To not understand the obsession with SUVs/4x4s?

[GinDaddy]

I'm genuinely curious to hear people's views below. Nearly every parent I know in my area has a 4x4 car of some sort. That's dozens of folk. The car parks at our local supermarket are covered in the things.

My AIBU is to ask, what is the obsession with these things? Why are they the "default" choice for parents now, considering so many folk can't park them properly, and our roads aren't set up for them?

I watched in amused horror yesterday as a lady with a Vauxhall Grandland X (yep...me neither) tried to park head-first in a bay in our local supermarket. The width of the thing was the issue, but once "parked", the rear of the car was practically touching the front of the neighbouring vehicle.

It was just absurd. Why is this car any better than an Astra estate, or in the same price category, a Skoda Octavia estate, both of which are narrower and better on fuel, and the Skoda which has extraordinary amounts of luggage capacity and legroom?

I think the answer is simple, it's an image thing. People feel their life is more exciting with DCs if they're in something that looks like it could climb a mountain at the weekend.

Only problem is, my DW and I find public car parks absurd at the moment as I find more and more of these hideous things parked terribly at every juncture.

The beauty of living in a capitalist economy is the prerogative of choice, helped by dollops of PCP finance handed out by every car dealer, meaning anyone can get into a boxy car on stilts.

But for goodness sake can people learn how to drive and park these things if they're going to be bought by everyone? Driving down streets with parked cars on either side is a game of "my car is bigger than yours, so move over", which is just embarrassing.

NOTE: I have no issues with envy here; we have a 6-year old estate car from a well known Bavarian marque with a three letter acronym. I don't ride 2mm off people's bumpers, and it serves our family's needs well.

I have an SUV as I have suffered with terrible back paint since pregnancy, bending down to put my child in a car seat was agony. Being higher up has made a world of difference. My husband drives an estate and I use it too- only if he’s there to put our child in the car seat though.
Parking isn’t a a problem for me, never has been, I’d like to think I’m considerate. The car has a 360 camera and sensors that can assist.

We are getting a discovery next year.(had one before)

My DH likes them. (I prefer estates, and will be upgrading mine to the 4x4 version of the one I currently drive)

We live in a small town, 6 miles out of a major city, but 5 miles the other way we are in open country.

We have a dog. We need to ferry more than 5 people sometimes. But the main reason, is we have a caravan.

And most importantly of all. Both of us can drive, manoeuvre and park it with no difficulties at all.

I’ve noticed that these types of cars are becoming more frequent, often parked badly and often unnecessary. I have a VW Golf, handles potholes, children , luggage and I dont need height to be able to drive

My parents tow a caravan with theirs. Their current caravan is very large and heavy so you need a vehicle with a large towing capacity.

I got one because it is a hybrid and does the first 30 miles on electricity. But I don't like it because you have to drive so far across to the left and it is much more awkward on narrow roads so I'd say YANBU and I might change mine for something much smaller next time.

I’m with you. We have been be but have growing kids and this particular 4x4 has the biggest seats and space for our family.

But I can never understand, knowing the faff involved with a massive car, why people with less stuff (aka living things) need or want them. We live in outer London so no off road requirements for fellow bu car drivers. The car world is literally their oyster.

We also have a tiny I10 and when my husband isn’t driving that to work and most kids are at school, I always take this instead. It’s lovely to park and nip around in plus the emissions are much, much lower.

Around here the car of choice is the Mercedes, I'm pretty sure they are financed but they are really common, big ones too (saloons not estates or SUV's), the younger marque of choice is the aforementioned Bavarian brand of 3 letters, teens and 20 somethings are tearing around in them ... no idea how people can afford such cars. The police put out a statement suggesting that such cars were not suitable a level presents last month, reminding parents of the number of killed and seriously injured young people in the county driving such cars - the ring road is closed at some point most weekends to clear up after single car accidents, 2 youngsters were killed on my street drag racing (it's a 30mph zone, they don't care about laws).

Compulsory black boxes for all cars!

Because I want one. And it's my hard earned money.

(There are other practical reasons but why do I need to justify my choices?)

YANBU!
I liked "a boxy car on stilts"
I live in a city and I dislike all the giant SUV and 4x4 vehicles. I can see why they might be necessary for people who live in the country or have to tow horse trailers or whatnot But I am nonplussed by how fashionable they have become now. I suppose people like the high up driving position and the headroom, but they are impractical to park and they are surely not fuel efficient (which is not "sexy" but we should all be considering it).
DH and I just bought a new car and we were looking for something not too huge but with good cabin space (legroom and head room) and a good sized boot. We went for the Skoda Octavia which is a sensible rather than fashionable choice but we are very happy with it so far. We could have bought a more premium brand and a bigger car if we cared about that kind of thing, but we don't.
And when I did all my research I found that most SUVs (or at least the "smaller" ones I looked at) don't have great boot space. It does seem a shame to drive around a massive car that you can't actually fit much in!

