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Last winter it snowed quite a lot here in CT. While I think that my 9-3 can get me around ok in the snow (at least I hope it does--haven't tried it yet), my truck got me places a 9-3 won't. For instance, coming home from work more than once, there was at least 6" of snow on the ground and over a foot in the entrance to our driveway. They pile snow there for some reason. I can easily drive right through this with my truck, but my 9-3 simply doesn't have the clearance to go over this. Additionally, if it snows a foot, I don't have to worry about shoveling the driveway. I just drive over it. With my 9-3, I have to shovel the driveway.
I guess I could've just slept overnight at work, but I don't have any place to shower, nothing to eat, etc. So, I HAD to get home. Also, many of us don't have the luxury of just not going out when it snows. The mere fact that it's snowing does not mean that we get to stay home. Although most people would say that a 9-3 will get you anywhere you want to go, in reality my truck will go over stuff that I wouldn't even attempt in the 9-3. I don't have to worry if there's a 2-foot drift of snow on the road home in my truck, whereas I do in my 0-3.
I used to go offroad more often, but in the West, there's more places to go. Here, there's less.
Moreover, although no one discusses this, SUVs are relatively cheap for what you get. Name a vehicle with good cargo and hauling capacity and that has all-wheel or four-wheel drive and that's below 25k. Chances are any vehicle like this is going to be an SUV. For instance, the Jeep Liberty can easily be had for less than 25k, nicely loaded. The Audi A4 Avant starts at 27k, and that's with an anemic engine.
Moreover, my truck actually gets as good gas mileage in city driving as my 9-3 does. Currently, I'm getting 19mpg in my 9-3, which is about what I get in my truck. On a pure highway drive, the 9-3 kicks its butt, but I rarely drive pure highway miles.
I agree that SUVs are too ubiquitous. It's just that I think there's a limited place for SUVs. And I can honestly say that, for light snows, I'm going to take the 9-3, but for heavy snows or bad (or nonexistent) roads, I'm taking my truck. And I'll continue to do this until the Audi Allroad or Volvo cross county come down in price to where I can take them instead.
posted by 64.252.16...
, Thu, 6 Sep 2001 02:01:55, Sat, 8 Sep 2001 11:42:40, Thu, 6 Sep 2001 11:21:06, Thu, 6 Sep 2001 03:17:16
, Fri, 7 Sep 2001 21:07:50
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