I love the *two* ladies I saw driving Lincoln Navigators all alone in the parking lot yesterday. Why would your every-day car have to be the size of the Starship Enterprise?

Why do "ladies" want "cars" that are the size of the Starship Enterprise? For the supposed safety factor (not to mention the status factor) I would guess. But I am sure they would rethink that if they had seen the accident that happened here where I live a few months back.

On one our towns' small side streets, where I would say the speed limit is probably 25-30 mph a BIG SUV was hit on the side by a medium sized car. The SUV was on the losing end, ending up flipped over onto it's roof in the middle of the street! The car of course had some damage but defintely not anything major.

I'm beginning to wonder just who the "safety factor" is really for, the people in the SUV or the peopel who are in the vehicles that happen to run into them?

$7000 off an S60R!! If only I drove more than 1500 miles a year...damn city living. I'd prefer the V70R wagon, but I love the sedan at $32K too.

@SkyeBlue: I always thought the just-because-it's-bigger argument was a farce.

@MasterShake: Though I like my chances of survival in my small car a lot better now.

Car for car, you're more likely to die driving an SUV or light truck than in a car. You're also more likely to be in a crash (one vehicle or two vehicle) driving an SUV as opposed to a car (I think it's in the neighborhood of 30 to 40% greater probability). See this study:

[www.econ.ucsd.edu]

If anyone thinks SUVs are safer than smaller cars, they should read this article: [www.gladwell.com]

On a purely empirical level, I would never own an SUV myself. I'm a professional firefighter, and I pull dead or dying people out of flipped-over-in-a-minor-accident SUVs at what seems to me to be an astonishingly high rate.

In a big, major crash they do okay, but it's the wrecks that shouldn't hurt anybody in which they seem to fare poorly, in my experience.

escalade? ORLY! the cadillac dealership down the road can't keep those in stock. i was chatting it up w/ a floor manager - it's their best selling model right now.

i'll stick w/ my 4-cyl, 5-spd, 30-mpg toyota coupe.

@karlrove:
My wife used to drive a mid-sized sedan and loved it. In 2000 we got a Yukon because we were planning several family vacations in the next few years. I was working from home, or traveling for work quite a bit. Therefore the Yukon was my "daily driver". It sat in the driveway most of the time. Then she put her car in the shop for a major repair and had to use the Yukon every day. That was it. She is now addicted to driving a large SUV, primarily because of the taller driving position.

In 2004 we traded in the Yukon for a full sized truck because we were starting a construction business. She went back to driving a sedan. It lasted about 2 years, she traded that in on another large SUV. In her defense, as a real estate agent selling new development she does need 4 wheel drive, as well as the extra room to haul clients. However with the recent run up in gas prices she is considering a smaller SUV. Mini vans are out because of the lack of 4wd.

@Sudonum: Just out of curiosity, where are these developments that you need 4WD? I've driven up the Glass, Guadalupe, and Davis Mountains in Texas (including rocky unpaved areas near Lajitas, TX) with my Honda Civic and had few to no problems.

Not surprised the S60 isn't selling. Maybe its just the R version. A well equipped luxury S60 (leather, etc) from 2004 with less than 50k miles sells under $15k.

My last car was a huge SUV and I loved it since I sat so high - but it was too expensive to drive. I did use the 4WD since I lived in an area that got lots of snow but once I moved to CA I traded my SUV in and got a little car that is very affordable even with the expensive gas!

Man cars are cheap in the US. In Canada, each of those cars have %20-50 higher MSRPs!

The S60r is a beautiful car, insanely hot.

