Fuel mileage is dependant upon two things. Highway mileage is affected by wind resistance, and city driving is affected by weight. SUV's have both of these things working against them. The same engine/driveline system is installed in the big classic wagons, like the Caprice Classic and roadmaster as the SUV's like Tahoes and suburbans. In fact, GM started building the SUV's on the full-size car assembly line without hardly any modifications! The fuel mileage difference is absloutely amazing though between the car and the truck!
SUV's feel safer??? I can't seem to fathom that! Most SUV's drive like school busses. Their tires squeal at the slightest bit of cornering forces, their accelleration and braking performance is dismal...there's no way one would be able to avoid a bad situation the way these things drive! While an SUV may be a LITTLE bit better at collision survival than a full-size car, even a full-size car will be MUCH better at collision AVOIDANCE than an SUV.
Even mini-vans handle much better than SUV's. I cannot understand this image thing at all. I drive what works, which is a Chevy Astro van. More of a mid-size van than a minivan though, it still gets about 24 MPG's on the highway, and will out-corner most SUV's out there. Astros, and many other minivans also have AWD, and can get around in iffy weather just like an SUV too. In fact, there are many CARS out there with AWD too! I just cannot figure out why someone would suffer through driving a huge SUV bus just becaue it "looks" cool or hip or something.
I will admit though, that an SUV is good for towing and hauling, and will out-haul most minivans and cars (Astro's being the exception with their 6000 pound towing capacity, and full-ton chassis) An SUV will be safer when you gotta hook up a boat or RV, load up 6 kids, and a few weeks worth of vacation supplies. For driving around town though, it's totally STUPID to drive around that empty hulk of steel though just because you think it looks cooler than a wagon or mini-van. Driving around an SUV for daily chores in commuting says only one thing about you YOU'RE TOO STUPID TO DRIVE THE RIGHT VEHICLE FOR THE JOB!!!
Hybrid technology is good, and allows someone to have their cake and eat it too. It's not as much about payback as much as it is being able to enjoy a bigger vehicle with the power and comfort, but with the smaller vehicle economy. I've driven a Toyota Prius before, and the car is totally fun. It's also big enough for grown adult men to sit in the back too...something that's quite rare in most cars these days! Toyota has proven that hybrids can also be reliable, as the ones out there have exceeded even their expectations! Electric motors are much more efficient for accelleration and regenerative braking, and are a great match to a transportation device. Yes, you could go out and buy a smaller vehicle and get the same mileage as a hybrid, but you sacrifice usefulness doing it. If you were to judge a Prius to similarly sized and featured cars, the price difference is not that much more.
My only gripe though is that I'm ore of a diesel person, but it's because I do more highway driving versus in-town driving, and that's were diesels really shine in the mileage department. Diesels would also be a better mate to an SUV than a hybrid driveline, as they have tremendous amount of torque and are great for off-road uses!
