Why do people buy SUVs?

[MuskIsACnt]

I need a new car and I’ve always had a small car but it seems every other car now is an SUV, so I’m wondering why and whether I need one.

The boot space is often the same as smaller cars, they’re more expensive and arguably harder to park. Am I missing some great benefit that I should be considering? Or does driving a big car just make people feel big (I used to drive a Luton van and that made me feel big)?

I don't know.
I guess they like the elavated view and the look?

I had a Nissan juke for 5 years, god knows why I bought it, our now hatchback is bigger inside with a bigger boot.

ha ha! and round here!

The farmers and horsey folk who actually need them are more likely to drive some battered old car, or a tractor

@GiraLi I once worked with a guy like that, 6ft 3 not quite rugby player but carrying a keg. He drove a transit van because it was cheap and comfy for him.

I also know a guy who's taller 6ft 6 - who just doesn't drive - could never find an instructor with a car big enough for him to fit.

Several reasons for us having our mid size family SUV-

• we live in a rural town so having the SUV can be better in adverse weather
• boots space, could fit the buggy and various other items and equipment in for holidays and days out
• safety, as you've pointed out there's so many others on the road I feel much safer in a bigger car

-safety, a few weeks ago a driver hit my SUV head on (after they were over taking on a blind bend, as I later found out from a witness), the car and safety features meant all four of us got out of the car with relatively minor injuries

I don't think I'd go as far as having a huge range rover as i feel that's overkill but I doubt I'll ever have anything smaller than my Sportage.

It's not about judging people - that's silly and pointless - I was just genuinely shocked by the safety and environmental stats when I was researching SUVs and given the mainstream media has not done it's job (people still think they are 'safer' when they are not) the information needs to be out there so people can make an informed choice. I am very against people's vehicles being targeted.

I'm sure Skoda will be thrilled to hear that the Karoq (slightly smaller than a Golf) is a luxury /status car. Ditto VW's T-Roc (also about the size/slightly smaller than a Golf).

If you want to legislate about something you need to define it first. SUV is not a definition, its a marketing label which mostly includes cars with better accessibility than low seated saloons.

If it helps sometimes it happens to short people!

My wife is small, and we've found all vws, and skodas have a slight up turn to the clutch that she can't reach
Some of seat adjusters want to push her onto the steering wheel in order to get the height to see properly.Pre electric boots, we has a few boots that she couldnt reach

Car hunting was a nightmare and something i had never thought about. It was also something that car sales men kept trying to say wouldn't be a problem when it clearly was!

Again where's the line between a MPV, people carrier and an SUV?

The lines are very fudged and trying to create any sort of tax laws on what is and what isn't a SUV will end up like Cakes and Chocolate biscuits staple food vs luxury item, zero vat vs 20%

I have an suv because I need a certain seating position to avoid hip and knee pain. For example, my old 206 caused me horrific knee pain and this led to hip issues. But my Tiguan has a much more upright /higher seating aspect which means I can see more of the road and it hurts a lot less and doesn’t trigger any pain even after a 4 hour journey. . I also like the larger windows and roomy feel of a larger suv. . My dd got a brand new captur yesterday and I drove it home due to the ice and her feeling nervous. Nice enough car, but tiny windows despite it being classed as a SUV. My Tiguan felt like a greenhouse in comparison.

@Conkers2 my MIL had this at 5'1" struggled to find comfortable cars. Ended up with an automatic Polo but I totally understand about the shoving you into the steering wheel. when adjusting the seat. I had a hire car once that I could not get comfortable in at all. As it was temporary I just lived with it being shit for a few days.

@Needanewname42 he would love a transit van, honestly, it would also be handy for DIY stuff and tip runs too.

I agree.

Anybody saying space for holidays or camping trips has a lack of critical thinking. An equivalent age estate from the same manufacturer is cheaper and has a bigger boot.

Generally I think that most people buy an SUV because they assume these are the best cars for the job when they have children.

The other benefit of estates is that children can climb in and get seated from about 2 years old. With an SUV you are often needing to help them in.

To fit 3 car seats easier, or for the safety aspect in case of being crashed into.

The point is that it is a luxury, whatever the brand - it is bigger, more wasteful and more dangerous than the hatchbacks/saloons everyone was perfectly happy to drive 20 years ago.

The pedestrian risk is about the shape of the front of the car, which applies even to small SUVs - there are videos on Youtube that show the difference in how the car impacts pedestrians. A low front gives more chance of the person surviving.

Sorry, this is not true. Winter tyres are the safest option. A 4 wheel drive makes it slightly less likely you will skid, but if you do skid you are far more likely to over turn in a 4x4. The centre of gravity is too high.

In part, it's driven by the car industry and the types of designs of cars now produced. We needed a car to tow our caravan when our Ford Mondeo died a few years ago. We very much wanted another Mondeo but couldn't find one secondhand at the time - they don’t produce the model any more and there was a shortage of secondhand cars coming out of the pandemic. We ended up with an SUV (Mazda CX-5) due to lack of anything else available. Nice car but the boot space is rubbish by comparison with the Mondeo.

Totally agree, defining what is and isn't as SUV wouldn't be easy.
Most of them are squarish cars and some might be classed as estates.
Very few are actually four wheel drive, that could seperate them from standard cars.

Oh and Rolls Royce now do an SUV too - nobody will be driving that across a field. I nearly fell over when I spotted one driving towards me.

Have had a Lexus hybrid for 10 years now, bought her when she was 7 😁

Enormous boot, which is incredibly useful because we always buy furniture, etc., second hand. Can get a double wardrobe/bed complete in her rear end. saved us thousands in van hire over the years, I’d say.

When the kids were younger I used to ferry them with friends to sports fixtures, often at schools in the countryside and it can handle all weathers/minor floods/mud etc.

We’re retiring to the Highlands soon and, still going strong, she’ll come into her own in that respect again.

Internal space, a boot big enough for all the kids sports kids and feeling safe on icy rural roads.

Personally, we have an SUV because we live rurally and we like the height for visibility and the lanes. We have 3 teens who play rugby and are built like tanks who need ferrying around. Plus the dog, plus a big boot for Uni accommodation moves on an annual basis. It's just the only practical option.

I don't like them but I definitely need my volvo estate which is low on the ground so easier to get massive items like a mattress into the boot when all seats other than front are down (becomes like a small van so is ideal for me). Everyone has different needs. I don';t like these SUVs people have all over the place here in outer London - they are too high on the road (we are not in the countryside here).

Marvellous except lots of estates are no longer being manufactured. Even volvo the king of estates tried to stop manufacturing estates

Skoda holds strong but lots of the old estate models of other brands have been phased out for suvs

Most of the estates on the road now won't be able to be replaced

Not all cars labelled SUVs have the very high fronts of the type used in shock videos. Do you have hard research data which shows small SUVs cause more problems than full sized electric family saloons? I can only find collections of anecdata which focus on the very large vehicles (and where the results from equally large electric saloons are pretty terrible as well).

Incidentally "SUVs" were around 20 years ago - they just didn't carry that label.

You still haven't defined SUV - you can't legislate if you can't define.

I think SUVs will be more regulated in urban areas in future - there's a limit to what we can fit on the roads in this country after all - but sadly it will come after too many unnecessary deaths. I don't point this out with any glee - I really wanted one myself before I did the research. I bought a boring little hatchback instead which I don't love, but if a kid runs out in front of my car they will have a better chance of surviving which is clearly the most important thing.

I agree about people assuming suv=huge. These are both suvs but with a similar height and size to non suvs