very good comments on this thread, and this one really sticks out to me. the reason so many people have taken up driving huge SUVs is that they have been convinced by advertising that it's the thing to do, that they need them, that they make a statment about how successful, etc., the buyer is.

what did we do before these giants roamed the roads? jeez, somehow we got all the kids to grandma's on the holidays, we got to work just fine, we could see where we were going, etc.

first we have to talk, and then they have to listen. if we could find a way to make a small vehicle as sexy in the buyer's mind as the large ones, we would be going in the right direction. and we have to stop seeing them as an extension of our personal being. they need to be an efficient way to get where we are going, and we need to live without quite so many bells and whistles. period.

i am in minnesota, and we have a ford plant in st. paul that has been part of the landscape since the 1920s. they went through a rough spot in the 80s but came back. this month it was announced the plant was closing..........what do they make there? ranger pickups. i cannot for the life of me understand the mindset that says quit making the small ones.............the economy in our area will taken another hit with that factory gone.