America's Love Affair with SUVs

[bamaslammer]

Originally posted by GreenVegan76 No, you're right -- nothing in life is fair. But it's attitudes like the ones expressed above that keep things unequal. It's our responsibility to make reasonable sacrifices to make things better for everyone. It's common decency. Buying gas-guzzling, road-hogging SUVs don't do that -- they pollute everyone's air, waste valuable resources, and endanger other drivers. There are better options, and you don't have to buy a Prius instead. Just buying a vehicle that gets 25mpg compared to 20mpg will keep *10 tons* of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, according to the EPA. Every little bit helps. Call me all the names you want, but buying an SUV is selfish and extremely wasteful. And it's hard for me to believe that an obviously intelligent man as yourself wouldn't already know that.

I understand and agree that a single person no more needs a Suburban than a large family requires a Miata. But our differences lie in who determines this "common decency." I'd much rather leave it up to the individual, rather than a govt. that would take away the right of people to freely use the marketplace to find the vehicle that suits their needs.

Besides, I'm doing my part. My truck has a Cummins Diesel and with a tow, I get around 17 mpg, 26 mpg without. Also, you fail to note that most SUV's, beside the gigantic ones, are becoming more car-like (like the Highlander, RAV4, Escape, MDX and Pilot to name a few) with lighter uni-bodies and better gas mileage. The numbers of the huge luxo-barges, while increasing, are miniscule when compared to sales of far more efficient conventional family sedans like the Accord and Camry.

I wasn't trying to call you names, but I just don't like that whole "screw you, because I have mine," phrase. It just smacks of very ugly class envy.