The guys from Top Gear pretty much proved that 4wd isn't even a necessity in conditions that might call for it - they traversed the Makgadikgadi Pan salt flats in Botswana all in 2wd cars (Lancia Beta, Mercedes 230E, and Opel Kadett)

I think that a lot of the cars on this list are mostly rebadged with a luxury brand has something to do with poor sales:

10. Saab 9-7X (Chevy Trailblazer)
9. Infiniti QX56 (Nissan Armada)
6. Cadillac Escalade (Chevy Tahoe)
5. Lincoln Mark LT (Ford F150)
4. Lincoln Navigator (Ford Expedition)
1. Cadillac XLR/XLR-V (Chevy Corvette/Corvette Z06)

I'm sad that Volvo is doing away with the R completely, especially the V70R Estate ... if I was a kid, I would be quite content being hauled around in a 300hp rocket sled. But since no one ever really bought into Volvo and performance in the same sentence, the S60R/V70R are an awesome deal used and even pretty exclusive compared to M3s and Audi S4s.

To each his own, but I'll stick with my full size pickup

@jrstren: I think another reason more SUV's get in accidents is because most SUV owners drive like total assholes. And they think cause they are bigger than you they can do whatever. I ride a motorcycle most of the year and I can verify I get cutoff or almost ran over by more SUV's than any other type of vehicle.

Around L.A. it seems 3 out of 5 vehicles are SUV's. I bought a small SUV a Hyundai Tucson and drove it for about a year. I liked being a little higher on the road but I just always felt like it was going to flip on some of the curves and just was uneasy. I have a mid-size sedan now and actually enjoy it more.

@Eric Lai: The XLR isn't a rebranded Corvette - it uses Caddy's Northstar engine instead of the LS1 (I think) that the Vette uses. The CTS-V uses the same engine as the Z06, but is a 4-door luxury car.

@Nemesis_Enforcer: I think in L.A. MOST people drive like morons. I own an SUV, I think I'm pretty safe. I'm short, I like the ability to see farther. I find that the worst drivers are usually people who are from out of town and are just hopelessly lost. They're distracted by not knowing where they are, and instead of pulling over or going to a gas station or something, they keep driving along, looking at street signs or a map instead of focusing on the road. It's not enough they don't know the road system, they have to take their eyes off of it to consult their map to see where things are. I've had several occasions when people who were obviously clueless as to where they were almost rear ended me, or made illegal turns because thy were freaked at being in a city.

@clank-o-tron: Oops, you're right, looks like they're just build on the same Y-body. Even with the rebates and incentives, Caddy is still trying to play with the Mercedes SL/BMW 6-series and just-released Jaguar XK. This demographic is probably still more likely to buy a Lexus SC430 than an XLR, even though it's pretty decent looking.

In fact, I think the Northstar in the XLR dates back to the Cadillac Allante, another one of their failed attempts to compete in the luxury roadster segment - but at least that one had a great Pininfarina design.

@CaffeinatedSquint: I agree most people do drive like idiots. When I moved out here my girlfriend would yell at me that I was being too safe..you know using my signals, not tailgating, only going 5 over or so. She was like your going to get us killed, I thought it was funny till I actually watched people drive. Now I have to drive more aggresively just to avoid road rage from others.

Yeah tourists and people who have never driven in the big traffic patterns here can really be intimidated.

@synergy:
Were you driving in these areas in the mud?

@Nemesis_Enforcer: you're not kidding. ever feel like riding a bike is a little like paper, rock, scissors & you're playing as the one that gets beat by all three?

the worst is when some asshole in a yukon cuts you off...& he's towing a 30' boat.

a little help for all you non-bikers out there: it takes longer for two braking wheels to stop than four. it's simple physics. so, unless you want an imprint of my carcass adorning your side panel, WAIT!

@mac-phisto: Yep I feel your pain. I have been able to avoid or ride out of everthing so far..knock on wood. But yeah I have been forced up onto the sidewalk, the center turn lane and the shoulder more than a few times. I ride a cruiser and have a lot of reflectors and a bright red helmet on so most of the time people are just not looking or yakking on thier cell from my experiance.

I have always preferred small cars, two seaters and such. I feel like I can get out of a situation quicker in a smaller car, and if I don't, well, i'd rather be pushing daisies than on a respirator.