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

There were no used hybrids in our price range when we last changed our car. The used car happened to be a 4x4, rather than looking for one specifically- you don't always get the choice with used vehicles. We just wanted a slightly bigger car than the Golf so the dog could fit in the back. It's a 4x4, it's an SUV, it's extremely economical for fuel. It's not a massive car and we can just about all fit in it at once. You can't tar all SUVs with the same brush, it's just dumb.

I had an SUV when I lived in the States and I just loved it.It was a great car to drive .I was never a car loving person but that car was just fab.Back here in 'Europe' I have a VW Golf and wouldn't want it any other way .I do mainly city driving and find my Golf just perfect for just that.My husband has a rather larger car for lots of motorway driving .For me large car it just a pain in the city , trying to find parking , getting through narrow streets etc.Do get run off the road quite regularly though by those big SUV's and BMW's though.

nor is that it's easier to get in and out of now I'm nearer to 50 than 40

That's another thing. When my dad was alive we often gave him lifts - he couldn't get in and out of my previous Golf with his dodgy hips. We had to get a car where you sit higher up.

Jackson I agree, my car choice may not be great for the planet. I try to live as green as I possibly can in all other areas. As I'm sure most of us on this thread do.

I just get a bit sick of being preached to about being "complicit " when in reality we know nothing about each other's lives.

If you are sure you live at lest a carbon neutral life then, and I genuinely mean this, I'll happily pull up a chair and hear what you have to say .

I have a Hyundai Tucson, it is the second one I have had. I don't live in the country, I have one because I am disabled & it is higher up so I don't struggle to get in & out of it. You will probably find that a lot of SUV's are leased through the Motability scheme by disabled drivers.

I believe dogs have a higher carbon footprint than SUVs ...

JacksonPillock. Apt user name btw. Do you really think that people only ever go out to buy food?

Firstly, that post was clearly a joke. Secondly, if you had bothered to read the thread, you'd see that it's already been explained that the post was a joke! And yet here you are calling ME a pillock!

Idiot.

I drive a SUV. I love it. I don’t go off raising and I mainly drive in towns. I don’t apologise for it.

You don't NEEEEEED to go anywhere by car

So, how do you suggest those like me who live in a rural area with 2 buses per day ( when they turn up) manage without a car?

Good point Shear. I help my parents out with lots of lifts (car sharing! Woo hoo) and due to his health and hip/knee replacements my dad is so much mind comfort getting in and out.

Oh and this morning I took him to McDonald's, one with a horrendously poky car park and successfully reverse parked between two white vans. In one manoeuvre.

The majority of people don't need cars at all.

I've got a Skoda Yeti, wouldn't call that a status symbol.

It is a very popular car with the local police too, good for going over the moors.

iineed friends of ours have the Kodiaq, it's a great car.

Understandable for, say, farmers or rural Highland dwellers. Otherwise it just feels like we are becoming more like the USA, people are getting bigger, cars are getting bigger. When the healthier way for our lungs and bodies is tiny cars and trim humans, not a popular view but factually correct I'd think.

We have a jeep Cherokee- it's very comfortable, easy to drive and is 10 years old.
We live in a rural area- the road in occasionally floods and the nearest public transport is 4 miles away where you might get 2 buses a day if you are lucky.
We also tow a big trailer rated at 3.5 tons, it is illegal to tow this on a smaller vehicle.
We do have a van for work- but need the trailer for bulky items (building business).

So yes, we do need our 4x4.

I dont drive a SUV.

However, everyone I know who does who talks about 'needing' one, it's not about living up a track, but the number of seats.

The problem isnt the big cars, it's that a standard 5 seater is really a 4 seater these days due to children's car seats being over 1 standard seat width.

Many families have more than 2 children, particularly these days with blended families being more common, and while you might not need to transport 5 people every day on the school run, if you want to make your DSC feel part of the family, things like being able to all travel in the car together matter.

Many families have elderly relatives who live with them or regularly need to be transported - meaning they need that extra seat space.

I'm not sure if children's high back boosters and car seats really do need to be as wide as they are, getting cars back so you can transport 3 children who all need high back boosters in the back or 2 children and 1 adult (who's not a small size 6), would do wonders for reducing the demand for larger cars.

It seems easier to tackle the car seat issue than the car size issue at this point. Much easier to find a way for small cars to work for a range of families than just make people buy 2 small cars because they can't get 1 big one that fits everyone in.

I agree that SUVs are unnecessarily polluting, ugly and - sweeping generalisation I know - tend to be driven aggressively ime. Also, I read an article recently talking about how much more dangerous they are in crashes, for both those inside and out, which surprised me, as I imagine many people buy them thinking they are safer.

@BoogleMcGroogle the Outlander was what we were looking at (dog, plus potentially a child within the lifetime of the new car). Unfortunately it didn’t work for us, but loved the car.

As we only use a vehicle for long journeys, with day to day transport being a bike/feet/tube, it would not have been economical and would actually have been worse for the environment to go for the phev option.

Attacking people who drive so-called gas guzzling vehicles is very easy - people will probably attack us for our choice. But phev is not necessarily better for the environment when considering the journey types that people do. It’s very difficult to judge from the outside.

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

Not even the largest SUV we have, and there are 10 in the immediate family, takes up two spaces in a car park.

Stop being a twat.

Unless you need to convey half a forest, or a small flock of sheep from one place to another, then you don't need one.

You may want one, it may make your life easier or more comfortable to have one - but you don't need one.

Couldn’t agree more OP - simple as that.

You can fit a horse in a Tesla.

*can't

Ffs autocorrect

It's so amusing to see the 'justifications' from everyone. I live in the rural south west but travel often to north London.
There are far far fewer SUVs in the real countryside though we have plenty of hills, mud, floods and snow - most people manage perfectly well with ordinary old little hatchbacks with lowish fuel consumption, partly because of the low wage economy. Or those who really need then (e.g. farmers) usually have old uncool Japanese pickups which are easy to sling haybales/ collies in the back or even older defenders etc.
The old money/ county set (of which there is also quite a bit round me) would die of embarrassment driving a new SUV- it definitely isn't the done thing.
North London on the other hand is stuffed with them- and aren't 90% of new cars 'bought' with debt (PCP).
It's madness!

It makes spotting the tourists' cars where I live easy though.

YANBU our local roads aren't wide enough for so many people to have them.