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.

I do not have them at such but they canbe bloody awkward when they park next to me.

I have an estate car which is sporty and a bit lower down than most cars. When one of these SUVs parks next to my car at the gym or supermarket I cannot see beyond them to get out of my space. I try to mitigate this by parking in a quiet bit of the car park but for reasons unknown some imbilcile will always park next to me rather than in a clear area of spaces. Fucking plebs.

If you are actually generally out and about doing long distances with the family fair enough. But I bet a lot aren’t.

Of course they aren’t, because not everybody can justify or afford to buy a special car just to do the shopping and another for long distance family trips.

I don’t need it but i love it , 3L diesel here so not too bad . I would never buy a small car , I hate being low of the ground and crammed. Is not a status thing at all is just personal preference, loads of bitterness and jealousy on here .

They take up all the space and jam the streets up. Everyone else is having to manoeuvre around them. They dazzle you at night because the lights are in your face. When they drive over a speed bump behind you at night you think you are being flashed. They reduce visibility at junctions and are more likely to kill people. They are anti social for all the above reasons.

Where’s the bitterness or jealousy? No one is the least bit jealous. People have said they would be embarrassed and ashamed to drive an SUV. The very opposite of bitterness and jealousy.

I agree too 💯

@Changingnametime People have said they would be embarrassed and ashamed to drive an SUV.
Embarrassed and ashamed? If driving a type of vehicle?
Some people need to stop being fucking weird. Embarrassed and ashamed of being a self righteous twat perhaps but of driving a standard vehicle? That's very odd behaviour

And someone who swears and is aggressive isn’t the sort of person whose opinion anyone will pay attention to.

@Changingnametime oooooo swears. Bad person. Rap on knuckles. 🙄

Lots of people round here can legitimately make the same case for owning that kind of car as OP. Which is fair enough. But if you drive a car like that, for the love of God for once in your life be the one to drive up a bumpy verge in a narrow country lane, rather than thinking my battered old hatchback needs less cosseting than your shiny 4x4.
Oh, and creeping out in between two badly parked monster trucks to try to spot other moving vehicles/pedestrians, after I've squeezed my hefty arse back into my centrally positioned crapmobile - not my idea of a good time.

The curb that's actually the kerb.

Yeah, you’re living up to all the unpleasant stereotypes of the SUV driver. You’ve proved my point perfectly.

Again with the jealousy thing 🤣

The first defense of SUV drivers is 'you're just jealous of my car'. No one here is jealous, but it speaks volumes that SUV drivers want people to be jealous of them.

I defy the SUV fans to point to any single post on this thread that looks like jealousy.

And the "I have to drive the family a long distance so I should have an SUV" argument is also ridiculous. Back before SUV everyone who had to drive the family long distances did it in a conventional car. Many many people still do. It's fine.

Thing is, if we're not jealous there was little point in some people buying them.

Can't be nice to discover that £34k investment didn't do what you thought it would. Nobody wants to be that wrong!

I defy the SUV fans to point to any single post on this thread that looks like jealousy.

There may be no overt jealousy, but I can’t help noticing that some posters are exhibiting a fair bit of contempt, condescension, lack of mutual respect, subtle (and not so subtle) contempt, and a need to control.

“A common phenomenon illustrating the surfacing of envy is "condescension" and "patronizing." The person suffering from envy behaves with impertinence, lack of mutual respect, subtle contempt, and downright bad manners masked by needing to control”

Condescension is Manifest Envy, Frank J. Ninivaggi M.D., DLF-A.P.A. 2012

I drive a traditional saloon car, by the way. With a boot.

Repeated myself there. Duh!

I'm pretty sure most people aren't jealous of SUVs but a lot of the arguments don't always make a lot of sense

• bad for the environment - obviously some are more polluting but several are now hybrid,
• too big - they come in a variety of sizes some of the smaller ones aren't any longer than a hatchback or small estate, and shorter than MPV people carriers (are people carriers an acceptable alternative?)
• ppfft people are only driving around town, they don't need 4wd.....except some aren't 4wd....but then they're "fake" suvs....?
• the people that drive them are entitled or obnoxious - There are (unfortunately) people like that but I'm not sure that's a prerequisite for owning one.
• bad driving - as I said in a previous post, if ever I've been tailgated, seen cars overtaking in dangerous or inappropriate places, cutting up, middle lane hogging, crossing all 3 lanes of the motorway at speed, speeding down residential roads, turning without indicating, doing u-turns in idiotic places, it's almost never an SUV driver. Although obviously that's not an exhaustive list of bad or unsociable driving, a lot of the above are committed by people driving supposedly more acceptable cars.

I assumed that what they meant was 'what kerb?' as in ' there's literally no kerb'. That's what I mean by a narrow lane, anyway. The edges are a hedge or a ditch, and sometimes there's grass growing up the middle of the lane.

There's no jealousy, every car manufacturer makes SUVs , you can lease one for a few hundred pounds per month which I suspect a lot of people do. Being jealous would mean something isn't available for the majority but suvs definitely are 🤣. It says something about the personality of someone if they buy an SUV to try make others jealous at least buy something rarer..

By this argument, I'm also jealous of Incels, people with plastic grass and bad drivers in general.

By this argument, I'm also jealous of Incels, people with plastic grass and bad drivers in general.

No, you may be displaying genuine contempt for them.

The point I was trying to make is that is little point in scanning through posts looking for overt jealousy as few people will openly admit to being jealous. Their jealousy is masked.

So, you can't actually tell if people are jealous or not but have decided they might be, despite them explicitly telling you that they're not jealous.

Ok.

The point I was trying to make is that is little point in scanning through posts looking for overt jealousy as few people will openly admit to being jealous. Their jealousy is masked.

Is it though? Why are SUV drivers so convinced criticism about their cars has to be rooted in jealousy? Do they genuinely believe that's why others don't like them? Do you buy the car because of a desire to make others jealous?

Personally I'd buy a sports car and do track days if I wanted to show off wealth.