Andy F wrote:
> According to market research conducted by the country's leading
> automakers, Bradsher reports, SUV buyers tend to be "insecure and
> vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and
> uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their
> driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and
> self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors and
> communities. They are more restless, more sybaritic, and less social
> than most Americans are. They tend to like fine restaurants a lot more
> than off-road driving, seldom go to church and have limited interest
> in doing volunteer work to help others."
Well my marriage broke up over an SUV. My ex went out to buy the Sunday paper and returned with a brand new Toyota 4-runner. Since I had just finished putting him through school for the second time -- while basically supporting the family throughout our off-again-on-again marriage--this was a very bad move. He then proceeded to get four moving violation tickets, thus making his insurance go through the roof. And yes, the description above fits him quite well, except he loved doing off the road driving.
It does not fit a close friend and mother of four, who also has an SUV --a rover I think -- and who is one of the nicest, most decent women I know and who volunteers for everything.
> He says, too, that SUV drivers generally don't care about anyone
> else's kids but their own, are very concerned with how other people
> see them rather than with what's practical, and they tend to want to
> control or have control over the people around them. David Bostwick,
> Chrysler's market research director, tells Bradsher, "If you have a
> sport utility, you can have the smoked windows, put the children in
> the back and pretend you're still single."
There's no way you can have kids and pretend you're still single.
Joanna