I like my SUV, it gets me to work and nicely (and safely-I'm inclined to believe) hauls around my kids, their friends, our dog and all their junk. The only problem with it is that the kids sit close enough to be constantly bickering and fighting on every car trip. Now if they invented one with a "dome of silence" for each kid, I'd be first in line to buy it and those "evil" car manufacturers would make a fortune off the backs of harried moms everywhere......
If we take it camping and up to the snow, does that count as legitimate use?? How about getting our Christmas tree each year up in the mountains? How about when we work in our yard and haul bags of potting soil and plants from Home Depot? How about when my husband coaches little league and we haul all the equipment for every game and practice? How about when we haul our bikes to various parks for a family bike ride? How about when we go to the beach and haul the dog, boogie boards and wet suits? How about when I do spring/fall cleaning and haul a ton of stuff to the local homeless shelter? How about when my kids are in local theater productions and we help hauling sets back and forth? How many times a year do we have to use our SUV "legitimately" so that we can be counted amongst the "legitimate" SUV owners??