^^^

 

This is too funny. I dont think its because they cant park but rather dont want scratches ... just like the MINI owners who park far away and close to the curb so they dont get scratches.

HOWEVER ... I saw this at Home Depot Sunday and HAD to take a picture .... parden the quality, its only my camera phone.

DO YOU OWN THIS BIMMER SUV?????

He took up FOUR spots. My wife commented we needed four MINIs to park around him and trap him in there!

 

Why do you have a supposed sport "utility" vehicle if you fear getting scratches? In my pantheon of (narrowly defined) acceptable reasons* for having an SUV (and a small one at that) is the need or desire to drive off-road. This generally results in less than optimally maintained paint finish, ipso ergo and therefor, why worry about a ding in the parking lot?

As far as cars with the capability of going 135MPH being excessive, many people (here) who own, say, MINIs, take them to the track and exercise the nether reaches of the cars potential. But by all means, knock down the MPH allotment for me; I wouldn't miss it. But then I, like most people (I would hazard) bought the car without giving serious second thought to the top speed. It fit our greater needs without directly affronting good taste and conservation of shared resources (both air and oil). Could we have done better on that last count? Yes. Certainly. Does that mean that we should excuse those who blatantly decide to do worse? No. Well, I mean, you can. But I'm not gonna.

*Any attempt to point out that my proprities may be different than those of the purchaser will be preemptively met with the following catch-all response: just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

 

I think another reason that we don't like SUVs is because many people who drive them act like they handle and drive like a MINI or a sports car. An opening that a MINI can fit in is obviously different than what a minivan can fit in. Their drivers are also known for some very poor driving. Its those housewifes or soccer moms. Damn, get them the hell away from me! Their driving is seriously scary.

Medic

 

I must now take umbrage with the frequent deriding of women (housewives, soccer moms, et. al.) as being the poor SUV drivers. While it's stupid for any solo person to be cruising down the highway chugging a latte and piloting a giganto land barge, I'd like to point out the (I'm sure) astronomical figure that comprises men who think their ******* are too wee and thus overcompensate with steel and stupidity.

Ooog. Me man. You roadkill. Ooog.

 

I am bringing up my own mother. She is the housewife that I am speaking about. She is a terrible driver. There is no other way of saying it. She hits speeds upwards to 50 mph on side streets. She thinks that this is normal, and gets seriously angry when anyone going NEAR the speed limit gets in her way. After the years of watching her drive, its affected me, since I like to drive pretty slow. When I came back home to show her my MINI, I tend to take turns fast she yelled at me for doing that.

Medic

 

To be equally derisive....I say keep both the soccer moms & the wee willie men away from me

 

+1

 

I get your point. It is impossible to judge whether each individual SUV owner NEEDS one. Fortunately I'm not in that business and neither is anyone else. People should have the freedom to buy what they want. That being said, I do believe that marketing and societal trends have caused many people to feel a need to buy an SUV when its not necessarily there. As a result many of these people think they need one when in reality they don't. For example, lets say that a fictitious individual named Bertha is caught in a snowstorm in her Volvo station wagon while picking her kids up from school. She is able to slowly and safely drive home but on the way she is passed by a 4X4 SUV going at a twice the speed. So assuming she doesn't pass it later because it flew off the road into a ditch(because we all know that 4-wheel drive doesn't really do much on icy roads at high speeds), she will think to herself, "gee, if I had one of those I would be much safer on these snow, icy roads." Therefore, the next car Bertha buys is a big SUV and she feels much safer during the 3-4 snow storms in her area each year even though her Volvo was probably much safer because we all know that Volvos are generally the safest cars you can buy. So the moral to this story is that Bertha erroneously assumes that if she had a bigger vehicle with 4 wheel drive she would be safer and thus she feels a bogus NEED to buy an SUV.

So you see Chows, it's more of a theory than a judgement. I don't have any proof that the majority of SUV owners have a bogus need to buy one, nor am I out to judge each owner's true need for one. But I have simply theorized that a large percentage of SUV owners have erroneously convinced themselves that they NEED one. I guess the one piece of supporting evidence I have is the relative absence of SUVs in the market prior to the mid-nineties. With a few exceptions, nobody owned SUVs. So the question is, was the boom in SUVs caused by a sudden need for SUVs and thus an increase in market demand? Or was it auto industry marketing that created a "need" among consumers in order to sell vehicles that were cheap to make and highly profitable?

And do I really need to address the MINI question? Its pretty obvious, I NEED a MINI because their clever marketing made me think I needed one... And no I don't need to go 135mph, and I'd be surprised if my Cooper could actually reach that speed. But using that argument I don't think there would be a practical car to own, except maybe my old Volvo 240 but I even got that up to the speed limit.

 

How about this. Read the forum rules. Political commentary is not allowed.

 

+1

 

Point 1: Are you saying that SUV owners don't cherish and detail their cars just like MINI enthusiasts? You need to keep a separation between true 4 x 4s (who probably dont car) and softroaders (who do care). Why buy softroaders? Mostly because of dirt roads or snow (and I dont care what anyone says, a softroader will do far better in snow than any MINI merely because of the clearance AND 4 wheel drive). The MINI is done in 5". The softroader will keep on trucking.

