Re: final note about porsche discussion

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

> p.s. I think it's just great that trucks used as personal vehicles
> are totally exempt from this misguided attempt at reducing fuel 
> consumption!  What a country!

with that intro out of the way, i thought i'd post a dissenting view
about SUV's..

here is a stinging piece about sport utilities.. it is a one sided, one
person's opinion.  stop reading now if you find this irrelevant or
offensive.  for me, it is refreshing to read anti-fashion articles
while the rest of the automotive media is merrily rubber stamping
and sugar coating.

eliot

------------------------------------------------------------------------

russel bulgin, CAR march 1994

"this madness has gone global.  i stupidly, thought we were talking a
middle class, middle england phenomenon, the automotive equivalent of
fat suburban girls dopily studding their noses in a painful quest for
misplaced cool.  but here was one of the motor industry's true good
guys, honda boss nobuhiko kawamoto."

[..]

"'people buy a sport-utility here,' said kawamoto, 'because it is
fashionable and more sporty and roomy, and because they can look down
on other drivers.'"

[..]

"kawamoto is right.  but what i want to say is more succinct: sport
utilities are absolutely bloody dreadful.  they have no redeeming
values save that when you spot one, you can guarantee that the person
behind the wheel is a quantifiable pillock.  and, of course, the label
sport-utility is, like 'military intelligence' and the 'sport of grand
prix racing', a clingingly insidious oxymoron.  these machines are
neither sporty nor useful."

"why do i hate them so?  because of the very redundancy engineeered
into their nasty, mean-spirited souls.  they have four-wheel-drive
systems, big and clunky and whirry, flailing away beneath their
horribly distended transmission tunnels:  four wheel drive systems
that no-one uses."

"you know this is true.  when grip turns into glop, 4wd alone isn't
enough.  you also need tires that can puree a quarry face pronto;
the average SUV comes equipped with rubberware that wouldn't look 
out of place underneath the arches of a 1965 shelby cobra."

"never has the motor industry tried so hard to make designed-in
uselessness a unique selling proposition."

[..]

"..the sport-ute, of course, is not meant for the rural vet or the
highway construction crew - this machine is too lily-livered for
real work and the motor industry is too cynical to over engineer
a product it knows full well is bought primarily as a fashion
accessory. (SUVs are shell suits at 70mph. fact)"

"no, the sport-ute is to the 90's what the VW golf gti was to
the 80's.  it says the driver is an individualist:  rugged,
self reliant, kind of macho.  unlike the gti, it also confirms
that you don't give a toss about cornering in a manner that
involves either (a) finesse or (b) an apex."

"there are other side effects of sport-utes, too.  most cars are
designed to flick a pedestrain up and over the hood in the unfortunate
event of a collision, with the praiseworthy aim of lessening injuries.
a naked SUV is going to smash the average man or woman in the chest.
adding one of those ridiculous bull-bars, a style statement that is to
the sport-ute what a rottweiler is to a skinhead - unnecessary.  ugly
and utterly unfathomable - is going to result in a minced torso."