SUVs: Too Dirty, Too Big and Now Too Fast

I don’t know if I was more alarmed or amused by your headline “The 150-MPH SUV” (Behind the Wheel, Dec. 1).

Now, with the Mercedes-Benz ML55 AMG, sport-utility vehicles not only can be gross polluters and obstruct my vision on the road, but when they cut me off by taking up two lanes, they can do it at more than twice the legal speed limit.

TOM OGDEN

Hollywood

Thank you, Jeanne Wright, for your column (“Giant SUVs Are Tight Squeeze in Mall Parking Lots,” Your Wheels, Dec. 1). The other day I returned to my car in Century City, only to find a huge Suburban parking next to me, and not within the lines.

The driver got out with a friendly smile, so I said to her that it would be helpful if she straightened her vehicle. She apologized, said it was hard to see in her big truck, and adjusted her angle. It wasn’t perfect, but the fact that she acknowledged her carelessness made it impossible for me to quibble.

I can tell that the holiday season is upon us just by the great number of cars, from subcompact to SUV and van, parked every which way without regard to the lines, ruining the neighboring spaces for anyone else.

It would be wonderful if you could impress upon your readers that it only takes a few seconds to make sure that one is parked properly--and that not to do so is extremely selfish and inconsiderate.

JULIE MAY

Los Angeles