by Walter Grace

Created on: November 26, 2008

One could debate for hours whether or not Sport Utility Vehicles are safe or not, status symbols or not, or whether or not they are more useful to the average citizen than a passenger car or minivan. I can say that I have been driving for 23 years and have owned two station wagons, two minivans, too many sedans to count, and one pickup truck. Never have I had the compulsion to buy an SUV. The fact is that many of them have less carrying capacity than a full-sized or even a minivan. The certainly have less than a pickup truck (if you really want to confirm this, read the weight limit sticker in some SUVs and compare them to passenger cars, other light trucks, and minivans).

One argument is that they sit higher than a passenger car. However, they usually have a lot less headroom than a typical passenger car. This writer is six feet one inch tall, drives a Dodge Intrepid and has two inches of headroom. This is something that a Chevy Trailblazer or Hummer H3 cannot afford me, even though the center of gravity is higher. My head always touches the headliner. Another drawback of this commanding view is trying to climb up into the driver's seat. This is ill advised for anyone with a disability (or of short stature) and makes getting an infant into a safety seat a challenge.

Another is safety, safety for others that is. Trying to back into, or out of a parking spot without hitting something in a minivan, let alone an SUV is literally hit or miss. This is especially dangerous when there are children playing about. The windows and mirrors are just too high to be effective with something close to the vehicle and lower than the mirrors themselves. A case in point is that I drive a full sized van and even with the mirrors properly adjusted, it's hard to see things lower than they are if obstacles are too close to the sides. I make a habit of walking around the van before moving it, and back into a parking spot rather than out of it. However, most drivers do not. Even though there are electronic devices that are supposed to see obstacles behind the vehicle and alert the driver, they don't protect the sides. Take a look at all of those minivans, SUVs and even passenger cars with the sensors on the back bumper and your will find that many of them are dented, scraped, or otherwise damaged. All electronic devices can and will fail.

Fuel economy is a hot top even though gas prices are lower than they've been in three years. My work van has a 26 gallon tank and cost nearly $110 to fill up at one point this last summer. Imagine spending this every week and you'll get the picture. SUV's are heavier than cars, are not as aerodynamic, and the engines have to be larger and gear ratios will have to adjusted to compensate for their great weight. This means that they will get poorer fuel economy than a minivan or passeger car. After all, everyone wants a status symbol, but everyone complained when they had to spend a week's pay for a month of gasoline. I'm not saying that people should not buy an SUV. We should have a choice of what we drive. Just make sure this something you will really utilize regularly. Otherwise you are throwing your money away.

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