CAUTION: CONTAINS THE RANTINGS OF AN ANTI-SUV LUNATIC!
DELTE IF YOU PLAN OF BEING BURIED IN YOUR EXCURSION!
Here in Southern New England, everyone who owns a SUV tells me, " I need 4
wheel drive to get around in the snow." This argument falls flat on it's
face on 3 counts.
First, in the average winter around here, how many snow storms pile up more
than 4" of snow? One or two? I guess the SUV owners live in towns that don't
have snow plows! God forbid you have to show up LATE anywhere because of the
weather.
Also, Does 4WD give you special immunity from the rest of the traffic?
I remember getting stuck in a huge traffic jam on Rt. 95 during a blizzard.
I was driving my VW GTI.
I had a huge laugh at all the Range Rovers, Suburbans, etc. around me.
They were all creeping along at 5 mph, just like I was! No doubt they felt
safe and warm 'cause the had the 4WD engaged.
BTW, 100% of the rollover accidents I saw that winter were-you guessed it-
SUV's! Yeah, you can go in the snow better, but corner and stop better?
Nope!
The price of this macho all weather feel good security? You get to drag the
weight of transfer cases, extra drive axles, etc around for 360 days of the
year when they're no use at all! The penalty in gas mileage, extra
matainence, insurance must be worth it.
It's a favorite rant of mine- SUV's are in reality are station wagons for
people who think they're too cool to be seen in a wagon! They say "But I can
take my Blazer off roading!" 99.9 % of time, this means turning off road
into the Mall parking lot!
My biggest chuckle was when a friend of mine just had to have 4WD to get
around. Why laugh? She's a school teacher! One whiff of snow and she's got
the day off!
Don't think for a second that the oil cartels didn't time this latest "oil
crunch" with the
new car sales figures-"Hey, Half of the USA is buying 12 mpg gas hogs-time
for a gas shortage!"
Paul Burr
PS- My next rant will be about lowered Honda Civics with O ring tires, 3
foot tall rear wings, and TYPE R stickers
on every surface!
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