We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Gas-guzzling and gorgeous The sports utility vehicle (SUV) is the bete noire of the anti-globalista class, epitomizing much that they hate about western, and specifically American, culture. They are big, brash, consume a lot of fossil fuels and symbolise an almost Wild West ethos (although in my experience many of them are driven by stockbrokers in deepest west London).
I must say that in my more ideologically manic moments, I fantasize about buying a SUV for no other reason than to cock a snook at the flat-earthers. Check out this interesting story for the enduring appeal of these capitalist behemoths on wheels. Vroom!
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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And you’ll be trendy along w/the UN NGOs.
SUVs encourage the mindless masses to pay even less attention to basic civility than they otherwise might. I’ve seen case after case of SUV drivers cutting people off, passing in the median, or swerving in and out of traffic in the vain attempt to get a couple of car-lengths ahead. The excessive mass and breadth of these vehicles makes them very dangerous in the hands of Joe Slob, especially to people driving smaller cars.
Let them drive what they want, but I see no need to romanticize the SUV just because the tranzis dislike them. I’ll continue to enjoy the performance of cars designed for good handling, and keep a wide berth between myself and the SUV drivers.
I sure wouldn’t buy an SUV both because of the poor gas mileage (aside: what is this called in Britain? petrol kilometrage?) and low safety (massively increased risk of rollovers). They are also much more dangerous to people in small cars in the event of an accident. This seems to violate the rights of others a whole lot…
Lucas: People in small cars have a right to have everyone else drive a small car? No? Which right is violated, then, by other people driving heavy cars (it’s mass more than height that is the main factor in safety here, I’m told)? Also, rollover isn’t much of an issue unless one drives a tall, narrow vehicle as if it was not so. Rollover is not “the horrible danger of SUVs”, but “the horrible danger of idiots driving them as if they were Accords”.
This brings up another point – the demonization of SUVs as a class, in which the bad points of any model are applied to all. Hummers don’t roll the way a RAV4 or micro-Jeep does. Conversely, the RAV-sized vehicles get far better mileage than the Expeditions and Hummers and the like, and weigh a lot less. Yet all are clumped together.
I suggest to Jonathan that if he wants a brash, fuel-guzzling vehicle, and doesn’t need cargo space, he should get an old 450SEL. Not only is it cheaper than a new SUV, it’s fast and shiny. And still a great big “fuck you” to the weenie crowd.
I admit I drive a chevy suburban. For those of you in Europe this is a about as big as they get, mine comfortably seats seven with lots of extra room, but they can be configured to fit up to nine and still have lots of cargo space. It has four wheel drive and can pull up to an 8,000 lb. trailer. It gets 16 miles to the gallon on the highway.
I like that I can take my son and 5 of his fellow boy scouts and all their gear on monthly camping trips, and even pull the scout troop’s trailer. With four wheel drive I can even pull the trailer over muddy trails without getting stuck.
I don’t have to worry about getting stuck in snow or ice in the winter. We get alot more snow in parts of the northern US than you do in europe.
My office is 1-1/2 miles from my house, fuel economy is not a major concern. Besides, gas is taxed less in the US and is relatively cheap.
I’m self employed and the suburban is also my business vehicle. Because it weighs more than 6,000 lbs. it is not subject to the more restrictive “luxury” auto rules and the expense can be written off much more quickly. In my case I expect to save about $7,000 on last years taxes.
The suburban is rated as the safest SUV, safer than most cars, and that is in a study that takes into account the injuries in both vehicles in two car accidents.
Its rides quiet and comfortably, has a great stereo and heated leather seats.
It’s a great car, why should I care what adrianna HUFFington says?
Johnathan,
I saw a Hummer just on a back road north of Welwyn Garden City the other week – I was a little surprised to say the least.
The French hate them, the Germans hate them, the Greens hate them. You make me want to eat a 32oz steak and go out and buy a Hummer. Better yet, I’m an American, I’ll order the Hummer over the internet. Think I’ll order some spare guns to carry in it too.
crc said it all, baby…red meat, guns, and big honking vehicles. I got ’em all, and if some little Green fuckwad tries to vandalize my Ford, I will promptly ventilate him. And then go eat a hamburger. “He rushed me, officer–that spray can in his hand looked like a pistol!”
Sorry if that offends anybody. Oh, wait–no I’m not.
Sigivald: As I understand it, this is essentially accurate. If you drive an SUV correctly, then you won’t roll it over. However, if you drive any car correctly, then you won’t ever get in an accident. That’s not the point.
The point is that I don’t know how to drive an unmaneuverable SUV, and neither do most people who buy them. I, like they, have no interest in learning. For someone who owns an SUV, this is irresponsible and a danger to other drivers on the road. SUV’s at risk of rollover may be dangerous only to people who don’t know how to drive them, but this is most people who are driving them.
No, people don’t have a right to have small cars on the road, but unsafe drivers are plainly also violating others’ rights. Someone who buys an SUV without knowing how to drive it properly is endangering others, and hence is violating their rights.
what crc said. Don’t forget the gun racks for the rifles & shotguns, especially if you live in the South or the Midwest.
lmao @ petro kilometerage.
Lucas Wilman is correct about unsafe drivers, but that applies to motorists in small, medium, or big cars.
Oh well, in my next post, I will really annoy the killjoys out there by a totally gratuitous comment about the latest Aston Martin
Depending on which one you’re speaking of, can be quite maneuverable.
As far as unsafe, my parents just bought a Ford Explorer, and safety was a reason; Dad used to be in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and feels much safer in something with a steel frame, solid construction and good visibility.
