SUV bashing...my other car is a...

[Jenny Curtis <jenny@physics.spa.umn.edu>]

OK Q-listers:

my other car is a gasp:  Isuzu Trooper, but before I get blasted, a few caveats:

1) It's an 84 with a 4 cylinder engine.  I can't really drive fast enough to
endanger anyone. 0-60 in about 6 minutes.  Suffice to say, I stay in the
right-hand lane on the freeway.

2)  I live in Minnesota and I actually use the 4wd a couple times a year.

I know what you all are saying.  I think all SUV drivers should be made to take
safety courses.  They are far more challenging to drive than your average car.
Even the mini vans I've driven are better.  My trooper handles like a shopping
cart.  When the sign says 35 mph for a curve, I slow it down to thirty cause I
feel like I'm going to tip over.  It takes both hands to steer in the wind
because that big box acts like a sail.  Also when I'm in 4wd I drive much more
slowly and cautiously than I do in regular drive.  I see a lot of 4WDs plowing
along at 60 miles an hour in the snow.  One year I drove from Minneapolis across
North Dakota in a blizzard and every single car in the ditch was an SUV.  My
friend and I were in his Dodge Colt and we made it just fine.  My conclusion was
that the SUVs put themselves in the ditch.  Of course they all head cell phones
to call for help... but that's another rant.

The only safety advantage to the SUV is sitting up high and being able to see
around more clearly.  Of course it doesn't do a damned bit of a good in the rain
when my windows are totally fogged (because there is just so much glass to
clean, no defroster can keep up).  I also agree that people allow their SUV to
give them a false sense of security.  This is exacerbated by those TV
commercials that tell you its a little security in an insecure world.  BS.  One
of the most sobering moments in my life as a driver came when I visited a
junkyard and saw all the Troopers that were absolutely battered to smithereens,
in what had to be have been horrible crashes that involved injury and death.  I
realized then that I was no safer in an SUV.

As for off-roading, The Trooper's higher ground clearance makes it possible to
go down rutty paths and get to the occasional out of the way campground.  But I
would never just take an SUV off into the middle of nowhere.  That's just
stupid.  It's bad for the environment, not to mention rude to anyone who's
bothered to walk or bike to get try and get away from it all.

The trend toward bigger and more-powerful SUVs makes me sick.  The pathetic gas
mileage, the often unsafe power to weight ratio (as in the Bronco) and the
touting of these barges as family cars is just plain stupid.  (i.e. Those
commercials that show the mom in the SUV taking all her kids through the snow
storm to school.  Yeah and maybe the bridge to the Boston market will be washed
out, but you'll still be able to get your rotisserie chicken because you bought
an SUV).  An SUV is not a practical family car in an urban environment:  ever
try to get around a corner in public garage when some Suburban has parked in a
compact spot.

A final note, I'm donating my Trooper to a campground in Northern Minnesota that
will use it to get back in the woods on old logging roads in the winter and haul
deadfall.  Finally my pony will have the kind of rugged outdoor life that it was
intended for.

Jenny
4kcsq Eurotrash Princess
Isuzu Trooper II My pony