To irrationally resent SUVs ?

[SavoirFlair]

For those who have impossibly avoided the term, I’m talking about “fake 4x4s.”

A car that would have been a hatchback a dozen years ago, but is now wider, higher up, with fake 4x4 styling (flared wheel arches, roof rails, big plastic moulding).

I can’t stand them.

As someone who has owned two generations of Range Rovers when we lived off a track a mile or so from the main road, I realise people are free to lob back at me. but those cars had a purpose. We wanted to be comfortable; but we absolutely needed the traction and clearance that vehicle gave us.

Does anyone need what a Grandland X offers? A Mokka? (Jesus save me from that awful car. Worst on sale today - just buy a Corsa and stop being previous). Who needs a Sportage or a Qashqai? (the hallmarks of the aspiring, when years ago a Focus or a Golf would have done just fine).

The worst offenders for me are actually the so called luxury ones. BMW X5 is an abomination - can’t do anything off road, is massively wide on road, and two mums at our school park terribly with them and block the road for the other direction.

And that’s the thing - a large segment of folk who own them, can’t drive them properly. I go to the hospital car park twice weekly with my DD. If someone is careless (often are) and parks close to or on the white line… renders the next space completely useless. Which when hunting for the one or two spaces available for my vulnerable DD, can be infuriating.

We don’t need these things, but I get people love them for

• being “high up” (still doesn’t make the drivers any better at driving)

• Being “high up” to load DCs and allow elderly parents to get in and out without bending back

• some of them have a big boot

Ok, but my answer to all these three is..

an MPV. Cars like the Ford Galaxy, S Max, Touran, Alhambra - all high up seating, easy to get in and out of, massive boots.

But no.. the truth is fashion. Why buy a Corsa when you have a jacked up version. Why buy a 5 series when you can have an X5 and dominate the school run.

Meanwhile the greater fuel consumption, the materials cost to make the thing …

AIBU to irrationally hate these stupid wide massive things?

Savoir, as you now live in london, why not go the whole hog and cycle

I have a SUV because it's practical for our family dogs camping jaunts across Europe..I am a brilliant driver and parking expert.
Not sure you should be so smug with a land rover a mile off road you could easily have a Dacia Duster much more reliable and economical

You think you have a nauced point?

😂

I had one about a decade ago. Loved it! But
soon swapped it when I realised it was becoming common. Havingecently come into some money, I'm looking at updating my current hatchback to a newer model.

@Frabbits

Yes, yes she does. That she's an excellent driver, so her choices are valid while the rest of us can't possibly be, and therefore ours are not. So sorry you don't understand nuance. 😂

I can’t stand SUVs either. If you live in the countryside, fair enough but it’s the ones that always drive them as though they are some of of modern day Hyacinth Bucket driving down the fight street looking down at the peasants that piss me off. (Mother in law)

I find parking quiet easy in my small car and always chuckle when I see someone struggle with their SUV trying to park. Same happened when I was driving around Cornwall - no problems for me but I saw some of the larger cars struggle.

There’s no need for them in this country in most places. Narrow roads and narrow parking spaces.

I drive an Audi Q5 and bloody love it . I'm not justifying it or changing it for anyone . So shoot me now.

I mean, not really your business what others pay to drive legally.

Given the state of our roads now, full of potholes and collapsed road edges I would not want to drive anything without decent road clearance around here. One of our roads is so bad that most traffic has stopped using it.

To drive one you should have to take your driving test in one.

Smaller cars would be chosen by many instead.

I took my driving test (and all my lessons) in one in 2008. It’s not unheard of. Infact quite a few of the driving instructors round here have Q3s and Q5s.

So everyone should drive what they did their test in or equivalent? Why only suv drivers? Lots of cars (including the apparently much coveted mpvs) are loads bigger than your standard driving instructor car.

80% of the stuff posted in AIBU isn’t really “people’s business” . you could say that about the dog threads, or the reclining threads.

It’s so easy to dismiss anyone’s gripes as “it’s not your business, I have freedom of choice”.

Well yeah. That’s why we are where we are today.

I agree. I live in an area with narrow roads and lots of parked cars and these are the drivers who never reverse when they should - probably because they can't in their stupid massive car.

Problem is it's so difficult to get a small car these days. I'm a small car person. Had an Aygo. Went to replace it and they don't do that small Aygo anymore it's an Aygo X which whilst still smaller than the cars you refer to, is now in the style of and much bigger than before.

I miss the Metro!

My mother drives a Honda Jazz, she manages just fine without an SUV despite needing a very comfortable seat and good driving position (as she has back problems).

Toyotas have good seats as well, you don't need to drive an SUV because you have a disablity. Admittedly there may be a few people who can only get on with a certain type of seat, and that only comes in an SUV.

But lets face it, we know most people drive SUVs because they are middle class status symbols (see also ski-ing, woodburners).

Problem is it's so difficult to get a small car these days. I'm a small car person. Had an Aygo. Went to replace it and they don't do that small Aygo anymore

That is true - the new Jazz is quite different to the older model my mum has.

As for it not being other peoples' business what other people drive, it is when you unduly pollute the atmosphere, take up too much road space, can't park between the lines in a car park, and drive dangerously because you feel too safe.

Sure, but most of the time people aren't complaining about the thing that they themselves are doing.

@lieselotte

Do you actually think responding to a disabled person that your mother manages with a Honda jazz is at all appropriate?

You have no fucking idea

I love my SUV. My husband can get in and out easily and we can put his mobility aids in the boot easily.

Yeah the problem with cars is width and they are all much wider than ever, regardless of length. Even fiestas are over 6' wide now

Yeah, that's totally practical.

They... aren't?

You're still using the measurements where six feet = 1.829m, right? Because the Fiesta is well below that.

But the problem is very much in the eye of the beholder - in our street with limited parking, the super long estates are absolutely the problem.

I have been low key bullied about my car choice by other parents on the school run. It wasn’t nice. Who are they to judge me on what car I have and why?

6 5 includes the mirrors. Yours is the arch to arch. Mirrors are still a consideration to the functional width of a car in car parks and narrow lanes. Your offside mirror can be subtracted normally but 5'10" plus 4" for the driver side mirror is still 6'1"

Noticing cars are getting bigger is not a question of perception it's just a fact.

www.directlinegroup.co.uk/en/news/brand-news/2018/wide-load--most-popular-car-models-increase-in-width-by-17-per-c.html

Of course most people don’t need them, but then again why buy a nice leather handbag when a 20p Asda bag for life would do the job just fine?