"Whither the SUV?"
LA Times/Prius Owners Group
August 26th, 2005
Source

At Lexus Santa Monica, Luke MacFarlane, one of the stars of FX Networks’ “Over There,” is searching for his dream wheels—something stylish in a funky, offbeat way, powerful enough to haul his bike to the mountains, efficient enough that it won’t burn a hole through his gasoline credit card or the ozone layer.

The slim, sandy-haired actor—upwardly mobile, outdoorsy, adventurous—looks as if some Madison Avenue image-maker had conjured him up for a sport utility vehicle commercial. And the Lexus RX 400h, plugged by the company as “the world’s first luxury gas-electric hybrid SUV,” would seem to be the model to bait the 25-year-old. Its estimated city/highway fuel efficiency is 29 miles per gallon, nearly twice what many conventional four-wheel-drives manage. Green-dreaming drivers are biting. As conventional gasoline-powered SUVs collect dust on Southern California car lots, the RX 400h is a comparatively brisk seller at $49,000, brisk enough that there isn’t one for MacFarlane to see. He must make do with a glossy brochure and a sales pitch.

Neither does the trick. “I thought the mileage would be a lot better,” MacFarlane says. A recent arrival from New York, he hitched a ride to the showroom from a friend because he doesn’t own a car. “The ruggedness appeals to me, but it still seems so irresponsible to own one. When it comes down to it, it’s still just an SUV.”

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In Santa Monica, Luke MacFarlane says he’s not asking for much from his dream SUV. In case automakers are listening: “I’d want it to get 40 miles to the gallon, not just 30. But I do want to be able to handle a bumpy road without destroying the car, and I’d like a powerful engine. And I do like the luxury of leather.”

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