The Sequoia, to my knowledge, is car-based, not truck, based, has a unibody frame/chassis, and has state-of-the-art SUV engineering, with the newer bumper heights I mentioned. It not only safer handling than the old truck-based vehicles but will do less damage to another vehicle as well in an accident.

Still, you are correct to remember that you are in a high-center-of-gravity vehicle and drive accordingly.
How's the break-in coming along? Have you got 1000 miles on it yet?

 

I believe the Sequoia is based on the Tundra which is a fairly large truck. I agree that insurance should be raised more on SUV's because of damage they do to other cars, poor braking, injuries and deaths they cause to others and their owners, high gas consumption, high emissions, and all the resources and materials that go into building one. Speeding and reckless driving tickets should be higher for SUV and Trucks since they are so dangerous. Maybe people will get the message and not feel they need these vehicles when they really don't and owners will use more common sence. People think when they buy a SUV or Pickup they are getting a safer vehicle because it is so large and heavy which is wrong. SUV are in the light truck class which means they do not have to adhere to strict emissions and safety regulations like passenger cars do. All the weight of SUV's is not where it is protecting the passengers but underneith with large heavy suspensions, chasis, engines, transmissions, and off road 4WD systems to accomodate such a large vehicle. In crash tests SUV often do more poorly then cars in passenger protection. There have been studies showing if you own a large SUV or Pickup and a midsize car for 10 years you will be more likely to die or be seriously injured in the SUV because of rollovers, unstableness, and less passenger protection then in the car Where a smaller car can avoid accidents by swerving or braking sooner a SUV will more likely loose control and flip causing fatalities and serious injuries. Cars in lighter accidents rarely flip where an SUV is much more likely to flip and rolllover. I have noticed everytime I see or drive by an accident it usaully involves an SUV or pickup truck and both vehicles are heavily damaged. SUV, pickup trucks, car based hybrid SUV may be selling more then passenger cars right now but there are still more cars on the road since many cars are older and SUV's were not as popular cars.

 

Yes...you got me on that one......The Sequoia has the Tundra's body-on-frame design. Still, it has state-of-the-art engineering and modern features.

 

The break in is comin along fine. I've only got 300 or so miles on it since I bought it on 4/19, most of which has been for moving stuff from my old house to my new one. I'll get some good miles on it in 2 weeks when I take the wife and kids to Sea World. 600+ miles each way.

BTW, insurance on my 2005 $44k Sequoia is the same as it is on my 2000 $25k Eclipse.

 

Glad to hear the break-in is coming along well. Consider an oil change either before or after the run to Sea World.

The insurance difference is not surprising at all. Even though much has been posted here in this thread about SUV accidents, the Eclipse is still in a much higher risk category for accidents than a Sequoia. It is a sports coupe that is generally driven harder than a large SUV like the Sequoia, and by much riskier group of drivers in general (not necessarily you). And if you think you are paying a lot for the Eclipse you have now....it probably would be even more for the earlier 4-cylinder Turbo GS-T and AWD Turbo GSX models. Unlike the current Eclipse, they were classic tuner cars driven HARD by the caps-on-backward crowd.

And if you want to see REAL insurance money.............look at Corvettes, Vipers, and Porsche 911's.

 

Hopefully, next year I'll have that problem.

I appreciate all your help with the break in stuff. Thanks much man.

 

Here in OC, SUVs are all over the place. Some days, it seems like they outnumber cars. The thing I notice about SUVs is that most people who drive them are irresponsible and distracted. I avoid the fast lane (1) on the freeway, but it doesn't matter where I am or how fast I am driving. People who drive larger, truck-based SUVs seem to be prone to continuous acceleration. Usually, they hit the loud pedal and I end up seeing them in the rear view mirror about 5 feet off of my back bumper. In most cases, the driver is either on the phone, playing with the radio, distracted by kiddies in the back seat or applying makeup. I know that they won't be able to stop if something happens that requires me to brake. I don't brake check them or flash the brake lights. Usually, I change lanes and try to escape the tailgating situation. Sometimes, you can't get away from it because they will change lanes thinking that I changed lanes to go faster. It's frustrating and intimidating to know that someone is behind you and they don't care about driving safely.

I worry more about what will happen to me and my back and neck because 5,000 pounds is not easy to stop. I hope my awareness of others on the road keeps me safe, but if there are people on the road who just want to boor@$$ other drivers, I guess the outcome is not in my hands regardless of what I do.

I read a report with comments from a former employee of a US automaker (I think he was with Ford) who said that people who buy SUVs are less likely to care about other people. Obviously, this doesn't apply to all SUV drivers, but regarding the majority, I think the market research and this guy's comments hit the nail on the head.

Dang, I can't believe I used to commute on the SoCal freeways in my AE86 Corolla 5 years ago. I was a sitting duck.