[Rafael]

Owning an SUV really depends on what you do. SUV is great recreation wise. Im originally from San Fran, CA and their is no use for one there. I now reside in Washington and at times wished had an SUV. Since we do alot of hiking. Like today I took my ody down thru the woods looking for the river I found during a training exercise. There was actual pathways for vehicles but majority of the roads were steep and rocky. My wife couldnt believe that we took our ody thru that. As soon as I took the ody home. I washed it. Next year I plan on getting a 6 seater truck for camping a mild off roading.

 

[kerryrealty]

Hey...Our Sub gets 15 MPG in nearly all city driving. That's 75% better mileage than Wild Willy!

And what do you mean by "people with issues"? :stupid: Like I said above, we have four kids, 14, 8, 6, and 3. My Pilot clearly was no longer big enough for us. The Sub provides the room and comfort that we needed when we wanted to trade the '99 Ody. The Sub was the perfect solution for us here in Colorado. Comfortable, 4WD for the occasional blizzards (my wife drives for her job...she can't avoid visiting patients just because of snow) and tons of room for our frequent trips, especially when we have to travel through the Rockies in the winter. Add ski trips, fishing, camping and occasional four wheeling. Now if ONLY Toyota would come out with an extended Sequoia...4WD, Room AND Quality...

I do agree regarding the people that only use it for around town use and in areas where there isn't much snow...like my cousin in Orange, CA that owns an Excursion for her three kids and her. It's 4WD and she doesn't ski. Now THAT's a waste....

There are a "few" folks who need a large SUV and you may fit the bill? 4WD is another scam to get people into SUV's. 4WD is better like Subaru offers but FWD cars & Suv do just fine.

My wife drives a FWD RX300 we purchased down south. 4X2 suvs are more common in the south. The 10 days per winter we get a good amount of snow the car does great. If its really bad outside we stay home anyway.

For me I think it comes down to this. If I can get mid 20's mpg in a large SUV I may consider. Hybrid of some type? People have a 3rd child and they think OMG! I need a big car. Hello did your mom drive you around in a Suburban-I think not. The large size of the SUV hitting a smaller car can be deadly for the family of the smaller car.

Regardless of fault its the facts that matter.

 

[AudsOdy]

Look how many people on this forum who bought the Oddy and have 2 kids or less. The title of this thread could be why choose Oddy over a sedan? Sedan's get way better gas mileage than the vans, are safer, more maneuverable, etc.
If you need to haul something, you can buy a $100 trailer.

One could also ask why buy a house larger than 1500 sq ft. How many 5 year olds need their own 15x20 bedroom and private bath? Look at all the wasted energy used to heat/cool that thing.

And what about Tv's larger than 27"?? How many of us on a regular basis invite 20 friends over to watch movies on the 60"

Super size large fries. Isn't large enough, why 'super large'? Why not 'super extreme mega large size'? I agree that most of the time 3 chicken strips is not enough, so why not just sell 5?

And how many people really need a $1,000 watch? When its time for lunch, its time for lunch, wether you have a watch or not. Its just going to get banged up while loading in the 4x8's into your minivan (or trailer).

 

[skinny2]

It's true, everyone could use less. We have two kids and decided on a minivan. Easy to load kids, room for stuff, we travel a lot with five/six passengers, etc.

For an average family, I think there are cases where an SUV or crossover could be more reasonable than a minivan really. The Toyota Highlander sits at a reasonable height for loading, has decent utility space, smaller overall, etc. Probably gets better real-world mpg than the Ody. Chrysler Pacifica could be better as well. Escape, Equinox, Vue, could do the same if you didn't need all the passenger space and want some luxury features.

Face it, the Ody isn't much different than the SUV's. It's slightly larger, gets 3mpg real-world better gas mileage, and weighs within 500# of our 4x4, V8, Tahoe.

 

[CPSDarren]

Look how many people on this forum who bought the Oddy and have 2 kids or less. The title of this thread could be why choose Oddy over a sedan? Sedan's get way better gas mileage than the vans, are safer, more maneuverable, etc.
If you need to haul something, you can buy a $100 trailer.

One could also ask why buy a house larger than 1500 sq ft. How many 5 year olds need their own 15x20 bedroom and private bath? Look at all the wasted energy used to heat/cool that thing.

And what about Tv's larger than 27"?? How many of us on a regular basis invite 20 friends over to watch movies on the 60"

Super size large fries. Isn't large enough, why 'super large'? Why not 'super extreme mega large size'? I agree that most of the time 3 chicken strips is not enough, so why not just sell 5?

