[wilko]

For my father the daily commute includes lugging vacuum cleaners, and cleaning supplies. All of which can fit into a focus, but that is after the rear seat is folded flat. His explorer can carry that stuff with out folding the rear seat or filling the rear view mirror. His explorer is also a better people mover than any focus. Yes I can get 4 additional people in my ZX3, but that would be clown car territory. The explorer can handle 5 passengers, no sweat.

I find it strange that anyone would assume that the only reason people get SUV's is to only take kids to school, and drive to work. They are useful vehicles. As for a persons intellegence for buying a SUV based on gas prices. The sales of SUV's has slowed since the rise in fuel prices (Maybe they arent too dumb). Many of the people who have them now either can afford the +/-$70 to fill it up every week or had them before OPEC and associates got greedy. Still those vehicles are handy if you need to carry supplies, large items, or people.