Just stop buying new SUVs...

[Fridakahlofan]

Unless you REALLY need one. I live 1/4 mile down a muddy track and I do not have one.

In the Times today:
SUVs 'were responsible for all of the growth in oil demand, of 3.3 million barrels a day, from passenger cars between 2010 and 2018, with total fuel consumption from other types of car falling slightly'

Surely soon it will be shameful to own one!

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/soaring-demand-for-suvs-exacerbates-climate-crisis-kbpj5mpzg

[Pardonwhat]

JusticeForSandra

Thanks

[JusticeForSandra]

Pardonwhat
take your time, I am sure you'll get there

[Vegheaven]

Also presumably @bigflowerdog you aren't self employed and don't lose £650 a day for every day you can't make it to the office. Certainly we all have different circumstances - when dh or his employees can't make it into the client's office - they work from home - it's no big deal every now and then.

[wheresmymojo]

@bigflowerdog

Good for you - here's your medal

[ConFusion360]

I dont have an SUV. I struggle to see how anyone in the UK does.

If you want one, it isn't that much of a struggle to get one.

Perhaps try looking at Autotrader. There's loads on there.

[bigflowerdog]

@wheresmymojo we ARE self employed thank you. And we don't I've the occasional snow. We have it for 5 to 6 months. I don't know one person that lives here with an SUV.

[astridstar]

We have a large 4x4 pick up truck and a mini. The mini is our everyday car. The pick up tows the caravan (there are so many caravans on the road with cars that aren't really big enough in terms of weight, stability etc towing them and over relying on the the caravans braking system) and horse box, is great for collecting horse feed and bales of hay, we can hose out the back of it, never ever gets stuck in muddy fields (we've even had to help tow out other horse boxes after a show where lighter weight 4x4s have struggled), has been perfect in the snow in the hilly area we live in and were also part of the local 4x4 response network so it helps ensure that district nurses and other essential workers can do their jobs in poor weather. It's three years old, our second one and we'll get another when this one needs replacing. We had an early Range Rover and they were so different to the ones today. You could take out all the carpets etc easily and hose down the internally floors! It really was a great cross over vehicle for farmers etc as you could use it for agricultural type work, hose it out and it was fine for other uses. It was the Irish Draft horse of the car world (the Irish draft horse was bred so that most Irish farmers like my grandparents who only had small plots of land and so could only afford one horse and needed one that was strong enough to pull the plough, athletic enough to hunt or point to point if that was what you did and calm yet smart enough to pull the trap to church) but the Range Rover has changed into an overbred show pony!! Don't get me started on the convertible range rovers!!

[wheresmymojo]

Also presumably @bigflowerdog you aren't self employed and don't lose £650 a day for every day you can't make it to the office.

We all have different circumstances. Weird that isn't it

[wheresmymojo]

@bigflowerdog I said in my post that I don't need an SUV but that it makes life much easier.

And we also live rurally next to a huge hill the you need to traverse to get in or out of the village.

The only people that made it in or out last year when it snowed were people in tractors, 4x4s/SUVs and people who were pushed up the hill by other villagers like my DH who spent five hours pushing everyone in 'normal' cars.

We spent two days ferrying around various carers and NHS staff.

If we weren't reliant on a huge hill to get in and out I have no doubt that I could do it without but you can't here.

[Vegheaven]

So they sit in the middle of the road, expect me to make my 4x4 climb a bank to get round them and then probably come on here to say that I’m the one with the unsuitable car! Interestingly the opposite occurs around here - they don't want to get mud on their precious SUVs after arguing that was the reason for buying them!

[bigflowerdog]

@wheresmymojo

- In the winter we get snowed in for a few days, sure we could just stay snowed in and it wouldn't be a big deal but we give lifts to local carers and NHS staff to their jobs and do a supermarket run for neighbours

I'm sorry but as I said upthread I live EXTREMELY rurally. We get over 4 feet of snow and live on a dirt road with foot deep potholes and very steep hills. Most people I know won't even drive to my house this time of year. Fed ex/UPS stop delivering here around November. I dont have an SUV. I struggle to see how anyone in the UK does. My Mam lives in the mountains of Wales, 20 minutes from the nearest neighbour and doesn't need one either.

[Pardonwhat]

Fortheloveofscience

Same here. Hedges both sides and only the rare muddy or steep banking for a pull in.
Every comment is nonsense.

