"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 01:55:17 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:
~~ snippage ~~
No. No wiggle room. I was about to say "think back 35 years", but you
can't
do that, so I'll help. Used to be you only saw SUVs owned by people who
actually needed them:
1) People who used them for a sport which took them off-road constantly,
like hunters or surf fishermen.
2) People who lived where there was snow. Not pussy snow like along the
entire coast from Massachusetts down to Washington DC, but SNOW.
3) People who towed often and needed a truck's gear ratio, but not a huge
pickup like a bricklayer wants when hauling 2 tons of cement.
Now, it's different. My previous number was a guess, but I'll bet it
wasn't
far off: 90% of the people who buy an SUV have absolutely no MECHANICAL
NEED
for it. Therefore, the manufacturers should be TOLD that they will sell
90%
of those things with a gear ratio set up like a passenger car, and that
they
will train their sales staff to qualify customers correctly. The soccer
mom
who wants an SUV because the bumper's higher up and she thinks that makes
it
a safer car - she can have one, but she doesn't get the truck gear ratio
that a hunter gets. Even if 20% of the customers lie, it's better than
what
we have now: Millions of vehicles getting 17 mpg, driven by fools who
think
they're cool.
I am absolutely 100% four square in your corner on this one. Average
Soccer Mom/Dad doesn't need a truck based SUV with geared to tow a
house down the street.
Regular street gearing w/all wheel drive is sufficient for my area of
the country. I dare say regular street gearing w/o all wheel drive is
sufficient for my area because they drive like idiots in ice/snow/rain
anyway. I have a F-250 4x4 diesel and I don't drive it unless I'm
towing my boat or have to haul a load of wood out of my woods. You
would be surprised at how many folks I see running similar trucks,
with nothing in them, to the grocery store. I have a little Ford
Focus that I run around town, for errands and such.
Take care.
Tom
I'd also wager that the manufacturers could sell the truck-geared SUVs
without having to charge more for them. After all, they'd be subsidized by
the 90% who buy what I assume would be a less expensive drive train. It
would just be a question of finding a dealer who has the one you want.
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