Quote Originally Posted by Woochifer
I'm not asking for a race car, I'm just looking for something that can perform ON PAR with an AVERAGE sedan, and most SUVs out there can't even meet that minimal criteria. Sure, a lot of them have big enough engines to match the 0-60 times, but in terms of roadholding, emergency avoidance, safety features, and braking, almost all SUVs on the road are inferior to even middle-of-the-pack sedans.

Sure, your Tahoe has enough heft to mow over another vehicle if that's a goal (sorry, but in a collision EVERYBODY loses, so your gloating about winning in a collision is hardly worth cheering about), but the majority of collisions are not the bumper to bumper variety. In a rollover, a side impact, or solo accident, SUVs are more dangerous than a passenger car. And with their compromised handling and braking, it's more difficult to avoid an accident in the first place when driving one of those. THAT's reality.

On one of those winding mountain roads, give me anything but an SUV and I'll feel a lot safer. Been there, done that, never again. Unless you're talking about traveling on dirt roads or needing lots of towing capacity, I don't see any benefit to an SUV for camping either. If I need an SUV for traveling on dirt roads, Avis will still take my money and at the end of the trip I don't have to lug that thing back home with me.

I'm not gloating about a winning a collision, I'm just saying that I would rather be safer. And, you are incorrect when you say the majority of accidents are not of the Bumper-to-Bumper variety. The fact is, this is the most frequent type of accident. Side impacts are right behind. Roll overs and solo accidents are far behind. I know this. I investigate fraud for an ins. company and I see stats on this all the time. I can also tell you this, SUVS are safer in rollovers. I see them all the time in my work and I can honestly say that people fair much better inside an SUV in a rollover than in sedans or other traditional car designs. Side impacts? They are seem to fair better in this type of accident as well. People sit higher up and usually avoid the direct impact to their body from the other vehicle's bumper. This of course is assuming the other vehicle is not another SUV, Pickup or large truck. In general, SUVs, Pickups, etc, tend to have much less damage when in an accident. Of course you can always take the other side and say because of SUVs, other smaller vehicles receive more damage in general.

In my experience, I can tell you this. SUVs are not the problem some people make them out to be. A bigger problem is people being to distracted while they are driving. If people would stop talking on their cell phones, watching the navigation systems, fooling with the radio, eating and drinking while in their vehicles, we would have far far less accidents. When I used to work "normal" auto accidents I can say that at least 80% of the accidents involved some kind of driver inattention.

Banning cell phone use in vehicles would go much farther in terms of saving lives than banning SUVs.

JSE