Some Gloat as SUVs Get Hit By Gas Costs

April 25, 2005 — -- Donna Bijas of Middletown, N.J., hates SUV owners and the way their vehicles obstruct her view as she tries to back her Nissan Altima out of parking spaces: "I hope gas prices send them to the poor house," she said.

In level-headed reflection, people on both sides of the SUV debate tend to agree soaring gas prices are nothing to cheer.

But among some SUV haters, there's the road-rage factor: Perhaps prone to seething in traffic over what they see as an egomaniacal, menacing and gas-guzzling group, some see high gas prices as payback.

"I laugh as I fill my economy car for a fraction of what they do, watching them wallow like the pigs they are," said Andy Bliss of Los Angeles.

Several people told ABC News via e-mail -- in response to an online query -- that they gloat as SUV owners appear to suffer at the pumps. And as the national average price for regular gas approaches $2.25 per gallon, some SUV owners may be paying nearly $100 per tankful.

"I hope gas goes to $5/gallon just to teach these selfish, spoiled yuppies a lesson they'll NEVER forget," wrote John Marranca Jr. of Buffalo, N.Y. (See first related story, left, for more reader opinions).

Wishful Thinking?

But despite their big gas tanks and generally poor gas mileage, are SUV drivers really suffering more than everyone else? Though sales of the largest SUVs have dipped, a recent ABC News poll suggested SUV drivers are not yet feeling more pain from gas prices than car drivers are, finding no difference in reported hardship (see second related story).

Several ABC News e-mailers speculated that the owners of the most expensive SUVs may not be especially impaired because they can afford expensive fuel, and may have taken it for granted that they'd pay more than car drivers.

Nevertheless, some large vehicle owners said they feel the price pinch.

"Yes, I'm suffering," wrote Johnny Norman of Littleton, Colo., who drives a full-sized 4-wheel-drive GMC pickup truck to and from work at a mining company 56 miles away. "[I] spent 70 bucks last week for four days of driving to work. … If prices go over $3 a gal[lon] this summer, I'll be looking for a Honda."

SUV Driver's Response: 'Cringe in Envy'

Other SUV fans proved it's not only SUV haters who are prone to gloating.

"I will keep paying these prices and driving my SUV, and the idiots can keep hating me," wrote Daren Frederickson of Vancouver, Wash. "But, if you cross the center line and crash into me, you will wish your Ford Escort was an Excursion!"

"The small car drivers can gloat at the pumps," added Jim Downey, a Chevy S-10 Blazer driver from Dunbar, W.Va., "but they cringe in envy when the SUVs pass them in the snow."

Ron Defore, a spokesman for the Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America, said the group is not particularly distressed by the potential effect of high gas prices on SUV ownership because the organization favors consumer choice and a free market unimpeded by potential regulations that could penalize owners of SUVs.

"When you talk about gas prices, I don't think anybody can control that: That's the marketplace at work," Defore said. "If everybody in the country got rid of their SUVs and went to something else, we're fine with that. That's what this country is all about."

Gas Prices Worry Anti-SUV Groups

While Defore's group seems not to be overly alarmed by gas prices, leading anti-SUV groups said they are worried, and added it is unwise for fellow SUV opponents to gloat.

For one thing, high gas prices make it politically and economically more expedient to expand oil drilling, said Daniel Becker, director of the global warming program for the Sierra Club.

In fact, President Bush recently has cited energy costs in his push for energy reform that would open up new areas of the Alaskan wilderness and the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling or exploration.

SUV opponents also cited the damage high fuel costs do to the economy by raising shipping costs and the price of goods.

"We all suffer," said Lawrence Bender, a Hollywood film producer who is co-founder of the Detroit Project, an anti-SUV group. "There's no gloating. As gas goes up, airlines are having problems. The economy is getting hit as energy prices go up."

The Sierra Club's Becker claimed two large American companies, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, are particularly vulnerable.

"I think most people are horrified by high gas prices, especially auto companies which are teetering on the edge of the abyss," he said. "They're stuck with large inventories of gas guzzlers which nobody wants."

According to an analysis by the Kelley Blue Book, large SUVs and full-sized pickups account for close to 80 percent of Ford and GM's North American automotive profits.

Cost of Switching

Overall sales of the largest SUVs fell 20 percent in February and 30 percent in January, said Jack Nerad, editorial director of Kelley Blue Book and KBB.com, as SUV consumers lately seem to have shifted their preference toward smaller SUVs.

However, while fuel costs and other factors may give SUV consumers a psychological push toward more fuel-efficient models, a closer analysis might show them it does not yet pay to trade in their bigger models.

"If you look at saving money by switching cars when you didn't otherwise need to, you're basically on a fool's errand," Nerad said. "What you would expend in buying a new vehicle as opposed to keeping your current vehicle would buy you gas, probably, for a couple of years."

Some SUV owners say they have little choice but to own the vehicles.

"I have an SUV because it's the only car that I can load more than four adults or pull a trailer through the mountains and not burn out the engine," wrote Brent Davis of Orem, Utah. "In addition, in many areas of the West we end up off road [and] only SUVs have the clearance needed. Unfortunately, people of the East don't understand this, SUV haters most of all. I find their statements short-sighted and offensive."

"Where I live, SUV/pickup trucks and the like are sometimes more of a necessity than a choice," wrote Georgia Farris Romanko, a Ford Explorer driver from Andover, Ohio. "Try living in the 'snow belt' for a while and those SUV-haters may change their tune."

But some claim not to care what their detractors say.

"I don't feel any hostility directed toward me for my choice of vehicle; at least no one has said anything directly to me," wrote Joseph M. Gusman, owner of an SUV and pickup truck in Kealakekua, Hawaii. "And I'm not that concerned if they did. I'm rather tall and weigh near 300 lbs. What do I have to fear from a wheatgrass-eater in a hybrid?"