Lukasz Salwinski wrote in news:ceml55$llg$ snipped-for-privacy@daisy.noc.ucla.edu:
It makes perfect sense to drive a vehicle that meets my personal needs and that I enjoy.
LOL! This assumes that rentals are available and off road needs are preedictable. Would you seriously suggest that Thursday afternoon at 4 when my farm hand calls me and tells me he's broke down at the back end of the farm, I should run out and rent a 4X4 instead of simply driving back to pick him up? Remember, not all off road driving is a recreational rock crawl.
Given the option is a lower car that doesn't offer the same view of the road or visibility, and is lighter and less safe in a head on collision, I'd say the trade off is 6 of one or a half dozen of the other. Since I know a tal vehicle is more likely to roll over, I drive in ways that minimize that danger.
I'd be the one to decide that, wouldn't I?
Yes I have. I owned a Cherokee from 1987 through 1996. Took a lot of road trips in it, and hauled a lot of passengers in the back seat. I've also owned or driven at least 8 other SUVs, including the one I drive now, and have always found the back seats to be more spacious and comfortable than those in most of the cars I've ridde n in.
As in my SUV will go anywhere on dry pavement that a car will, but will also go many places a car won't.
An SUV saved my life when a woman in an F150 pulled out in front of my SUV. I was doing 55 and she pulled out 30 feet in front of me. Fortunately, we both had our seat belts on, and everyone walked away. The F150 was totaled, and my SUV took a lot of damage, but I was able to repair it and continued to drive it. The trooper who investigated the accident said he believed that seatbelts and vehicle size saved our lives. I agree.
Why feed the anti-SUV crowd?