Aibu to hope that this is the start of a major backlash against SUVs?

[gingganggooleywotsit]

Just seen this on the BBC news website.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56647128
It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone in motoring speak out publicly against suvs. I pray this is the start of a major backlash and rightly so! Before anyone says..”you’re jealous” as I usually see on these threads, I would just like to say-I could afford one myself but I wouldn’t be seen dead in one!
Also I am only talking about city suvs. In the countryside/farming it’s of course a different matter.

There's two points here - parking space and emissions.

Firstly, cars over a certain length should have to straddle (and pay for two parking spaces). In areas where parking is limited, they should not be allowed to park at all. This would mostly apply to cities/towns.

Secondly, emissions/pollution. The solution is to limit who can own a powerful SUV. I would say crofters/farmers/commercial/towing. Nobody else needs one. I live in the Highlands - the roads have huge potholes, we are often snowed in, and off-roading via the ditch can be necessary if there is a stupid tourist blocking the single track road. However, I manage all this in my fiesta (with winter tyres). Most people here do not have SUVs, but ordinary hatchbacks/saloons/estates.

SUVs are not 'needed' for anything except commercial/farming/towing. They may be desired, but they are definitely not necessary. For people who say 'well, it's my choice what to drive', yes it is, but you are affecting others by your choice by being greedy with parking space and polluting our earth.

If you have an electric SUV which fits in a standard UK parking space, I have no issue with your personal choice

You can convert an SUV to gas which is more environmentally friendly than petrol. My husband did that with one of his.

Oh and don't get me started on how much worse it is to get run over by an SUV!

I’m going to order a new SUV in the next couple of weeks. I really wish I didn’t need to, however I have to have a hoist in the boot to carry my mobility scooter plus shopping etc. At the moment we drive a diesel BMW MPV so a smaller engined petrol SUV will be better for the environment. I’d love to buy an estate car, and we’ve looked at them, but I physically cannot get in and out of one.

I will hold my hands up to driving a big SUV and living in an area where most other people do as well

But mine, and most of my neighbours cars are plug-in hybrids

So all my city driving is emissions-free, and my out of town driving is clean petrol engine emissions

I’m doing a lot less environmental damage than in the diesel A3 I had before my Chelsea tractor, plus I can fit everything I need in the car with comfort and ease

Wild horses wouldn’t drag me back to squishing into a small car again

We have an 11ish year old hatchback with plenty of dings in it so we're far from flash but our next car is likely to be an SUV (Tucson/Sportive size). We want the space for the family and dog and all the crap we have to cart about for them

We live in a small suburb of Glasgow but travel frequently (when allowed) North to see family, it just makes sense to us.

Love my SUV, live in a built up area of London, very difficult to park BUT the car has cameras and sensors so I can get into a space with an inch spare front and back. Most of my neighbours have Volvos, Range Rovers, Porches or Teslars. Most are very new too. There's very little backlash where I am.

You don't need a car in a city like London, let alone an suv

Yeah, because people who live in London never go outside their neighbourhood. It’s also interesting trying to take garden rubbish to the tip on the bus.

@skirk64

Just ban cars above a certain size from towns and cities then. You could do this in the style of a London congestion charge or LEZ. Every car has to be registered, therefore every car in existence on our roads is a known quantity, so it should be straightforward enough to assign a penalty charge to models above a certain length and width. A nominal charge of, say, £1000 per day to have your SUV within a designated town or city (whether you drive it or not, whether it is on public land or not) would dissuade the majority from owning one.

The only person I know who has one is a site surveyor, he has to drive out to the countryside sites daily, take a bunch of equipment and sometimes report back to the office.

What's he meant to do?

It's madness to say you don't need a car in london. I don't but I'm aware that people work in TV, film, theatre, events etc and need to carry stuff around.

A Qashqai emits about 150g CO2/km. My Fabia 106g. So, given a distance of 10,000 miles, a Qashqai emits about 700kg more CO2 annually than my Fabia does.

Depends which fabia. There are fabias with higher emissions than that quashqai...

This is the problem. People pick some tiny model of something and compare it to SUV. Obviously it will be different. But compare stronger models, slightly bigger, yet not suv and you are on similar measurements and similar emissions. Only difference is in the end the height

@Kimye4eva

You don't need a car in a city like London, let alone an suv

Yeah, because people who live in London never go outside their neighbourhood. It’s also interesting trying to take garden rubbish to the tip on the bus.

I think MNers would have a fit if they saw what goes in my rubbish. It could go to the tip but how? I am not taking stuff on the bus.

Its damned useful for moving furniture too. I must have saved nearly a thousand £ from being able to buy second hand stuff off FB marketplace and being able to transport it myself, and quickly. Will probably get criticised on here for being mean, but I''ve got a stunning Duresta sofa from there and also my rattan garden sofa, for next to nothing. Also useful for taking stuff to the tip.