4x4s are more likely to kill or severely injure pedestrians in an impact than normal sized cars. They reduce visibility for drivers of normal sized cars.

Unless you live somewhere remote they're a selfish lifestyle choice.

When I was growing up in the 60s/70s people managed perfectly well with 5 seater cars. Why the need for 7 seaters now?

I am am on a very steep road so the 4x4 aspect is useful in winter though.

I get you, OP (and think that some posters are being deliberately obtuse - nothing new there). I live in the inner city and as the area has gentrified the number of mahoosive SUVs has increased. Not used for work and we're talking 2 adults and one small child to ferry around. It's all street parking here as well.

The other thing we've noticed is that we go on holiday to Devon, many teeny tiny lanes. Do the pristine SUVs ever go slightly off road like they're designed to> Of course not, it's us in our little city car (which has driven round the highlands and loads of other parts of the countryside no bother) that gets shoved into the hedgerow while they position thesemslevs in the centre of the lane. As for ever reversing back to the parking space they're close to - no chance!

I also remember an occasion when DH had to go and reverse a woman's SUV for her as she couldn't gauge the width of her car, had got in a pickle and was unable to reverse her way out of the situation.

I think you should have to have a specific license to drive some of these cars.

@Boobiliboobiliboo
Are you a drug dealer? Did you pay in £50 notes or loose change? Anyone who pays upfront for a brand new car is a fool IMO.

British roads are terrible. You basically need an 4 wheel drive if you ever leave the centre of town. If you have car seats then that also rules out a lot of cars sold in Britain because a normal sized adult simply wouldn’t fit. I’ve had done great little hatch back things which are great in town but they can’t hack motorways or country driving. If you leave town you need a minimum 200 horse power (whochypu simply can’t get in a lot of small models) andgood ckearance from the ground (also difficult to find in small models. Getting both in a smaller car is pretty much impossible because all the fast ones sit lower to the road because they are ‘sport’ versions.

Also, I have been in situations where a parking space was rendered unusable due to there being an SUV either side - there would not have been any room for me to get out of the car.

I have a problem with them when the drivers aren’t really aware of the vehicles size. I’m often forced into a hedge by one when driving on a country road. I’m not saying it’s all or even most SUV drivers but some see them as a licence to not slow down and to force others off the road.

@GrumpySausage

I apologise in that I'm not trying to start a roll call of people justifying their individual choices (which often seems to be the way anyway on a Mumsnet thread!)

It's more a discussion about why there are so many of these things everywhere, and the resultant effect on driving around town (aforementioned issues with congested roads), parking in public car parks, city centres etc.

@Soontobe60 but why would you want to pay 6.9 apr or whatever it is? If you intend to swap the car after a couple of years or you get a 0% finance deal then a loan makes sense but otherwise who would pay interest for no reason?

I’ve noticed that these types of cars are becoming more frequent, often parked badly and often unnecessary

I agree. I use a park and ride facility to get to work. It has a narrow car park especially at one end and in the last 12 / 18 months the car park is dominated by other drivers in SUVs, making it so difficult to park. The sheer size of some of them is ridiculous. They are all driven by single drivers as well so there is zero need to use them as a commuting car. We are in a suburban city area.

This thread will just turn into a monologue by SUV drivers of why they need to drive one, of course their needs trump all road users and the environment. I think they should be heavily taxed personally.

We're fairly rural small-town here, and a lot of them are about. Many I would say are fairly necessary, but on the other hand, oh dear God, the parking shambles at school drop-off and pick-up times, and the local supermarket car park.

If you're going to have one of the things, at least learn how to drive it.

Boggles that is absolute nonsense. Our first little car had 59 horsepower, it's been from London to the highlands, Cornwall, wales, northumberland... Current car has 125hp, got us from London to Devon, across Dartmoor, you name it.

At least three people I know have bought SUVs recently because their road is potholes to buggery, full of speed bumps, and sometimes speed bump and then pothole immediately. What it was costing to keep suspension and bearings fixed on their normal cars....felt it was better to get an off road vehicle to handle it

Why not just drive slower?

I own a small hatchback. I drive it to the stables every day, along a road full of potholes. Been doing that for two years. Suspension hasn't broke once, because I go slowly.

All you do by buying a bigger car for that reason, is increase your bills when it breaks. Because it will. Being 4x4 doesn't make it immune to suspension damage. But it's your money.

When I was growing up, people would merrily squeeze 5 or 6 young kids in the backseat. No child seats and our car had no rear seatbelts.

Can’t do that now so that’s one reason why 7 seaters are becoming more popular.

Asking why most people drive a larger car is like me saying to you, why do you drive an Astra when you could have a Toyota Argo?
They like it because it’s comfier and a nicer drive.

Different people like different things that they don’t really “need”. For example, why spend £x on a handbag when a Tesco bag for life would do @10p?