Apparently, the majority of new vehicle buyers disagree with you now. Cars have been taking a declining share of new sales, while trucks and SUVs have been steadily growing. It's to the point now where most of the domestic automakers have completely stopped building most of their car models, preferring to focus on the two segments that are actually selling.
We were a two-SUV family for a long time but I needed to be able to haul lumber, bricks, sand, top soil, river rock, crushed granite, bulk mulch, etc. Most of that stuff gets dumped into the bed of our pickup by the ton, something we couldn't do with either of the SUVs.
That's all the more reason that an SUV is like a station wagon. Nothing was called a staion wagon anymore and it fills the same niche: Something that carries more than a sedan but has a roof over all of it, unlike a pickup truck.
SUV's are IMO station wagons built on truck chassis. Because the EPA or some group came out with fuel-mileage laws that many passenger cars could not meet. OTOH trucks were exempt because people have work to do, delivering big things, hauling freight etc. So by building an SUV on a truck chassis and calling the SUV a truck, they were exempt from those laws. Here is it is 40 yeas later and the loophole should have been closed long ago. People should have to attest, maybe even prove that they use the suv for the purposes for which trucks were exempted, and not just as a big family car, which is what 90% of them are used for.
So now because they are heavier than a station wagon, they waste even more gas than a big family car does. We got the opposite result of what was intended.
I think you look great.
Volvo, Audi and Mercedes and several other Euro (and I believe Asian) companies still make "station wagons" but many don't import them in USA
The Buick Regal TourX was the last "American Station Wagon" in 2020.
A large part of that is they were not producing cars that people wanted to own. The Japanese and Korean and German manufacturers are still building (and selling in large numbers) sedans and coupes (and even station wagons) here in North America and world wide.
Con'r do that in my pickup either ---
You just need a better trailer - - - - -
On Wed, 18 Aug 2021 13:12:23 -0400, Ed Pawlowski posted for all of us to digest...
Gen u ine poly ester. All nat ural.
I was talking about 1971
They both carry much more than a sedan, under a roof, by having a big space behind the front seat, but open to the front seat, not separated by a wall.
We have all 3, a pickup, an SUV and a little car. All 3 have a use. I would sell the SUV but that is my wife's vehicle.
If I was starting from scratch I would go back to where I was in the late 70s and 80s, a small sporty car that gets good mileage for running around and a full size van for hauling stuff.
Yeah, I don't have a trailer and don't have a good place to store one.
You still need something to haul the trailer. You are just adding another vehicle. You are not hauling much trailer behind a small car. Trailers like that make sense if several people pitch in and buy one and share it.
Likewise, the SUV is my wife's car, but I wouldn't sell it unless I had another SUV to replace it. They're incredibly practical as a family vehicle, much more practical for us than a sedan would be.
That is a problem in a lot of places if you have an HOA.
Probably less expensive to just rent one. No more than the wife uses her car she could hire an Uber for less.
They still aren't a truck. You can't get a sheet of plywood in one unless you have an expedition or a suburban. My wife won't carry anything dirty in her lincoln.
That's why my second vehicle is a truck.
Neither of us are Uber fans and cabs are pretty unreliable here. There are not many of either of them. I took an Uber to the other coast when I picked up the second car. $340. Coming home was a bit less than 5 gallons of gas. (~$14)
Mine too but I also have a little car I do most of my running around in. That one could be electric if I could justify the cost.
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