Why all the hate for SUV’s/4x4 vehicles?

[FluffyRabbitSocks]

Why do so many people on mumsnet hate SUV and 4 wheel drive vehicles? I don’t think it’s a correct reflection of the UK publics preference because you see so many of this type of vehicle on the roads and in car parks these days. I couldn’t get myself so worked up about what car a person chooses to buy and drive and really don’t think a hybrid Toyota Rav 4 or Honda CRV is any worse for the environment than a diesel MPV like a Vauxhall Zafira.

@FluffyRabbitSocks I've made this point a few times, but it's not just whilst driving.

Pedestrians find it very difficult to cross roads safely due to the height of these cars. As an adult I find it unsafe, children have no chance. This has nothing to do with not teaching road safety, it's a fact that to see what cars are coming you have to be in the middle of the road due to the height of these cars.

Some 4x4s will have boot space, but the average SUV will not be bigger than our estate for boot space and we don't need to put seats down. We looked at SUVs as we need room to transport heavy, big canvas tents/poles etc. Not a chance would this work in an average SUV.

That's another thing we SUV drivers have apparently.

@theycallmestacie

Don't be ridiculous.

At that point you hire the necessary vehicle (ie a van) you don't then use that vehicle for the school run or shopping trip.

It's about using what's appropriate. SUV's are generally not appropriate on urban school runs.

@theycallmestacie oh lip fillers no don’t have them 😂.

@theycallmestacie that's like saying 'oh, I moved house once so now I need a van for my every day vehicle'. Hire cars and vans are a thing.

Because everyone would be safer. The ones in the stupid huge cars (that are statistically more likely to kill the people inside them), the ones in pavements and the ones in other cars (who are statistically more likely to be killed by them).

@BeardyButton that was the post where I was quoting and hit 'post' too soon.

They are not safer for their occupants. Twice as likely to roll. More like to have fatalities.

They are a danger to other road users. In a high speed crash they will destroy the other car and anyone in it. They block the view of other drivers at junctions. They take up more than a car parking space. They are terrible for the environment. Obnoxious cars for obnoxious people.

If you're set on showing off your immense wealth because other people are 'just jealous', get a sports car and go to track days. Have fun! Don't get impractical cars that make life dangerous for pedestrians and children walking on school runs.

Basically, beyond people who actually need them (farmers and the like), suvs are for people who

a) don’t give two shits about other road users and pedestrians

b) think driving an suv make them and their kids safer, but aren’t bright enough to understand that statistically they actually put them at a bigger risk

c) care deeply that they are perceived of as v wealthy (and so are victims of the success of recent pushes to advertise suvs to this market).

A person is 11% more likely to die in a crash inside an SUV than a regular saloon.

I don't live urbanly. Am I absolved?

Wow! Busses and vans and lorries must really scare you then! How do you and your kids live with such anxiety? I think maybe the kids learn from their parents though. I have a DD who’s scared or spiders on account of DP.

1. Correct. I don’t give a F.
2. I am safer, but then I have a real 4x4 from before the SUV era. Statistics don’t make you safe. Mass and structural stability make you safe.
3. Mine is 20+ years old. I don’t even lock it. No one thinks I’m wealthy, and no-one has ever tried to take it or saw its Cat off it.

@WillowBeeT we don't get buses or lorries parked on our terraced street though. It's nothing to do with fear, it's simply stating that crossing roads is dangerous due to tall SUVs.

We do get a lot of vans and yes, I find the same difficulty crossing because of those. But those will be tradespeople who have a need for those vehicles.

Better for the environment that an EV though, unless you conveniently exclude both the manufacture of the vehicle and the manufacture of the fuel. There is no vehicle more harmful to the planet than an EV running in lithium batteries and being charged by burning natural gas to make electricity.

There is a difference between a 4x4 and a hatchback with a body kit. The majority of SUVs are just hatchbacks with body kits. You pay for the lip filler and the botox to try to improve the face you present to the world.

If you’re going to buy a 4x4, but a real one.

At least you admit to it!

4x4s same likelihood of rolling in virtue of higher centre of gravity. Don’t think they are exempt from the stats on inc danger. But then, you don’t seem to understand statistics very well so don’t let that stand in the way of your love for the 4x4.

Again! No! That’s not true. I hate when people use half baked science to push an agenda. Over the lifetime of the car, EVs are cleaner.

climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/are-electric-vehicles-definitely-better-climate-gas-powered-cars

Yes because they are easier to roll over and tip. A lower to the ground car will always handle itself better.

What about hitting a child?

Have you thought about not crossing the road between parked vehicles?
I learned not to cross the road between parked vehicles in the 1970’s, but I’m guessing the green cross code is not longer de rigueur.

87% of statistics are meaningless. 94% of them are made up to fit the chosen narrative.

That would most certainly be an option if such a road existed, unfortunately urban terraced streets don't look like that and there's no option but to cross between parked cars.

I'm the type of person who will walk further to use a pedestrian crossing.

When was the last time you tried to cross an urban, residential, terraced street?