Before you start wondering about the color of the sky in CNBC's Phil LeBeau's private little world, the writer understands "that for many people (soccer moms, the guy putzing around the suburbs, etc) driving a gas guzzling SUV makes no sense." Whew! Phil's talking to those motorists who need an SUV's cargo, passenger or towing capacity; or off-road capability, due to job or locale. While TTAC Best and Brightest prepare to discuss the Marxist implications of needs vs. want, one thing's for sure: it's an SUV buyer's market out there. Kelly Blue Book prices for used SUVs are down more than $2.5k. Even so, you might want to hold off; they're expected to go lower as leases from 2005 vehicles start expiring and pump-shocked SUV refugees trade their behemoths for economy cars (no really). In an online poll, CNBC asks readers if they'd buy an SUV now. Almost half (49 percent) said "no." Of the remaining 51 percent, 13 percent said they'd "think about it," while 39 percent stated yes, they would buy one now. I guess there are still either a lot of "contractors, people in specialty trades, those who live in rural areas where the roads can get dicey at times" or gas prices aren't high enough to prise the keys from SUV fans' cold, dead fingers.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
hey, there’s at least $500 of steel and $100 of platinum in every one
Well I fit the “rural area where roads can get dicey” and the “can’t pry the keys from my fingers” descriptions. I’m betting on gas prices to be coming back down (I’m not confident enough to be shorting gas futures though). So I’m just awaiting the fire sales. I’d love to get a 2-for-1 deal on a nice Silverado and a Surburban. I don’t drive enough for gas prices to have a large effect on my budget, so I’m just looking for some cheap transportation.
It is in fact a great time to buy an SUV if you don’t drive much…definitely a buyer’s market.
miked, “cheap” is relative, of course, but Suburbans aren’t cheap in my book, even with the substantial discounts!
The fire sale is in full effect here on everything from Escalades to Tundras.
I don’t disagree, if you need one of these vehicles this is an excellent time to buy one and they’re only going to get cheaper.
A friend of mine just picked up a crew cab Titan for a little over $20k brand new. Dealers are advertising Dodge Rams under $20k as well as Silverados.
On large families: The kids can read, count and behave themselves without taking half the house with them….kinda like we did.
On bad roads: As someone who grew up in Alaska; In the 50s,60s and 70s, regular ‘ol 2 wheel drive stationwagons, with a bag of sand in the back did very well. Look at old photos from Alaska, Yukon, etc from that era….
On contracting: Most large material bundles are delivered, plywood to bathtubs.
Maybe the SUV, which I like, but really don’t need, is a bubble about to burst.
If I am not the one to pony at the pump I’ll buy the biggest & baddest engine in a heart beat.
Riding in a Smart is lke flying Ultra lights, fly by the seat of your pants. Whereas a big SUV is like a 747 Jumbo.
Solly America we all have to wake up to harsh reality. Gas is only cents away from $5 a gallon.
Suddenly the Saudis are worried if we had to pay hgh fuel that may inadvertently motivate us to find another alternate power source. Eventually that could be the beginning of the end for them.
Actually, he is correct. This is a great time to buy an SUV, just as it is a great time to buy real estate.
And next year will be even better.
And the year after that will be even better.
Ronin is right. I’m buying my first house early next year, and at this rate, I’m going to save so much I can pick up a cute little Tahoe to sit out front and effectively complete the transition to suburbia!
Mind you, I’ll keep DRIVING the xB, but the suv will be a nice touch.
My wife drives an ’04 Jeep Liberty with a great four-wheel drive (that she does use), and I’d buy her the same vehicle today. She only drives 15 miles a day, we use it for shopping on the weekends, and we get two weeks per tank (13-15 gallons).
She use to drive a Civic, and we hated it in bad weather, not to mention for shopping. Try and fit anything large into a trunk of a Civic (as we tried often).
Plus now she can drive over a Civic in the winter. It’s been a great SUV! ;)
If you need/want/whatever a SUV, you will find a lot of bargins out there, new or used. Will the bargins get even better in the months or years to come? Quite possibly.
In the 50’s/60’s when my dad’s farmer friends came to visit, they often drove their pickups. When his roofers showed up on the jobsite, they drove panel trucks like Econolines. The boss of the family refused to have a pickup on her property, so Dad and his captive workers, ah, kids, drove body on frame Pontiacs with the 389 V8 and towed a trailer largely consisting of a very long tongue flanged up to a Model A diff/axle with a 4×8 sheet of plywood for a bed. This would accommodate 40 foot extension ladders, 16 foot scaffold planks and on at least one occasion up to 1 1/2 tons of shingles (I know, a ridiculous overload). It worked just fine. My Dad sold the trailer after 25 years – its probably still working. As for winter weather, steering the Pontiac with your right foot in upstate NY winters was a lot of fun and provided good training for when it happened inadvertently.
The need for SUVs and trucks is highly overrated. And why are the trucks jacked so damned far up that you need a step stool to see/reach whats in the bed?
In 1981 I bought a mint used 1972 Chevrolet Caprice with a big block and more options than a base Sedan DeVille for $500 and used it to drive cross country in as well as for a college commute. A similar condition Toyota Corolla would have set me back at least $1500 at the time, and wouldn’t have let me take three people and all their stuff cross country in speed, comfort and style … or at all probably. That was a great road trip car.
