Yes, because that new SUV will probably remain on the market for another 20 years. The 1999 Opel Corsa has at most 5 years of useful life left. So "new SUV" vs "old car" is a false dichotomy, and the real comparison should be between "20 years of fuel-guzzling SUV" or "20 years of fuel-efficient minicar" (mildly exaggerating, but you get the point).
So destroy anything that could be useful and reliable (which in turn decreases emissions as well because less things are being produced) and buy new shiny cars? Have you ever looked at how reliable modern cars are (especially with downsized engines which don’t do much about fuel economy but do a lot in reliability, not in a good way? you can’t expect most of them to last 20 years on the first engine and gearbox. While over 300k miles on the odometer was totally doable with 20 year old cars which are often rust free(not like 70s cars) and similarly efficient as modern cars, I don’t see why buying a new, more unreliable with almost the same fuel efficiency car would be better for emissions than keeping an old car running.
Maybe not, but that's probably not a fair comparison. Given same age, length and width, an SUV will be a bit heavier and have more air resistance than a vehicle with less height, so the energy use (and emissions) will be maybe 20% higher than a comparable station wagon.
Assuming that we are not talking about an hybrid/electronic SUV, right? I think the SUV theme is more a class struggle, trying to fit all SUV drivers into a stereotype (conservative/ suburb/family) than really a CO2 emission Per se.
It's also a thing for Europeans to criticize Americans about because most average people in Europe can't afford to have an SUV, whether due to money, lack of parking, roads not made for SUVs, etc.
so true. I'm one that, even if I wanted (and I don't), it would be hard to park and drive through our narrow streets.. add to that the risk to get the car trashed just because It's a SUV.
There are enough SUVs on European roads to prove it's possible. There are also countries like Switzerland or Luxemburg that have higher average incomes than the US, and still prefer Porsches or Mercedes to SUVs. Looking at the countries with slightly lower GDP per capita like Spain or France, you can restrict statistics to just the upper classes, and any group income-matched to the US population will have just as many garages but still far fewer SUVs.