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

SUV's fit perfectly well in parking spaces.

One of the reasons I bought one is the state of the roads (I ruined 3 tyres on my last car due to potholes) and the local council just not gritting when we had snow.

I don't buy new. I buy second hand.

The amount of stuff I carry around, I need a big boot. It's unsafe to put big bags and suitcases on seats next to passengers in case of accident.

I feel better protected in a bigger car, especially with all the lorries on the road.

Whilst they're legal, I'm having one.

Because reading a thread like this will put me off buying one, ha not going to happen. I don't need to justify my need for having one and I can't wait to swap my much smaller car to one that'll actually fit my needs.

Its all a bit spoilt and foot stampy like verucca salt. 'I simply must have a big car for all my children, my dogs, my sons cricket gear, my daughters musical instruments etc etc'. You make the choices you make in life but generally speaking no-one forced anyone to have a large family and a pack of dogs and live in the back of beyond. But hey you must have your big fat polluting car.

YANBU, OP.

We can easily rationalise all of our consumption, but we're going to need to start facing up to our responsibility, if we want a habitable planet. I include myself in that, I understand it's not always easy. Bluntly, we don't have much of a choice.

I disagree tbh , It’s nothing to do with status . We have one cause my ohs always wanted one, tbh he worked bloody hard to buy one 🤷🏻‍♀️& I have to say I appreciate the car even more when everyone on my estate is struggling to get out in the snow! .
We have a 3 year old & another on the way.. my dp’s older son would never fit between the 2 car seats comfortably if we’d of kept previous car.

& I manage to get it in a single parking space btw..

ahhh not single unilamilar vesicles then..shame.

MN's probably never had a thread about those...

This is hilarious and depressing in equal measure - as if the odd muddy weekend or muddy road justifies such a shitty environmental choice! I live rurally, the folk with SUVs are mainly farmers. The rest of us just choose our cars with care. I live up a muddy hill, I've not been stuck once in 3 years, I drive a boring Skoda Octavia - not as flash as an SUV but it's very safe and gets the job done. We can afford pretty much any car we want, we chose ours because it's relatively low emissions and practical.

we chose ours because it's relatively low emissions and practical.

Nearly as good emissions as a Volvo XC60, a Kadjar or a Qashqai in fact.

No matter what someone has they are judged, I have a Land Rover i have 4 children and 2 dogs so I will quite happily look a prat on the school run, and of course they look clean I for one am not paying for a car no matter if it’s a shite car or the best car and having it looking disgusting just so I am not judged!

Because all SUVs are hideously polluting, large status symbols.....NOT!

My Yeti classes as an SUV, but does the same efficiency as the ford focus I had before it, and is certainly no bigger width wise.

It also has a boot big enough to fit in all the stuff and food I need for a beavers sleepover, which the focus certainly didn't manage...

But yes, I bought it because my life's ambition has been to drive a Skoda....

I have a lovely big, shiny new one. I also have a big family, big dogs, livestock and live on a farm. I have a new one because I can and because it is under warranty and so I don’t get stung with a huge repair bill if anything breaks. I can park it and navigate country lanes with the greatest of ease and without inconveniencing anyone else. If I’m not in it, I’m on a horse or a bike. So, environmental swings and roundabouts.

The reality is this is a fashion thing. The Skoda Octavia or Superb Estate have frankly cavernous boots, but for the same money you can have something which looks more "lifestyle".

I have an estate car, I posted about it on the previous thread I created on this topic, and a number of people said "I wouldn't own an estate car as it looks 'old fashioned' to me".

If this was really about cubic space, the Superb Estate or Mercedes E Class Estate would be an excellent choice for a lot of folk.

People don't buy cars with wholly their head however, and the SUV is one of those things car manufacturers can't build enough of because the perception of them as huge luggage swallowing go-anywhere beasts is seductive. Folk want to "buy the best for their family" and an SUV is popularly considered as the best.

I'll stick with my 6 year old estate even though I could in theory buy a brand new Range Rover, because it works for me. Different folks, etc.

Easy answer - just ramp up road fund licence on them - £750 p.a. would probably do the job. Then those who REALLY need one will have to pay, and all the others would be incentivised to buy smaller cars with a much lower road fund licence cost.

