For the latest on the psychology of SUV ownership, I defer to the New Yorker‘s Ben Greeman, whose Jan. 7 article "Big and Bad" takes them on.
"One school of thought says that SUV buyers harbor a kind of outdoorsy fantasy," he said in an online interview. "But I suspect it’s more basic than that: This is a vehicle that can flourish in the most extreme environment imaginable. If it can ford streams and climb over boulders, just think how safe and protected you’ll be on a trip to Wal-Mart!"
Gladwell adds that the trip to Wal-Mart is actually more dangerous than fording a mountain stream, a counter-intuitive statement with which I agree whole-heartedly. Been in a Wal-Mart parking lot lately?
The point is that SUVs are in many cases the worst vehicles for the actual conditions people encounter. In parking lots, for instance, the poor rear visibility and ultra-wide turning circles makes SUVs a hazard and a hassle for their owners and people who encounter them.
According to the New Yorker, market research shows that SUVs are bought by people who are "insecure, vain, self-centered and self-absorbed, who are frequently nervous about their marriages, and who lack confidence in their driving skills." Sports car drivers, meanwhile, have too much confidence in their driving skills. But, again, SUVs are the worst vehicles for timid drivers, because they’re extremely difficult to drive well.
I did a radio show about SUVs recently and was flooded with calls, including one from a bicyclist who talked about almost being run down by a huge SUV (nearly decapitated by the oversized rear-view mirror). Insult was added to injury when the driver flipped him the bird as she drove away.
There’s some silver lining in the news this week, as automakers at the Detroit auto show unveiled plans to build a number of new hybrid gas-electric vehicles, some of them big SUVs and pickups. The highlight was the forthcoming Lexus RX SUV hybrid, which will appear this fall, followed by a hybrid version of the Toyota Highlander. The latter is supposedly capable of 600-mile trips between fillips.
In a mixed announcement, Toyota also unveiled a huge new FTX pickup prototype, but then softened the blow by hinting that it too might be available as a hybrid. Not to be outdone, Honda said it would be forthcoming with a hybrid car from the Acura division "this year." Nissan will sell a hybrid Altima by 2006, though CEO Carlos Ghosn is none too bullish on the subject.
Subaru also showed off hybrids (including a convertible), though they were in prototype form without a production commitment. Ford confirmed plans to build a hybrid Escape SUV by this summer, and CEO William Clay Ford said more environmentally oriented announcements are forthcoming.
In other news last week, Democratic presidential candidates responding to an Associated Press poll staked out positions on Corporate Average Fuel Economy, with most favoring relatively stiff increases. Howard Dean, for instance, supports a 37.5 overall standard by 2015, which would be enacted over the bodies of a lot of auto company lobbyists. John Kerry wants to go to 36 mpg by 2015, and Dennis Kucinich to 40-45 mpg (Lieberman concurs). Gen. Wesley Clark was non-specific, as was Carol Moseley Braun (who later withdrew from the race) and the ultra-cautious John Edwards. President Bush didn’t respond, which figures.
In a final note, I just took delivery of an Audi TT and already have banged my head on its very low roofline three times. Oh, the woes of being a 6-foot, 1-inch auto reviewer!
