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Buying an SUV is sometimes due to network effects. If you are in a sedan, it isn't high enough to allow you to see traffic through the windshields of the SUV a

Buying an SUV is sometimes due to network effects. If you are in a sedan, it isn't high enough to allow you to see traffic through the windshields of the SUV ahead of you, it's not much different than being behind an 18-wheeler. So as a defensive maneuver, you also buy an SUV...

pen2l 7y ago
I bought a petite Prius due to network effects. It's nigh on impossible to do parallel parking in most of Boston (especially if you suck at p.parking), but with my Prius it's tolerable.
timewarrior 7y ago
This. That’s the sole reason I bought an SUV.
alamortsubite 7y ago
If you're following the SUV ahead of you at a safe distance, why would you need or want to see through its windshield? One of the reasons SUVs and pickup trucks are popular here in America is that they're easy to get in and out of. About 1/3 of Americans are obese (far more overweight), and from my observations, many have weak legs and cores. SUVs are part of the same phenomenon that has popularized single-story suburban homes, bottom-freezer refrigerators, etc. I see it as less of a network effect and more of a feedback loop.
- throwaway3563 7y ago
  Cuz some of us are safe drivers and want to see what is up ahead instead of blindly (literally) following the car in front like a lemming
perfunctory 7y ago
And sometimes is due to obnoxiously aggressive marketing.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
As someone who drives a bunch of low 90s sedans and wagons I disagree. It's not the crossover SUVs that most people are buying that are hard to see around, it's the pickups, Jeep Wranglers and everything else that has a rectangular cross section that's a pain to see around.
thrower123 7y ago
The smaller class of SUVs are still smaller than the station wagons and large sedans they replaced. And the larger SUVs have mostly replaced minivans, which have curiously disappeared from the roads. It's kind of a wash, if you look a little closer.

pen2l 7y ago

I bought a petite Prius due to network effects. It's nigh on impossible to do parallel parking in most of Boston (especially if you suck at p.parking), but with my Prius it's tolerable.

timewarrior 7y ago

This. That’s the sole reason I bought an SUV.

alamortsubite 7y ago

If you're following the SUV ahead of you at a safe distance, why would you need or want to see through its windshield? One of the reasons SUVs and pickup trucks are popular here in America is that they're easy to get in and out of. About 1/3 of Americans are obese (far more overweight), and from my observations, many have weak legs and cores. SUVs are part of the same phenomenon that has popularized single-story suburban homes, bottom-freezer refrigerators, etc. I see it as less of a network effect and more of a feedback loop.

throwaway3563 7y ago
Cuz some of us are safe drivers and want to see what is up ahead instead of blindly (literally) following the car in front like a lemming

perfunctory 7y ago

And sometimes is due to obnoxiously aggressive marketing.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

As someone who drives a bunch of low 90s sedans and wagons I disagree. It's not the crossover SUVs that most people are buying that are hard to see around, it's the pickups, Jeep Wranglers and everything else that has a rectangular cross section that's a pain to see around.

thrower123 7y ago

The smaller class of SUVs are still smaller than the station wagons and large sedans they replaced. And the larger SUVs have mostly replaced minivans, which have curiously disappeared from the roads. It's kind of a wash, if you look a little closer.