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I drive a smaller SUV that gets decent gas mileage. Given where I live and what I use it for it I required either an SUV a truck, and equivalent SUV options were more affordable and adaptable so I went with that. I've thought about getting a small car for summer highway driving but I don't think I'd use it enough to make it worthwhile.
I have an 02 Chevy Blazer 4x4 4 door that I use on occasion. At one point it was my daily driver but has since been retired. Its now a spare vehicle that we use in bad weather, for towing the boat and hauling large objects. I also have a utility trailer that I tow for especially large objects. I wish it got better fuel economy but at about5k miles a year it doesn't hurt too bad. Its paid for, its as dependable as the sunrise, and cheap to maintain and repair. At 143k miles it has a lot of life left in it and is in very good shape so I see no reason to get rid of it for several more years.
My wife has an Equinox that she loves. Had it been able to pull the boat we might have gotten rid of the blazer but it costs almost nothing to keep the blazer. Her Equinox wouldn't come close to pulling boat duty, which we do on a weekly basis throughout the summer.
I was totally blown away when I saw what a new Suburban costs. I don't know your means and am not insinuating anything, but...damn! Even the most affluent will do a double-take when they see how the price-tag on that ride has gone up over the years!
I bought my '02 Suburban used for $6500. The replacement, when needed, will also be used.
We had a Toyota Camry and a Ford Expedition until recently. The SUV was our third vehicle and used when we needed to haul our gear to the beach and on weekend trips. We finally decided that it was a waste to let it sit but still wanted some cargo space and good fuel economy. We traded both in on my wife a new Toyota Venza and let me say it is awesome. Yes, we gave up "some" space but still seem to have room for everything we need, plus it gets 26 mpg on the highway so far and is a lot more comfortable.
What does an SUV do that a hatchback or pick up truck doesn't do better?
Hatchbacks have the same cargo room and better fuel economy, pick up trucks have more utility, power, and towing capacity.
SUV's are pointless in my opinion. Living in the snowbelt, people here seem to love them. That seems to be a pretty crappy reason to buy one.. as a basic car with snow tires does perfectly fine in North America's worst winter conditions.
When I worked for a living, I had to drive over 100 miles a day. If I was doing that today it would be costing me $700-$900 a month in fuel cost even with a reasonably fuel efficient car. Now that I'm retired and drive very little, I have been buying and driving SUV's. I will not be buying cars again. My fuel costs now are down to $100-$200 a month.
I am an SUV owner for the first time, a Lexus RX 350, my wife's choice. I guess that qualifies as an SUV though I think it's more a vanity urban SUV.
I have managed with hatchbacks and cars with pass-through from trunk to rear seating in the past for things like hauling lots of stuff, trips to the hardware store, etc. I don't have an SUV "lifestyle" and live in an urban area. I don't have dogs, a boat to tow, or other SUV needs that couldn't be handled by a station wagon. In fact, I'm looking at wagons like Subaru and Passat now for myself. We used to have a Mazda 5 which was sufficient for our needs. I do go camping and biking, and the Mazda was perfectly fine to carry a family of four and a bunch of gear (several full-sized ice chests, tents, folding chairs, etc). It carried a long dresser, it carried a set of closet doors, etc. Someone mentioned SUVs as being good for carrying lots of groceries - what? How much room is needed? My Jetta's trunk and rear seats could carry over 30 bags of groceries, and that's the older smaller Jetta.
Personally, I don't like big vehicles and the Lexus has that boat-like feel of old American cars, which may be fine for some but not for me. It feels like it is my father's Oldsmobile. I've also driven a rental Jeep Commander and disliked it intensely. I value good gas mileage and now when I calculate how much farther I could have gone on x number of gallons in one of my prior cars versus the RX 350, it bothers me. I'm not getting any value out of it that a non-SUV couldn't provide. I agree a lot with Opin_Yunated's post. No, I would not buy another SUV.
What does an SUV do that a hatchback or pick up truck doesn't do better?
Hatchbacks have the same cargo room and better fuel economy, pick up trucks have more utility, power, and towing capacity.
SUV's are pointless in my opinion. Living in the snowbelt, people here seem to love them. That seems to be a pretty crappy reason to buy one.. as a basic car with snow tires does perfectly fine in North America's worst winter conditions.
As someone who recently sold his extended cab dually pickup tow rig to get a Suburban 8.1 liter 2500 tow rig, I can tell you that the Suburban is a lot more practical than the pickup was, and WAY better for towing and carrying stuff than ANY hatchback. Since it doesn't have to be the daily driver, then it's perfectly suited to it's role. I tow a 30 ft travel trailer with it, effortlessly, in comfort, with room for the dogs in the back and people in the seats. In order to get the same 4x8 sheet carrying capacity in a pickup, it'd have to be a long bed, and in order to have room for people inside it'd have to be a crew cab to be it's equal, but a crew cab long bed is a PITA to park at home depot or any grocery store if I have to make a run while out traveling. The Suburban is much easier to navigate city streets and park than a crew cab pickup, and especially easier to do so than a crew cab dually. So if I'm out with the travel trailer and have to make a run to a grocery store or do sightseing from the campground, the Suburban is just a better choice for me.
I only paid $6500 for it, so it's actually a pretty economical choice vs any modern diesel pickup (which hold their value better, so cost more to buy, even at the age range that the Suburban is in).
And this is the trailer I tow and the truck that I sold to get the Suburban:
the Suburban has a 12k lb towing capacity, which is more than enough to do the job, but vastly better than any hatchback.
No hatchback has the cargo room of any large SUV. In fact, when you take out the third row, you have almost double the cargo space of most hatchbacks. Hatchbacks lack the ground clearance of an SUV too.
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