I don't think most people have a suv for a status symbol, we use our Ford Explorer for everything, we go to the Navy Commissary and buy anywhere from 250.00 to 300.00 worth of groceries, we could never fit them in the trunk of a car, otherwise we would be making three or four trips to the store when we can make one with our suv. We take a lot of weekend vacations, and we pack the suv with our two dogs and the back part of the suv is loaded with luggage and dog crates, dog food, toys, gates for the dogs, etc. etc. When we go to Home depot we can fit most anything we buy in it, that we couldn't in a car. I had a VW Jetta at one time and I can tell you I feel a lot safer in this suv then I did on the freeway in that Jetta. In fact we are thinking of getting a Expedition next time. We feel we have saved gas in the long run, we always had two cars on the road and went down to one suv.
Jackie