the beat bike blog: SUV SUX

Monday, December 1, 2008

SUV SUX

The 1983 Bronco got 27MPG on the highway. Not too shabby.

I'm sure many of you have seen the "SUV SUX" bumper sticker before. However, have you ever seen it on an SUV? I did this morning and was thoroughly baffled. Do they mean that their suv sucks? I mean, it was a mid 80s Branco, which is certainly no Cayenne. Were they just missing the irony? Who knows? I was so confused that I almost got hit by a truck by South Green.

10 comments:

OpusOne said...: Maybe they're into self-loathing. Or irony, but the bad, assholey kind.

On my holiday travels, I had to rent a car. The Hertz check-in process was basically: "do you want to upgrade to an SUV for an extra $10/day?" No. "How about a GPS for an extra $10/day?" No. "OK...well, we don't have any standard cars left. Here's your SUV with a GPS at your original rate." Fuckers.; December 1, 2008 at 9:25 PM
Brendan said...: They have some other bumper stickers on there, I didn't check to see if they were of the hippy sort or not.

GPS doesn't waste fuel.

I'm still pretty surprised at the Bronco's gas mileage. 27 highway!; December 2, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Mark said...: I love how the Car Rentals nickel and dime you on every feature.

Sad to say, I drive an SUV and so does the wife. We were duped into believing that we would always have cheap gas. I need it for towing capacity - boat. She needs it for towing capacity - three kids and all the crap.

I had a Bronco II that got 29 to 30 mpg on the highway.; December 2, 2008 at 12:36 PM
OpusOne said...: Yeah, I mentioned the GPS more as a 2nd example of the fail-moment of the rental experience.

It's quite amazing to look at mpg numbers from the past. The fuel shortage of the 1970s drove auto companies to design with economy in mind. The '90s saw an obsession with size and power that very few people actually needed. I bet the Bronco in that 1983 ad isn't anywhere close to the power and weight of today's SUVs. Higher safety regs have added a lot of weight to cars (bringing down milage) and the EPA changed their mpg testing methods a couple of times. All I know is that the car I had in college, a 1990 Honda Civic Wagon, gave me over 40 mpg regularly, and I beat the hell out of it.

It's funny and great to see the eco-boxes of the late '80s actually increasing in value now.; December 3, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Karma said...: Back in the day I had a Geo Metro 3 cylinder 5spd hatchback. I got close to 60 MPG on the highway and even low 50s around town. It was nuts. Of course if I ran into that Bronco I would have been vaporized.; December 3, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Anonymous said...: There is absolutely no WAY a 1983 Ford Bronco got 18 city and 27 highway. Those old carburated engines sucked gas like no other. It would be more like 10 city and 15 highway.; December 31, 2008 at 7:01 PM
Anonymous said...: The Bronco is really more of a truck, it makes an explorer look like a toy.; January 27, 2010 at 10:39 PM
Anonymous said...: yeah, the bronco is a truck.

suv < truck

and i only say this because of the 4 times ive been run off the road, the 4 times it's been from a SUV driving sh^t head; February 23, 2010 at 4:06 AM
accompagnatrici roma said...: Well, I do not really suppose this may work.; June 14, 2011 at 2:09 PM
Anonymous said...: I have a bronco and anyone who says they get 27 on the highway doesn't know what there talking about!; June 25, 2012 at 7:10 AM