ebonyandivory said:
I'm simply trying to wrap my head around a fellow automotive enthusiast concerning him/herself with whether a stranger made a "reasonable decision" in his/her choice of vehicle. I just don't get it.
Please correct me if I'm out of line, I'm just trying to interpret your thought process.
I don't think it's out of line at all. I think it's interesting. Like I said earlier, you already brought me around to a bit more of a "live and let live" attitude towards it when you compared anti-SUV sentiment to anti-V6-Mustang (or whatever) sentiment.
People respond to price stimuli, and I don't expect much more. If you can afford an airplane ticket, I think it's silly to eschew air travel out of some concern for the environment or the poor people who live at the end of the runway (or whatever). If you can afford a big truck and the gas for it (and most people in the USA can), then it is not unreasonable for people to get one if they want one.
So maybe "reasonable" was the wrong word, and you've again made me think it through a little better. After all, I could get by with a much cheaper and more efficient car than the one I drive, but the car that I chose is well within my budget, and it amuses me. That's fine.
I guess what I cannot get past with SUVs is the feeling that the costs they incur - all the bad stuff about them - is being unfairly allocated to the rest of us.
After it rains hard or snows, I inevitably see new places where chunks of asphalt have come free and splattered off to God knows where. I do not think the compact sedans I'm driving are doing that.
When I am trying to lope around a parking lot in first gear, quite frequently I'm interrupted by some behemoth of an SUV that cannot (or that I do not trust to) share the narrow pathway available to us. I have to put down the clutch and the brake, and I roll my eyes a little bit, and think to myself, "get the big one next time, why don't you?"
When I take a road trip, too much of my time is spent staring at the backs of Armadas, Wagoneers, Gelandewagens, and the rest, instead of the trees and sky I wanted to see. It doesn't take money out of my bank account like stepping on the clutch or banging over a new pothole does (if only quietly and incrementally), but it's something I'm suffering purely for the benefit of someone else.
I didn't even talk about CAFE exemptions, or car-vs.-truck crash safety, but that's my thought process. I guess it's the thought process of a man who studied economics as an undergrad. I think SUV owners are getting a free lunch.
or any other reason to think you were joking. All we have is the text on the screen. 
