I've noticed a growing number of people at my work's parking lot seem to have giant trucks, the type that barely fit into the parking space. Given that they work in IT (as everyone in the building does), I wonder why they need such large vehicles.<p>When my kids get bigger, I'm getting a Fiat (or something small). Seems like it would be more fun and less hassle.
Conspicuously missing is any attempt to put a number on how much greenhouse emissions would be saved if people who bought SUVs had bought sedans instead.<p>Also: if SUVs are 30% less efficient, it’s the same as someone who chooses to live 10 miles from work versus 13 miles. That’s a difference that wouldn’t even register in conversation much less warrant a New York Times article.
As someone who moves a lot of computer equipment around, the sedan was painful to work with. So I'm definitely attached to the RAV4 if mostly for the hatchback trunk and fold down seats. I don't have one, but hybrid RAV4s are on the market now.
About 20 or so years ago, the big knock on SUVs was how dangerous it supposedly was for a much heavier vehicle to crash with a "normal" vehicle, e.g. a compact car. Does that hold any weight?
Why haven't SUVs fallen prey to the soccer Mom curse yet? Station wagons and minivans fell out of fashion because they were family vehicles. That's what SUVs are now, yet they're still cool.