>>>>>I can't believe KG drives an Explorer with 155K miles. We can't let this get around.
>>>>>
>>>>>I'm emotionally attached to it....can't get rid of it. My wife drives the good car, I drive the Explorer.
>>>>
>>>>Have you ever really needed all-terrain/off-road capability ? # of days with real 4WD need (snow/other) ?
>>>>I DO know that the states have more room per caput, always wondered if there was a real need for those cars or a "be prepared" was the reason besides current trend.
>>>
>>>Wikipedia has some useful climate data for both Philadelphia and Frankfurt - the former slightly more extreme (hotter summers, colder winters) and with ~50% more precipitation.
>>
>>I was more thinking of dirt roads leading to a local farmer to buy some produce or to get to some backland area where Kevin owns some apple trees or similar stuff. Over here very often it is not only forbidden to drive into a forest or onto fields, there are sometimes physical bars stopping you (unless you have special permit and keys). Since west germany had to start financing development of former east germany, our roads in the west have taken a dramatic turn for the worse making SUVs make more sense in the cities - but the area in the states is so much larger that even while "normal" roads are often better over there nowadays, it is so much ground to cover that dirt roads might still exist - as they do sometimes over here. Also some people drive regularly on construction sites, where more height above ground often makes sense in a car ;-)
>
>A couple of years ago I cycled from Magdeburg down to the Czech Republic and was hugely impressed with the road improvements in the former East Germany. On some (unavoidable) busy roads there were excellent cycle tracks - completely separated and almost a road in themselves. I guess funding was diverted to where it was needed most ?

Definately in the first 10 years funds ***had*** to be reallocated, but they stayed there and in the west infrastructure is now often worse than in the east - politicians having decreed a special on-top tax they don't want to abolish.