[smiley]

The city counsel of Nijmegen (city in the Netherlands) has decided to ban all large SUV's and 4x4's from public parking spaces in the city. Not complying will result in a fine.
This unprecedented move was explained by the following reasoning.
SUV's merely serve as a status symbol for the owner. They are designed for off-road conditions, but they are not used as such. They consume a lot of fuel, pollute, clog up traffic and are hazardous for the other traffic as well as for the owners. Driving them is considered as antisocial behavior. Denying them parking spaces is the best way to prevent them driving around the city as they cannot be denied entry to the city.
The limits are set at a width of >1.85m (72.2 inch)or a length of >4.8m (187 inch). This would ban some popular models like the BMW X5, the Porsche Cayenne and the Grand Jeep Cherokee.

I think this is a very significant development. The national government is now debating whether to start a national initiative to stop the rapid rise of the number of SUV's.
Personally I applaud this move because these things are really annoying in traffic. (You have to understand that the roads are a lot narrower here than in the USA so these things block all the other traffic.)

[lowem]

Cool. This goes on my blog. Thanks for pointing it out.

[larrydallas]

To give you my personal situation with gasoline prices I can say that I currently pay what a driver of a 10 cylinder Dodge Viper paid to drive his car in 2000 when gas was 99 cents.
Back when gas was cheap I had a Toyota Celica which got 33mpg. A $14 fill got me about about 380 miles. I went to a 3000GT in late 02 which gets 24 mpg since gas was still pretty cheap then at around $1.30 for premium. Now at last fill up gas was $2.14. So my fuel economy is between 10-12 mpg if you do it in 2000 gas prices.
The question is how come we still see people buy and drive SUVs and trucks?

If you own a suburban that gets 14 mpg you really get about 5-7 mpg in 2000 gas price scales. Only Ferrari and Lambo drivers have been able to historically afford gas mileage like that.
Oh, and these big vehicles are not owned by people in new homes in palnned communities. In fact, many of the people who own these get a vehicle which is beyond their means with poor allocation of money. How many of you can honestly say you have not seen a $35,000 suburban with custom wheels and such in areas where the homes cost less than half of that?
How people spend their money is their business and more power to you if you would rather ger satellite TV than groceries.

BUT, it does have to make you wonder how people are paying these fuel costs and even the car loans when economic indicators are poor.
I see new large trucks like F250s everyday and it's just mind boggling how someone who doesn't know better can go and sign on to this when they get hit at the pump twice as hard. Even a complete idiot can read the numbers on a gas pump.
What gives?
BTW since I quit my old job 3 months ago I went from driving about 200 miles a week to now about 50 miles per week so it balanced out for me but I doubt everyone who buys a big vehicle changes jobs to offset gas prices.

[jato]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he question is how come we still see people buy and drive SUVs and trucks?

[Specop_007]

Its quite simple. If the difference between 1.30-1.50 in gas, and 2.00 in gas is enough to break your budget then you need to re-evalute your living condition. While I dont drive my Expedition as much, the added cost in gas certainly isnt enough to make or break my bidget by a long shot. Course, I'm not living at the ragged end of my paycheck either. No car payments and no CC debt really really help that out though.

[dmtu]

I drive a beater truck but I only have about a $500 outlay in bills per month, am single and have a good job. If all goes as planned, next spring I'll invest in a four banger and park the truck for snow and the stuff you use a truck for. I really do utilize the bed on regular basis so it would be hard to do without. Those who are trying to keep up with the Joneses are falling prey to ignorance (a lesson learned through divorce) and, in a peak oil world, financial self-defeat.

[Guest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('larrydallas', ' ') Even a complete idiot can read the numbers on a gas pump.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Anonymous', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('larrydallas', ' ') Even a complete idiot can read the numbers on a gas pump.

[duff_beer_dragon]

If by SUV you mean souped-up-vehicle, as in what are called sports cars and muscle cars over here, then people still drive them because -
a. it's preferable to have decent acceleration so you actually can overtake some lorry or whatever in front of you, including on an upward gradiant
b. it's smoother it's faster it's better all round
c. they are availible on HP and for rent at reasonable prices
What I think is weird is those on-road 4x4 style vehicles - ok if you live in the country and need to drive thru mud frequently and actually go off-road ; in terms of many-seaters - yeah, ok is you have loads of children or frequently often transport enough people (or goods) to more or less fill the space ; other than that - what is that all about? Bull bars on shopping cars and cars to pick kids up from school?! Uh, we don't really have a lot of cattle or animals wandering onto the roads here, we don't have those kinds of farms or wild areas.

I keep getting the impression that they are driven by people who are thinking more 'if I crash in this I want something where I will be safe even if the others involved will be mashed to hell' - or they feel bigger being up high on the road, it's some kind of complex - like when people drive really badly because they are in a lorry and if you don't brake for them, for example, it won't really matter to them because you'll be mashed and they'll have a dent and it's a company truck anyway so they won't even pay anything.
The UK is way too small for lorries, but 'cause those idiots in the 60s closed down the railways and reduced so much cargo railways and put it all on the roads.........how much of the accident figures involve good traffic of that kind?

[duff_beer_dragon]

That last part should read ''goods traffic''.

