I love my SUV, I love having a multi-purpose vehicle. But I really hate a lot of the stereotypes that are flying around.

1) I did not buy my SUV because I want to be king of the road. I bought it because of my lifestyle. I take road trips frequently - I want something heavy, confortable, and has decent top-end performance). I move quite frequently - I want something that can tow - my SUV can tow weverything I own. I am a musician - I want interior storage capacity. I am a handyman, I want something that can haul lumber. I live in Minnesota and plan on moving to rural Canada - I want something that can handle deep wet snow. Sure, a Caddy does the road trip better and a pickup hauls better and allows me to use a gooseneck trailer (more stable), a minivan has more interior capacity, and a civic is easier to run around town with, but I cannot afford maintain and park four vehicles.

2) My SUV gets better milage than a lot of wagons on the road today. 20mpg on the highway is not good, but there are more than a few less capable vehicles that do worse.

3) Are SUV drivers the only wasteful people around? What about the kid that buys a huge pickup truck and decks it out just for show? What about the guy who re-tunes his honda civic's fuel injection to get the maximum performance without regard to fuel consumption.

4) SUVs may be inherantly unsafe, but their drivers aren't -- according to State Farm. shortly after I bought my SUV, State Farm announced that they will be cutting the rates for SUV and large cars because their drivers tend to be more conservative and less risk taking. Half the time I don't even know I am being followed when the driver of the honda civic is following me so close that his headlights disappear behind my tailgate. As a side note, a friend of mine rear ended an SUV with his Honda Prelude. His whole front end was torn apart, and the SUV didn't even get a scratch.

5) "Half of the oil we burn is imported, some of it from countries where the people are severely oppressed" (for your web site). Most of the oil that comes into the midwest arrives via a pipeline from Canada. As a Canadian myself, I can say that I have never been severely oppressed, in fact, I felt freer there than I do here. Next time you buy any consumer good, like, say, a can open - why don't you look at the label that says "made in china" and think about the
oppressive regime you just supported.

6) "I noticed that almost every truck I photographed had a driver and no passengers." (from your web site). This is true with most vehicles. I carpool at least three times per week on average.

7) I do take my car off road, but not as much as I would like to :). I also have pulled lunch-cars back onto the road when they got stuck in the snow.

Thanks for taking the time to attempt to refute the validity of my diatribe. I am completely willing, if fact, I challenge you, to engage in a thoughtful debate on the validity of the SUV as a choice so long as it does not devolve into a flame war.

- Thomas;

Thomas:
there's hardly anything i like more than debating this issue, i mean it. perhaps if the letters coming in slow down i'll be able to spend more time thinking through your points. i did read your letter though and i appreciate you taking time to write to me. it seems you use your suv like it was built to be used. i understand there are things about an suv that can be very useful, and perhaps even necessary for some folks. most, though, are driving them to the mall or to work. as for safety, any vehicle that's "inherently unsafe" is unsafe. we all have to swerve on occasion to avoid a collision. you're right about the pickups and modified smoggy motors - they kick up too much smog.

the way i see it, we're powered by oil in dozens of ways. i have nothing against oil or even burning oil. i just think that considering the dirty air and so on, conserving beats consuming hands down. but who am i to talk, i fly around in planes.

i understand lots of oil comes from canada - but we gets lots from places where people are severely oppressed.

thanks!
all the best
joe
the Pig