And how many people really need a $1,000 watch? When its time for lunch, its time for lunch, wether you have a watch or not. Its just going to get banged up while loading in the 4x8's into your minivan (or trailer).

Some of the other examples you mention don't have consequences like polluting the air or depleting a limited resource, forcing nasty things like wars over remaining resources. The more appropriate questions would be, "Why buy a 4500 sq. ft, 6 bedroom mansion when you are single?" or "Why buy 9 chicken strips and throw away 4 because you know you can never eat more than 5." The issue is not one of need, but one of waste for those who don't need the extra.

I cringe when I see monster SUVs being used as solo commuter vehicles, stuck in traffic every day. You know, the ones that don't have hitch, are always spotless and have never seen even the lightest towing or off-road duty. If you need to seat 9 or more people, have that much cargo or need to do heavy-duty towing or off-roading, then absolutely buy a 13mpg monster SUV or cargo van. If you don't, then it's quite likely you can be a lot more responsible by driving a car-based SUV, wagon, minivan or other vehicle that will meet all your needs and nearly double the fuel economy in some cases.

Yeah, there are those who genuinely need the Suburban Ultra or mega Excursion. Still, I lay odds that there are more people in urban areas that just purchase them to own the biggest, "coolest" thing on the road. Well, a lot of them probably aren't feeling so cool when gas prices are $2.50. GM/Ford aren't laughing, either. All their profits came from the big trucks and SUVs when gas prices were reasonable. You'd think they'd have learned from the oil crisis in the 70s, rather than be in huge financial trouble with junk credit ratings because of the recent oil crisis. We'll all be paying for the monster SUV craze if GM or Ford file bankruptcy and the taxpayer has to take over their pension plans:-(

When's the last time you've seen marketing like, "The all new xxxx gets 2 more mpg than last year with the same power," rather than, "The all new xxxx gets 30 more hp than last year!" Sigh.

Rant off

 

[kerryrealty]

Look how many people on this forum who bought the Oddy and have 2 kids or less. The title of this thread could be why choose Oddy over a sedan? Sedan's get way better gas mileage than the vans, are safer, more maneuverable, etc.
If you need to haul something, you can buy a $100 trailer.

One could also ask why buy a house larger than 1500 sq ft. How many 5 year olds need their own 15x20 bedroom and private bath? Look at all the wasted energy used to heat/cool that thing.

And what about Tv's larger than 27"?? How many of us on a regular basis invite 20 friends over to watch movies on the 60"

Super size large fries. Isn't large enough, why 'super large'? Why not 'super extreme mega large size'? I agree that most of the time 3 chicken strips is not enough, so why not just sell 5?

And how many people really need a $1,000 watch? When its time for lunch, its time for lunch, wether you have a watch or not. Its just going to get banged up while loading in the 4x8's into your minivan (or trailer).

I hope your not a lawyer, this is the weakest argument I have read in sometime.

Super size meal??
House size?
Big Screen?

I know my house will not crash into your house and if I choose to super size my meal it will not effect your health and as for the big screen TV well I'll admit I would like one myself regardless if anyone else watches it but me

 

[kerryrealty]

It comes down to 2 things.


1) Fuel economy. Need I say more.


2) Safety. As in roll over and hitting a smaller car.

 

[babylon5]

Big can be better...

Big Screen?

If you are replacing a regular TV with a big flat panel TV then
you are actually saving energy at the same time...

My 19" LCd monitor uses about 1/5th the power my old 17"
CRT monitor did...

 

[AudsOdy]

I know my house will not crash into your house...

True, but when you turn on your quad zone AC system, causing a brown out, which crashes my computer when reading this forum, then you are greatly affecting me!!
(Not to mention when that house pushes up taxes, then I don't have money to buy gas for my Oddy)

 

[AudsOdy]

It comes down to 2 things.
1) Fuel economy. Need I say more.
2) Safety. As in roll over and hitting a smaller car.

1) many crossovers get better gas milage than the Oddy. I don't think most people buy a minivan to save on gas??? Just like people don't buy performance cars to save on gas.
And I don't know about you, buy my Oddy has engine knock when going uphill mildly loaded, so I use the midrange gas.

2) If our Oddy plows into a civic, we are going to sqash that car flat. The Oddy is just as heavy a brick as those large SUV's.
This is like saying that its much better to be hit in the face with a rounded stone rather than a square brick.

 

[CPSDarren]

1) many crossovers get better gas milage than the Oddy. I don't think most people buy a minivan to save on gas??? Just like people don't buy performance cars to save on gas.
And I don't know about you, buy my Oddy has engine knock when going uphill mildly loaded, so I use the midrange gas.

