When SUVs Made Sense

Back in 2004, my father surprised me at my college graduation with a brand new Jeep Liberty that he drove himself and my immediate family down in. I was elated. A couple of years ago, I decided to get another new Jeep, a 2007 Liberty....then the economy collapsed. Whoops.

There was a time when purchasing an SUV might have mad more sense. Remember when the Hummers first hit the scene as being a vehicle for the all American, cookie cutter family? Then we saw the explosion of the once soccer moms hitting the terrain in these vehicles that looked more cut out for a desert excursion than for a girl scouts meeting at the church. People became annoyed with those who owned Hummers, accusing them of being selfish drivers who cut people off and hogged multiple parking spaces in mall parking lots. Looking back now, I'm pretty sure that these people weren't hogging the parking spots on purpose- it was just that they couldn't figure out how to park the vehicles!

Today, with people losing their jobs left and right and an economy that is almost set to fail under the rise of inflation, and the bankruptcy of major car producers such as General Motors and Chrysler, people are opting out of buying sports utility vehicles, and are instead focusing more on driving energy efficient, compact cars. If all else fails and they've still got legs to walk on, they're breaking out their best pair of walking or running shoes and hitting the pavement.

The worst thing that I used to see when the SUV revolution was in high swing were all of these college guys with the huge pickup trucks that had absolutely nothing in them. Here were all of these shiny, good-as-new- pickup trucks parked all over campus with no indication about them that they were used for anything other than looking pretty in a parking space. "What a waste!" I remember thinking. When I think of pickup trucks being used, I think of work that needs to be done on farms toting hay or feed around. I think of mudflaps and dirt caked on the sides. I don't think about fancy rims on the wheels and strategically placed decals.

When you buy a car, or perhaps when you've bought a car in the past, what do you find yourself thinking about? Are you thinking about how cool you will look to all of your friends, family , and/or peers? It seems that when most people purchase sports utility vehicles, they don't think in reasonable, practical terms. Why, if I based my next vehicle purchase on emotion or anything outside the realm of reason, I'd probably end up with a Passat, or an Audi TT Quatro- both of which are way out of my price range right now. We need to be more vigilant about our purchases. Unless you have a lot of people or things to transport around a lot, then you probably don't really need an SUV to help out.