.. 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?

the large SUV vehicles are so that the person has it as company vehicle and doesn't pay tax. I am sure it is a tax dodge.

I work in a school and all the parents seem to drive huge monsters of vehicles and it is a suburban area. They do 3 point turns in the middle of the road in them and some of them seem to be rubbish at driving and parking them. I think alot of it is a status symbol.

If you live in a rural area fair enough

seeing one in a rural area is one thing. seeing one in london/suburbs is a different story. so nouveau/new money. and i HATE the mentality of SOME of the people who own them that us little people would all love one/are envious. truth is, we could afford one but you couldn't give me one. i personally think there is something footballers'y about them, pretty naff although i can understand why someone people need them. my pet hates are also: they tend to drive up your arse, rarely give way or give thanks if you give way to them AND more often than not, the person driving the bugger is on their mobile phone (and wears HUGE dark glasses even when it is dark out) :)

ps: and yes, lord help you if you are in a car park and one parks next to you, hard to open your door or get out of your space as the back end usually spills out way into the actual road. and also, if you are in ie a traffic jam on m25, if you are behind one of these you can't see bugger all as to what is going on in front. awful things

No you still pay tax as a company vehicle. The only zero rated 4x4 vehicles that I've come across are commercials and you don't pay tax on them if you don't have them for personal use.

The problem is that they became very fashionable once they made them comfortable and fitted them with decent suspension. The high price of them makes them a status symbol for sure. My beloved ancient 4x4 was not in any way a status symbol but it was safe. It was a tiny thing, not one of the unbalanced monsters that ComposHat is probably talking about but when I totalled it a few years ago the police and highways teams all told me I wouldn't have walked out of it if I'd been in a 'normal' car. All accidents are different and I'm not saying they are inherently safer than a non 4x4 but if I'd been in my mini I wouldn't be here now.

All cars nowadays are safe if driven within the design range. All cars are lethal if driven badly.

I meant the ones with the truck bit on the back. I remember my friend telling me her husband bought one deliberately to avoid taxation.

The people I have known who have these all have their own businesses so I think this is the purpose of having them.

OneLastSoul

That is a good point when people bleat on 'I need a 4X4 because I live in a snowy area/the countryside.'

I will reluctantly concede that in a very small numbers of places in the UK you might well need a car with four wheel drive, plenty of manufacrtureres do standard size cars with 4wd. The Fiat Panda 4WD is supposed to be particularly good.

That does not mean that you NEED a 4X4/SUV the size of a Monster Truck costing 70k and belching out more emissions than a Russian power station. That is a fashion accessory.

composHat I'm not sure I agree with all of your post.

In all crash tests I have watched , our make of 4x4 always comes out better (against smaller cars)

I do take your point about pedestrians, and I agree with you. We live in the rural US, I don't see many people . I would be nervous nipping to Tesco in it.

I'm glad you think I'll be safer in our little car, thats cheered me up!

tbh, that all dpeends on:

how many children
access issues (higher level cars can be far easier to get into/reach into to secure disabled children etc)
seat flexibility and layout required

etc.

all this 'no one needs one is just a load of bollocks, tbh.

that could be said abuot a lot of things which we use in everyday life, and no one needs to justify their decisions to anyone else (as long, in the case of cars, you can drive the bloody thing - big or small!)

PIL were farmers. They had a vauxhall viva...

They used to roll their eyes at flashy SUVs.

"how many children
access issues (higher level cars can be far easier to get into/reach into to secure disabled children etc)
seat flexibility and layout required"

Which of those factors necessitate power to all 4 wheels?
Surely 'people carriers' are better for flexibility / more people, and even wheelchairs, as they have flexible boot space?

No 4x4 I have ever looked at had anywhere as near as good a 'space per £' ratio as a people carrier type vehicle.

