SUV rant

[ted]

Originally posted by Serge914
What bothered me the most is that you feel so disconnected

For real. I drive a 911 daily to work and race my other 911 on weekends. I have an F250 I tow with and drive on rainy days. Driving the F250 daily would do nothing to improve me as a driver. Everything on these trucks is designed to insulate the driver from the fact you are controlling a big, tall and heavy crappy handling truck. Take a freeway sweeper at normal speeds and try to keep the suspension set and loaded for the length of the corner. The steering is too light the high CG allows the suspension to take a set then when it hits a bump the suspension quickly unloads and then the entire truck rocks right to left. All the while you are rocking and bouncing in the seat trying to get the suspension to take a set again. This can happen numerous times in one long turn, why even try. Fact is most people that drive lack the drivers training to even know what weight transfer means, and in an SUV there is a relentless amount of uncontrollable weight transfer.

[Dan Mc Intyre]

My wife and I were in Chicago over the weekend attending both the Auto & RV/camper shows. We started for home on I-90 about 11:30 Sunday morning. The roads became a little tricky starting around the Janesville area. 20 to 30 miles north of Madison there were three vehicles in the ditch over a length of about 1.5 miles. Two cars and a minivan.

And thinking back, the only memorably stupid acts I saw, while driving Chicago, were committed by cars. One moron in a Lincoln was a real standout. But, hey...I don't hate every fata$$ businessman I see driving a Lincoln.

My wife and I have no familial obligations to consider when buying vehicles. So we buy what supports our lifestyle or we feel like buying. I say drive whatever makes your monkey dance!

For us, it's trucks and sportscars. I suppose if I had to drive Milwaukee daily like Sebring77 I'd get a real car, but here in the bluffs of La Crosse, we really like trucks and suv's.

[nostatic]

we have plenty of rollover accidents here in SoCal. Almost every one I've seen has been an SUV. Sure, the driver's likely an idiot, but if they were in a wagon odds are they'd still have the rubber side down.

[JavaBrewer]

I was on a LA freeway last year and passed over a chunk of concrete - the Porsche behind me nailed it and was messed up I saw a Datsun 260Z roll over on the I15 a couple weeks ago. That was strange.

[SLO-BOB]

The flaw in posting on such a topic here is obvious-you all are not the "average" driver. I submit that as Porsche owners and drivers you know your way around all of the vehicles you own. Therefore you know, as Len stated, that it's idiotic to exceed the limits of your suv should you own one. I also exempt trucks from this rant as they have always been what they are-work vehicles meant to haul things(yes-I'm aware of the 4 foot box truck and the like, but you know what I mean).

My point is that most drivers do not know their vehicles at all. They proceed blithely to whatever destination they are headed disconnected from the road and blissfully ignorant. Suvs exacerbate that scenario ultimately to disasterous consequences more often than a typical car or minivan.

For what it's worth, I would rather encounter any of you driving an suv vs most drivers handed the keys to a 911.

[Superman]

Hey, I come from a logging town and I accept that big 4WD rigs are necessary for some stuff. But here in Seattle, the main reasons for driving one seem to be visibility, safety and interior room.

Visibility - Yeah, it's nice to be above everyone. But that puts every one below you. I think the top of the cab of the largest SUV's must be something like seven feet in the air. With a lift kit and bigger tires, I imagine that can be eight feet. Still, we are Americans, and if the contest has moved to vehicle height, I imagine there will be nine-footers, then ten-footers, then......... In the meantime, myself and others who wish to be reasonable in the size category (If size matters, and you're happy with your penis, then smaller is probably better), can see approximately twenty feet in heavy traffic. This is the part I hate. I will do anything to not be right behind a HUGE personal vehicle. I cannot see.

Safety - These things' bumpers are right at about teeth-level for the rest of us. I wonder if I even need to say more. Yeah, that might be safer for the SUV driver, but is this the kind of contest we want to encourage?

Interior room - This makes sense when you've got the whole family on the way to a camping trip. Otherwise this is just not a justification. by the way, most of the world's families......can carry all their possessions on their backs.

[bryanthompson]

What about this justification:

I like them, I have the money, and I want one.

[911boost]

oooh another anti SUV thread....

When I am in my WRX or on the bike, those damn 18 wheelers are right at teeth level. Can't we do anything to ban them?

Someday we will all fly around in tubes, like on Futurama, then these threads will be reeeallly boring...

[Eric 951]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
What about this justification:

I like them, I have the money, and I want one.

That is all the justification which I feel obligated to provide.

[legion]

I was very hesitant to buy a big pickup truck when my '85 S10 crapped out because of how much I despise the visual roadblocks that tall trucks/SUVs are--especially when I'm driving the 944. The practicality in light of our current and planned home rennovations won out though. I just try not to drive like an @$$hole and let smaller cars past (as I know they can't see past me).

My big pet peeve lately has been people talking on their cell phones--regardless of vehicle. The main road in our town is six lanes with a speed limit of 45mph. Innevitably, every day as I am driving down the road, someone is talking on their cell phone and doing 35 or less.

[gaijindabe]

A real energy crisis - like $5 - $7 per gallon gas and these things would be wiped out faster than brontosaurs after the asteroid.. Just a matter of time...

[SLO-BOB]

Originally posted by BSiple
oooh another anti SUV thread....

When I am in my WRX or on the bike, those damn 18 wheelers are right at teeth level. Can't we do anything to ban them?

Someday we will all fly around in tubes, like on Futurama, then these threads will be reeeallly boring...

Unlike suvs-18 wheelers have a legitimate purpose. Therefore, no comparison.

Don't worry-I'll start a thread entitled "Tube rant-why doesn't everybody just teleport?"

[911boost]

no problem Sebring, I hope you caught the tongue in cheek nature of my post...

[SLO-BOB]

naturally