US Energy Opinions Changing - NOT
I was just reading an interesting article in CNN about the US becoming more conservation conscious. It is an interesting article, talking about the new bill on congress mandating better mileage, and opinion polls taken with citizens about the importance of conservation. But it ended with one of the worst quotes I have ever seen:
“It’s not that Americans don’t want to be environmentally friendly, it’s just that we don’t have much of a choice,” he wrote. “As an SUV driver, telling me that my only alternative is a Toyota Prius or a Honda Civic is like telling me to eat beef jerky when I’m used to filet mignon.”
There are so many things wrong with this that I actually got mad reading it. Um, moron someone needs to give you a dictionary because you don’t appear to know the meaning of the word choice. And your metaphors suck, it is like someone telling you to eat healthy when you are used to junk food. Salad and chicken instead of filet mignon. Someone like your doctor because if you keep eating all that cholesterol you are going to have a heart attack and die. Your SUV is simply irresponsible. It consumes too many resources and is dangerous to those around it. Can you imagine if the person who rammed the Panera yesterday had been driving an SUV?
OK, that’s enough vitriol from me today.
Can you imagine if the person who rammed the Panera yesterday had been driving an SUV?
You mean like this?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/koranteng/98440307/
I’m kinda with the SUV driver quoted. Around these parts, nobody gets out of their driveway in winter in a Prius or Civic; my in-laws have two SUVs (one of them a reasonably efficient Toyota Highlander hybrid), and we *used* to have an AWD minivan, before I totaled it.
I don’t have any idea how we’re going to manage this winter without a single AWD vehicle. 
(Oops, failed to close my italics, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to delete and repost the comment. Sorry about that.)
Closed the tag.
I can’t find the quote you are talking about, but I find most arguments for why someone “needs” an SUV to be quite insufficient. If AWD is what you require, then you are better off getting something with a lower center of gravity anyway. All Subarus have been AWD for years. Their mechanisms are better than in almost all other car companies, and they get much better gas mileage. (Still not as good as the versa, but they have much more power as well.) There are a number of different size choices to fit your needs, from sedan to station wagon. They are going to generally be much less expensive than most SUVs and with gas mileages in the 20/25 to 25/30 range, that is about as good as you can find in an AWD only Honda’s SUVs come close.
And if you are willing to shell out SUV level prices you can get a PZEV outback! (Good luck finding them in stock though.)