I was addressing why maybe a smaller 4wd (such as a fiat panda) might not be suitable.

but hey, clearly all 4x4 drivers are scum of the earth, and just plain wrong. there is no good reason why anyone has one, ever. we all jsut prefer to swank about driving erratically and parking badly in cars that are too big, too high, unnecessary and too expensive

and no, people carriers are not always better for flexibility of seating. I have looked at them all. in depth. and none suit us as a family, for various reasons.

My rather large 4 x 4 does have flexible seating and boot space. 7 proper adult seats so could fit in lots of child seats when necessary. And I can park it, and I don't park on the pavements like the 'people carrier' drivers do. I love my car, but would also love a mini or fiat 500, just can't fit the children in one of those!

I haven't read every single post, but I'd like to suggest that not every person driving an SUV is the one who made the decision to purchase it. I know a few couples who purchased SUVs because the husband didn't want to be seen driving a more traditional family car. So mum is left to do the school run in a massive car she didn't want in the first place.

Just thought I'd throw that out there, while we're knee-high in yummy mummy stereotypes and all.

my car is a 4x4 7 seater (Shogun). I have a large (ish) family and I pull the horse box with it. It is washed regularly so isn't mud splattered but is used off road.

I would struggle to get my DD to the pony in the snow without it

For those that don't own horses / live in a field / on a farm etc, it is purely and simply a status symbol.

I work in central Tokyo in a blardy expensive independent school. All the yummy mummys drop off their little darlings in enormous 4x4s that they can barely see over the top of the steering wheel of.

In fact as I type, a shiny black 4x4 BMW has pulled up outside and one small Y2 child has just absailed out of the back door. [smirking icon]

cakewench Tue 07-Feb-12 22:18:11
I haven't read every single post, but I'd like to suggest that not every person driving an SUV is the one who made the decision to purchase it. I know a few couples who purchased SUVs because the husband didn't want to be seen driving a more traditional family car. So mum is left to do the school run in a massive car she didn't want in the first place.

Well more fool them for not putting their foot down and letting their DH spend a shitload of cash on something they don't even want.

Anyone remember The Simpsons episode that covered this?
Here's the song.

Not all SUV drivers are tossers, but all tossers seem to drive an SUV - Pretty much sums up my feeling on the issue.

I don't get why anyone drives these 4 x 4s in cities at all, to be honest. They barely fit on the roads and parking must be a nightmare. I think it's just a silly fad that will go once the nouveaux riches types who drive them move onto some other status symbol

My new car is a hybrid (Prius) and I love it! Drove most of the day at the weekend and the fuel gauge barely moved. I live in San Francisco at the moment however and Priuses are more popular than 4 x 4s here, one of the most popular cars around, especially with the tech-wealthy types. Let's hope the trend spreads...

I get far more aggravation from BMW drivers (including the SUV's) than any other kind of 4x4

Sorry, apart from the BMW 1 series. I don't know why, but I've never had a problem with someone driving one of those.

I know 4x4 / 4WD / SUV drivers get a lot of stick and prejudice and as in the case of all prejudice it won't always be deserved.

But in truth the blocking of roads with monster vehicles does affect all of us, and when there seems little logic in driving thesse things in cities, and it is a truth, as the poster says below that some families buy these things "because the husband didn't want to be seen driving a more traditional family car." then we know it is sometimes about attitude and status, and that pisses people off, too.

The proliferation of massive SUVs has a practical impact on other road users - you can't see through or past them at junctions, the height of headlights dazzles you in your rear view mirror, they are wide so cause jams on narrow city streets, etc etc.

People have a right to comment on these adverse factors and to question the logic of buying them when they are affected by that choice.

It is also a fact that accordong to a big insurance company survey a couple of years agao, 4x4 drivers are disproportionately highly represented as the cause of crashes or accidents with other vehicles. Maybe to do with feeling safe, maybe to do with the 'attitude' of someone who wants to be seen driving one - of course there will be many normal safe drivers too, but there is some basis in peope's suspicion.