I bought my second brand new Mercedes SUV in September because I need a huge boot for my sons wheelchair and hoist ( plus shopping etc )
I also have lupus , arthritis and a brain stem lesion and I'm a short arse .
It's essential that I have all round cameras etc and all of the safety features so that I can keep on driving safely and not lose my independence.
I've been assessed after my brain injury, once I was well enough and with the adaptions and extras that Mercedes provided I am able to carry on with life.
The DVLA, my neurologist and GP are happy.
I need a safe car , that accommodates my family.
As for parking , I went for the AMG with executive pack and this beauty actually parks itself.
Looks like a flash bitch of a car ( her name is Mariah ) but she is a lifesaver to me.
My old one didn't and I still didn't have a problem.
The next car will probably be the same but electric as they are bringing that option out in 2022.
Without that car I'd be reliant on my husband for everything and we share it.
He sold his old peugout diesel and takes the train to work if I have drs appointments etc

If this was really about cubic space, the Superb Estate or Mercedes E Class Estate would be an excellent choice for a lot of folk.

It would be the more antisocial on my street, or any street with scarce on street parking. My smaller SUV (Volvo XC60) is a foot shorter than the E class.

I need a bigger car than I'd like because it has to be high up and have enough room for either my wheelchair or mobility scooter. We looked at a VW Tiguan but it was far too big and I would've had to jump out. I can see the attraction of them to families. In the end we went for a BMW MPV.

We live very rurally and DH commutes 50 miles through lanes to work. He very often takes our VW Polo and only once has he not got through and that was when a lorry was blocking the road during the snow from the Beast from the East

Yup. My 9yr old battered kia is SUCH a status symbol... and it was purely showing off that made me buy it after abandoning my non SUV at the top of my single track lane and walking through snow for a mile with 9 month old twins.... but yup you judge away 😁

what an odd thread!

I have a Kuga - so maybe seen as an SUV (although this one isn't a 4x4 - last one was) - I use it because I go camping a lot and also drive to Europe on holiday (no flying - polish my halo!) so it has to fit lots of stuff and 3 kids

I can park it perfectly well - it fits in a normal space - and I am a competent driver.

Baffled as to how choosing a car that fits my needs makes me a bad driver or a 'show off' or some kind of yummy mummy wannabe - dull middle aged lone parent me!

So back home after collecting DD from after school club.

With roads flooded as they were in places I was v thankful to be higher up than it my old hatchback

now needs brandy

user1497207191
Easy answer - just ramp up road fund licence on them - £750 p.a. would probably do the job.

Great idea, would also work well on those who have more than two children since overpopulation is the biggest threat to the planet. £750 pa per extra child seems reasonable.

Apart from giving you an opportunity to virtue signal, how is it any of your business what other people choose to buy?

Before you ask, no I don't own an SUV nor any car, my disability makes it difficult for me to drive so I rely on my trusty mobility scooter for local trips - zero pollution.

I’ll stop driving mine when people stop having kids.

Sick of the virtue signalling that goes on in here

Isn't road tax already graded based on emissions?

I have a friend who had recently become part of the extinction rebellion thing. She's had a right go at three friends for their choice of car, eating meat, using sanitary towels instead of cups and using shampoo instead of soap to wash hair, while at the same using her own car to drive a distance that would take ten mins to walk and least three times daily as it's too cold, buying a mountain of plastic toys for her child for Xmas (which is being delivered four and five times a week via amazon prime) several foreign holidays a year. She leaves all this out when talking to her new extinction rebellion friends though.

If my friend inconvenienced herself by making changes to her own lifestyle before telling her other friends they should be ashamed for their choice of car or eating habits then I'd have a lot of respect for her standing my what she believes in but when she's making very little changes herself and berating others she just looks like a hypocrite.

My brother goes on and on about single use plastics while buying bottles of water every day to take to work instead of filling from the tap because "it's not the same" He's a hypocrite too.

I think people should look at their own lifestyles and the impact their non essential choices have on the environment before shaming others for theirs. If you're going to suggest it should be shameful for choosing a certain car then I think you shouldn't be making choices that also having significant impact on our planet and it's resources. It's almost like a lot of people are worried about the environment but don't want to make different choices that will inconvenience themselves or their family.