SUV Lust Dies Hard
Jim Motavalli's recent column about auto buyers eschewing SUVs as gas prices have risen [Wheels: "Small Is Beautiful," May 15, 2008] was encouraging, but we shouldn't read too much optimism into this trend. There's no celebration in the knowledge that small car buying preferences are largely guided by economics. People would still flock to SUVs for all the indefensible reasons they've always stuck to—they just can't afford the all-too-frequent $100 fill-ups. In trying to adapt, automakers seem to sense buyers are going to miss their oversized vehicles and are now rushing compact luxury SUVs to market. But these are not really economy vehicles and aren't intended as such. Eight-cylinder engine options are still being advertised.
In the end, psychology might explain why for years people have senselessly bought, and still crave, oversize vehicles. Crash protection? Sure! You're protected with your vehicle's raised bumper and ungainly size as you plow into the fuel-sipping compact car with devastating results. Let's face it: in America, this strange SUV mindset is going to die a slow death and will probably never disappear. Lots of people are responding to environmental imperatives as they choose their next vehicle, but an equal number probably couldn't care less. They just want what they want.
Gregory Merens
via email
What Really Matters
Tom Vannah's "Fishing with Eagles " [May 22, 2008] brought back some fond memories for me of Piscataquis County, Maine. In the late summer before my father died in 1999, I drove him and his ailing best buddy Jack to the north country, where they had enjoyed over 30 years of outbacking. Embarking from our camp on Great Moose Pond in Hartland, we followed Tom's route north on the Moosehead Trail to Greenville, where, as Tom suggested, we stopped at the Indian store to pick up lunch and admire the panoramic view of mighty Moosehead. Unknowingly for my dad and Jack, it would be for the last time.
We enjoyed many moose sightings along the way, and, yes, Lily Bay is a must rest-stop break and a beautiful camping area. After another pit stop in Kokadjo to get ice for our brew, we had lunch at Rip Dam on Chesunkook Lake, where the old boys gazed out and recalled the ones that got away. On our afternoon drive east along the Penobscot, we encountered whitewater rafters bobbing along, as well as bikers and hikers. The view of the majestic Katahdin was radiant that bright day and it reminded me of my only trek to the top, as a lad, with a girlfriend. The end of the safari from Millinocket down 95 to Newport and camp was very quiet as I sensed the bond the old boys cherished from days gone by. Thanks, Tom, for reminding me of what really matters in this hectic world we live in.
Paul Diemand
Southampton
