Stupidest idea ever

[dmaze]

The Zipcar du jour was Eva, a Ford Escape living in the Alewife garage. This is a vehicle whose rear-view mirror doesn't allow you so much to see the cars behind you as to see over the cars behind you, a vehicle with the general aerodynamic properties of a Borg Cube. It was, I'll grant, a fairly comfortable ride, particularly through the questionable pavement of Harvard Square. But the negative-zero-emissions-vehicle aspect of it seems contrary to the Zipcar environmental bit. Given that these are expensive vehicles, that are expensive to operate, they're kind of dangerous (both in the "roll over" and the "greater risk of putting your bumper through someone else's windshield" senses), why are SUVs so popular?

Comments

[unclenomer.livejournal.com]

Having lived much of my life in the boonies on a dirt road and plenty of bad weather, I don't think SUVs really solve many problems out there. Swapping in studded tires in the winter and possibly 4 wheel drive makes a big difference, though. The studded tires aren't great for the gas mileage, but boy do they grip icy roads well.

Of course in the area where I lived, the dirt roads were generally well maintained so you didn't need lots of extra ground clearance. The extra cargo space would be useful for hauling the garbage to the dump (and hauling back whatever treasures were found there). :-)