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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not know why people drive Unnecessarily Big Cars?

155 replies

herecomesthetide · 16/02/2011 20:42

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?

OP posts:
VivaLeBeaver · 17/02/2011 23:05

My car's been written off by an idiot in a Landrover Discovery last week. His big tank 4x4 has a slight dent in the bumper and it has done £1000s of damage to my car.

He reversed into me while I was parked outside my daughter's school. He said he can't see out the back of it at all as its so high up. Hmm

And he'd just got it back from the garage after driving into someone else. Now I do realise that he's probably just a really shit driver but you do wonder how safe these things are if the visability in them is so bad. As he said - "at least it wasn't you daughter I ran over". No twat face but it easily could have been.

Wotznotnow · 17/02/2011 23:13

Makes you wonder how people got around in the 60's and 70's when most families didn't have a car at all.

cat64 · 17/02/2011 23:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SarahStrattonHasNiceBears · 17/02/2011 23:32

Viva that's utter bollocks he is talking. The vision out of the back of my Discovery was as good as any other car. Unless your car was a go-cart I can't see how he could miss it.

And the insurance on it was cheaper than my Golf, my Suzuki or XH's Focus. God I miss that car :(

hogsback · 17/02/2011 23:41

Always have a laugh at the 4x4s with no tow bar and daft 21" rims and low profile tires. Really don't understand the comments that they are 'nice to drive'. With perhaps th exception of the Cayenne they are all fat, slow, wallowing pigs that feel like they are going to fall over every time you go round a roundabout at a decent pace.

If you want plenty of space and a car that handles properly than the BMW, Merc and Audi estates are a much better choice - much better performance and better fuel economy too due to not having the aeros of a breeze block.

OliveMalay · 18/02/2011 00:25

YANBU. They just get you from A to B. Anything else is a luxury.

Bunbaker · 18/02/2011 07:14

"I totally fail to see how buying a brand new car, with all the energy and materials used to manufacture it, can be better than buying one that is pre-used and will go on for another 10-20 years providing it is serviced and cared for correctly."

Older cars produce far CO2 than new ones and the regulations are becoming more stringent. Approximately 80% of cars are now recycled - mostly the metal content.

catzcream · 18/02/2011 07:42

We only have 2 kids and drive a 7 seater. Why?

We holiday in this country and will quite often take a grandparent with us on holiday (3 people in a car with two monster car seats in the back is a no no).
On days out/ half term we nearly always have my nephews/ nieces with us and we easily fill 6/7 seats

It gives us the flexibility we want and makes holidaying in the UK something comfortable to do.

BelleBelicious · 18/02/2011 08:02

All those people who live on top of a hill in Scotland, have 4 kids or 3 St Bernards etc. back away. OP wasn't talking about you and isn't interested in why you drive a big car.

She wants to know why people who live, say in London, a town with exceptionally overcrowded streets - often very narrow, high levels of pollution and minimal free parking and who don't have more than 2 kids/dogs chose to drive a car the size of a van that guzzles petrol.

The only honest answer has to be that they care more about their supposed status than anyone else, or the environment.

Is this what you're afraid of admitting about your friends, OP?

donkeyderby · 18/02/2011 08:18

YANBU - perfectly good question, OP.

Why too, do those with the biggest cars, often feel the need to park in disabled bays without a Blue Badge in sight?

Some people have a need for big cars, others just get them because they are dickheads

poshsinglemum · 18/02/2011 08:27

Uggggr; i hate this vulgar big car thing. Especially vulgar big cars which are bad for the environment. double uggggrrr.

What are those HUGE massive truck things about for famnilies? Bigger than people carriers; almost trucks. For families of four. WHY?

Quenelle · 18/02/2011 10:28

We live in an urban area and have a Clio and a Scenic. I much prefer driving the Scenic because I sit higher up. I don't like the low, laidback feeling sitting in the Clio. Also, we can't fit our camping stuff or DH's band stuff in the Clio.

We miss our Discovery though. When the Scenic goes we'll replace it with another Discovery.

Bunbaker · 18/02/2011 18:39

"The only honest answer has to be that they care more about their supposed status than anyone else, or the environment."

Yes, that is certainly the impression they give.

I see a lot of four seater pick up trucks round where I live. They look so chavvy.

coraltoes · 18/02/2011 19:00

I live in London, I have a big car. I don't need it. I just wanted it and bought it...my road is fab for parking and guess what, my money also paid for parking sensors, so really its not hard to park at all if you know how to drive at all decently. I cant imagine whingeing about what other people spend their money on...life must be pretty dull for you!

My last car was a rather fast sportscar. You'd have probably moaned about that too. Different people like different things, that is why there are so many brands, designs, sizes, colours. Thank god for choice.

tinkgirl · 18/02/2011 19:21

I have a big car because we tow a caravan up and down the country. TBH though I get sick and tired of having to justify why I have the car that I have. I LIKE IT!! I feel safe in it!! being a bit higher up gives me a different view of the road as well.

cumfy · 18/02/2011 21:28

Have to do something with that undeservedly large amount of cash they own.Wine

cokezone1 · 18/02/2011 21:54

I have a 7 seater car. We got it as it had a boot large enough to fit double buggy in. We only have 2 children but its a real blessing. I can take dc's friends to birthday parties. I got 4 adults 2 kids and luggage in for a family holiday. Saved taking two cars on ferry.

scaryteacher · 18/02/2011 22:40

We have a Range Rover and a mid sized saloon. Both second hand, about 12 years old now, both converted to LPG so cheaper and greener to run than newer cars which aren't converted.