I also buy a minivan for more flexible seating options and sliding doors, great convenience features for kids you don't find in most monster SUVs. I'm considering a Highlander Hybrid, too. 33mpg city EPA figures and 7-passenger seating. A great alternative to truck-based SUVs for those that don't need to offroad or tow, and even the AWD version is listed at 31mpg. The seating isn't as convenient and there are no sliding doors, but I might make the compromise.

2) If our Oddy plows into a civic, we are going to sqash that car flat. The Oddy is just as heavy a brick as those large SUV's.
This is like saying that its much better to be hit in the face with a rounded stone rather than a square brick.

Not completely true. Some of the heaviest monster SUVs like the Ford Excursion are so heavy they fall out of the realm of some passenger car safety standards, such as LATCH requirements for child seats. THe 4WD 3/4 ton Suburban is over 6000 pounds, compared to most minivans that weigh 4000-4500 pounds. Many monster SUVs still don't have stability control and side curtain airbags. Most don't have shoulder belts and head restraints in all seating positions. The stiff ladder frame truck chassis does not usually crush as well as a unibody car. The analogy could just as accurately be given as being hit by a square sponge rather than a square brick.

Minivans are based on unibody car platforms and tend to have better crumple zones that are more compatible with smaller vehicles. In a more rigid truck-based vehicle, more energy in a crash is transferred to the passengers, especially in a crash with a fixed object or another large, rigid vehicle. The large SUVs tend to be higher riding, and that means it can act as a battering ram against smaller, compact cars. This is also the impetus for the "ACE" front end design of the new Odyssey, which is supposed to be more compatible when hit by a monster SUV.

Fortunately, most larger SUVs have had dramatic safety improvements in the last 5 years or so, so the differences are becoming much smaller.

 

[babylon5]

Can't beat it if you have a lot of @$#% to haul...

Lets get down to one of the real reason people by minivans and that is cargo (including people) capacity.
I have yet to find a single SUV that can haul as much stuff with
as much flexibility as a minivan.


Max cargo capacity
Ody 147 cu/ft
Suburban 132 cu/ft
Excursion 146 cu/ft

And I can still get my Ody in a parking garage

If I was looking for 4wd and capacity I would have bought a
Toyota Sienna AWD.

 

[Lastblade]

I am probably the only one, but I find a mini-van cuter than those gargantuan SUV. But having recently visited Hong Kong/Japan, their mini-vans are 10x cuter than the ones here. I wish I can buy one of those here (hopefully Mazda 5 will get other car makers to do something similar.... maybe even Honda!).

The main reason we bought the Ody over a midsize SUV is cargo room.

 

[nathana]

I think I have the perfect combo. We own a pickup truck (fully loaded, can tow, haul huge loads of gravel, etc.) and a minivan to replace my lost and much mourned Subaru Outback (it was a 96 with 176k on it ran perfectly till a schmuck pulled out across the highway and totalled our cars).

One is for people cargo and road-trips and commuting, the other for dirty cargo/offroad/towing.

Also, I have always preferred my 4wd loaded truck in ice-storms and such, even over my outback (some outback owners balk at this, but it worked better for me). I think I will just keep on being the same, but have more room in the van than I did in my subaru.

 

[alexmish1]

I am probably the only one, but I find a mini-van cuter than those gargantuan SUV. But having recently visited Hong Kong/Japan, their mini-vans are 10x cuter than the ones here. I wish I can buy one of those here (hopefully Mazda 5 will get other car makers to do something similar.... maybe even Honda!).

The main reason we bought the Ody over a midsize SUV is cargo room.

You are not alone - finding the minivan cuter than SUV and liking asian' minis. I've been to HK and TK 3 times in the past 4 years, and I LOVED their minivans !!! I wish I could them out here. But, for starters, the steering wheel is on the wrong "right" side

 

[mythrenegade]

I have an '04 Ody and a '95 Explorer 4x4. I kept the explorer when I bought the Ody for several reasons:

(1) I live on a dirt road. When it rains or snows, the Ody can't make it down my driveway let alone down the road. This is when the 4x4 becomes essential.

(2) We use the explorer for most day to day short run driving because of the pounding on the dirt road to my house...

(3) We use the Explorer to go 4x4ing in the desert during the winter months.

Living where I do the SUV isn't optional, it's mandatory. However, if I lived on pavement and could only have one, I'd buy the minivan over the SUV every time.

Joel