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 fucking loathe SUVs/4x4s. Especially the fact that the additional safety they afford in a crash risks being at the expense of someone else in a smaller vehicle. Let the other poor sod(s) get pulverised, that's OK. I mean, some of them are like tanks, such as the Volvos (can't remember the model name offhand).

We currently have a large saloon and a small estate and live in the outer suburbs of Manchester. These cars met our needs when we bought them, particularly as the saloon has four wheel drive and air suspension which can raise it up off rougher roads. Anyone who looks at us pootling up to Tesco, or down the motorway, would think these are sensible cars.

However, our needs have changed and will change again. We moved to an area that is infested with speed cushions and potholes, and which the Council appear to have opted out of gritting whenever it snows. The 4WD saloon copes in the snow, the 2WD estate doesn't. We've acquired children, my parents (mid 70s) stay with us several months a year from abroad and will soon no longer be able to bring their own car or rent one, and MiL (pushing 70) will not be able to drive forever either; she lives by herself further north, on a north-facing hill, at the end of a mile-long dirt track, and regularly has to tow. She can be snowed in for days at a time where she lives; a 4x4 is her only option.

The saloon is 14 years old and during the lifetime of its replacement we will need seven seats and some off road capability, plus towing. The current Sharan/Alhambra isn't available with 4WD although I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an MQB-based replacement, things like the Superb Scout aren't available with seven seats, so we're going to have to hold our noses and buy an SUV.

Like OP, I can't believe that everyone who owns one really needs an SUV, but there must be plenty like us.

@Bonniefoible

"Many people..."

...in rural Scotland perhaps! No one would insinuate you and your neighbours wouldn't have good reasons to run them. It's all good.

I’ve got one because I like it. I like a high driving position and would find it hard to go back but bottom line is that is just a really nice car and when I spend as much of my life in the car as I do in my house I like a really nice, comfy, bells and whistles car it more bearable. It’s quite a small one but I just like it, nothing more, nothing less

gindaddy I reverse as soon as i see another car. I am so fast and efficient at it, it is easily the quickest way to deal with it.

I keep my 4x4 hatred to myself as no one ever listens

Someone where I live has a very expensive top of range luxury 4x4. It’s lovely. It belongs to a SAHM because it rarely moves (and is full of baby things and I have seen her getting DC in and out). It is also far too wide for their drive so they have to park it on the pavement, but the pavement outside their house also happens to be the top of a T junction. So you can neither walk easily past this giant car, or see round it when you pull out, or whilst you are driving towards it.

I was walking my dog yesterday and a Tesco delivery man could not get his van down the road between a BMW 4x4 and an Audi 4x4 who were parked opposite each other, no care in the world if that space opposite another 4x4 was going to cause any issues due to width. One of them parked there second 😂

@Answerthequestion

I feel bad that I've somehow sparked certain responses on here. I genuinely am not trying to hold some sort of opinion census where people each roll up and justify their individual choice. Good on you and the high driving position that has been mentioned so often in this thread.

I can understand the high driving position and safety thing, as well as obviously people who need them because they live on a farm etc. But I do think a lot of people have them for show-off reasons.

There is a new luxury housing complex near me where all the houses are v. expensive. I sometimes walk through it and every house has a shiny new, white, hulking 4x4 outside. Apart from anything else I would hate to be so bloody boring as to have to have one because it's what the neighbours have. (Even if I had the money!)

@PookieDo

This is exactly what I'm talking about!

People are buying these things first, then trying to fit their environment around the car, often to disastrous effect.

gindaddy I’m going to change my car next year and get the Mini Countryman. High driving, 4x4 spec and easy to park.

@Woodlandwitch
Exactly! Literally everything you said!

moo yy. I had an altercation with the driver of a Nissan tank. I’ll happily put my car halfway into snow or mud to allow a smaller car the entire clear road surface because I’m aware I can get back out. But didn’t see why I should put my car entirely off road to allow one equally big just to avoid them putting two tires off road. Until they eventually explained their pretend 4x4 was essentially no more use off road than a small city car but without any of the advantages. Since then I’ve done the same thing as you and I’m surprised by how many are essentially tiny runarounds on steroids.

I’m not bothered by people with the likes of eg Picasso’s that need them for space, but I am amused why owning one is considered more virtuous than eg a Landrover.

I am delighted to hear that a 1.2 is just as good on country lanes. I’ll remember that next time I meet one when the roads are icy/ muddy/ snowy/ full of holes. I’ll assume the normal rules apply and if they’re coming downhill with snowdrifts either side they need to pull into one and let me uphill, instead of me having to stop. Ditto when they need some of my half of the road to avoid a hazard, as they can obviously go off road as easily. And if one is going slower than I could due to road conditions, ascent etc I’ll assume it’s their shit driving rather than their vehicle being less suitable than mine.

