Frustrated Massachusetts drivers try to sell their gas-guzzlers - The Boston Globe
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Americans are turning away from the boxy, four-wheel-drive vehicles that have for years dominated the nation's highways. Sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks - symbols of Americans' obsession with horsepower, size, and status - are falling out of favor as consumers rich and poor encounter sticker shock at the pump, paying upward of $80 to fill gas tanks.
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Over the past decade the SUV became the symbol of the American car culture. It is synonymous with suburbia. The heavy duty, four-wheel drive auto has been the private family tank able to plow through heavy weather and bad roads. It took us everywhere with power to spare. The problem, of course, is that the SUV literally guzzles fuel. That was no big deal as long as gas was $2 a gallon, but it became a huge burden as the pump prices zoomed past $3 and may zip past $4 on the way to $5+ per gallon.
Shifting from the SUV to light, compact cars is more than a matter of changing the car you drive. It is literally a pivotal point in how we think about the future. Downsizing is becomming the trend of the future. It signals a tipping point in our long-range expectations and a growing willingness to face the fact that endless economic growth may be a thing of the past.