.. to think that drivers who can't park shouldn't buy giant SUVs

[PushyDad]

I live in a relatively affluent area so M Class Mercs and and other giant SUVs are fairly common on the streets. This morning at the train station car park I watched a driver struggle for 5 minutes to park her giant Range Rover. On Saturday I saw another driver nearly taking off the wing of a parked car as she struggled to park her M Class at a meter bay.

If you drive a people carrier then one can argue that you need the extra seats for the school run or after-school activities. But a SUV seats 5. The only thing you are getting over a 'normal' car is a higher driving position and a bit more boot space. And don't get me started on my eco rant.

Your money, your choice. But you would think that if you struggle to park such a monster then perhaps your should trade in your giant SUV for something smaller or is the SUV required for maintaining your School Gate Creds?

I've had both a Vitara (ok, not exactly huge but a 4x4 nontheless) and a mini. I actually found using 4WD on icy or snowy roads was almost pointless without changing the tyres too, whereas my BMW Mini One was fantastic. It's almost impossible to skid the thing. This includes going up and down hills too. I was the ONLY driver out of 5 who could get out of a tricky dirt car park in the snow when I was at the vets and even my Mum didn't suck in her breath when I drove it.

It was nice to be up high and have a good view in my Vitara, but it was slow, cumbersome, cost a lot to tax and fuel and always had something wrong with it. I rarely tried to parallel park. The mini beat everything that was good about the Vitara hands down.

Then I got a Peugeot 207 150 THP thing which was longer than the Vitara and taller than the Mini, and despite being not so good in snow it beat them both for being easier to park even though I had to retrim the wheels twice

So I guess I'm another of those who think it's the driver, not the car that's the problem. Also that bad weather conditions shouldn't be used as an excuse.

Ah, husband has a totally random personalised number plate on his work car.

Reason for it is that he has to be seen to have a decent car and the personalised number plate disguises the age of the car so it looks like a nicer car than it is (because it is actually about 16 years old)

number plate: because I can, and it amuses me. (it doesn't spell anything really silly. it's just a 'normal' number plate which happens to be meaningful to me, and not be the number my car was issued with on first application.

washing cars: I completely agree. waste of time. but if dh wants to spend his time sloshing water over the cars, then so be it. I only wipe down the camera bit on the boot so I can see where I am goign when I reverse - the rest of it can stay dirty as far as I am concerned.

Oh, and I purposely straddled two parking spaces in my Peugeot (yep, normal sized car) if the cars either side were battered because I didn't want the bastards whacking my car with their doors.

Yes, I am an arsehole.

We have a 4x4, live very rurally.

They are easy to drive and easy to park, I don't see why they would be more difficult?

I will be going back to a little car next month...I will miss the safety of my cocoon!

silverfox - have you got a Giant SUV special edition with saloon car like suspension? Its just that you talked about a small car taking off your wing mirror. Or are we talking about some pimped raised Corsa with monster truck size wheels? :o

Oh I'd LOVE a monster truck. If other drivers were blocking me on / parking like twats I'd drive over them

Boomerwang if the car next to you is battered surely it other cars knocking them in a car park and not the other way round?

have encountered many a pimped Corsa

not a special edition, but not a giant 4x4 either. very average car-size, imo.

have had my wing mirror clipped by small cars - not tiny teeny ones, but smaller than me - and have also had passenger mirror done in caused by me having to suddenly avert course on narrow roads due to small cars not knowing their width...

Post DH has just taken delivery of his new Volvo estate which is 4WD. He had a poncy Mercedes thing before which couldn't move for months last year because of the snow.

He is a bit anal about his car though and is refusing to have the dog in the back, (pic on my profile) which means we will still be going away in my crap filled Land Cruiser.

YANBU.

If my DP bought one of these I'd leave the bastard

my bf always drove 4 x 4's and was sick to death of them. She changed to a nice little sporty car but hates that too - feels to small and is useless for driving in the winter in the countryside - she has actually scraped and bumped it more than her 4 x 4's. So next car is a humungous one - despite only having 2 kids.
I however am of the nice little sporty car league with my one child....

Silverfrog - if your car wasn't so wide, and taking up so much of the road, perhaps you wouldn't get clipped, or people wouldn't have to reverse so you can get by?

