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?

Bunbaker, I was referring to the few people who have posted one line comments of the like. :)

Just as another thrupance worth...

in national emergencies (flooding/snow!), messages are posted on all the 4x4 forums asking for help if needed.

hubby actually went out when we had snow to go pull peeps in their little cars out of ditches, pulling them up hills etc etc, unblocking roads where cars had slid down hills.

We ended up doing the shopping for the little lady over our road as she wouldn't even walk down path.

So there are benefits too.

At the end of the day, you make choices in lfe, what car you buy, where your kids go to school, who you screw over at work to get your promotion, etc

Whose to say that one person is right or wrong in their personal decisions

I am glad I live in the desert and can justify my Hummer H3. Try hitting a camel at 120kph in a Smart or GWiz! (also petrol 11p a litre!). If I lived in England I wouldn't have a huge car because I find the aggression people feel for 4x4 owners scary. I have seen the cardboard wheelclamp parade wrecking cars outside my house in SW London and spitting on their owners. (Not saying you people are like that before you take offence)

oh that comment about size being 'necessary' is rubbish - if it were size only people could buy vans that have seats or even minibuses - these vehicles have a 'value' that is 'expresses presence' - ie it warms people's hearts to think that they look dominant in them. But they are not as practical as people make out as they get stuck at junctions, can't pass two way in many small streets, and a look at city traffic shows big cars blocking up the roads whenever there is minor disturbance - Also the practical use of the money involved would be to have a small car for the commute, and a larger one (estate say) for the children and stuff - that is not the same as a tank-sized high-sided dominant twatmobile

ooo @Jasminetom don't you just lurve the hummer!

I agree that I cannot hand on heart say I need a car that does 10 miles to the gallon. Although I can justify a 4x4 on the grounds of where I live, I have to be honest. I love my car because it makes me feel big, safe and immortal. Anyone who says they have one but hate driving it are liars. It is the best feeling in the world.

so what would you drive if everyone were driving giant 4x4s? an f'in tank? 3 miles to gallon??

Well where do you draw the line OP?

Some people buy designer clothes - no need to spend £200 on a skirt surely, when you can get one for £5 from Primark?

Some people live in huge houses - no need to live in a 5 bed detached on your own?

etc etc....

People just make different choices how to spend their own money and will have different reasons.

We drive a 7 seater car and that's because we have 4 children, so we need at least 6 seats plus a bit of spare space for buggies/bags.

If that dress got in everyone's way and stopped people shopping and was used to push people over and risk breaking their shins due to inadequate pedestrial protection then I would care.

FYI you don't need to have 4 children either

Now I do know a man with an extreme fire engine addiction...so I think that answers the question.

This is all rather silly.

Kryshees: 'who you screw over to get your promotion'. Niiiiiiiiiiice.

I'm a bit fed up with this issue of 'choice'. Well of course people have various choices, it doesn't mean though that they need to exercise them to do anything they fancy. Of course each person's sense of morality is different, so yes it's very difficult to say what's 'right' and 'wrong'. As Emy says 'where do you draw the line', it's hard to say. But the fact that it's difficult to decide these things doesn't mean we're not entitled to make judgments & have thoughts about other people's choices (and our own).

Personally I'm tired & a bit irritated by the vast amount of 4x4s in my area. They completely clog the streets & I find (in an anecdotal way, based on my own experience) that they tend to be quite aggressive, arrogant drivers. I don't want to generalise of course, but that's how it seems here in London's suburbia. I really think they're just too fucking massive for these streets.

I suppose my perspective is influenced by the fact that I live opposite a primary school, so at school run time everyday my street fills up with 4x4s who park illegally & drive dangerously. You could say others do the same, the only problem is that the 4x4s can cause much more damage to the children walking around at those times (and the local residents & parents have complained many times about this particular issue). If a smaller car exceeds the 20mph speed limit around the school (which they do) they can cause much much less damage if an accident happens than the 4x4s.

I also- and this is totally personal- find them utterly ugly cars. I really don't get why they're considered stylish etc. But I accept each to their own when regards taste.

I can't help this sort of thing needs to be put in a FAQ section of MN.

help thinking this sort of thing...

we live in the middle of nowhere and get away with small cars (and when we had 3 small children we mysteriously managed without big cars as well) OK, we were snowed in for 2 or 3 days when the weather was really bad, and I guess we're lucky that we can do work from home, BUT the road wasn't usuable by 4x4's either. Most of them are driven by people who have no idea of how to use them in adverse conditions, IMO. In the recent bad snow I saw several of them stranded by the side of the road.

@maria2007loveshersleep, why thank you. Or should I be offended??!!

x

I see that many drivers of big cars are unable to understand the subtle nuances of the OP and have assumed that she is referring to them even if they tow, rescue, breed legions of children etc etc .

If I could afford it I might well buy a car that had specifications beyond my actual necessities - a camper van, a natty little sports number or something. 'unnecesary' doesn't have to be judgmental. But unfortunately massive cars in a very tight urban situations DO impact badly on other people, so an be inconsiderate.