Dh has the Range Rover, uses it for towing classic car and glider; also for off roading and glider retrieval. Very useful for loading up at Tesco and driving the shopping back to Brussels; very useful for staying alive in Brussels traffic; and was great and comfortable for the Brussels /Cornwall commute that he used to do. Can get all the kit in there for scout camps and for DofE, and all the bikes if we want to take off somewhere. Invaluable in snow this Christmas as my car was iced in for 10 days.

allatsea1 · 18/02/2011 22:46

Come on - you can't be that naive? They are status symbols. If I could comfortably buy one without having to get it on finance or without having to go without I probably would. Not until that point though, unlike some .

redroof · 18/02/2011 23:11

I think the main reasons are:
Space
Comfort
Passenger safety
Status symbol
General Interest

I can understand their many attractions and could buy one if I so wished, but I've witnessed first hand what a bull-barred 4x4 has inflicted on a wayward child in a 20-mph zone.

TheBolter · 18/02/2011 23:36

Unbelievable amount of selfish comments on this thread.

Apart from those that live in the middle of nowhere / need a 4x4 for their job (let's face it, very few), no one's situations are any more special that the rest of us.

Got more than 2 children? Buy a people carrier.

Go camping once a year? (wtf Hmm) buy an estate car

Like to feel safe? Buy a people carrier or an estate car and help make the rest of us feel safe.

Just admit you buy the bloody things to pose in. Even though to most of us you look slightly twattish.

Just don;t think for a moment about the effect your beloved behemouths might have on the environment. Or a child that is hit by one, sustaining fatal head injuries, or the poor guy who died in an accident I witnessed by having his Ford Fiesta CUT IN HALF by a stupid woman pulling out of a junction in a Land Rover.

No, don;t think about the impact you may be having on anyone else, so longas you're alright Jack. Remember, your reasons are so much more valid that anyone else's Hmm.

And don't delude yourself that I'm jealous. My dream car of choice is either a Mercedes E class estate or an Audi A4 estate. Yumm.

Bunbaker · 19/02/2011 08:46

OH's Mondeo has sensors at the back which make parking a lot easier. If it is so difficult to see when reversing one of these tanks why aren't they fitted as standard?

onceamai · 19/02/2011 09:03

Well my ancient and trusty French MPV is just about at the end of its days. Had hoped when I bought it that the next car, when the DC were almost grown, would be smaller. Two DC 12 and 16 and sadly have had to accept that the children get bigger and the prams and travel cots are replaced with cricket bags (can be three if doing the run and if the DH is umpiring has to take the scoreboards as well) and cellos. My fantasies of a golf are long gone. Off soon to test drive the following:

SMax - had hoped the CMax but it isn't quite big enough, Citroen C4, and the Toyota one, my mechanic keeps trying to convince me to get a Touran but they are just so boring. Live in SW London and because we only have off street parking for one car, I can't justify leaving anything more expensive on the drive although lots do. At the end of the day to me it's a car, it does the runs, it takes me to work, it does the shopping, and it comes on holiday with us. I will buy something about a year old, because also can't justify the depreciation aspect. I shall buy a 2 litre, because when fully packed that's the minimum engine I am happy with; my current 1.8 is beginning to feel not quite enough. It will last me for 9-10 years and will be waved farewell when it has approaching 80,000 on the clock and that I feel minimises my carbon footprint.

WiiUnfit · 19/02/2011 09:19

OP, YABslightlyU & here's why:
Yes, some individuals do just get huge cars when they never have any intention of taking them off-road, in snow or anything else, but that is their choice.

However,

PIL's own a Freelander, they have their own milk delivery business where the majority of customers are very elderly, vulnerable, unable to get out & about, frail & isolated.

During the past few bad winters PILs have still managed to get out to deliver to all of their customers, in their Freelander, meaning hundreds who would have been without milk, eggs, potatoes & the like otherwise still had their essentials.

They also took a friend of theirs who was having a heart attack to where the ambulance could get to during the snow, they saved his life by having a "UBC".

If our baby was due winter time, they also would have been on standby to take myself & DP to the hospital (15 miles of horrendous roads away). They still might be on call if we have a summer like 2007 (we live in Gloucestershire where it flooded terribly!)

Speaking of the 2007 floods in Gloucs, did you know thousands of UBC 4x4 owners spent days driving through flood water to aid the emergency services & rescue individuals?

So, to all those who think that all 4x4 drivers just buy them for status/selfishness .etc, you're wrong.

Bunbaker · 19/02/2011 09:30

"So, to all those who think that all 4x4 drivers just buy them for status/selfishness .etc, you're wrong"

I don't think anyone thinks that. I think the general consensus is that those people who want a huge car because it is a status symbol and show a complete disregard for the environment are being the selfish ones, especially people with small/no families, live in a busy town, never go on long journeys and never tow anything or carry big loads.

It is snowing like mad here in rural and hilly South Yorkshire so I wish I had one right nowSmile