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.

How is an obnoxiously big vehicle less visible?

@mathanxiety I think @WipeYourFeetOnTheRhythmRug means that they compromise other drivers' visibility because of their increased size/height.

My only irritation with them are the people who park them in parking stalls that say "small car only" and take up half of ths other spot as well. So annoying and rude.

Yes, looking at it again, I think that's what she was shooting for.

But if you're in a sedan you're not going to be able to see over other sedans either, depending on your own height as well as the height of your car.

If you're in a Nissan Micra you are not going to be able to see over a Fiat 500...

And the answer to the problem of not seeing around vehicles in front of you is to leave plenty of room between you and them so that you can react to whatever happens ahead, as well as watching signage so you can anticipate intersections, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, merging traffic, etc.

I drive a Rav, as we got it on a deal, however next year I'm getting something smaller as its big and tricky to park in little spaces. Although I will say it feels nice and safe doing 70 on a motorway as the build quality is strong. I also think it's eaiser to get myself and little one in and out of a higher car. I think the space plus the safety aspect when carrying little ones is attractive

Horrible, dangerous, anti-social, climate destroying things (unless used for practical reasons in appropriate environments). No one - no one - who lives in a city should own one.

They are no more climate destroying than many cars, and a good deal of an improvement over traditional diesel fueled buses. And they are only as dangerous as their drivers are feckless, which can be said for all cars (and all other vehicles too).

It's worth remembering there were many, many motor accidents before there were 4x4s.

Also, that the UK has banned the sale of all new diesel and patrol powered cars from 2040, with 4x4s not singled out.

@Mistigri

Horrible, dangerous, anti-social, climate destroying things (unless used for practical reasons in appropriate environments). No one - no one - who lives in a city should own one.

Climate destroying is climate destroying . How can one person destroying the climate be ok and not another?

I think they are a really selfish choice, especially when people try to justify them on the grounds of safety for their children. What about the safety of pedestrians (often children too) and families in normal sized cars? In accidents the lighter party tends to suffer most damage. If driving an SIV is seen as stacking the odds in your favour, the flip side is that your choice puts pedestrians and other road users at greater risk. Multiply this by the thousands of SUV"'s needlessly on the road and it must contribute greatly to the accident and injury rate. Socially irresponsible?

Why not just drive carefully.

And look before you cross the road.

No car accidents ever happen to people who drive carefully or pedestrians who look before they cross

Horrible, dangerous, anti-social, climate destroying things (unless used for practical reasons in appropriate environments). No one - no one - who lives in a city should own one.

A dog is less environmentally friendly than a 4x4.

GinDaddy

"I thinkk many of them are shit drivers with ego problems who bought a car for looks, and can't drive it'

And you're not envious? Your statement reeks of envy! I Iive in the Derbyshire Peak District and drive a six year old Subaru Forester. It's an absolute work horse, tough, reliable and consistently comes top for vehicle safety.

You talk about two days of snow? Have you ever been on the Snake Pass in winter? Local villages like Hadfield are frequently cut off for weeks!

As for being a shit driver? How dare you. Before I retired I used to drive around 50000 miles a year and the worse drivers were the fly by BMW and VW golf drivers. They all seem to think they have an F1 sports car.

In terms of size, the Forester is smaller than your BMW estate which you speak about so proudly and yes, if I drive over to our nearest city, I drive in my Forester. Should I have two vehicles so as not to offend city dwellers?

BTW, BMWs are still considered a status symbol to a lot of people so if you weren't status driven yourself you'd be driving a Skoda or a Vauxhall.

Agree with terrible parking of them and riding on your bumper. Add to that driving in the centre of one car lanes...

AnotherEmma, there were car accidents long before there were 4x4s.

And lots of accidents involving pedestrians too.

Agree with terrible parking of them and riding on your bumper. Add to that driving in the centre of one car lanes...

Are you sure you're not thinking of Audis, Carouselfish?

And if driving carefully and looking before you cross are no better than throwing salt over your shoulder, AnotherEmma, then millions of £s have been wasted on public education about road safety.

Of course not all 4x4 drivers are shit drivers it's just that it's more noticeable when you do encounter a shit driver if they're in an enormous vehicle.

Driving down a narrow country lane yesterday I passed four vehicles coming in the opposite direction, one car, one van and two 4x4s (the big variety). Both 4x4s when we met made no concession at all in their road position to negotiate us passing. It was as though they didn't want to scratch their paintwork in the hedge or place a tyre off the road. One of them had just hurtled past a perfectly good passing place. Either entitled driving or entirely stupid - I'm not sure which.

Passing the other two vehicles was easy - the van because they were driving at snails pace (appropriate speed on a windy narrow lane) so plenty of time to identify a passing place and the car because two small cars don't require as much width on the road to pass.

Wow, this whole thread is turning into the "Not All Men!" of cars...

OP says please explain the explosion of popularity in oversized cars where's there's no need for them and they're actively impractical - i.e. in towns, for the school run etc.

Cue all the posters saying how they tow horses/run an unofficial winter bus for their remote village/sit on the top of Ben Nevis and haul up climbers - which is the absolute reverse of what the OP is talking about.

So I'd just like to say - if it's not about you, you don't have to take offense

If I'm in an estate, or supermini I can see over the bonnet of a normal car, or in a car park, over the boot. MPVs are similarly obstructive to visibility but somehow seem to be driven (And parked) more considerately... on my 3 minute school run (walking) I pass 1 SUV parked on the corner and 3 half on the pavement/ making road and pavement barely passable (together with various cheap old normal cars). No MPVs. There is better (legal) parking on the other side of the school - not on my route!

There is a need for them if you have more than two children under age 12 thanks to car seat rules. Your choice is a people mover or a SUV. Both are going to occupy more space than a car.

I personally would like to see a thread on why British people in particular see a 4x4 and think 'chavvy', 'flashy', 'ostentatious'.

Most of the objections are purely cultural. They are dressed as reasonable objections to bad driving, but nobody has produced statistics to back up the anecdotes.

Dame they’d be no threads though if people didn’t pile on and make it all about them (when it blatantly isn’t).

Bosom hoiking a-go-go on this thread.

INeed yep, that’s our experience as well. Also refusal to ever reverse back to the nearest passing place.

Math anxiety
I'm sick of your patronising pointing out the obvious nonsense.

It really is very obvious, isn't it?

But it's not nonsense. It's called 'cutting through the crap'.

Re the snow..we lived abroad, in a country where we had snow . Proper snow not an inch or two of UK snow. We managed in a VW golf.
However, I live in UK now and have 4x4 ,made by Land Rover. Have done for a few years. Don't particularly like small cars, never have. I have it cos I like it, I like the looks and driving position and it's an automatic. It suits me and I have a permanent foot condition which means driving in a different position for a long period of time can be painful. Like you probably like the look of your BMW. I don't, sorry, and would never ever want to own an estate car as I don't like them. We have recently down graded from a bigger 4x4 as it's mostly just DH and me in car now.
I agree re not being able to park but these owners wouldn't be able to park whatever their car. It's just more obvious in a 4x4 and more annoying. Drives DH mad, esp when drivers of bigger cars don't seem to know the width and wait until you could drive a bus through a gap.
Certain cars and drivers get a bad reputation based on some who drive them. Like BMWs (all hated in our family as traditionally the drivers of such always seemed to be the ones who cut you up/wouldn't let you into a queue / drove too fast/too close) Also now..Audis. Not all drivers of these cars are like this. Just some. And same goes for 4x4s