They are the suburban status symbol du jour. Their sales have more than doubled in the past seven years, and all three million sold in 2000 are being driven in my neighborhood this very minute. Or maybe it's simply a reflection of all the time we stew in these air-conditioned cages. For all their brash tonnage, SUVs are just the latest example of how our love of cars has defied logic and function. Vehicles in America are more than a form of transportation.
Automobiles are personal statements.
We are what we drive, and nothing, certainly not gas shortages, will convince us otherwise. So if SUV owners are considered extravagant, excessive, expansive, I can't help but wonder what my pedestrian, midsize, tan-colored sedan says about me. Ana Veciana-Suarez is a columnist for the Miami Herald.