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've always had older estates like Volvo and vw passat 1.9 litres with a towbar.

Largest cubic area for bootspace

Winter tyres for snow

Roofbox for skiing trips

Diesel and my cars go round the clock until approximately 220000 miles

The yummy mummies all drive 4 x 4 s that they can't handle on the road parking mud snow and being courteous to other drivers and pedestrians.

Its simply a dangerous fashion item for them.

Sensible women like me go with beaten up estates that can multi task and give amazing mileage.

I’d quite like to be higher up in a 4 by4. Have an estate car but feel intimidated on roads like M25. Lorry drivers on your bumper in speed restricted zones, white vans undercutting, Or maybe a Sherman tank....

I drive a 5 series estate 1 year old it’s a lovely car, the foot print is equal to if not bigger than a lot of these lifestyle SUV’s. Mrs W drives an X1 also 1 year old. We have 2 teenage boys and 1 primary school boy, they will always request to go the X1 as they have more room, I don’t think it’s so much the room more the seating position that makes the difference and the feeling of more room. I would rather be a rear seat passenger in the X1 than my supposedly bigger car. I would say the X1 is easier to park as it’s shorter than the 5.

Another thought.

I can understand needing a huge boot if you have a large dog and regularly (ie on a daily or weekly basis) transport lots of stuff. But for people who go on holidays and/or camping trips a few times a year - you don't need a huge boot, you just need a roof box.

I had this argument with DH actually. I wanted a car with a medium size boot and argued that we could get a roof box for occasional use. He wanted a large boot. In the end we did get a car with a large boot but it's not a huge car (just well designed). We don't actually have space to store a roof box but if we did I would have argued harder for it.

@gill1960
The yummy mummies all drive 4 x 4 s that they can't handle on the road parking mud snow and being courteous to other drivers and pedestrian

Yet, here I am able to handle my car, able to park it properly, drive in mud and snow, and be courteous to other drivers and pedestrians. And I'm not a yummy mummy. Just a woman, with a child, and happen to drive a 4x4.

I could say that all people that drive old Volvo estates are car boot enthusiasts
masquerading as eccentric antique dealers that look like they need a good wash and live on a diet of hemp and lentils. But that would be a really silly, ignorant, sweeping generalization.

Our main reason was practicality. We had a Honda CR-V for 13 years, sold it last year as kids had left home.
It allowed us to drive from Germany to UK with 4 or 5 people and a large dog in reasonable comfort. Also had camping trips with a large tent etc. it did three house moves for various family members, carried huge amounts of flat pack furniture, trees, tools etc and never broke down
I’m sure an estate car would have done most or all of this but would have been much longer and not had the really easy to pack square shape

@GinDaddy I haven't read the full thread, just for disclosure.

I drive, daily a LWB VW van, it has all the seats I need, it's roomy even with 7 seats, the boot space is huge, I need it because I have a metric f**k tonne of kids, and other peoples kids and bikes and car seats and everything else, I use it as my daily drive, we also regularly drive Europe and the space is good for sleeping, luggage etc.
In the winter I use a 4x4 as we regularly get snowed in our rural village, I use my small four wheel drive to get to the shops for the copious amounts of old ladies who need bread/milk. And obviously for whatever my family need, Wood, coal, essentials.

And, being a woman, I don't want to shock you by saying I find the 5.5m long car, parking it and all that stuff, easy. I also know how to put the 4x4 into that setting and how to lock the differential, myself. Woo. Go me.

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

I'm assuming that was directed at me, as mine was the most recent post with measurements.

Strange question. Of course I do. What's your point?

You have math in your username so I'm eagerly awaiting some maths chat

There’s no need to defend why you have one if you live/work in the countryside.

There's no need to defend what you drive at all actually, except when people like the OP start in on poor parking, alleged attitude, ego problems, and possible tendency to live beyond their means because they are obsessed by their image.

I never use the 4-W-D function of mine (it's flexible). I drive in a built up area. I don't even have my five DCs living at home any more to justify keeping it on the grounds that I need the seating. We all pack into it once a year at Christmas.

Our old Range Rover could take 11 bales of hay plus 3 dogs yet felt like you were driving a leather armchair. Current Mitsubishi L200 goes anywhere. Roads not required!

Oh, and my other car is a Porsche (Cayenne) - but can't bring myself to stuff it full of hay!!

I have this type of car, it was really expensive and I love it. I love driving and I am an awesome parker. I have 3 dogs and look after 2 infant granddaughters often, I have to accommodate a wheelchair and a walker. I love driving up high and the car is no bigger than my previous estate car, just taller. I think lots of people are bad drivers and parkers and this is evident across every make and size of car.

Normal width of a motorway lane in the UK is 3650 mm.
That is 3m 65 cm.
It's not enough for the many, many cars shown in this:

There is a notable lack of 4x4s involved in these hairy situation, even in built up areas. I am assuming the compiler had plenty of offerings to choose from.

I have back problems and the higher driving position is much better for me.

@SerenDippitty
You can't fit three car seats in the back seat of 5 seat cars!

To be fair math I think we may share a city and I reckon an SUV makes perfect sense. The roads are wide enough, parking spaces big enough, pot holes bad enough, winter grim enough etc.
My Ford Explorer is identical to police vehicles apart from their extra mirrors, I'm never sure if this is a good or a bad thing.

@blahblahblahblahhh

SerenDippitty
You can't fit three car seats in the back seat of 5 seat cars!

Yes, you can. Not all of them, but there are certainly 5 seater cars that you can fit 3 cars seats across the back of...

@BogglesGoggles -what a load of bollocks you speak. Ffs.

I went into the Vauxhall’s garage as I wanted to upgrade my 5 seater to a 7 seater. Reason being we camp and need the extra space. I was told that they no longer make the 7 seater I wanted and my alternative is their new range - the grand lander thing mentioned in OP. I walked back out and am now reassessing my options. It seems the manufacturers are making more of these kinds and phasing out some others. Apparently they are also putting a smaller engine in to lower emissions than you’d expect from a car that size. This was what I was told when I asked about the concerns with cars and the environment at the moment.

We used to have an old Santa Fe, I loved it! It had 7 seats which was awesome, it didn’t look like a mummy van. We got it after 2 really bad winters where we couldn’t even get out of our road in our old car.

Now we have Tucson (not a 4x4) and I miss the 7 seats and the ability to handle icy roads. But frankly it happened so rarely that the 4x4 was a bit excessive and expensive.

Oh and for the poster who mentioned roofbixes, my 5 seater has a roof box and is still full to the point that It is not comfortable for anyone except the driver to sit in on our camping trips.

Car makers are producing more and more cars in the cross over SUV style,I find them too high as even though I'm tall I've got a disability and struggle to get in them.When I was looking this year for a new normal family sized car every dealership was trying to sell me their version of a SUV .Some looked lovely but not practical for me
My ndn both have 1 each and they won't even park on verge if road outside is busy,incase they get dirty .Now that's the type of stupid suv driver that I think the op was getting at.....it's just silly!

I live rurally and we have two very large 4x4's . I could live without them.
4 kids, 3 dogs, horse, sailing mad kids , we are forever towing, loading and driving up and over things!!

I won’t be pigeonholed into buying a 4x4 or people carrier by car manufacturers as I’m a parent.
I own a Mercedes coupe with four doors.
It’s fast, has a hugebooty. We walk to school in the mornings and I drive to work after. What else do you need? 🤷🏼‍♀️
I’m as happy as a pig in shit with it 👍🏼

Hugebooty, well my bottom is, but my car has a huge boot 😀