suplies than they really need.

 

[El_Machinae]

I think that an additional issue is that the SUVs are not under any pressure to increase fuel efficiency. So, while sedans are getting cleaner and cleaner, SUVs are not.

Someone said that high gas prices are a good thing. Maybe, from an environmental perspective, they help reduce CO2. But from an economic perspective (the one I presented in this thread), it's not good, because it hinders the economy. Cheap energy is what the economy needs.

My main point was that wasting fuel was bad for your local, national, and international economy.

 

[amadeus]

This is not about oil. Its about people using more suplies than they really need.

Would you order gas rationing then? I'll give you a little history, we tried it, and it failed.

There are two forces on this earth that are indestructible: God and the laws of supply and demand. Everybody has to believe in at least one.

 

[BasketCase]

If you're referring to the U.S. shortage of the 70's, Sharpe, my perception of it was: we tried it, began to threaten the livelihood of oil-producing countries, and so those countries halted their boycott.

The shortage provoked a massive investment by the U.S. into researching alternative sources of energy, and if any one of those had become a success, the economies of oil-producing nations would have collapsed. The OPEC nations had to make such research economically infeasible.

So, today, you hear a lot of whining from the Middle East about U.S. imperialism, and a lot of comments about how the U.S. depends on Middle Eastern oil--but what you do not see is action by the Middle East to close the spigot. Because they can't.

I wouldn't say rationing failed, per se, but you're right about supply and demand. (God and the laws of supply and demand. Gotta choose one of those two, and I'm an atheist.... )

 

[El_Machinae]

Would you order gas rationing then? I'll give you a little history, we tried it, and it failed.

Yeah, I get that. If we cannot get differential taxation, based on vehicle type, then all we really have is moral suasion.

Can you at least follow the problems associated with over-consumption of energy?

 

[JohnRM]

Those SUV's are going to be nice lawn ornaments when oil production peaks.

The oil shortage is a farce. There are literally thousands of years of proved petroleum reserves left in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, etc.

 

[spankey]

This is not about oil. Its about people using more suplies than they really need.

The problem with this thread of logic is this---who decides what is enough and who decides where it should be applied.

Should people be forced to use mass transit even if it adds an hour to your commute and is inconvenient to boot?

Should people be forced to buy a certain kind of car? Who gets to decide which car and who benefits from the decision?

Should people only be allowed to have one computer, because more is a waste of resources?

Should each person be limited to 300 square feet of living space because it is optimal for humanity?

This logic takes alot upon itself.

 

[luiz]

Imagin this. food is limited and their will be no food surplies until about 1.5 months in the future in your small little town. A rich man goes to the only food suply store and buys all the food, leaving a bit for the store owner. You starve to death after eating your cat. How does this make you feel

I would move out of the town.

According to you, that totaly OK, because its his money that he can do whatever you want with.

Indeed.

 

[luiz]

Go check out the mileage of a Lexus all wheel drive and get back to me.

Or a V-8 Mercedes for that matter.
SUVs (at least the ones we have in Brazil, don't know about Hummers) actually are not very different, in terms of mileage, from luxury cars with big motors.

People pick on SUVs probably because they are so big and visible.

 

[MobBoss]

This is not about oil. Its about people using more suplies than they really need.

Yes, but who are you to decide what I need?

 

[Verbose]

Yes, but who are you to decide what I need?

Politics is how we decide what can be afforded by society. The need (or at least the demand) is always greater than the resources, so we make priorities. Big Car isn't a top priority by Nature.

I imagine he can suggest, and try to build political support for his position. That's usually how it's supposed to work in a democracy.

 

[El_Machinae]

Mobboss: you're the only person right now who can decide what you need, clearly. However, people should know that if they make greedy or wasteful decisions, they have impact upon their economy that hurts it

 

[Oerdin]

SUVs, or rather low milage vehicles, are increasing the price of gas simply because they inflate demand.

 

[bhsup]

Just to add another element into the mix, who would be worse? Someone with a big SUV who drives it 10-15 miles a day, or someone with a very economical car who drives it 60-70 miles per day?