In a way, I really wish you hadn't started this thread, because it forces me to come out of the closet for what I really am, a sworn enemy of SUV's.
There are things that make America great, but SUV's are not one of them.
Let's start with the idea that because they're larger, they're somehow safer. Last year, only two categories of motor vehicles showed increases in vehicular deaths (according to NHTSA statistics). As your post noted, SUV's are prone to rollover. And last year, the death rate for this type of vehicle increased about 10% as a result of more people dying in rollover accidents. The other category of vehicle where the death rate increased was motorcycles, possibly as the result of too many middle-aged riders living a latent "Easy Rider" fantasy without the requisite skills needed to operate a piece of machinery that inflicts very serious road rash if not handled with care. Or perhaps, there were a number of collisions with SUV's...
But I digress...other than the increased ability to rollover, SUV's generally don't stop as well as most cars,
and of course, there's the less than admirable gas mileage as well as the diminished pollution requirements these vehicles are required to meet since they are classified as a truck. And upon buying one, you'll be paying increased insurance rates due to your ability to inflict more damage upon whatever unfortunate vehicle and its occupants you happen to collide with.
I do not have qualms about someone owning one of these vehicles who actually needs the size and off-road capabilities that these vehicles have. But, why does the average housewife need something the size of a small schoolbus to ferry back and forth a few bags of groceries and several small children? Interestingly enough, many of these suburban survival kits sport accoutrements like heavy duty mesh guards for the head and tailights as if wife and hubby might encounter some unpenetrable wilderness on their way to the sports bar. The TV and magazine ads present a fantasy of Joe Couch Potato being able to navigate the wilderness while still keeping his generally wide posterior planted in the lap of luxury. Yes, the American dream, Marlboro man re-dux without the cigarette riding the range, climbing impossible gradients without even breaking a sweat. Hey guys, think about getting a road or mountain bike and doing your waistline some good while communing with mother nature! For most of these people, that's simply too much effort. Much better to let 300 horses under the hood do it for you, regardless of the cost to the planet.
And then there's the Hummer. The avatar of SUV's, the creme de la creme of conspicuous consumption with a designed disregard for anything but whatever pathetic image the driver is attempting to project.
For what could be more machismo than driving a vehicle whose lineage was ordained by war. Around my area, a number of these humorless machines are driven by techie types who cruise around the Costco parking lot several times looking for the proper parking space to display their rig and to keep the driver from walking more than 10 feet to the door. When these pilots finally emerge from their command posts, they generally sport the physique of someone who would wheeze after pulling the trash to the curb on Sunday.
Thankfully, there is brewing a backlash to all of this nonsense. Increasingly, these behemouths are sitting on the lots....at least until their next incarnation as hybrids. I'm hopeful that many of us will have learned something before that happens, knowing that there will always be the obnoxious few that will want to display their greed for the whole world to see....because they can.
Like I said...I'm almost sorry you started this thread...but I admit..I'm glad you did..