Re: Sport Utility Vehicles (was [WSJ] Nike...)

Gregory Alan Bolcer (gbolcer@gambetta.ICS.uci.edu)
Sun, 07 Jun 1998 12:58:38 -0700


I am so relieved to know it's not just one of these
doomsday escape from LA phenomena. Around here, offroad vehicles
aren't status symbols, they are de riguer for the standard
Baja adventure (which I've promised CobraBoy and Rohit).
I've had 3 jeeps cherokees, and they've all made the Baja 1000.

Greg

Dodge's are cool, not Neons but Vipers and V10 pickup 2500's.

> Re:
> >You guys are missing the high dollar trend: Sport Utility Vehicles.
> >Anyone care to speculate on the percentage that actually make it
> >offroad?
>
> I won't speculate on the number that make it offroad, but I will comment on the
> number of undergrads on our campus who have been given a SUV by Mommy and Daddy
> so that they can drive the mile or so between their dorms and classes!
>
> As I was parking my modest little Dodge Neon in the campus parking lot
> yesterday morning I was suddenly overwhelmed to realize that in my parking row
> that has 20 slots there were 17 SUV's! My Neon looked dwarfed compared to
> this row of monster vehicles. The other two non-SUV's were a 1980's vintage
> Toyota Tercel and a later model Nissan Stanza -- both of which bore Faculty
> stickers. Of the 17 SUV's, all of them had Student parking stickers! I was
> suddenly struck by some sort of irony that none of the faculty were driving
> brand spanking new SUV's while all these 20 year-old-students are wheeling
> around small-town Geneva in these oversized status symbols. As I glanced
> around the rest of the lot I also saw lots of Jeeps as they are also a status
> symbol on our campus. Anything that was old, small or falling apart belonged
> to the faculty and staff!
>
> I have realized this inequity existed for several months now and I have been
> watching the proliferation of SUV's on our campus for quite some time.
> Yesterday, however, was the first time that it was SO abundantly apparent.
>
> My real beef is not that these kids get to drive around in something I can't
> afford, but it is that they drive recklessly because they figure
> they are protected by being in such a monstrosity of a vehicle. As someone who
> drives a smallish car, this makes me scared.
>
> Okay, that's my rant for today.
>
> Diva