I dont think we'll get any agreement on this subject matter, especially in CA where people love their cars. (Guilty myself as charged). So I don't think there's really a point debating this. If you'd rather drive what you drive, civics, prius, toyota, whatever, well whatever floats your boat.
Personally, I'd prefer to stick my wife and toddler strapped in an well designed , IIHS rated good/good/good Acura CUV with sufficient size and height without fear of it tipping over because I know my wife doesn't drive like a maniac like me. And I prefer to stick my toddler in the center of the middle row, leaving the third row completely unused, and leaving sufficient room for side/curtain airbags to deploy in the event of side collision. And yes I spent a lot of money buying a decent quality child car seat I could find, based on countless reviews, personal recommendations,etc. (Britax Boulevard with side impact protection if any expecting parents are reading
…FYI, Recaro also makes a great seat that would have been my top choice, but unfortunately isn't rear facing, so I couldn't use it for what we needed at the time, http://www.recarochildseats.com/sportChildSeats.asp).
And personally, I like driving a peppy sedan/coupe 4 banger better than an suv, despite my sedan getting worse gas mileage than my wife's suv.
Yes a lot of americans really can't afford what they drive. Yes, not everyone can afford to buy/lease an vehicle that is more expensive to operate that your traditional nip 4 banger. And yes, a lot of americans got in over their heads with consuming well beyond their means, so what's new….Yes, SUV and even CUV sales are going to tank with higher gas prices, and their will be fewer on the road long term, just like I'm sure there will be fewer bimmers, audis, mercs on the road.
No, this won't eliminate all SUV's from the road. Even with $5 gas prices or $10 gas prices, some of us will still drive around cars/SUVs/trucks, albeit more conservatively than this. Some of us don't lease our take out an upside down loan on cars, just like some of us never buy used cars for whatever reasons. Life isn't fair, and regulations aren't fair. Trivial fact an high powered sports sedan like an M3,M5,S4,RS4, or Merc AMG product most likely carries a gas guzzler tax. But taking hypothetically, if you took the same engine or a larger consuming engine and putting into an SUV/CUV, there isn't any gas guzzler tax. That's why if you buy an AMG M CUV, you won't pay gas guzzler, or a Q7 4.2, or a X5, or a XC90(though they are more efficient i think)..There are even subsidies if you use large/heavy SUVs/trucks for businesses. Yes, it's unfair, that's life. Write a letter to your senator and bitch about it if it bothers you.
No, $10 gas prices wouldn't be good for everyone. Because unless you are fool and think things like food/water/etc gets transported in electric powered semi-trucks, or feel comfortable flying in a solar powered 747, most likely the cost of transportation will be passed along to people like you and me, in which inevitability, you will suffer indirectly. (If any of you are doing any remodeling now, I feel sorry for you, because you are surely paying a lot more for concrete and slab stone than a few years ago. ) And I assure you $10/gallon gas prices will imply we will have a lot more problems than just folks tooting around in an SUV.
The good news is among most of us "dumb" americans who will suffer in the short term with rising prices of transportation, commodities,etc, there are a few of us ('us' being americans) who are smarter than the rest of us who will inevitability put their brilliant minds to tackle this problem like they tackled every other problem) and engineer new solutions to take us out of this mess, and make the lives for the rest of us better (and hopefully those folks will be financially/socially rewarded for doing so)….because like it or not, this country has some of the most brilliant minds in all fields. Americans are creative and if push comes to shove, someone will find an answer to our problems.
Until then, I'll drive my fat ass CUV and 4 banger that tanks premium grade fuel, thank you very much.
