SUV's Are A-OK

When I was seventeen, a neighbor invited me to drive his metallic black 1982 Porsche 911 SC. I stalled the engine twice before leaving the driveway. Then the owner slid behind the wheel. Within seconds we were ripping through the Texas hill country at 140 mph. Since that fateful day, my tastes have broadened to include off-roading, mountain biking, backpacking and skiing. But I’m still a bonafied pistonhead, and I’m disgusted by the hypocritical anti-SUV remarks I’ve read in the automotive press and right here on TTAC.

Most automotive journalists have decided that the average American shouldn’t own a gas-guzzling SUV because they never drive it off-road. And yet these same scribes have no problem taking passenger cars onto a race track for high-speed evaluation. In fact, I’d wager that there are more SUV drivers who take their vehicles off-road than sports car owners who set rubber on a racetrack. Why, then, is it okay to buy a car based on its theoretical extreme performance, while purchasing a four wheel-drive SUV for its unused off-road abilities is considered a crime against nature?

Of course, many SUV drivers do go off-road. I recently packed my family and luggage into our Jeep Liberty for a two-week vacation in Colorado and Utah. The SUV was spacious and comfortable. Its 3.7-liter V6 engine hauled us up the frequent seven percent grades with ease. When we arrived, I used the Jeep's off-road capabilities to explore off-road and ATV trails. The little SUV took me to out-of-the way places to fish and view the deer, elk, moose and pronghorn. The weight of the Liberty’s frame and suspension components (derided by some for making the vehicle seem ponderous on road) gave it sure-footed control and provided protection while crawling over oil pan hungry rocks.

SUVs are frequently purchased for their off-road abilities– however infrequent. Nearly eighty percent of SUV owners told pollster R.L. Polk that they count on their SUVs for severe weather. The same survey showed that fifty percent regularly haul heavy or bulky items to their homes, while twenty-four percent pull boats or carry bicycles, and fifteen percent use them for off-road sport. I guess soccer moms are busier than some people thought.

Aside from their alleged "inappropriateness," SUV’s are usually vilified on safety grounds. Supposedly, their top heavy nature renders them prone to rolling over in certain types of accidents. While SUV’s certainly have a higher center of gravity than passenger cars, are they really more dangerous? As pointed out on this very website, the vast majority of rollover deaths and injuries are attributable to non-compliance with seat belt legislation. Besides, as simple common sense suggests, road safety is largely a reflection of a driver’s abilities– not the vehicle’s. Perhaps that’s why insuring a new Corvette costs roughly five times more than insuring a similarly priced Chevrolet Suburban SUV.

Car aficionados that criticize SUVs for poor gas mileage are also skating on thin rhetorical ice. Unless they bicycle everywhere (I give bicyclists a pass on chain oil and the methane they release when exerting themselves), they are like vegans that wear leather shoes. What are our favorite sports cars? Does reading any of these letters get your heart pumping: GTO, SS, HEMI, SC, RS, GT, S? As emotive as all these high performance tags sound, they’re all shorthand for “crappy MPG.”

Of course, the SUV is a far more practical conveyance than a dedicated sports car. The vast majority of pistonheads' dream machines seat two people, offer limited trunk space, are tail happy in the rain and can’t tow worth a damn. Obviously, sports cars aren't designed for extreme weather or as a U-Haul alternative. By the same token, an SUV wasn’t designed for high-speed cornering. Yes, you pay the price at the pump, but both genres are suited to their respective tasks.

According to environmentalists, the SUV is the root of all evil, belching filth into the air, destroying our air quality and warming the planet. In truth, all American cars and light trucks produce approximately two percent of all man-made greenhouse gasses worldwide. Emissions from a modern mid-sized SUV are cleaner than that of the average new car built three years ago. As of 2004, SUV’s produce 99% less pollutants per mile than cars manufactured in 1967 (prior to federal emissions standards). All ongoing emissions improvements split the remaining fraction of a percent.

There will always be poseurs that buy SUVs just to look outdoorsy and adventurous. And there will always be consumers who buy sports cars simply to pose and preen. Though distasteful to true enthusiasts, as long as we live in a free country, we can’t stop pathetic pretenders from buying the vehicles we love. As my wealthy neighbor demonstrated all those years ago, all we can do is drive our cars how they were meant to be driven. That includes SUV’s.