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.

"Which estate has more litres of space than, say, a Landrover Discovery, with the second row in use?"

Skoda Superb Estate
Boot space 660L
Car length 4856mm
Car width 1864mm

Landrover Discovery
Boot space 228 (with 7 seats up) / 698 (6 seats) / 1137 (5 seats)
Car length 4956mm
Car width 2000m

So yes, the Discovery wins by miles on boot space with only 5 seats in use, but there's not much in it if you need 6 seats, and it's a bigger car (both longer and wider). Great if you need loads of space but not so great for driving and parking in the city.

If everyone walked around with their salary written on their foreheads, it would stop this nonsense...

I have one because (1) I am short and I find it easier to see in a higher driving position (2) I need a big boot for all my kids sports equipment and (3) I live in a country lane that does not get gritted in the winter - it means that I can always get my kids to school and I can get to work. Aside from this, I feel much safer in a larger car. I had a small courtesy car for several weeks whilst mine was being fixed and I felt very vulnerable. In fact, my car was in the garage because it was hit by a very large tree branch. So glad that I had something substantial to take the impact. Might not have been writing this email had I been in a tiny hatchback.

Rather a generalisation! We live in the country. Two dogs. Horses who need towing places. Last year we couldn’t even get off the farm in a tractor we had so much snow. Without a 4x4 we would be stuck more often! You’d complain even more if we took our tractor to your car parks! (We did go to Lidl in it last year when we did eventually get out and we collected food for neighbours/community as well as ourselves).
Centre of London might be a different issue though...

Love this thread.

I'm in northern New England and get about 10 feet of snow a year. Regularly drive in terrible conditions. Our roads are appalling by the end of spring. Snow, snowmelt, refreezing, melting, refreezing = destroyed roads.

Never needed an SUV.

I do have a 4WD estate car, but I used to have a 2WD with good snow tyres and that was fine too.

DH however has a massive pick-up 4WD truck which would give most people on here a coronary. He doesn't really need it, but it is handy when you need to get a snowblower to the repair shop, several trees to the dump, etc.

When I was growing up, kids walked to the village school. We drive our kids to school several miles away and often end up picking up other kids.
When I was growing up, we lived in the next village to my grandparents. We live 1600 kms away from my family so when they come to visit, they fly. We are then a 7 person household. We need a seven seater.

We initially got our disco because we had a horse trailer and land, also lived very rurally. We don't have any of those things now but kinda like it! Fits lots of people in it and practical. x

@drsausage what I will say in defense of UK people is that we actually find it easier to manage the winter weather in the mid west because it is continuously bad for months, rather than the UK where it sweeps in and out.
DH has a small 4 wheel drive city car which is usually fine but in heavy snow the higher riding SUV is much better.

I need one for driving up and down un made up farm track every day, fitting bales of hay in the back and pulling a pony trailer. Otherwise, I would happily stick to our Nissan Micra!

OP I totally agree with you and I get what you mean.

I don't get the obsession, when I was a child everyone's parents had estates or 5 door cars, I don't remember anyone having a 4x4 and people managed perfectly fine then.

It is a status symbol I think and the attitudes of people who drive them leaves a lot to be desired. I gave a funny look once at someone who packed across two bays of a supermarket carpark in one and got a load of attitude off them for it. I just said nothing and left. Plus if you're going down a street with cars either side I've had situations before where no matter who really has the right of way, because they have a 4x4 they assume that they have so they think you automatically have to give them right of way.

No envy here, I've never liked neither wanted one.

I've watched one of these cars struggle on an incline of a hill once when there was snow and ice on the ground,wheels spinning for about 15 minutes before they went back the other way.

There are those who live in the country who need them but if you live within a city I hardly see the need for them plus accidents where children have been hit by them as the drivers are so high up they can't see a small child run out in front.

It is an ego thing really.

OP, your post doesn't come across as angry to me at all.

And the people who drive them are so aggressive - as shown in many of the replies on here.

user1493391099 Wed 11-Sep-19 18:52:01

If everyone walked around with their salary written on their foreheads, it would stop this nonsense..

This is such a stereotypically pecking-order obsessed British comment it should be framed.

I have one, a Volvo xc60. I also live in a city. I have it because I have osteoporosis and scoliosis and find it is easier to get in and out of. A normal car is too low to the ground and I struggle getting in and out of them. Yes, I also do know how to park it, it isnt a status symbol and I dont think I have more priority than any other road user.

So shoot me.

People managed perfectly fine with sedans or estate cars back in the 70s because back then you didn't have to use seatbelts ot put your children in honking big car seats until they were 12. You could have children sitting on others' laps, children in the front seat, children in the boot of an estate car, even a baby or toddler on mum's lap up front.

These days, if you have more than 2 children under age 12 you are going to need a car of a specific size, and many people opt for either a people mover (comical name, they are minivans in the US) or a 4x4 that seats more than the average sedan.

If everyone walked around with their salary written on their foreheads, it would stop this nonsense..

Ha. Well I drive a massive Peugeot 5008 and my salary is £0.

That is a good point math I was put in the footwell as a baby and siblings were often put in estate boot. Or 4 dc were put in back seats.

To all of those posting measurements of various 4x4s - do you know what millimetres are?

If everyone walked around with their salary written on their foreheads, it would stop this nonsense

You win the thread

I have fond memories of trips on the bumpy, narrow boreens of the west of Ireland with six cousins and two adults packed into a Ford Cortina, pumpkinspicetime.

I have one, exchanged my mini for it, I live in northeast of scotland and have to travel for work and the winters here can be really harsh.
Honestly I hate it, its crap on fuel,bad for the environment ,and I feel a bit of a twat driving it,would not gave it unless I really needed it.Hate it even more now !

The original post was about enormous cars and city/town parking/driving. The majority of responses seem to be from rural owners who find their rural practicalities useful. There’s no need to defend why you have one if you live/work in the countryside. Having said that, I live in an extremely rural area but have managed very well without a big car. I’m against gas guzzlers in general.

It's not rocket science OP. Why should cars escape fashion trends? This is just the latest one. 10 years ago it was people carriers. Why does everyone suddenly love grey decor? Why does everyone wear skinny jeans? We're sheep but most of us will try to justify our choices.

My last car was an SUV and I loved it but when I changed this year I went for a normal hatchback thinking it would be more economical and a bit smaller.

I’m gritting my teeth until I can change back to a SUV! I miss it so much.

I live in a village so rural but not proper countryside, the lanes I drive down don’t require a SUV apart from the one day of the year it snows. But we do a lot of outdoor sports and I do find myself off road, reversing down slipways covered in seaweed or along rough tracks and through fields and I really never appreciated the capability of my 4x4.

Day to day I’m sure people might judge if they didn’t know me and saw me on the school run driving along a main road in a 4x4 but I’ve realised now I do actually need one.

You just don’t know what people do with their cars and why they choose what they choose!

@AnotherEmma

I don't need the 6th or 7th seat in my Disco. But I do need the 2nd row, and I need bootspace. So, the Disco works better for me. And contrary to what was stated, there isnt an estate car with bigger boot space.

I hear you OP. The people responding that that they live or work ruraly and genuinely actually need these vehicles probably don't understand the difficulty of coming up against hundreds of them (and you're right, many can't park or drive them) on the school run in a busy city centre with narrow Victorian streets. I doubt a single one of them go out in the hills for work, I certainly no of none .. the hills are very far and it snows about once every 8 years.