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.

@CornedBeef451

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?

VW T-Cross? SEAT Arona?

I love mine. It suits me, my kids, the added height suits my medical condition. I can drive it for hours without suffering back pain. Don't give a rats ass what all the haters think!

I have a big car. It’s a pain in the ass. But need the space and seats as there’s 6 of us. It was the only one that could fit all the kids crap in and a double push chair plus car seats. I’d prefer a smaller car now the kids are older and I don’t need to cart round a ton of stuff.

My issue as a small car driver (fiesta) is that an suv might give you enhanced visibility but when I’m driving through my town I have next to no visibility due to all the massive suvs around me!and I spend most of my time in the countryside down lanes with a bale or two of shavings shoved in and a large car seat.

I've been seeing lots of that oddly ugly yet not really ugly jeeps around. They are cheaper than little fiat on payments if I am not mistaken. So makes sense people get it, doesn't it.

I wish there were fewer SUVs but they're so convenient for families I doubt we'll see much of a decline. Personally, I'd be terrified to drive one but I own a tiny Hyundai i10 so it would be like upgrading to a tank.

What I'd really like to see is a change to the size of parking spaces to acknowledge that even the average family car is getting bigger. I can ALMOST comfortably open my door if I'm parked next to a similar sized car but my car is much smaller than average. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to climb over from the passenger side or hold my breath and the door while trying to squeeze in because spaces are too small.

@CornedBeef451

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?

Go volkswagen group or toyota for smaller people. BMWs are terrible for short people. I’ve assumed yours is the 5 seater Picasso?? I would probably look at the caddy life. Not as many gadgets and gizmos as your citroen but good solid and reliable. You will pay a bit of “scene tax” though because of the campervan prospects.

@RickiTarr thanks I'll have a look.

It's very hard to search for cars if you don't already know about cars!

My 150cm sil drives Duster and she is quite ok with it.

I think they’re fine for all of the reasons people on this thread have mentioned. It’s more their use in particular circumstances which is a problem - diesel versions that people own when they live on a narrow street in a busy City and use it to take kids to school rather than letting them walk for 20mins or take the bus, and ditto for the 5 min drive to the supermarket, which should have been a 15 min walk.

[quote CornedBeef451]@RickiTarr thanks I'll have a look.

It's very hard to search for cars if you don't already know about cars! [/quote]
I know. I used to have no idea myself. But I have a short DD and a tall DS and now a spinal injury so I’ve done a lot of car shopping for all requirements in the past few years.

@evilpea thanks for the recommendations. My 15 year old Picasso doesn't have any bells and whistles apart from a broken reversing alarm that helpfully emits a high pitched screech whenever I reverse!

@EvilPea

The q8 is frankly laughable to even consider driving it down a country lane.

Eek I have a Q8 and I live down the bottom of a very muddy country road

@shittingthreeeyedraven

My issue as a small car driver (fiesta) is that an suv might give you enhanced visibility but when I’m driving through my town I have next to no visibility due to all the massive suvs around me!and I spend most of my time in the countryside down lanes with a bale or two of shavings shoved in and a large car seat.

The thing is that all driving positions are getting higher and all chassis are getting chunkier, so in another ten years, all vehicle heights will be comparable, and all emissions will be lower - we will be well in our way to all electric - and things will even out. It’s this intermediate period that is challenging.

Dunno really. Would never want a range rover but we are looking at new cars as we have 2 10 year old cars.
I like a higher driving position, want to seat 5 adults sometimes. Boot for stuff plus dog. Hatchback suitable to put bikes on. Lead contender is Mazda cx5. Is ,that a large SUV? Tbf we have our own drive. Will use my beetle where parking looks tight and have spent literally hundreds on wheels and tyres for our other car in last year due to damaged roads caused by lorries and bug vehicles.

We live rurally, but the main reason we have an SUV is because I'm disabled. It's easier to get in and out of a higher-up vehicle and we need plenty of boot space for my wheelchair. Ours is AWD, essential in the snow around our part of Scotland and it's also a hybrid, so not as polluting.

You've come across in your opening post as judgey, intolerant and thoughtless. Not everyone buys them as some kind of status symbol.

Compared with a high emitting Qashqai I could take almost 4 return flights to Barcelona

There are too many variables, though. Are the flight emissions for one person or the 7 you could transport in one of the bigger Qashqais? Also, how does the environment feel about one Qashqai regularly transporting 7 people around town as opposed to 7 Fabias each containing just a single adult each day on a long round-trip commute?

Lead contender is Mazda cx5. Is ,that a large SUV?

No that’s a so-called “crossover” which is about as close to a family saloon/sedan as is available new now.

The whole market has split into boxy crossovers and bigger or £££££ luxury saloons.

[quote CornedBeef451]@evilpea thanks for the recommendations. My 15 year old Picasso doesn't have any bells and whistles apart from a broken reversing alarm that helpfully emits a high pitched screech whenever I reverse! [/quote]
Ah! that’s going to be helpful when parking

No it is hard to know where to start. I am a big fan of the skoda yeti. Another really good underrated car. But I think that may be slightly small for you.
If you look at the caddy life pictures on Pinterest lots of people have converted them to day vans for days out, so like mini campers, which may fit with the bike and outside stuff.
Great versatile cars.

@RickiTarr an expert through necessity!

I have my current car because my dad had one and I liked it, I don't have anyone to copy this time!

Some of the mazdas cx series have poor weak engines. So have a bit of a google before putting your hard earned cash into one.

It's not SUV's that are the problem.

It's that a large majority of the driving population can't park to save their lives. It needs to be a much bigger part of the driving test IMO.

Doesn't matter if they're driving a Q8 or a Smartcar if they can't park the bloody thing.

@evilpea think think last time I looked I quite liked the yeti, plus it has a humorous name.

We all tune out the reversing horror but it's quite funny if you have someone new in the car.

Somehow it had never occurred to me to have it mended or switched off.

I think a lot of this is also about inverse snobbery and a sometimes narrow understanding. I remember parking once between a Range Rover (one of the lower down ones - Vogue?) and a Mini (one of the new BMW-owned ones) and they honestly looked to be almost exactly the same size/dimensions/armour/chunkiness to me. My large estate in between them looked small by comparison!

Yet if you re-ran this thread with the word 'Range Rover' in the title and then again with 'Mini', you'd get extremely different responses.

There are so many variables between different kinds, functions, features and sizes of cars, but people effectively seize on the drivetrain and, on that sole basis, declare a vehicle either ecofriendly or planet-destroyer.

This is interesting article.
www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/advice/parking-space-size