The Mark of Mud

You’ve got a four-wheel drive off road vehicle that never goes off road? Slap some mud on it.

Flip on the telly during the NFL Wild Card football games this weekend and you’re likely to see a bunch of commercials touting a variety of next-generation SUVs.

Each ad looks about the same — attractive people load up their oversized 4x4 to head out over some terrain negotiable only by Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, throwing up dirt and gravel all the way. The automotive action is usually followed by an image of the same folks setting up camp or jumping into a kayak or dangling off a rock.

Looks like fun — looks being the operative word here.

The truth is that only about 5 percent of SUVs are ever taken off-road, which means that you’re more likely to see a Range Rover at Starbucks, for example, than anywhere near a mountain lake. For most SUV owners, the look and the possibility of one day actually locking in the four-wheel drive are worth the extra bucks in the purchase price.

Given the current debate about rising gas prices, oil shortages, environmental...