[johnmarkos]

When I was 25 and carless (my Honda Civic had been totalled) some friends loaned me their full sized Dodge Ram van for a month or so. It was a great way for me and 11 friends to get around! When you're that high off the ground, you feel as though you own the road. This is the number one reason why people want SUVs, even if they have no intention of going off road. I also noticed that you don't see little cars that are below you and to the right. If you own a Mini or a Civic, don't get on the right side of a big van or SUV.
Anyway, this was in the mid nineties, when gas was a lot cheaper. My total gas bill for this behemoth was still only a hundred bucks a month. Since I didn't have to pay collision insurance, my auto bills actually went down! Even at $2.30/gallon, the gasoline bill would only total $200/month.
SUVs started getting popular in the early nineties. A lot of those Explorers and Suburbans on the road are ten years old or older now. They are driven by people who know that payments and insurance on a Prius or a Civic would cost a lot more than filling the tank of that beast every week or two. My prediction: people won't start getting rid of their SUVs till gasoline reaches five bucks a gallon, maybe six.

[johnmarkos]

For those outside the U.S., by SUV we basically mean a truck/lorry with seats and a covered cargo area instead of a pickup bed. We're talking about an Isuzu Trooper, Hummer, Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Explorer or some such beast. Some SUVs are relatively fuel efficient (the most frugal get the same mileage as a mid-sized car: Toyota Camry = mid-sized by U.S. ratings). More often than not, they're gas guzzlers.
SUV = "Sport/Utility Vehicle"

[jpatti]

We have an old beater pickup truck. It gets crappy mileage.
Still, it's significantly cheaper to haul lumber, straw, hay, animal feed in.
Heck, you can actually move large animals that won't fit in a car - our local livestock auction is only a few miles away, we could conceivably bring home a cow or horse in the truck.
We drive the car as first choice, the truck only comes in if we both have to be somewhere at once (rarely happens sicne we work at home) or when we're going to an auction (got a whole bed of lumber for $1 once!) or otherwise specificlaly know we need to move a load.

[Guest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') guess it depends on your definition of "behind".
But I agree on the stupidity. Hell, most Americans think this war is about oil. Proof positive of your statement Americans are, by and large, stupid.

[trespam]

Why do SUVs continue to sell? There are several perspectives: (1) For many, the price of gas is still quite affordable and is still a smaller percentage of disposable income than in the past. (2) We might as well ask why people continued to purchase overvalued stocks in 2000. Some people think gas prices are artificially high because of politics, greedy oil companies, etc. They are completely unware that we are facing production, transportation, and refining constraints.

War for oil in Iraq: As the saying goes, if the primary export from the Mideast was broccoli, the US would not have over 100,000 troops there. This war is all about oil.

[Barbara]

Welcome in the wonderful world of people slowing accustoming themselves to slowly growing prices.
In Europe we are used to fill the tank at a¬30, and in 5 years go up to a‚¬50.
Unless it doubles overnight (which never happens, "they" are smarter than we think), everybody always get accustomed. You will witness it in the next months/years.

[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')or those outside the U.S., by SUV we basically mean a truck/lorry with seats and a covered cargo area instead of a pickup bed. We're talking about an Isuzu Trooper, Hummer, Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Explorer or some such beast.

[larrydallas]

I totally get why the SUV became popular in the first place. The status symbol, the fake immage of being tough and the outdoors type, and the false sense of security.
The older SUVs are a real hazard if you ask me. Ones built in the 90's are now going down to prices where very young drivers can afford them. A kid behind the wheel of a 3 ton SUV is much worse than one behind the wheel of a civic. Also, younger drivers usually do not have enough money to properly care for them. They will get a lound stereo to impres people with but vital things like brakes and suspension are usually neglected. I think we'll see a spike in injuries and fatalities involving these vehcices in the near future if PO does not kill them off.
I don't get the whole concept anyway.
If I had to have a family car and needed space I'd get a late model Mercedes E class or BMW 5 series station wagon. The 99ish models are around $18K with under 50K miles and mint conditon. You can't buy much SUV new for $18K.

[zed]

Remember that sales are driven by psychology. Most people in America (and I would say almost all of those buying SUVs) don't have any inkling that things will be much worse in the years ahead. In other words "I can afford the $2 gas today for this H2 and will be able to afford it in 2008". "Some guy on the TV news said gas would go down by the Spring, so I'll be OK". Etc.
At the margin, people will give up SUVs if they can't afford the gas or monthly payments. However, if people start ignoring and/or selling SUVs in large numbers because they believe future energy prices will be high, I believe that will be a good sign that a 'bear market psychology' has taken hold in the American psyche.

[Jenab]

In West Virginia's hills in the winter, motor travel requires 4x4 in four-low, traction tires, snow chains...and sometimes even that isn't enough to get you back up the hill to your house.
Remember the jagged-edged bluffs that Sheriff Tate (or a bear) would chase Sniffy Smith over in the old newspaper cartoon? That's about what the terrain looks like in places. The road up to my house has a steep part just east of here that the locals call "the hell climb." Not passable when snowy, except with traction-enhanced 4x4. When icy/slushy, it isn't passable at all.