Fuel was a “crazy” $1 or so a gallon then and that Chevy used a gallon every 14 miles or so, but the economics still favored it for my needs at the time.
Wow, what a cruiser that was.
Was at the dodge dealership a week ago to look at a ram 1500 (Don’t really neeed it but I was curious). Window sticker was $23k & change. Add Chicago taxes , license, title, doc, and you aren’t talking less than $26k. The dealership wanted $14.7k OTD (that is the written quote I got in person).
Tell me that isn’t a good deal…..My wife & I BOTH have fuel efficient transportation methods (wife: 2000 neon, 25mpg in the city. Me: 30+mpg motorcycle). We wouldn’t use it as a daily driver, but for when we move (we are apartment dwellers), have company over (my parents and brothers live 20-30 minutes away), and want to haul stuff (we will be buying a house in a year), it’s a hell of a lot more convenient than renting a truck or suv.
In todays ad they have a dodge caravan (2007) for the same price.
The problem is that in a city where you have multiple huge apartment buildings on a single block there IS no parking for 4 vehicles, let alone 1!!!
It’d be a better deal to buy an Explorer V6 4×4 than an AWD Edge, Flex, or even Escape (V6).
Mileage wouldn’t be much different, room is about the same, more stout chassis, greater savings. My father has consistently gotten 22-23 mpg (hwy) with his, and that includes driving around Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming quite often. The 4wd is handy in those states…winter or trail roads.
LALoser:
On large families: The kids can read, count and behave themselves without taking half the house with them….kinda like we did.
Note that children are required to ride in specially-designed safety seats that are typically 20 inches across. Most sedans have only 56 inches of hip room in the back seat. Therefore, if you have 3 kids, you MUST have a VERY LARGE car or SUV in order to comply with THE LAW for transporting children.
@Matthew – there are certain child seats that are 19″ (or less). Granted most are in the $200+ range, but the extra expense on the seat is quickly recouped in gas prices (of course if you pay a lot less for the SUV, you’re still ahead!).
Suburbans, Yukon’s, and Tahoe’s fill the abandoned parking lots with for sale signs. Their not $5 either.
$12,000 for something that doesn’t get good mileage? Ain’t nobody going to buy that.
Piece of crap Smart car(modern day Yugo from 1987) only gets 33/41 with 70hp/68tq. If it ain’t getting at least 50 mpg, get it out of here.
50’s not even enough really when stepping down to a car like that. Honda Insight is the benchmark: 61/70
Gas prices are going to have to get a whole lot higher before I step down from driving a 20mpg V8 that scoots pretty good. Maybe about $10/gal I’ll think about driving something different. Likely be driving electric as soon as those become available. Have to hop them up for more performance of course.
Matthew, Brendon
I was piqued by the whole safety seat discussion, so I looked a few things up myself, and I will admit that the scene is much different from the way things were when I was in diapers.
I now realize that Matthew is right: Any family with three or more children is pretty much forced to have a three-row vehicle if the entire family is to travel together. As long as at least two children are in car seats, which now lasts until age six or seven in many states, there simply isn’t room in a single row for both of them plus a third occupant, even if he is out of a seat — he’d be too crowded in by the seats for any sort of comfort or safety whatsoever. And you can’t put car seats in the front if there are airbags, because that’s dangerous, and illegal in some places I recall. The point is, there is now probably a larger market share tied up in families that truly need the third row, relative to how things were fifteen or twenty years ago, assuming demographic trends have been fairly constant over time.
Only once you are down to one carseat, or none at all, you can get that Accord or Fusion or Taurus and stuff everyone in. By then the kids will be partly grown up and a bit tall for the legroom in most midsize cars, but so what? As long as the road trip isn’t too long, the kids will probably benefit, overall, from the forced socialization.
Still, there’s a fair bit of difference between a Ford Explorer or Expedition (combined cycle 16 mpg and 14 mpg, respectively) and a Honda Odyssey (20 mpg), so families which need a third row but are afraid of the mommy-mobile stereotype will be forced to think harder and harder about how much they’re really willing to pay for image.
And families which never needed a third row for safety seats, or which bought two family-haulers when one hauler plus a commuter-box would have done, are already asking why.
I have a mini cooper, and a dying plymouth that gets 19mpg. My next car will probably be an SUV.
I’m hoping X5, or M Class prices will bottom out.
Or I’ll get one of the billions of Honda Elemts that appear to be crowding lots.
@rtz
Go for a euro-spec hatchback Diesel and you can out-mileage a Pious, Smart or pretty much anything.
Mine has 170hp (chipped) and does ~45 mpg town driving and >55 on the motorway, if I stick to the limit (70) and more like 50 when I don’t*.
*disclaimer, this isn’t true ociffer.
TaxedAndConfused :
June 17th, 2008 at 4:43 am
@rtz
Go for a euro-spec hatchback Diesel and you can out-mileage a Pious, Smart or pretty much anything.
Diesels cause cancer
Diesels are un-American.
Diesels should come with a health warning – such as a skull and crossbones on the fuel filler flap
My wife wants an SUV with 3rd row seating. After looking and researching, we decided on the Honda Pilot. Several local dealers have leftover 2008’s and even 2007’s. We’re wondering how low they will go, especially on the 07’s.