[1931Chevy]

Pat yourself on the back for buying that Toyota Prius. You're gonna love driving it -- it sips gas, has low emissions and lets everyone know how responsible you are.



To celebrate what a good choice you made, why not take the whole family camping? Load up the car, head up to the mountains and -- oh wait. The Prius won't be able to hold a family and all of its camping gear, and probably can't handle the dirt roads that lead to the campsite. Okay, no problem! We'll all go to the lake and do a little fishing -- except the Prius can't tow your boat. That's fine. Why not stay around the house and do a little gardening? Hmmm. Looks like all the plants and mulch you need aren't making it into the Prius, either.



Face it, as good as it is to go green by buying a hybrid or gas-saving small car, there are just some things those cars can't do. Plus, because of their popularity, small car and hybrid buyers are now paying an extra premium for the honor of driving a little econobox that may not suit their needs. Before you fork over a lot of green to go green, check out five resons why buying a large truck or SUV may still make sense.

continue at the link

 

[eurohazard]

Funny article. I personally don't know anyone whose only car is a Prius. But then again I don't know too many Prius owners. I definitely love (and use) my SUV, but I wouldn't mind having a gas sipper like a Prius or Volt in addition.

 

[Hurricane]

My mother-in-law drives a brand new Prius and she loves it. I don't begrudge anything for her choice. It is a little tight on space, though. Something like that would make a great commuter vehicle for me.

However, when my in-laws (or my family visit) and we all go out with my kids we only take one vehicle - our awesome Yukon XL Denali. It seats seven plus strollers and everything else behind the third row. It is comfortable, rides great, and has ample power.

Oh, and you can keep your minivan or your crossover, etc. I love my Denali and that is all that matters to me. If you are happy with your minivan/crossover - great! Drive happy!

 

[Michael_S]

Oh, and you can keep your minivan or your crossover, etc. I love my Denali and that is all that matters to me. If you are happy with your minivan/crossover - great! Drive happy!

It's just a question of cost. I'd rather have a Yukon Denali than my Honda Odyssey. But the Odyssey was dramatically cheaper to buy and gets better real world fuel economy. A used minivan would have been cheaper still, but I wanted all the safety doodads and top tier crash ratings. (And I realize your Denali is safer still, even without IIHS crash test ratings, because of the added mass.)

I don't have a problem with people owning the larger SUVs. Just remember that the vast majority of vehicle shoppers can't afford what you bought.

 

[t-rex]

Interesting article...weak as the argument is.

Carpooling? Get a minivan.

Home improvement? Do what I did. Buy an old pickup that stays parked until you need it and keep the BMW as your everyday driver. Save a few bucks by getting "Granny Insurance" where you get ultra-cheap rates for driving less than 5 000 miles a year. My F150 was nick-named "The Lowesmobile"...

Tailgating? See above. Or go to the LSU game with someone who has a truck, or borrow your folks' Rendezvous.

The great outdoors? Offroading in a Yukon? Get real. If I'm hitting any terrain that rugged, I'll be in a serious offroader like a Wrangler (or Suzuki Grand Vitara; they're amazingly rugged), not an Expedition or Escalade.

Amazing deals? Purchase price is only part of the expense of owning a car. SUVs cost more to insure, are more expensive to service (mainly tires), not to mention thirstier.

The only big SUV with a justified existence is the Suburban, kept alive for over 70 years because there's always that buyer with quintuplet high school linebackers, the retiree couple who travel across America towing their Airstream, and families living miles down a gravel road outside of Cicely, Alaska.

Okay I'm being a bit glib, but there's really no rational reason for buying an SUV. Like all other excesses, it's a pure luxury, bought for no reason other than personal desire. The fact that lately so many people go to such lengths to rationally justify owning one suggests that their buyers may feel a hint of guilt for indulging in such excess.

... sorta the same way I try to justify my own excesses (huge house, expensive kitchen toys, BMW....)!

 

[osv_alero]

And if you run your Suburban on Cellulosic Ethanol (available in Oregon and soon in California), you are causing less damage to the environment than that prius.

