Years ago, I heard an NPR piece about a French -ologist of some kind, who was revolutionizing advertising in the States, and he mentioned a small car that consumers viewed as saying “Rape me!” We are all driving around in jacked up station wagons, because of some weird, atavistic urges to feel inviolable and cosseted.
Fundamentally, SUVs are an inefficient design for a passenger car. Even small crossovers, and I drive one myself, are inefficient relative to a station wagon offering the same volume and space for passengers and cargo.
SUVs burn relatively more gas, they use more tires, they damage roads more, they are less controllable due to higher centers of gravity, they have poorer visibility of pedestrians and cyclists, and they require shitloads of engineering just to hide their shitty performance and safety characteristics.
The problem with station wagons is that they are too low. They can easily stuck in mud or snow and it’s easier to hit a rock or something. And about tires. I used the same set of tires for 11 years on my SUV. And modern cars are quite fuel efficient so there is no significant difference in fuel consumption anyways you don’t want an always fuel hungry monster and it’s better to consider mere efficient alternatives. Considering roads: well, in fact many roads are in quite bad condition so roads make damage to cars not vice versa :) And it’s always better to have bigger wheels and higher vehicle to avoid crushing into a big pothole. about safety: modern SUVs have safety measures like stabilization you are just supposed not to drive recklessly. SUVs have poorer visibility but it’s not that bad unless we are talking about american-style trucks. Of course I am saying all this thinking about average european SUV and they are abute the size of average sedan or hatchback or even smaller.
