Re: National Geographic, June 2004

>>> "Michael Roberts" <michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk> 11/5/2004 10:47:58
AM >>>writes:
Yes, but you dont need them in most of the USA . Why does someone living
in
Denver, Houston LA N.Y. etc need a 4x4?
Or even anything larger than a Ford Contour or Escort?

Ted replies:
Michael is entirely right. Most manufacturers offer multiple models of
SUVs, but only one or none of more economical (both in terms of $$ and gas
mileage) "minivans" (which is what we have driven for many years).
Realistically, most families need something as large as a minivan for the
occasional long road trip or college visit (hauling lots of things and
people), but most families flatly do not need an SUV--at least most of the
time. I don't want one, but I could justify buying one given my semi-rural,
hilly environment with the expectation of 30-60 inches of snow this winter.
But I can't justify buying the monster SUVs with the huge V-8 engines, esp
not the converted "Humvees" that can climb walls. It's incredible to me,
that a civilian market for those things exists at all. I agree with Michael
that $4/gallon gasoline would do wonders for clearing our highways of these
gas guzzling machines.

Our biggest problem along these lines, IMO, is not the SUVs. It's the fact
that we have so much unplanned development--housing and commercial, but esp
housing--in formerly agricultural areas that have little or no access to any
kind of public transit. Those of us who complain about this are seen by
most of our fellow citizens as "socialists" or "eggheads" or worse. But
we're completely right about this idiocy, and our society will pay a far
higher economic cost than Europeans will pay as energy becomes much more
expensive. Our homes are far too big, far too far apart, and far too widely
scattered to sustain that lifestyle if energy isn't cheap. Most of us will
never be able to find housing within walking distance of a job that can be
kept for long enough to justify buying a specific house in a specific
location. And trains won't nearly pay for themselves in most parts of our
vast, sparely populated country.

ted
Received on Fri Nov 5 12:22:33 2004