[Fortheloveofscience]

JusticeforSandra totally pointless comment as I’m clearly not on the roads around you . If there’s no room for 2 cars of any size to pass on the tarmac, and you’re driving a car which is unable to get out of the passing places then you shouldn’t be on these roads. Yet people do, regularly get completely stuck and cause chaos!

[NeverTwerkNaked]

Yanbu. For all the people here with "good reasons" , most of the people I know who own an SUV have one or two children, a house in suburbia and absolutely zero need for a hulking great car.

[FunOnTheBeach20]

@ginghamstarfish

I’m interested to know how you know when people can justify their SUV and when they can’t when you’re judging them?

We have an SUV as a family car (which is equally economical as my fiesta) we use it to tow, because my husband is very tall and needs a higher roof. Quite happy with my choice but wondering how you’d apply your judgment? A bit like when people accuse people in disabled bays of not limping...?

[doublebarrellednurse]

Where I used to live in Cornwall a range was totally justified. Lots of flooding, land slips etc which would cut off villages without them.

Where I live in suburban Derbyshire not so much. Range is a status thing here, along with the personalised plate.

I ended up with a juke as we spend a lot of time in Cornwall, I like being higher up so I can see down the lanes etc and get over the flooding etc. It's got a sports mode for such things. I wouldn't call it an SUV though. It's pretty much an average mummy wagon from what I can see. I'm basic.

[Ruddle91]

They're popular with disabled people like myself due to higher seats and big boots. Tried 28 normal cars, limited somewhat by needing an automatic and many of those are shit tbf in little cars. Naff all public transport where I am either, without a car I'd be stuck at home so do I feel guilty - do I shite.

[ginghamstarfish]

What an astonishing amount of ill-judged nonsense on here! OP and many PPs have said that SOME need SUVs, a small minority of those who have them. The others are clearly just show-offy twats who want to feel superior, and I do judge them as such. SUVs also DO take 2 car park spaces, as they are so big they render a space next to them unusable to a normal car. They do block vision for drivers of normal cars, on the road and when parked. Lastly, this bollocks about not needing to drive - can you really not conceive in your tiny minds that some people live in rural areas, where there is no public transport for miles? What are they supposed to do? FFS!

[wheresmymojo]

The thing is they're just so bloody useful.

I won't pretend we need one but these are the situations they're useful for:

• We live in the country and in the winter there is (minor) flooding. I could probably get through it with a normal car but it would make me nervous

• In the winter we get snowed in for a few days, sure we could just stay snowed in and it wouldn't be a big deal but we give lifts to local carers and NHS staff to their jobs and do a supermarket run for neighbours

• I do upholstery as a hobby and so need a large boot to put armchairs in

So we don't need one - but I'd hate to give it up. We don't do many miles in it as I use another car for my commute.

[DBML]

What an inflammatory thread. I own an SUV. Nothing to do with showing off. I also live in the middle of a city, so don’t really NEED one. But I like it and I pay for it, so it’s no one else’s business what I drive. Until SUVs are made illegal, I’ll carry on driving mine thank you very much.

[Pardonwhat]

JusticeForSandra

What look?

I’m very impressed. You’ve wrote 4 paragraphs that mean absolutely nothing.

[cheesemumma]

@FunAtTheBeach20 it's not the electric cars that are the issue though is it. It's where the power to produce and run them comes from. If the country's leadership was responsible we would have effective renewable energy sources, so yes, they would be much better for the environment.

[JusticeForSandra]

Fortheloveofscience
If you are on the narrow roads around here, 2 small cars do cross without problem, or the passing bays are not an issue for any vehicle at all - it's only ones that are too big that get stuck. If you chose to have the bigger vehicle, you can drive around

[JusticeForSandra]

Pardonwhat
people are allowed to do whatever they want, and we are allowed to laugh at them, that's life.

We all know that "living rurally" means nothing - some need a 4x4, others really don't - I can think of one person living VERY rurally who has a Fiat 500 and is out and about every day of the year

If you feel offended because your car is a status symbol for you, it's your problem, it affects no one. Your parking and high beams might though.

Some of us couldn't care less what others think about our vehicle... See, I manage to post on a thread without mentioning even once what car I have. Because I don't care... But you are very invested, not giving away the look you thought you were, are we?

[Fortheloveofscience]

Urgh I hate these threads. Particularly when I’ve just got back in and on my drive today I met 3 drivers who’d taken their little card up a steep narrow road where they don’t have the traction to get out of passing places. So they sit in the middle of the road, expect me to make my 4x4 climb a bank to get round them and then probably come on here to say that I’m the one with the unsuitable car!