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?

Do you feel the same about estates? They often have a larger footprint.

I drive a Mazda 2 and DH and family are urging me to get a bigger car. The Mazda 2 has never given any trouble in the years since I got it so I’m reluctant.

However I do want a car that has higher seating for my mum’s sake. And I also get annoyed at all the SUV drivers who think they automatically have right of way over me just because they’re bigger.

How on earth did you manage to blag a Driving License if you can't park a Clio in less than 300 moves?

About to be order a Ford kuga. It’s roughly the same dimensions as my current A class, just taller.

The height makes it easier to load kids in the back and the boot is bigger.

I actually wanted a fiesta but Ford has discontinued it in favour of the Kuga! There’s clearly demand for higher cars.

the list you mention aren’t even very big, just tall. It’s not like the ridiculous range rovers that are genuinely the size of a van.

I’m not a farmer - if I was I would probably use one of the vehicles you described.

We had a bit of land and lived off the beaten track. In winter, it was good to have the thing.

And yes I’m fully aware how Land Rover are often bottom of the N-Power survey for reliability. Often rightly so. But I had no problems with my L322 (suspension bushes are a consumable to me for this type of car), and I had a couple of electrical faults with my L405. That’s not bad going.

So yeah - I feel I know enough about them having owned more than one?

YADNBU

They should be taxed off the roads with an exemption for BB holders.

They are dangerous:

www.iihs.org/news/detail/new-study-suggests-todays-suvs-are-more-lethal-to-pedestrians-than-cars

And re the farm thing - I grew up in East Africa where 4x4s were a must. There the locals laughed that the Europeans shipping their big fancy SUVs over because there were pretty useless for 4x4 purposes vs a Toyota or Nissan or similar (I think the old fashion/ non-fancy land rovers were pretty good too, but not any of the fancier ones you now see on the UK market). Apparently especially Mercedes were useless for the kind of use that was required.

So at least this is an honest post - you want to join the arms race on the road.

And this is what is so depressing - all the folk driving tanks around arrogantly , refusing to reverse and give way even though the Code stipulates they do.

You are not wrong, OP.

On the school run there’s this incompetent twat in a giant VW she can’t park unless there’s 3x space, so she always parks on the dropped curb outside the nursery.

It pisses me off to no end as I need the dropped curb for the pram.

Car financing for these monstrosities needs to fucking end.

I hate the engine idlers more though. No thought to what they are inflicting on young developing lungs.

They are loads safety for the driver/ passengers too I would think

Their secondary safety might be better but the primary safety probably isn’t because they tend to be less stable than lower, more nimble, vehicles.

Secondary safety is level of protection in an accident.

Primary safety is the ability to avoid having an accident in the first place.

I will probably get one when I next replace my car. I really don't want to (not least because of fuel efficiency) but I have elderly parents who are increasingly finding it difficult to get in and out of my car.

Yes, anyone who has an unnecessarily large car. But around here it's definitely SUV drivers who have a propensity for parking across two spaces / taking up far more road space than they even need to etc

Resenting them is bit weird to me, but I don't understand crossovers too, especially those with small engines. They're not fit for purpose. Too big for such small engine (like 1L that rather fits Fiesta or Corsa), don't really understand the point of them.

Obviously that was exaggeration. But I am nervous about parking, I think it's mainly because I am quite short so my view isn't the best, and early on driving a scrapped a car parking it which has given me a bit of a hang up about it. Plus, presumably my spacial awareness could be better. Either way, now I have good visbility (and things that beep if I get too close), and I'm a pretty great parker!

Our London residential streets are in permanent gridlock because while ‘normal’ cars can pass each other, these bloated monstrosities can’t.

Utterly stupid. Great big plasticky accessorised vehicles with dashboards like a jumbo jet, never driven beyond Lidl, never mind the M25.

We have a LR discovery sport. Yes it's to go to asda and has been used on the school run.

It also takes our canoe on the roof, pulls our trailer and has been used to rescue smaller cars in snow. It has been up mountains. I've had five kids in it or its been filled with scout camp equipment. Its been a changing room for sports.

Its a bit oversized when I visit my parents in London. But suits our life in Yorkshire.

It's not irrational at all.
I live in a 1950s housing estate. There's not enough room for them. Their owners act like they're hauling around building supplies but mostly they're driving 1km to the shop.
The higher bonnet means they're more likely to kill pedestrians.
www.iihs.org/news/detail/new-study-suggests-todays-suvs-are-more-lethal-to-pedestrians-than-cars

This. It’s weird.

Not all SUVs are “fake 4x4s”. Mine is described as an SUV, but it’s a very real 4x4. We have it because we have a smallholding.

Blame the manufacturers. It is very very difficult now to buy a low priced 7-seater 'people carrier'. They've nearly all been discontinued and replaced with SUVs

Vauxhall Zafira? Gone
Citroen Grand picasso? Gone
Renault grand scenic? Gone

There are some expensive ones left but the trend is definitely towards SUVs

I spent a year in bed my muscles wasted they have never been the same again, when I was finally well again I struggled to get in and out of standard cars, I now have a CRV, my next car will be a Volvo XC60.

Here are some pearls to clutch, whilst you judge people you know nothing about.😡

As someone who owns a stonking great L200 with body lift and mahoosive wheels (which I do actually use off road and on building sites etc) I'm inclined to agree.

I do like X5s though as a big, spacious, car that drives well, bit like a RR Sport (which nobody buys to actually take off road). But I don't understand all the hybrid mini SUVs. Most seem to be bought for the school run and never see a single bit of mud.

I have one and find it very useful for traversing the north side of Waitrose car park. 🤣

People get unbelievably precious and defensive about their car choices. It's pathetic.

I could name you 10-15 cars you could get, that aren’t SUVs.

I mentioned this fallacy in my OP. Everyone is buying these things for their “elderly parents”. It’s the classic justification. 😃

You are welcome to load my little one with his dystonia which often makes him as rigid as a board and his wheelchair and all of his equipment into a Corsa but until his WAV is delivered I will continue to drive my SUV type car (and yes, I am perfectly capable of driving it thanks).