to not know why people drive Unnecessarily Big Cars?

[herecomesthetide]

So, the thing is, lots of people I know have started to buy what I call Unnecessarily Big Cars (henceforth known as UBCs). One example would be a VW Tourag (not totally sure how you spell that). Not the space wagon one, the sort of four wheel-y drive one. Or another family we know have just bought a Landrover Discovery. These are families with two or possibly three children. They live in a very big city. They do not regularly if ever drive 'off-road'. I just really don't know why people buy these cars, so this is a genuine question. Is it because they need the space? Because we have two children and don't feel that we do. If it's something else, what is it? I just ... I don't know, if I'm totally honest I find these cars a little obnoctious. And the funny thing is the people we know who have bought them would have laughed with us a couple of years ago about wallys driving around in Chelsea Tractors but now they are the ones driving the tractors and I'm too scared to ask them what changed! Any thoughts?

I have a scenic. Its a company car. Its a 7 seater. There are 3 of us. At the mo.

I am looking forward to being able to go out this weekend with DH, DD, my best mate and her 2 kids all in one car.

We actually got it because its high enough that my mum can get in and out easily and with the back seats down I can fit in DD's push chair and mum's wheelchair.

Going away with mates for new year with the barrel of beer AND the spare pushchair (which was used lots by friends who hadn't managed to take theirs was utterly fabulous.

Do I still open the boot and expect to find my old yaris in there? Oh yes!

Because I want it.
Because I can afford it.
Because I like it.

Such persuasive arguments.

What is unnecessary to you may be necessary to another.

Panzee - agreed. All of these seem like totally sensible and sane reasons. NOT that it is my place to judge what is sensible and sane, and I really mean that. Have to say that I don't count Scenic's etc in this precisely because (is it wrong to say this?) they couldn't really be mistaken for status symbols. Or could they? Now I've just totally contradicted my stance as non-judgemental. Oh god, I think I'm going to get off here before I get eaten alive by scary big car owners!

"Because I want it.
Because I can afford it.
Because I like it.

Such persuasive arguments."

Is it just me? I often buy things because I like them, can afford them and want them. This morning a bought an item of jewellery for myself. I don't need it but I wanted, liked and could afford it so it bought it.
Bibbity, have you never bought something you like because you wanted it and could afford it?

Where's the sin in that?

I want, I want .......

What about the environment???

They drive those cars to make sure that they survive a crash with your little tiny car.
That what it seems to be all about.
"I can afford this UBC, I'm protecting my familly, stuff yours!"

Land Rover Discoveries are scary

Not to the extent of a large car, no!

I bought myself a packet of maltesers today. I could afford it, I wanted it, did I really need it? - NO.

At least I can be honest with myself.

YANBU, OP.

I have often wondered about these ugly monstrosities. I can't see the point in them.

A small car will do the same job and is far more environmentally friendly.

They clog up the roads. They present a danger to drivers and passengers of smaller cars. They should be banned.

I'm sure that one of the reasons will be because of the change in the booster seat law. I have several friends with 3 children and who often have to ferry other children around. Each child needs a seat belt and all small children need booster seats. In the bad old (pre compulsory seat belt) days when I was a child I remember 10 of us cramming into a saloon car.

Some people drive them because they are status symbols - one of my neighbours does, and she is so tiny she doesn't realise how ridiculous she looks in her enormous car. Incidentally her big car is only ever used for local journeys. I reckon the furthest it has ever travelled is 30 miles.

I actually like my medium sized family hatchback. It is nippy and I can travel a lot further on a tank of petrol than a gas guzzling 4x4.

Agree with bunbaker.

Since the laws regarding booster seats have changed, big cars are becoming a neccessity. Which seems a bit odd when we are all being advised to but smaller, better enviromentally friendly cars.

I have 3 DCs and have a 7 seater car. But only because 3 child seats won't fit in a 'normal' car.

Personally I hate it as it makes me feel like I'm showing off on the school run, like you (OP) suggest. But can't get round it until DCs are bigger.