And to those boasting about their electric or hybrid SUVs: where do you think the electricity comes from? If you're charging your SUV directly of the solar panels on your house, then sure, but otherwise 40% of that electricity in your car will still just come from fossil fuels (in the UK anyway).

There are other ways to get out of cities and transport stuff without owning a car

To have a car just to take stuff to the tip seems a bit bonkers

A Qashqai emits about 150g CO2/km. My Fabia 106g. So, given a distance of 10,000 miles, a Qashqai emits about 700kg more CO2 annually than my Fabia does.

That’s not like for like. A fabia is polo based. You need to compare a passat or equivalent family sized.

@Alaimo

I know everyone who owns an SUV claims to really need it, but where has this sudden need come from? A BBC article from a year or so ago reported that in 2009 6% of all cars sold were SUVs, in 2019 this had gone up to 21%.

So what's happened in those years? Why do so many people suddenly need an SUV when they didn't 10 years ago? How did they manage before?

I don’t think it’s that suddenly people need an SUV. They are just less willing to settle for something that they don’t like as much or doesn’t suit their needs as much.

I like the boot space and height of mine. We take a lot of UK holidays, by the time you’ve packed the travel cot and the pushchair there isn’t a lot of room in some cars. It’s also much easier to get the kids in their seats when they are higher up rather than having to bend down all the time. Why would I get a car that was less convenient for me? Same as some people prefer a small car for ease of parking.

@Macncheeseballs

To have a car just to take stuff to the tip seems a bit bonkers

Again, making things up. I don't "have a car just to take stuff to the tip" and I'm not "bonkers".

I use the 4 x 4 for:

sleeping in instead of a tent on short trips during the pandemic when permitted

moving furniture

bad road conditions at 58 degrees north

bad roads

taking stuff to tip

towing things over 2000 kg

All things which a smaller car couldn't do. I live in a city but not one in the south of England.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

A Qashqai emits about 150g CO2/km. My Fabia 106g. So, given a distance of 10,000 miles, a Qashqai emits about 700kg more CO2 annually than my Fabia does.

Depends which fabia. There are fabias with higher emissions than that quashqai...

This is the problem. People pick some tiny model of something and compare it to SUV. Obviously it will be different. But compare stronger models, slightly bigger, yet not suv and you are on similar measurements and similar emissions. Only difference is in the end the height

Yes, and there are Qashqais with higher emissions too - all the way up to 200+g CO2, but I went for a relatively low emission version for the comparison. Compared with a high emitting Qashqai I could take almost 4 return flights to Barcelona :).

@Macncheeseballs

To have a car just to take stuff to the tip seems a bit bonkers

You’re right, it does. But still no one has come up with a suggestion for how to take the garden waste to the tip without a car.

And yes I could leave London by means other than car. But to be honest, I don’t want to. I’m not going to schlep into the city to get a bus or a train out somewhere else when I can just jump in my car that’s sat right outside my house.

I clicked on this I am looking for a new car but have no idea what to get and have no idea about cars! I'm not entirely sure what an SUV is.

Can any of you who seem be able to tell one car from another help?

I have an ancient Citroen Picasso that I love but it's on its way out. I need something no bigger than that but I like a high ish seat so I can see, I'm 5'1" so need to be able to reach the pedals and see over the front.

(DH has a Honda Civic and I can barely reach the pedals, can't see over the bonnet, can barely reach the lever to open the petrol cap, I hate it!)

I need something high off the ground as we often end up on potholed roads and it will be the main family car for holidays, day trips with bikes and that sort of thing.

Any ideas?

Yes, and there are Qashqais with higher emissions too - all the way up to 200+g CO2, but I went for a relatively low emission version for the comparison. Compared with a high emitting Qashqai I could take almost 4 return flights to Barcelona smile.

Same for hell of a lot of sedans.

I hate them.

The other day at school pick up. One of the parents decided to park on the grass verge as they couldn't find a big enough parking space. So up a kerb and onto the school landscaping. When they tried to straighten up they realised their car wheels were stuck. They then put there foot down full throttle and ploughed up a sizable trench with both wheels into the grass. It was embarrassingly cringeworthy and looked awful. They still remained stuck and looked like a complete arse. Not sure how they got out in the end but they ruined that piece of lawn. Absolute muppet.

@trappedsincesundaymorn

I don't own one but I do drive one regularly when I support a particular person. They cannot bend very well so find the smaller cars impossible to use and 3 bags of shopping and a mobility scooter takes up quite a bit of space.

Yes, fitting a wheelchair hoist plus dogs in the same boot can be challenging.

I think we need to stop talking about “SUVs” now though, since small and medium “SUVs” have become a thing and estate cars have also turned chunky. We need to purely look at emissions when setting dis/incentives and allow disability exemptions (determined by car tax disability exemption) across the board on those dis/incentives.

Love how my 2006 Honda CR-V is a status symbol, that's made my day