How do the vehicles stack up in 24,000 miles of use?
Suburban (using Cellulosic Ethanol)= 10.7 barrels of oil, 2.6 tons of CO2, helps eliminate local trash dumps
prius = 11.9 Barrels of Oil, 6.4 tons of C02, adds batteries to local trash dumps

 

[eaton53]

If you only commute a short distance and haul people and stuff occasionally an SUV works very well. My wife drives ours to work, but if there's a blizzard coming I'll take it, but I drive slow... I see stupid people put their SUV in the ditch all the time.

Short commute takes gas mileage out of the picture, so that leaves capability vs. purchase price and used SUVs are very capable and cheap.

 

[Saturn69]

None of those reasons justify me buying an SUV. I don't camp, I don't tow, I car pool with one person, I only have two kids. I borrow my parents truck if I need a truck. I don't need an SUV so to me, those arguments are weak. I also wouldn't own a Prius. I spent $13K on my Ion and get 33-36mpg for a lot less per month than a Prius, I employed an American worker by buying it and it suits my family just fine.

 

[Stéphane Dumas]

I wondered what if some station-wagons in the size of the Crown Vic and the late Caprice was still offered today? They could had been an alternative to a SUV

 

[bcjohnso99]

It's just a question of cost. I'd rather have a Yukon Denali than my Honda Odyssey. But the Odyssey was dramatically cheaper to buy and gets better real world fuel economy. A used minivan would have been cheaper still, but I wanted all the safety doodads and top tier crash ratings. (And I realize your Denali is safer still, even without IIHS crash test ratings, because of the added mass.)

I don't have a problem with people owning the larger SUVs. Just remember that the vast majority of vehicle shoppers can't afford what you bought.

But if you bought a 3 year old vehicle today, you could probably get a large SUV for less than a Honda Odyssey.

 

[dindak]

I still love the new Tahoe, don't care about gas or who I offend. May get one in a couple of years.

 

[Avalanche13]

It's just a question of cost. I'd rather have a Yukon Denali than my Honda Odyssey. But the Odyssey was dramatically cheaper to buy and gets better real world fuel economy. A used minivan would have been cheaper still, but I wanted all the safety doodads and top tier crash ratings. (And I realize your Denali is safer still, even without IIHS crash test ratings, because of the added mass.)

I don't have a problem with people owning the larger SUVs. Just remember that the vast majority of vehicle shoppers can't afford what you bought.

A Denali isn't affordable, but a Tahoe LS is about the same cost as a loaded minivan. If I had a need for a 6+ passenger vehicle it'd be a Suburban 1LT, lightly used.

Interesting article...weak as the argument is.

Carpooling? Get a minivan.

If you've ever driven a minivan, especially one loaded with people, you'd eat those words

The great outdoors? Offroading in a Yukon? Get real. If I'm hitting any terrain that rugged, I'll be in a serious offroader like a Wrangler (or Suzuki Grand Vitara; they're amazingly rugged), not an Expedition or Escalade.

I don't think the author meant hitting trails with it, I think he was more referring to the two-rut "roads" that lead to many of these destinations. I know there are some nasty roads I head down to get to a good ATV trail.

If you only commute a short distance and haul people and stuff occasionally an SUV works very well. My wife drives ours to work, but if there's a blizzard coming I'll take it, but I drive slow... I see stupid people put their SUV in the ditch all the time.

Short commute takes gas mileage out of the picture, so that leaves capability vs. purchase price and used SUVs are very capable and cheap.

It funny seeing all the 4x4's in the ditch because people don't realize that 4WD doesn't help you stop or steer. I've never had a problem in snow with my RWD station wagon. Its how you drive more than what you drive. That said 4WD is nice in a foot of snow.

None of those reasons justify me buying an SUV. I don't camp, I don't tow, I car pool with one person, I only have two kids. I borrow my parents truck if I need a truck. I don't need an SUV so to me, those arguments are weak. I also wouldn't own a Prius. I spent $13K on my Ion and get 33-36mpg for a lot less per month than a Prius, I employed an American worker by buying it and it suits my family just fine.

Well if you don't have a lifestyle that makes use of an SUV obviously you won't want/need one, but I don't think that's what the author was driving at. I think the argument is simply that there are those out there for whom an SUV is still the best vehicle choice. I camp, I tow, etc. Hence I have a truck.

