Sticking up for SUV's, the best vehicle made is spelled
P-A-T-H-F-I-N-D-E-R!! Like the roadster, Nissan has a real winner in this
fun and sporty SUV!
Joseph Roach
65 1500
95 Pathfinder SE
San Diego, CA
At 09:50 AM 6/23/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Alan-
>
>SUV stands for "Sport Utility Vehicle", which is a rather dubious
>description at best.
>They are vehicles, they have some utility, but they are nothing like sporty.
>
>They are generally large unwieldy vehicles based on a midsize, full-size (or
>in the case
>of the Ford Expedition, oversize) truck chassis, and only a very few SUVs
>sold have
>4-wheel drive. While a small percentage of these type vehicles are purchased
>and used by
>people who really need their carrying and towing capacity (like for towing
>a Roadster
>race car to the track!), most of them are bought by yuppies, suburban yuppie
>wannabe's and
>housewives. SUVs have become, for reasons I will never understand, a general
>substitute
>for the family sedan or station wagon. They have a high center of gravity
>and, generally,
>soft suspension - which ensures that their handling characteristics can most
>charitably
>be described as scary and more accurately as dangerous. Just as the
>inexperienced Porsche
>driver of yore was likely to go off the road backwards, the victim of
>trailing throttle
>oversteer, SUVs have an alarming tendency to go rubber side up when Hanna
>Housewife makes
>a sudden lane change to avoid a puddle that might get her precious "sport
>ute" dirty
>(Heaven forfend!).
>
>The vehicle manufacturers love SUVs because they are classified as light
>trucks for the
>purpose of safety, emission and fuel economy regulations - in all three of
>which
>categories they enjoy less restrictive (read "less expensive to
>manufacture") standards
>than passenger vehicles, though they are used strictly as passenger vehicles
>by 95+
>percent of those who drive them. They are purchased by people who want to
>sit up nice and
>high, ostensibly for a good view of the road - which again I do not
>understand, because
>most SUV drivers spend most of their time behind the wheel talking on their
>cell phones,
>changing the station on their radio or looking for something in their
>briefcase/handbag
>while changing lanes w/o benefit of turn signal and driving solo in the
>carpool lane - in
>short, doing everything BUT keeping an eye on the road. SUV drivers feel
>safe (until that
>lane change) because they know that they outmass smaller vehicles - the
typical
>SUV/passenger car collision scenario involves the driver of the SUV standing
>at the curb
>wondering if the body shop will be able to polish out the scratches in his
>paint job,
>while the EMTs use the Jaws of Life to pry open the other vehicle and get
>the driver out.
>
>The latest trend in SUVs is the "luxury SUV" with leather interior, high-end
>stereo system
>and all of the other high-end goodies - all in a vehicle with a rugged,
>outdoorsy exterior
>that says "I COULD go off road if I wanted to - but then I'd have to go back
>to the detail
>shop for a wash, polish and interior detail job..."
>
>I hope this answers your question...
>
>Gary McCormick
>San Jose, CA USA
>
>P.S. - As Paul Hogan says in that old Australian Tourist Council commercial,
>"After all,
>we speak the same language - although you lot do have a funny accent.")
>-----------------------------------------------
>
>Alan Bent wrote:
>
>> This is probably a really stupid question, but it will end a debate that
>> several of us Australians have been having. The problem is that we both
>> Australians and Americans speak English, but we speak it properly and
>> you yanks tend to make a debacle of it and make up things we don't
>> understand :-) The question is this- On the Roadster list there has
>> been several references to "SUVs". We have figured out that an "SUV" is
>> a four wheel drive or something similar. What we haven't figured out is
>> what the initials "SUV" stands for. Please tell us so we can end our
>> debate.
>> Alan Bent. Queensland, Australia.
>
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