Plenty of room for grandkids & groceries, can carry a heavy load, and plenty of room for firearms(properly stored, so some free-lance socialist doesn’t see them & decide to help himself).
Soon’s I get rich off my blog I’m buying his ‘n’ hers Hummers. Maybe a spare, too.
With deep ashtrays.
Not only are these things so *useful*, but they allow you to cock a satisfying snook at the (UK) government, too. I run two vehicles that could loosely be described as SUVs – a Land Rover Defender 110 and a Toyota Hilux Double Cab. They both drive all four wheels, but they have other less obvious advantages, too:
The Toyota is basically a car with 5 seats and a nifty cargo platform. Because it can carry 1070 kg it’s a commercial vehicle, so my company pays for it and my personal tax liability is *vanishingly* small.
The LR will go almost anywhere. And, because it’s a 12 seater it’s legal to drive it in a bus lane *and* it’s exempt from Red Len’s inner London Congestion Robber^h^h^h^h^h^hCharge, too.
Bliss.
jd
I drove my daughter-in-law’s Lexus SUV. I felt and drove like an intimidating, luxurious, gas-sucking barbarian and it felt good. Safe too.
I have a little bit of a problem with people driving SUVs around old cities with narrow streets. They take up a lot of space, and as a pedestrian they scare the shit out of me, because they make me harder to see. (I used to live in a very narrow street in Sydney where there was no off street parking, and someone who lived just down the street from me had a Toyota Landcruiser that was parked in the street all the time, and was a tremendous nuisance). This strikes me as pretty antisocial.
On the other hand, if people live in suburbs built after cars became widespread (ie with wide streets) and/or places with off street parking, then as far as I am concerned they are welcome to own SUVs, trucks, tanks, anything they like. I am not in favour of SUVs receiving favourable tax treatment compared to cars (as is the case in Australia) but apart from that what people drive is up to them. If they frequently roll over and kill the people driving in them, then that is really their problem.
The safety, the ground clearance, the cargo space, the pulling capacity- all issues for those of us who drive long distances to get to town to stock up, who need to drive into the wilderness to fix the waterline (though, the actual cowboys usually trailer their horses to the bottom of the hill and ride the broncos on up to do their repairs).
Both my partner and I would have to drive a small vehicle into town, to do the necessary business and hauling of children, animals, cargo. That would use up the same amount of fuel, if not more, than all of us going in the Expedition or the crew cab truck (which is comparable to the SUV,yet somehow escapes the criticism heaped upon SUV’s).
When I drive throught the streets of one of the trendy liberal college towns I use as a supply center, I almost expect to be spit upon by one of the helmeted college profs bicycling by. Without the ability to drive to town, as we do, there would not be services (lodging, food, tourist services) in the wilderness that such people like to visit for hiking, photographing, saving the condors, and such.
I’d be happy to use less gas. I’ll probably move down to an Explorer, next time we get a vehicle, and pull a trailer or get a cargo thingie for the top, for extra cargo space. We have a passive solar house that uses very little gas or electric to heat or cool. Technology helps us to live comfortably in a place that is too harsh for most to have wanted to live in, previously. Affordably.
In my ideologically manic moments, I imagine people in, say, Iraq or China or India, having the same opportunity.
The problems SUV’s represent can be solved, without reversing technology and living in the stone age.
Come to Washington, DC.
Spend a week sitting in the passenger seat of my Camaro as I drive the local roads. I hope your heart is as strong as mine. (Hint: I might run another marathon this year.)
The libertarian in me hates bullies — whether they are organized into governments, corporations or are just “free lancing” like too many of the people who live around here.
wild west, you can keep your truck.
But I want the idiots who get within 10 feet of my rear bumper at 80 mph with a mile or more of heavy traffic in front of me jailed. Or the idiots who cut me off in the same situation (because I so foolishly stay as much as 60, 70, 80 feet behind the poor guy in front of me) jailed.
Harsh?
You bet.
I’ve seen too many “accidents” caused by these idiots. And I’ve been the victim of one myself. Fortunately all the safety equipment worked fine and I walked away from it. While the culprit was fined, he didn’t do jail time.
It’s seems most of the complaints are with bad drivers, not SUV’s. When I was active on a motorcylce list the complaints were always about rude volvo drivers. Maybe we need to start a protest against volvo’s.
Almost everytime I ride my ’67 bonneville I have an old person pull right out in front of me, totally oblivious to my presence. One even moved over into the the wrong lane to come at me. Let’s outlaw cars driven by old people.
Wait a minute, lots of people get shot. Let’s outlaw guns! No wait, we’re already trying that.
Cars don’t kill people, bad drivers kill people.
It’s seems most of the complaints are with bad drivers, not SUV’s. When I was active on a motorcylce list the complaints were always about rude volvo drivers. Maybe we need to start a protest against volvo’s.
Almost everytime I ride my ’67 bonneville I have an old person pull right out in front of me, totally oblivious to my presence. One even moved over into the the wrong lane to come at me. Let’s outlaw cars driven by old people.
Wait a minute, lots of people get shot. Let’s outlaw guns! No wait, we’re already trying that.
Cars don’t kill people, bad drivers kill people.
Yes, of course. And SUV’s are in general harder to drive–most people don’t realize this. As another poster noted, they drive them like they’re small cars. I’m certainly not in favor of government action to ban or overly regulate SUV’s (as your comment seems to suggest by comparing this to gun laws), but I think that a lot of people act irresponsibly by buying SUV’s. Many SUV’s are more dangerous to their drivers (the average driver, i.e. most people who buy them), and all SUV’s are more dangerous to small cars in the event of an accident.