I wondered what if some station-wagons in the size of the Crown Vic and the late Caprice was still offered today? They could had been an alternative to a SUV

I've been beating that horse on GMI so much the corpse has disintigrated. A true RWD BOF workhorse V8 station wagon would be a welcome entrant to my stable. The Caprice was a fantastically capable and very versatile vehicle.

 

[377Z]

Those arguments are rediculously weak, who is so fragile that they need to go around justifying their vehicle, be it a Prius or SUV?

Whats worse than someone who tries to tell strangers what they need to drive? Someone who feels they need to justify it to other strangers.

 

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Why couldn't a Prius hold the camping stuff? I mean you have your five seats, and the cargo room isn't bad. A tent doesn't take much space. what you want to take your 52 inch plasma screen, generator set, fridge microwave oven and desktop computer?? What kind of camping is that.

 

[Michael_S]

And if you run your Suburban on Cellulosic Ethanol (available in Oregon and soon in California), you are causing less damage to the environment than that prius.

How do the vehicles stack up in 24,000 miles of use?
Suburban (using Cellulosic Ethanol)= 10.7 barrels of oil, 2.6 tons of CO2, helps eliminate local trash dumps
prius = 11.9 Barrels of Oil, 6.4 tons of C02, adds batteries to local trash dumps

Not counting the oil used to make the fertilizer to grow the corn for ethanol.
And the Prius' batteries are recyclable.

A Denali isn't affordable, but a Tahoe LS is about the same cost as a loaded minivan. If I had a need for a 6+ passenger vehicle it'd be a Suburban 1LT, lightly used.

"Loaded" minivan. Power sun roof, power sliding doors, power rear liftgate, navigation, DVD entertainment center, leather seats, heated front seats, satellite radio. And if you get a loaded Odyssey, you also get cylinder deactivation - though I have no idea if it's worth getting.

If you want equivalent luxuries in the Tahoe, sticker price is near $50,000.

But I picked up my Odyssey new for $26,000 or so.

If you've ever driven a minivan, especially one loaded with people, you'd eat those words

It depends upon the minivan. The Odyssey has over 40 inches of leg room in all three rows of seats, and I can fit my fat behind in any of the eight seats comfortably. It is more comfortable in the second and third row than either the Saturn Outlook or the Chevy Tahoe we tested.

And the 240 horsepower engine is plenty. I learned to drive on my Dad's full size 1987 Ford Van, which its whopping 155 horsepower inline six.

 

[Michael_S]

But if you bought a 3 year old vehicle today, you could probably get a large SUV for less than a Honda Odyssey.

Today, yes. When we bought the Odyssey 18 months ago, no.

And we do about 50,000 miles of driving between our two vehicles per year. So the difference between whatever fuel economy we would get in a Suburban (15 mpg? 18 mpg?) and the 21-22 mpg we average in our Odyssey adds up to a lot of money.

 

[KingElvis]

Wow. Just. Wow. That was an incredible piece of pure hackery. Seemed the article was attributed to no one - who would put their name on such garbage after all.

Particularly since all the carpooling (for all these people with families bigger than seven people) and sheer space arguments only make sense if you ignore the existence of the minivan.

The 'camping' one was a laugh too. Why can't a minivan do there as well?

The Forest Service has now created a new category of trails (once indicated by a little picture of a jeep) with a little picture of a motorcycle or atv - so even if you were determined to scratch up the sides of your Tahoe on a 'jeep trail' now the Forest Service says no to that.

The whole absurdity of the SUV era was that they were just 'image' cars - now suddenly the 'utility' part is back? When did that happen?

 

[Whitesky]

#6 Reason (AND MOST IMPORTANT) Buy whatever you like.

 

[regfootball]

having an extra truck on the side is wasteful, look at all the extra raw materials you wasted to make that truck, just so you could have the thing used less than 5k a year.

 

[osv_alero]

Not counting the oil used to make the fertilizer to grow the corn for ethanol.
And the Prius' batteries are recyclable.

Cellulosic Ethanol is not from corn or sugar. Cellulosic Ethanol is from "trash". You get 7.7 Btu from 1 Btu of oil. That compares to .84 Btu from 1Btu of oil for gasoline.