Some other misunderstandings/ observations:

Valhalla - actually Insurance stats show that proportionately more drivers of 4x4s are found to be at fault in accidents than drivers of other cars.

4x4s may get less bogged down in snow, but are not better at getting up hills in snow. My Fiat Punto would get happily to the top while cars with big fat tyres skidded and floundered, and anything with RWD was in the ditch. 4x4s do not brake more reliably in snow than cars with small narrow tyres, either - just bigger and heavier as they slide towards thier target. There were loads of reports on MN in the big freeze about little cars making it to the top...

A Freelander is no bigger than an average car? I had to park in the Pay and display waitrose car park today as the free sainsbury's one was full, and I gazed at a Freelander and thought how enormous it was against the ordinary cars. Modest-ish next to the range rovers, X5s and XC90s, granted, but NO WAY the same as an average car!

Anyone who needs parking sensors to park a car, any car, shouldn't be driving it, imo.

You can get 3 car seats in the back of a Ford focus! And a wheelchair and a week's groceries in the back of a Punto, without the seats down!

If you drive these things for pleasure just say so - but please also be gracious and honest enough to understand that they do inconvenience other road users in places like central London.

Bollocks caro, when the snow was really bad here only 4x4s could get up our hill, they are miles better at climbing a hill in snow. Our Discovery was amazing in the snow, we towed half our neighbours up the hill.

They are no less likely to slide their way down an icy hill than a normal car, I will agree with that.

I have posted below about my reasons for having one, steep high hill in Scotland, towing vehicles etc, but I do drive it every so often into the city centre, at which point I probably look just like all the other Chelsea tractor drivers, so save your venom until you actually know a particular driver has one just for the image.

It isn't 'bollocks' and don't be so rude! This thread, for example is full of small cars getting up hills when others couldn't. But that's the thing. I would be very surprised if any great poportion of big expensive high spec 4x4s in London are regularly driven outside the M25, never mind up a mountain. I know many aren't because they belong to my neighbours who do not tow horses, go anywhere muddy or rescue lost sheep. They just block my street day in day out! You clearly drive a 'workhorse' type of Landrover, not a Porsche Cayenne, and live in a mountainous area. The OP wasn't calling your 4x4 'uneccesary', and there was no venom in my post.

you do realise that even small RWD cars are shite in the snow. It has nothing to do with the size of the car.

I have a S-Max. big enough for three children, a dog and luggage and even an extra child or two when required. gone are the days when you could just shove a few extra kids on the back seat and make them all shove up. some may think it is unnecessarily big but I find it to be the perfect size for my needs. horses for courses.

Excellent post Caro. My friend's VW polo was brilliant in the snow last year because it has narrow tyres. My modest Focus with its low profile tyres was useless.

Soupdragon You don't need to justify your car, Caro wasn't having a pop at drivers like you. One of my responses many posts ago justified large cars because of the booster seat laws.

Small cars with skinny tyres are undeniable better than your standard family car in the snow, but saying they are better than getting up a snow covered hill than a 4 wheel drive car is wishful thinking and quite frankly utter tosh.

We had a VW polo before we bought the Landrover so I'm well aware of the differences driving them in snow.

DH commutes in a bluemotion golf and it was lethal in the snow. It got left at home for over a month in the winter before we bought snowsocks for it.

How easy are snowsocks to get on and off? Both OH and I drive cars with low profiles and they are as useful as banana skins in the snow. (I didn't particularly want low profiles, but it seems that every car I looked at that I could afford had them).

I haven't put them on myself, but apparently reasonably easy, AFAIK you hook them over the top of the tyre drive forward and hey presto they're on. That's what the instructions say as far as I remember, not sure what the reality is though.

SoupDragon: RWD cars are not shite in the snow. What do you think the weather is like in Germany - home of BMW and Mercedes-Benz? We have a powerful RWD car and have NO problem in the snow, slush, ice etc - and that's not just in British winters - we drive to the Alps every year too and have often got up slopes that have defeated British-registered 4x4s with inappropriate tyres.

The secret? A cheap set of steel rims with winter tyres on, swapped over December-March every year. No real additional cost (except for the cheapo rims) as of course while the winter tyres are on there is no wear on the summer ones. I'll take a RWD car with winter tyres on over a 4x4 with summer tyres in the snow and ice any day.

Take a look at the locals' vehicles next time you are in a country that gets proper winters. You'll propably see fewer 4x4s than you would see in North London - but they ALL swap their tyres come winter.

I used to have a Range Rover - I now drive a little Fiesta type. I wish I still had the Range Rover because I felt a lot safer in it - and I'm pretty sure that the white van that wrote off my little car and left me unable to move for months last year would have been worse off if it had smashed into a RR instead.

There is a huge snob factor, naturally - but there is also a safety factor to larger cars too. Little cars are mostly like crisp packets on wheels and I dread the day that something large smashes into mine and my DS has to be cut out of it. If I was back in my (blacked out, dark green, 4.6 HSE) RR I would be feeling a lot safer - and markedly more comfortable on long journeys... And I would be able to get out of my village during the winter too!

Perhaps I will get a freelander next...