"But children grow older; they want their own cars. (How many people really let a 16-year old drive a $40,000 vehicle that they don't even own? And how much is the insurance?) Finally, the children move out. Now there is no need at all for ferrying the children; and the large house out in the 'burbs begins to feel 'empty'…”Honey, maybe we should look into a condominium, or a townhouse?” And as the large house is downsized, there too goes the need for a wheeled dinosaur to haul lumber, furniture, plumbing. The day of the dinosaurs is done. And (by the way) the automakers will have to turn to another guaranteed profit center. Caveat emptor.
(Full disclosure: SUV's are also good for mashing subcompacts under their tires like a dinosaur stomping a frightened rabbit. The author drives a Nissan Sentra. This fact has nothing whatsoever to do with the contents of this article.)"
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Some people actually need to carry stuff in their cars. SUV's would never have existed but for the "gas guzzler penalty" enacted in the seventies that killed off the all-american family station wagon (remember those?). THIS is what caused automakers to take advantage of the Light Truck exemption.
And let's examine that for a moment. I recently had to move some furniture I inherited a considerable distance ( 935 miles). A friend helped me, and we used his gas guzzling Chevy Suburban and a trailer. On the trip, we averaged about 17 miles per gallon. For the whole trip, we consumed 110 gallons of unleaded.
My car gets 35 miles per gallon. That is more than twice the gas mileage of the gas guzzling Suburban. However, had I used it to move the furniture home I would have had to make 5 trips where the Suburban only needed one. I would have consumed 267 gallons of unleaded.
So which made more sense, from a conservation point of view? The gas guzzling 17 mpg Suburban, or the fuel efficient 35 mpg car?
And which would the enviro notjobs have wanted me to use?
The proto type of the Suburban with the metal side and frame was born in the 1930's. My Dad had the wooden side and frame one in the 1920's to haul his motorcycle, hunting, fishing, camping gear and dogs on the weekends, and he was a salesman during the week.