Why an SUV or utillity vehicle? A study

I agree that gas prices have reached a new level where they will stay. The higher price level is needed to encourage exploration and development of more oil fields. This will increase the much needed reserves.

Increased oil prices have increased the recoverable reserves. Recently the worlds deepest successful commercial well was drilled in the Gulf of Mexico using Canadian deep well technology. As the reserves get strained gas prices will increase.

Gasoline is actually very low cost. Just compare it to bottled water.

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote in news:1137470370.110471.174380 @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Because we can. It's America, ya know, land of the free? I have a SUV with seating for 9 and I'm the only dude riding in it.

Sue me.

Adam

A very interesting book has been written on this subject. Get it from your library. "High and Mighty: SUVs--The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way" by Keith Bradsher (New York Times Automotive reporter)

Somehow SUVs and big trucks became fashionable image vehicles, which is almost comical. The roads here in No. California are chock full of people commuting and shopping in their monster trucks.

John

Yeah, you sure are showing your independent minded ways. Sort of like the kid who wants to be different, just like all his/her friends.

The issue is that your "choice" does not only have consequences for you, but for everyone else as well. If you are not paying close enough attention some day and t-bone another vehicle, you and your monster truck are much more likely to kill the other person than if you were driving a vehicle appropriate to your actual needs.

Also, when you burn through fuel at 10 MPG you are drastically raising prices for everyone else, not just yourself. Small changes in the gasoline supply:demand ratio drive large changes in retail gasoline prices. Thus, fuel hogs are raising costs dramatically for everyone else.

Your choices have consequences for everyone else, yet you seem to care not a bit about that.

John

For most users a mid-size wagon is a highly rational configuration. Unfortunately there are very few choices on the US market right now, thanks to the completely irrational fashion driven habits of most buyers. What sheep they are, thinking that they are "individuals" when their choices are manipulated by their invisible masters.

It looks like VW will be bringing wagon versions of the Jetta and Passat to the US again late this year, so that might make a less expensive choice than the Volvo. Subaru has some nice little wagons, but unless you really need four wheel drive then the weight and fuel economy penalty all Subaru's have for being four wheel drive makes no sense.

The Ford Fusion wagon is also an interesting choice for some, but a bit on the small side.

John

Which is not so different from the equally rediculous rant that cries about everyone else out there not taking care of "me" because of the decisions I've made for myself... as evidenced below.

Equally - the person in that "socially concious" vehicle could just as likely be responsible for not paying attention, and being the real cause of the accident. But then, it's not as dramatic if presented that way.

Then again there's the concept that the owner of stouter vehicles actually care more about the safety of themselves and their families than they do about "social conscience". Not a bad thought. They like the increased advantage of surviving an accident in a vehicle that provides some degree of protection. You choose to lessen the significance of that benefit and put your family at greater risk, and then pummel others because you consciously decide to take this course? Silly. It's not a matter of a battering ram plowing into the side of your vehicle - you totally ignore the advantage of stouter vehicles in one car accidents.

Even my '94 full size pickup, which serves utilitarian purposes that cannot be served by any of my cars, gets 15mpg. But then again, it does sound more dramatic to say something like 10mpg, in attempt to impress a point, doesn't it? "Fuel hogs" as you call them, have no dramatic effect on fuel costs for everyone else. The principle of supply and demand says that the overall demand will drive the price relative to supply. Since the "10mpg" vehicles are the exception on the roads, they have a negligible impact on the price of fuel. Common mileage realizations for SUV's on the road today is really closer to 20mpg, but that too would less dramatic, wouldn't it?

You choices have consequences which you are trying to place on the shoulders of others. You have chosen to drive a vehicle that puts you at a distinct disadvantage in a collision and expect others to be concerned for your safety. Your safety is your concern and you have the responsibility for it. You chose to put economy over safety. That's your choice, but don't whine about others and the impact they could potentially have on you because of your choice.

Been driving 10 years, no accidents. Although I did get a parking ticket on University grounds once.

Not really. OPEC sets the price. Just because there is a great demand for something doesn't mean it should be more expensive. Take water for example. If I own a pool and fill it with water, am I drastically raising prices for everyone else? Of course not. It is I that gets the bill water bill, not anyone else.

I've also read of reports that we have oil reserves for at least 200 years. Depends on which report you want to take and run with to support your argument.

I take it John that you ride a bike to work? Use solar power to run your house? If so, you're right to lecture me. If not, well...silenco por favor!

Adam

You are talking about the NYT reporter. The Times has a dubious record for accurate reporting lately According to the NHTSA, the death and injury RATE per 100,000 miles driven in the US is falling. The death and injury RATE, among children in motor vehicles, has fallen dramatically in the past ten years. Fallen at an ever greater rate over the past five years. The reduction is attributed to the fact more children are being properly retrained and more of them are riding in todays larger safer light trucks and SUVs

Read the Congressional Record of the recent Senate hearing on CAFE.. One of the objections to raising the CAFE for light trucks was the fact it could reverse the downward trend in death and injury rate, particularly among children, in motor vehicles

There has been plenty of profit over the past several years, and drilling has been at a high level.

While some reserves will be found, others are being watered out. Net result is little increase in actual producible reserves, while demand is growing.

The low hanging fruit has already been picked.

Now, we are faced by a spectre of war in the Middle East. Iran postures and rattles their swords, while Israel assures them that they will not allow another nuclear presence in the region. (Israel did it before, in 1981 I think. And blasted Iraq's nuclear site off the globe, much to world concern).

Other Muslim countries vow support for Iran.

The claim is that over 80% of Iranian oil goes into the world market and that they will need nuclear power in the future. (Credibility not helped by their threats that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth, and their insistence on refining plutonium.)

If Israel is to strike, it has to be soon. There is a window of opportunity of only 3-6 months, if present estimates are correct.

Oil prices rose almost to $70 per barrel over the weekend trading.

High gasoline prices might be the least frightening aspect of what could happen next.