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

Of course it's ok to have one if you need one. If you live very rurally, or you need a high car because of disability.
Unfortunately most people who have one in my area do not need one. We live in a city, nowhere near the countryside. They have them purely for status. I hate it. They take up a huge amount of space, and who needs a massive engine when the speed limit is 20mph?!
My SIL has a massive status 4x4, hates cyclists, and drives her kids the 0.5m (urban) journey to school and back each day. She is a fuckwit.

“ You like them, you stop taking up two spaces in car parks.”

What new fantasy is this? An SUV does not require 2 parking spaces.

I wrote about this a couple of months ago and the post ended up having 970 replies etc..

Like @JacksonPillock just said, fine if your business is towing or you need one because you live in the Cairngorn mountains. That's not most people but it's good to know you're out there.

The people I think @Fridakahlofan is referring to are those who buy pointless large jacked up vehicles just because they can (" I can see over other cars! I don't have to bend down to put my child into the seat!") not because they truly need it.

The problem however is that telling anyone what they need or don't need tends to bring out rage, as people don't like to be told anything anymore.

So we'll keep seeing the Kodiaqs, the X3s, the GLAs, the Qashqais etc, because basically it's a fashion thing and people can "buy" them easily on PCP. It won't stop unless the Government tax the hell out of them, which it won't...

Yanbu. Its a chav machine so never understood why anyone wanted them and i grow up in the country. Its very much not a status thing as where i grow up. Farmers used to use polos for farm work where i was.

“ as people don't like to be told anything anymore. ”

That’s right. My life is busy and challenging enough. Anyone who doesn’t like my lifestyle or choices can feck off.

@londonrach

Farmers used to use polos for farm work

Not all suv are petrol guzzlers and they make so many different ones. That's just the stupid people who want to drive big engines cars and that does not apply to just suvs. 1.4 and 1.6 litre is great in smaller cars. 1.8 and 2.0 litre is great in suv and not bad on petrol.

It's the people who choose 2.4 or 3.0 for around town. Why?

But to just talk about suvs is stupid as lots of other cars have big engines too, also there are lots of small and mid sized suvs about, so it's not all about giant inconsiderate ones anymore.

I have a qashqai never bought one because it's fashionable, (didn't even know they were) in the past I've had a Cora's and a Peugeot and I'm only small going up a hill I can barely see , with my car I'm high up and feel a lot safer. we also go camping a lot and it's a good camping car.

@BossAssBitch. I know..should have put vw before the polo.... loving the image now when i read your comment and realised what id done.

@londonrach

I had a Fiat panda as a field car. Not MOT worthy or emissions worthy to drive on the road.

None of my farming friends have polos A’s work vehicles. Plenty have them as run arounds, but a polo doesn’t tow a livestock trailer or cross a flooded track, does it?

My new SUV averages 42.5 mpg. Mine is one of the less expensive ones so is unlikely to provoke much of a reaction. It isn't as big as some saloon cars.

Like someone else up thread, we were in the 2nd hand market about a year ago. We knew we wanted an estate - need adequate rear headroom for teenagers and I remember my parents having the same problem when I was a teen; plus the luggage space gets used. It was amazingly different compared with our last car purchase a dozen or more years ago - wanting an estate really narrowed down the available options.

There is or will be an issue though, that the availability of 2nd hand cars reflects the tastes of people who buy new cars, so they are the subset who largely influence what is available.

Where are the stats that say if you drive a tiny, economic tincan car you are much more likely to suffer serious injury or die if involved in a collision. We have a large A road near us, so not dual carriageway so there are still head on crashes and it is the small vehicle occupants who are killed. Also they are crushed if they crash into a lorry.
So a bigger car is safer. Though probably not an issue if you live and drive in town.

If you live in the countryside you can grow your own food so you don't really need one either.

Eh? So people who live in the country side do need to go to work? Do you think we all just stay in our immediate area unless going to asda?

Bizarre concept.

Eh? So people who live in the country side do need to go to work? Do you think we all just stay in our immediate area unless going to asda?

You don't NEEEEEED to go anywhere by car

I drive an SUV.

Live in a city. Mainly do town driving.

Company car though. So usually it's only me in it.

Guess I'm a cunt too? Despite having literally no input into the car?

Not sure if I'm included in this group because I have a 1.9 diesel Zafira... It's not a suv but is a bigger engine and a larger car so....

Most of the SUVs I’ve seen are Hybrids and use less petrol and oil than smaller cars - hence the lower tax code.

Ooooh and I average 58mpg (my best was 73.8) which equals my husband's estate car, and is better than my mom's hatchback....

Also, fuck off about no one needing to drive anywhere. Not everyone lives in big cities with half decent public transport.

@JacksonPillock

If I didn't have a car I'd be stuck. I live in a village with basically no bus service, taxis are expensive and it's too far to walk to the nearest town. (between 6-7 miles one way.)

Cars aren't to blame for the climate. Blame planes and cargo ships for that.

What new fantasy is this? An SUV does not require 2 parking spaces.

And yet so many of their drivers still park across 2 spaces! The Venn diagram of people who drive SUVs and people unable to manoeuvre with any kind of skill has a lot of overlap in my experience.

I live in rural Scotland and the only people round my way who have them are the actual farmers who need them for going in actual fields. We do see a lot of very clean ones coming from the direction of the motorway at the weekend, though, and they're always the ones who can't reverse into passing places.

I agree op. And all car owners need to evaluate their car use and see where they can avoid car journeys. I've met some people who live in London and never, ever take public transport.

The thing that really worries me is the damage that SUVs can do to pedestrians and others cars due to their size. I witnessed a multiple car accident recently caused by an SUV. The SUV was barely dented, but other cars were really damaged.

@JacksonPillock

What do you propose people do for food and to pay their bills seeing as they don’t need their car?

And what about disabled people?

Eh? So people who live in the country side do need to go to work? Do you think we all just stay in our immediate area unless going to asda?

I read that post as a joke

Jesus, I guess there needs to be some tag for "this post is not 100% serious".

My posts were not 100% serious. I was just trying to make a lighthearted point that how we classify "needing" any vehicle or anything is all subjective. OP says most people don't need SUVs, I could say she doesn't really NEED a car at all.