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**** HOT TOPIC DISCUSSION ****
| Tue, 08-28-2007 - 8:50am |

***Are large SUV's a Status Symbol***
(Thank You Debate Board for the topic)
Do you think people only buy large SUVs because of the status they imply? Days before SUVs became common place, most families who had the needs that an SUV fulfills drove station wagons. If you think about it, station wagons do basically meet all the same needs that SUVs do; they can fit cargo in the rear, they can tow well enough, and they typically came with family friendly amenities. His contention was that most people who buy SUVs are not actually going to use them for all terrain driving off road, and I believe that that's largely true. So with cars out there that meet the same needs as SUVs--and are safer to the environment, is there another reason why people might choose an SUV other than the image that it creates for them?

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I feel that way about Hummers, but not SUV's.
Ohhhh, don't get me started. LOL Why in god's name does anyone who lives in Ottawa (flat city, completely paved, not a war zone) need a huge honking Hummer? They don't. My DD is fascinated by Hummer's thinks they are sooo cool and if it was up to her we'd have one. She regularly gets her lecture about the only people who need Hummers are the army and people who live on top of mountains in the woods.
I think some people buy the big SUV's thinking they are "safer". That if they get in an accident their family won't be harmed. That may be true, I don't know, but often people who drive those big things thinking they are safe drive like idiots because it gives them a false sense of security so they end up endangering everyone around them. There was a real trend for years towards smaller and smaller cars with gas prices rising, then it started going the other way, bigger and bigger with a few small ones thrown in. I'm not sure I'd want to be out on the highway in a Smartcar with all the big vehicles whipping around me, seems very dangerous.
They are expensive as well, not just to run but to buy and I think it is a status symbol of sorts. To buy an expensive car they tend to be kind of "old people" cars. Cadillacs, etc. But SUV's have a younger image, the rappers are buying them with 15 movie screens and built in stripper poles. So you can get
I would put my two cents in.
Bigger does not mean better.
I drive a small car. I have no desire for something bigger. I have a huge dog and a kid, all the sport things is just America's way of competition. Dont we have enough of that in the world with out adding to it?
Edited 8/28/2007 1:47 pm ET by missybee837
Edited 8/28/2007 1:48 pm ET by missybee837
Yeah, I'll raise my hand and admit I drive a Yukon XL. I was born and raised in Texas and that's actually what I grew up in and and learned to drive in. It's a cultural thing in Texas to have Suburbans and trucks. I guess because of all the ranching and farming in the community I grew up in.
As a long-term military wife we NEVER live anywhere close to family. We travel literally across the country at least four times a year with two kids, two dogs and all of our stuff. We also have a trailer full of four wheelers we haul to the mountains about once a month. Did I mention we've MOVED 13 times in the past 16 years?
I don't have it for safety but I DO feel that I drive safer in it because when it's so big I HAVE to take my time and double check my space and speed.
To me it's not a status symbol, its a symbol of my lifestyle. Although I WILL admit to being tickled pink when my old one was traded in for a NEW one on my birthday this year!
Denise
I'm starting off by saying Hummers are U-G-L-Y and I wouldn't even drive one if someone gave me a free one.
My husband and I own a Ford Expedition and we most certainly did NOT buy it because of status, because we hate the environment, because we think it's safer or because we want to give more money to the gas station!
Our family participates in sports.
I drove a van for
I don't see how anyone could need or want a hummer!
America is the land of showing off that you can afford the biggest and the best so perhaps for some people, that's owning an SUV.
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awwww heck no!
"you must understand that i know someone that for YEARS touted about their econ car to us and rattled on and on about how evil SUV's were."
I'm in Denver, Colorado so you can imagine how SUV's are growled at, we're ruining the environment, we're hogs on the road...this fires up A LOT in the summertime... but come WINTER those lil car are all over the road and usually in the ditch! If it's below zero and I'm driving kids to school on a solid sheet of black ice, I am much happier with something heavy enough to keep me on the road! LOL!
Denise
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