What is up with sport SUV's

[fabsroman]

My brother just bought a Trailblazer SS that does 0-60 in 5.7 seconds and I just saw an ad for a Jeep Cherokee SRT8 that does 0 to 60 in 5 seconds flat.

Why does anybody need that kind of acceleration in a SUV? Enough people already have problems keeping SUV's from rolling, do they really need additional speed?

I have no idea why the car manufacturers are trying to make SUV's into sports cars. At least Ford hasn't gotten into this craze yet. It was bad enough with the F-150 Lightning.

Then again, I guess this is America, and people are allowed to have as many choices as possible.

[blacktail]

Must be the same craze as having the in thing with the gangster crowd having to drive around in the cadilac SUV
maybe it is a ploy to get them to use them exclusively for their illegal activities as get away vehicles

[Mil Dot]

Fabs,

Not everyone is like you. Investing in high end Bendix brakes to stop!

You're starting to sound like an attorney or accountant or something.

Feeling the need, the need for speed!

[Skyline]

My guess is it is a selling gimmick.....Fuel prices have caused the sale of SUV's to slide and so a little twist like that could make it appealing to the family guy locked into needing something that he can transport the wife and rug rats in most of the time......mama won't let him by a new Mustang......so he can get a bit of thrust out of his SUV and it helps satisfy the primal urges.

Most of the SUV's, heck new 4x4's period, are crap anyways. When you get into serious 4 wheeling they fall apart........however 98 % of them spend most of their lives on the highway and 4x4 is engaged for a toodle down a muddy country road or when it snows, so the design and features are aimed at the biggest percentage of the market, not the handful that actually need a tough off road vehicle.

All you have to do is look at the designs and the materials in the bumper areas of the front ends....first things to get pulverized when easing through a deep dip in a trail......

Chev trucks with unprotected brake lines that get pulverized on gravel roads are another example (no shrouds).....Fords 1 ton 4x4's with the stearing stabilizer under the front arms where it immediately gets trashed going through rough ground, plastic fender liners on 4x4 dually's that fall out when they get a bunch of mud stuck on them and rip the bottom of the glass dually fender off.............they are all designed for road warriors now adays.