Point 2: The group you point out is a VERY small minority ... a subset of MINI owners (small at that) are enthusiasts and of that subset, a very small number do track days (you dont need 135 mph for autox). So what about the other 148,000 MINI owners in the US?

BTW ... don't try to turn this back on me as why do I need a car that can do 180 MPH either. I DO NEED one to get to work in the morning and you know this is rhetorical.

DUDE! I agree with that assessment now that you put it into context. I know people who have bought huge expeditions, etc simply because they feel "safer" (well F=MA so they do have a point about mass). Do they need them? Probably not.

I have a RAV4 and have pointed out many times its perfect for us. If it snows (which is not exactly an everyday affair here as you know) ... no issues going to work or anywhere else. Hauling stuff ... do it virtually every weekend. It doesn't seem like a week goes buy we aint got lumber in the back from Home Depot. Do I need it? Lets put it this way ....

For those who say "rent a truck" I say BS. Maybe your rich but I am not. At one time we owned TWO (2) two seater sports car. We tried that for a year. We couldn't even get a lawn mower home never mind lumber. Unless you are in the other person's shoes, you might see one person in the SUV driving to work (prolly me) but you do NOT see it when its full of crap.

 

Its not a political discussion, Its a discussion on why individuals here like or dislike SUVs.

My dislike of SUVs has nothing to do with my political ideology but everything to do that IMO they create an unnecessary hazard on the road when they are driven like small cars. I don't think its unreasonable to be concerned with other's irresponsible behavior especially if it endangers myself and my family. I have equal disregard for other irresponsible behavior like guys in tuner cars that wrecklessly weave in and out of traffic or Semi-Trucks that are flying down the highway at 85mph...

 

I've been through winters in Pittsburgh and Connecticut with my MINI. I have never needed another vehicle and I've never been stuck anywhere. The same can be said of Leif, who goes through winter with a Jetta. So honestly, unless you live on a 17 mile unpaved private road somewhere north of Teluride, the "I need an SUV for the winters" just doesn't fly with me.

I addressed this

If you need the SUV for a) winter and b) hauling crap, and you are driving the suv when it is a) not winter and/or b) not full of crap... why are you driving it?


**************

Little... pretty dodgy to rant on liberals then claim that it wasn't political. If I can't overtly bash conservatives, you can't overtly bash liberals. Them's the rules we must play by.

 

Can this be my first IB4TL?

 

Good question. How about because I get 22 MPG on Regular gas and 24 MPG on PREMIUM gas in the MINI. Hence ... its CHEAPER for me to drive the RAV4. In fact, with a new one, mileage is getting closer to the exact same. I just love the fact its cheaper to drive a SUV everyday than a MCS

You need to take this to the PI thread cause your treading where others dare not go and the paddle be coming out pretty quick.

 

Then Chows... WHY do you have an MCS???

 

Uhmm, I don't anymore. Where you been? You been lost up their in CT or what?

(However, we are considering a convertable for first year they come out cause she loved driving one).

 

I'm sorry -- did someone say something? I thought I heard something, however those who sell their MCS's in favor of SUVs earn the title of persona non grata...

Seriously??? I had no idea! Hope you get the cabrio so I can speak to you in public again. BTW, I'm in Savannah now. Where winter is truly irrelevent

 

I personally prefer the "I drive a MINI. What are you compensating for?" approach.
Though I have the thoughts in my head often while on the road that 99.9% of SUVs are P'sOS, I wouldn't plaster that on my MINI. I'll leave that sticker for the party I do not subscribe to. ;-)

 

NO NO NO. I did NOT replace the MCS with a SUV. Are you kidding????

DO you think I'm totally NUTS???? (don't answer that). I've had the RAV4 long before buying the MCS.

See https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=78556 for all the sordid details.

You can speak to me in public, its OK, I replaced it with a respectable alternative

 

Agree with chow4us!!!

I own a Nissan XTerra with the main purpose of hauling my dogs around, as well as those few days where I go to the mountains and those rarer days when I need to move a piece of furniture. Regardless of my reasons, it fills a need.

My MCS also fills a need, but it seems a bit hypocritical of people to whine about SUV's. The MCS is certainly not practical, compared to many other options, but I love it. I would never buy a Prius because I think they are fugly and aesthetics (sp?) matter to me.

Also, stop hating on the soccer mom! If it makes her life a bit better (real or imagined) to not drive a minivan as she shuttles kids between school (I am showing my age, but what ever happened to kids walking/riding bike home?), practice, tutors, and whatever else, I say go for it.

 

Thanks and I totally forgot about the DOGS! (shh, my wife will kill me). There is NO way the dogs are going in the "nice car". They go in the SUV ... period. Too messy, too sloppy, NOT for a clean interior and they WILL scratch up your nice leather.

 

Hmm so maybe that's why my Volvo 740 Turbo Station Wagon was so safe... It was its pure mass of tankness

And Chows, you mean you don't want your dogs in the Cayman S?

 

Yea don't let MINIclo catch you pulling these kinds of shenanigans Ouch, my rear end is still stinging from his paddle... But I still wouldn't even go that political even in the PI thread.