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Comment by syedkarim | Hacker News Reader

I live in Chicago. We had a foot of snow land on us this morning. Our 300-foot driveway was not cleared this morning, so my wife took the 2007 Mercury Mariner (Ford Escape). She made it to the road without any issues. It took me two hours in a 1994 BMW 525 to get to the end of the driveway; go two feet, shovel, backup, shovel, then just shovel a path the whole way.

We have three kids in car seats. Getting a baby carrier out from the middle of the BMW is a mess. It's simple in the Mariner.

I frequently need building materials for things around the property. Where do I load a car with shovels, 2x4s, plywood, and hardware cloth?

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I live in Sweden, we get some snow from time to time as well. What we do is put winter tires on all cars (it's mandatory in winter conditions and after December 1).

I'm pretty sure getting car seats in and out of cars have improved in the last 24 years. A baby carrier is probably more convenient in the front passenger seat, don't forget to turn off the airbag.

Most people around here just put a trailer behind the car if the stuff doesn't fit in the back with the back seats folded.

I'd also like to point out that of course some people need 4x4 with higher ground clearance. But do the majority need it?

I live in Canada and I will take a 2WD car with good winter tires on it over an AWD 'crossover SUV' with crappy tires any day.

True 4WD with high clearance is needed for some unpaved mountain roads, but only a vanishingly small number of people need that.

Many states in the U.S. require car or booster seats to be placed in the rear seat, as well as seating any child 8 years or under in the back seat. Even where it might not be required, it's considered irresponsible to do otherwise and there's a lot of cultural pressure to conform.

Shovels go in the trunk or back seat. Plywood gets strapped to the roof. Just like millions of people did for the nearly hundred years before SUV’s existed.

I don’t know what hardware cloth is, though.

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