I sit every morning in my Seat Ibiza in a traffic jam on the slip road off the E40 into the Brussels suburbs, taking my dd to school. Every other car in that queue is MASSIVE, and all of them contain only one person. I often comment on it, and think that we really MUST take the bus....

"So what about the environment?"

Slipper, stuff the environment. I used to earn a (very good) living working with fast cars. I paid my taxes too and I'd be a hypocrite to start sobbing about the environment now.

In my case, were I to own that Lambo or Ferrari, I'd make up for my impact on the environment by the fact that I don't take foreign holidays.

I'm unashamedly to the right of Jeremy Clarkson on this issue, sorry.

We borrowed my FIL's Discovery for a long drive to my mum's at Christmas. At first I was embarassed to be seen driving it, but I quickly forgot all about that. I can see why rich people buy them to carry their beloved children in: I felt we were totally invulnerable, gliding along the motorway in our chariot of righteousness.

The extra few feet in height gave me a feeling of quietly confident superiority, and meant I wasn't blinded by spray every time I overtook a lorry. And it had 6 gears, and some sort of ludicrous turbo-charged engine. It was fun! Even if it did make me go a bit Clarkson.

We have one because - my OH is a big guy and can't fit into a Clio or similar. We also need to tow a trailer/caravan on a regular basis too.

PLus in the bad weather we were suddenly very popular with the family as our car was the only one able to do the supermarket run ;)

Because they are arrogant arseholes with a massive sense of entitlement who give not a shit about who they may smash into on their little drive from A to B, let alone ever thinking about why soldiers in Iraq (who usually have no other career choice beyond asking if someone wants fries with that) are out there fighting. (hint: it's not for the good of the locals).

That's why they drive unnecessarily big cars. They look like twats too, and it takes them six times longer to be let out of a junction.

Thanks Scrumpet, for saying just what I think.

Love my big diesel monster,
needed a 7 seater and im just not a people carrier kinda gal............

I do have solar panels
so am not all bad :-)

Vallhala, are you Jeremy Clarkson in disguise? Are you one of these people who drive to the recycling centre and then leave the engine running while you dump all the empties in the glass bins?

Eh Scrumpet?

So only drivers of large vehicles are indifferent when they have accidents? And do they have more accidents than drivers of small cars?

WRT the (irrelevant) remark on soldiers in Afganistan, do you not think that some of them drive and own large, fast cars? One of my pals, a serving soldier, drives a Shogun, another drives a sports car.

Bunbaler, I don't use recycling centres - come to that I very, very rarely drink either so there are no empties to dump. :o

But if I were Clarkson in disguise I'd be out in a Lambo right now, not dealing with fighting children and MN-ing! :o

I drive a jeep cherokee. Why? Because I need it for my other job, which is running a stables on my parents farm. It featured in this years newsletter from the equine vet when I used it to run items up and down from the farm to the fields in a, successful, attempt to save a stuck horse. I can also chuck all my fencing gear in it too and tootle off down the fields. It also is an excellent road car and gets used for the school run too. I have been bloody glad to have it these past two winters, especially last December when overdue with DS2. Without it I wouldn't have been able to get out and get to hospital when I went into labour. It also can take 2 adults, 2 kids, a big jane buggy and a full shop. Would I change it? Would I hell as like. I love my workhorse-mobile.

You people that feel it's selfish to have a big car because there are people on the roads using little cars, do you feel the same way about lorrys that deliver essential produce all over the country? Or the vans that go around fixing peoples heating or fitting their bathrooms? Are they allowed, because, in your opinion, they serve a more worthy purpose?

The jealousy that some people show on here amazes me. What business is it of anyone else's what car someone chooses to drive?

weeeeeeeeeel I had a rant last year about exH buying a (2nd hand) 4x4 - and apparently they're dirt cheap these days as they're so expensive to run (or something) - I was given plausible reasons why a skint man, that needed a car for work, would buy a 4x4 rather than a mini (well something like that )