Also panda 4x4s were great, and the few still around are definitely work horses

I totally agree with you. Could afford a big car, choose to drive a small one, can park anywhere in the city and are eco friendly. My mum used to say sth about men and big cars...

Last year in our little hatchback a HGV hit us from behind projecting us forward and spinning us back into oncoming traffic. By some miracle no one was hurt but I'll never go back to being low on the road again. And to hear DD screaming in fear like she did that night was pretty horrible.

We now drive a small SUV crossover type car and I feel so much safer in it and as pointed out by a pp it's better on my back.

It's not always image OP. Oh we also paid in cash and my parking is shit hot too

@Trewser
"To be fair, if you live anywhere with tiny rural roads then a 4 x 4 is probably useful due to flooding and snow etc"

Oh but the huge cars did not belong to the Cornish residents! They belonged to all the tourists. And as PPs pointed out, the vast majority of giant SUVs are not actually 4wd. You can still get a small car with 4wd (examples have been given on this thread).

I have included a not to scale diagram of the issue where I live with the 4x4

A lot of them are on credit/pcp arrangements so people will want big cars for their money.

The thread is now complete, there's a diagram

I have a crv never would have bought one but was given it and now I would never have anything else. Love being slightly higher, very safe to drive the kids in, loads of boot space for going on holiday, big enough for my very tall oh. Can't say I find it any more difficult to drive or park than my small car however I've driven vans so I suppose I'm coming from a slightly different place.

If it’s too big for your drive, surely you don’t buy it? SURELY?

@TrainspottingWelsh I get pushed off the road in my 1.2 because the people with 4 wheel drives won't go off road 🤷🏽‍♀️ so I regularly have to go up a verge/into a hedge etc which is why I'm glad mine is now 5 years old
If I'm going downhill in snow then of course I pull over (bad memory of someone in front of me driving at 5mph to go up a snow covered hill... it didn't end well)
I don't care what people drive but I do object when I get forced to move over because they don't want to get their off road car dirty (in a lane full of potholes) or reverse back to the passing place a few metres behind them

I don't think it's the car... it's the driver of the car. I'll shove my little polo up a verge or in a hedge if I need to but it seems ridiculous to do so when they could just budge over a bit

I have a tank - Volvo V70 estate. I bloody love it, you can get all sorts of crap in the back with the seats down. Lengthwise it just about fits into a standard space.
DH has a 4x4. He got it because he thinks its safer for the baby. It's higher and certainly easier to get the baby into and out of than my estate due to the height. It's just higher and only fractionally wider than my car, and easier to park. Not as practical though, the boot is shite.

Personally I can't understand why anyone would buy a saloon. Nowhere near as practical as an estate or hatchback, but there you go.

Some suvs are enormous and high powered engines. But lots on the market are as small as a standard car and shorter than an estate just higher uo and you get lots of Miller engines sizes and economy engines.

Therefore if people choose enormous and large engine suvs, then if they don't live up a country hill or tow items alot then they probably are twat's.

But not all suvs are equal, some are electric also. Also bad parking van be done in any car.

To the person who said about black boxes in all cars. This had better not happen in my lifetime, too much data collection already takes place. If a young unsafe driver dies then so be it as harsh as that sounds as accidents happen. And if the young person had a faster car and the attitude to go with it, why should this affect all motorists?

I don't think that you are envious of people and cars at all, you are just stating your viewpoint. I don't have a SUV ha ha, I have a little second hand Skoda, paid for in cash,as would never ever have any finance stuff.

I live in a small village, with parking problems,and have noticed that a lot of the younger people have SUVS now, so have to park half on the narrow pavements outside their homes, causing the older residents to have moan sessions at times.

Only yesterday, I was blocked in the road,by a SUV, and a big Range rover, one car in front,one behind, they left me no space to move my little car, so had to go knocking on doors to get someone to move their vehicle. The Range rover woman,was very highhanded, she said, oh surely you can get out of the space, well no, there was about two inches to spare at the front and back of my car.

I don't really care what kind of cars people drive,as many years ago,I drove a couple of Rolls Royce cars, so had my time of quality cars then ha ha.

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz

I’m genuinely sorry about your accident. I really am. That sound horrendous.

Can I ask a question.

What do you think of the NCAP ratings for things like my DW’s former car, the Toyota Yaris? It’s rated 5 stars for passenger occupancy in a crash, and the crash test pictures show an excellent structure that crumpled in the right places.

Yet somehow a “higher” car is perceived as “safer?”

What about height is going to save you from an HGV?