I bought my car with cramped city driving in mind (as well as the need to stuff it with dogs and camping stuff in the holidays) and it is standard width. I get bored constantly having to edge and weave past massive 4x4s in London residential roads, and cross when they forge ahead into a narrow bit and then expect me to reverse, when if they had a standard width car there would be no need for anyone to reverse.

talking about bastards whacking your door, last Oct I picked up my new old car IYSWIM and at the service station I parked a distance from the other cars. As I was sitting there, trying to figure out the stereo, a SUV draws up in the next space and the wife? opens the passenger door into the side of my 1hr old 'new' car.

There were no other cars within a 20 feet radius of me yet this idiot parks next to me and his idiot wife
opens her door into me. Grrrr.

They had young children so I kept my views on SUV drivers to myself.

erm, Carrie - different roads (the clipped wing mirrors and reversing situations)

clipped wing mirror: I was on my side of the road, within the white line. really can't see how me having to suddenly avert course because the small car coming th eother way could not do the same would be down to the size of my car...

reversing: I'm talking about single track roads here. literally. where the person to reverse (even two super mini cars cannot pass each other) is the one to whom it is least inconvenient - back to the nearest driveway/passing point/junction. and yet, somehow, it is never the small car that reverses. even when they are 50 yards away from a passing point, and I (or other larger cars/vans) have to reverse about half a mile.

again, nothing to do with size of car, and everythign to do with competence of driver.

(and my car isn't that wide. I have had a 'normal' family car that is wider before now)

Wasn't the driver though was it pushydad?

Any fool can do that. Your argument is getting desperate

FaGins - I've no idea what your post is in response to. I was trying to figure out how the wing mirror of a suv got clipped by a normal car, given the difference in height of any protrusions.

As for my 'desperate arguments' I was making the point that people who can't manage their respective motors should get a car that they can manage. You are confusing me with someone who gives a duck whether you own a suv or not

I love my huge 4x4. Its the only car I can get all my kids, and both my mother's and my daughter's wheelchairs in.

I can actually park well, but everyone expects a woman in a 4x4 to be hopeless at parking, so I just join in with the general "leave your car where it suits you because youare in a 4x4" approach.
People are going to glare at me anyway, so I might as well have some benefit for their dirty looks.

The absolute best thing for winding people up and being given death stares, is driving my disabled daughter in my 4x4, parking badly in a disabled space, and hopping ably out of the car . watching out for all around me to drop their jaws and start tutting.. and then seeing them all wind their necks in as I get my daughter's wheelchair out of the boot and carry her into it.

a SUV draws up in the next space and the wife? opens the passenger door into the side of my 1hr old 'new' car.

Passenger not driver. The driver parked in a parking place next to you when he could have parked in a different one but how is that an issue?

You are aiming your argument at SUV drivers when you should be aiming it at poor drivers generally.

I don't own a SUV.

I will be going back to a little car next month...I will miss the safety of my cocoon!

The notion that those huge SUVs are safer is an illusion. You may have the illusion of 'feeling safe' , but they are inhernetly more risky than normal sized cars. You will almost certainly be far safer in your normal sized car, you will probably have better rear visibility for a start.

The high centre of gravity also makes them much more likely to tip and rollover and because they are so big and wide, this is so little margain for error in narrow country lanes, drift a few centremetres to the left or right and there's a chance you'll be hitting verges.

They also have the potential to inflict horrific damage on pedestrains and other cars due to their weight and higher point of impact.

This is doubly dangerous as drivers often 'feel safe' in these massive risk-posing vehicles so aren't as vigilant as they should be. I have no problem with people owning and driving these vast vehicles per se, but when they start to get to the size, weight and handling ability of a goods vehicle, people should start treating them as such.

FaGins

Granted the stupid husband and wife team would have just as stupid in a small Hybrid but for the time being can we focus on slagging off SUV drivers? :o

charlie Isn't the reason you are getting death stares to begin with because you (admitted by yourself) park like a twat? Surely there would be no death stares if you just parked properly and went about your business?

I don't give a crap who parks in disabled spaces. I am happy in the knowledge that I don't as I am not.

Respect for that acknowledgement and self awareness PushyDad. I still don't agree with you though