Readers Consider SUVs and Gas Prices

April 25, 2005 — -- ABCNEWS.com asked readers how they felt about the idea that SUVs and pickup trucks might be hit harder by rising gas prices.

Readers responded by the hundreds, with a full range of opinions reflected in the excerpts below. ABCNEWS.com has edited them for length and clarity.

"I am less than secretly glad when I hear the agony of the SUV people paying $60 to $70 a week to fill their tank," wrote Bernard K. Addison of Los Angeles. "We do not need the size, we do not need the inefficiency, and we do not need the attitude of road ownership and invincibility that reflects in the driving patterns of the majority of SUV owners."

"It's good to see all these arrogant drivers of gas guzzling road machines end up paying half a week's pay to fill up their monstrous machines," wrote Brian Silver Fox of Hammonton, N.J. "I am far from an environmental activist, but there is no reason why anyone needs these vehicles, ESPECIALLY Hummers (which, like assault weapons, should be reserved for the military). I truly enjoy seeing all of them driving around with their jingoistic little magnets on the back, supporting our troops, who are dying simply for their 'right' to own these stupid machines."

"Why, yes, I do gloat at the SUVs paying higher gas prices!" wrote Maureen North of Syracuse, N.Y. "The last car accident I was in was due in part to SUVs blocking my vision of the oncoming small car that totaled my Honda Accord. But now I have another Accord, and am considering a Prius."

"I admit I do like to listen to the woes of SUV drivers filling up their tanks," wrote Carolyn Busch of Trenton, Ga. "Their explanations of why they need their gas guzzling barges aren't quite as 'convincing' now."

"I think that it's hilarious that SUVs are getting in the shorts for a change," wrote Mike Nielsen of Salt Lake City. "Never forget that the road is theirs. Those of us that drive economical-type cars are but the peasant trash -- villagers that have no right to use their roads. After all isn't ostentatiousness the rule of the road? … Although I must agree that I don't like higher fuel prices either, it is somewhat psychologically reassuring to know that the 'fat cats' are in fact paying lots and lots and lots more money at the pump. Hooray for some justice!"

"Much as I hate to pay the higher prices, I do (I have to admit) secretly gloat at the money it takes to fill up an SUV tank," wrote Gail Walpole of Tallula, Ill. "I drive a VW diesel Beetle, which when new, got 50+ miles per gallon. It now needs tuning up because it is only getting about 45 or so miles per gallon. … Yes, I admit, people made fun of me when I used to drive my little [Geo] Metro and to a certain extent, my Beetle -- but now, I am the one laughing! :)"

"I have hated SUVs and the mentality that gave birth to them since the early '90s when I was in high school, and will continue to hate them and the people that drive them with a righteous anger for as long as I draw breath," wrote Andy Bliss of Los Angeles. "On a daily basis, I let these people know my feelings with my car or a few fingers/choice words. I despise their selfishness, avarice and soul-less need to endanger others for their own comfort. I laugh as I fill my economy car for a fraction of what they do, watching them wallow like the pigs they are in their putrid opulent consumerism."

"Although [it is] somewhat painful to pay more than double the price for gas than I did a few years ago, high prices definitely have a silver lining!" wrote Grant Comer of Indianapolis. "In fact, nothing seems to encourage talk of alternative fuel research more than high energy costs. … My gloating lies in the fact that persons who have the political and economic power to finance and approve alternative fuel research are feeling the pinch of high gas prices personally and from their constituents. If they happen to drive SUVs or other poorly fuel efficient vehicles, then that pain is just magnified."

"I love it that the Hummer owners (and other SUVs) are paying out their noses," wrote Wade of Los Angeles. "I was at the pump the other day and saw a guy shaking his head after filling up his Hummer. I walked over to the pump after he left and he had paid $92.00! I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day!"

"I don't like having to pay the high gas prices, but when my sons and I go on are fishing trips I wouldn't trade my SUV for anything," wrote Lonnie Mueller of Lincoln, Neb. "There is no greater pleasure in the dead of winter, with four-foot drifts and 20 degrees below zero wind chill, than to drive by someone in one of those foreign-made compact cars, stuck in a snow drift. I just honk, wave and drive on by."

"If I get hit by another car or truck, I will most likely survive where the [Volkswagen] Beetle will be smashed," wrote Linda Ridgeway of Joliet, Ill., who drives a 2000 Ford Expedition. "I have a lot of friends with small cars, and when they need something moved who do they call? Me or my husband, who drives an F250. They don't seem to mind us having big vehicles then!"

"I live on a hill and need the 4-wheel drive to get to my house on snowy days," wrote Jim Downey a Chevy S-10 Blazer driver from Dunbar, W.Va. "I kinda enjoy driving up the hill in the snow, passing the passenger cars sitting at the bottom of the hill that can't make it to the top. It's a small price to pay in my book. The small car drivers can gloat at the pumps, but they cringe in envy when the SUVs pass them in the snow."