Note: I wrote this quite a while ago when I didn't know nearly as much about the whole SUV situation. I still don't like them, but I now know that fighting them in impossible. I leave this page up because the search engines have found this page, and people are constantly viewing it.
The average SUV gets about 16 MPG in the city. This translates into more pollution and lower air quality for everybody. Thanks guys. I'm sure your children will thank you when they grow up with reduced lung capacity. Take a look out over the Valley the next time you fly in. See that brown layer of crap in the air? If you drive an SUV you are twice as responsible for that layer of crap as everybody else.
SUVs are tall and impossible to see around if you aren't also in an SUV. I have personally been involved in an accident that was caused by lack of visibility around an SUV. Thanks guys.
The biggest thing I hear from people is that they want an SUV for "safety". This is flawed for two reasons. One, because SUVs have poorer stopping distances and have twice the rollover rates in collisions. How safe are you if you are upside down? Two, because in the event of a non-rollover collision, SUVs make life unsafe for everybody else. Can you live with the consequences if you kill someone with your giant vehicle because you couldn't stop? The best way to avoid many collisions is to steer around them, instead of doing a panic stop in front of the hazard. How well do you think a 5200 pound, top heavy SUV will steer around a hazard vs. a 3000 pound, somewhat sporty sedan? Given their slow response times to both turning and stopping, you'd think that SUV owners would leave larger distances between them and the vehicles they follow, especially when its a smaller car that can stop more quickly. You'd think they would, but they don't.
The other thing I hear all the time is that people want to "be able to head up to Tahoe in the winter". This is all well and good, but how many actual times do they make up to Tahoe? Maybe 5 weekends out of the entire year in most cases. Meanwhile, the rest of the year their giant vehicle takes them (and only them) to work, burning giant quantities of fuel and making life unsafe for everybody else. Why not just rent one of those big vehicles for the weekeds you actually need one? Its cheaper, and safer for everybody else.