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?

The alternatives you've mentioned are MPVs. I don't want an MPV, they're too big. Why would that be better? What I want is height to make things easier for my elderly parents (no scare quotes required).

I had a Clio for years, went everywhere in it and I can't understand how anybody could struggle to park one?! It's tiny, you can see every inch of the outside of it from the inside! I'm not the worlds best driver either, I'm just average!

"The hallmarks of the aspiring"

You sound like a horrible snob in everything you've written. Not sure any of it has much to do with the cars tbh.

"Because of their size, they are more difficult to drive, so people make a hash of it. And they don't care, because they feel safe because of the size."

IMO, they're easier to drive, because you sit high. You can see end of your bonnet, unlike in hatchbacks etc. It's poor drivers who make others' life miserable. They should hand their licence to the nearest police station and never drive again. If you can't see properly in SUV, there's no hope for you.

I do hate these threads.

Probably cause I take it personally.

I drove X2 qashqais for 5 years and then an estate. None were actually my choice, company cars.

Hated the Qashqai, but did like the viewing from being higher up.

LOVED the estate...so much space.

And actually going from an estate to my hatchback now....took me forever to learn to park a small car.

Personally, I just hate most other road users. Seems to me that most can't park and don't make good judgement e.g. leave it too long/pull out too early at roundabouts.

I also think the quality of driving in London is absolutely appalling. Some of the worst in the country.

I can't stand Range Rovers/ Land Rovers. But that is directly from the misfortune of dealing with their owners at work.
I have a Ford Kuga. Shoot me. Its high up, has decent tyres to deal with shite East Sussex road. It has all the bells and whistles.

Because I have three children I'm car seats and a dog which all need transporting multiple times a day as we live in the countryside with no pavements?

Maybe its glasses you need then if you are struggling with visibility? Yes, there are some cars with seats that make them impossible to drive when you're short I know, I used to drive a lot of pool cars at an old job and struggled with the Audi, but I also drove a Scenic and being high up did not increase my visibilty in any useful way. All of my own cars have been little hatchbacks, easy to park and maneouvre and no problems with visibility, so I guess I just don't understand the excuse that people NEED great big high up cars in order to be able to drive to an acceptable standard. From what I've seen as well, so many of these big cars don't even have much more space in them then a smaller car, maybe in the boot! My brother has a qashqai and it has the same amount of seating space as my Yaris does!

I can't tell you how much I wish I didn't make the Clio comment, it was a throw away comment and not one I thought I would have to repeatedly explain. It's irrelvant anyway, I don't have a bigger car now due to parking. I have it because - all our needs (and wants) considered - it was the best choice for us as a family. Also, DH had a motorway collision with a truck a few years ago which he came out of fine physically - thank god - but it could have looked a lot worse if he had been in a lower and more flimsy made car.

I have the luxury of choosing the car I wanted, and one that makes my life easier, safer and more comfortable. It is not significantly bigger than similar family cars (just a bit higher), as already explained, and it's much better for the environment than e.g. a diesel MPV. While are don't have the landowner "get out" that OP has, we live semi rurally and it it also handy for when there's lots of snow and mud.

I'll disclose it's a BMW as well, as I am sure that will come with lots of additional assumptions and judgements about me and the way I drive. But it's a well built car which is great to drive, certainly a lot better than a 10 year old crappy clio with a dodgy gear stick, and I am a careful, experienced and good drive (regardless of what car I am driving).

We bought ours on the basis that euro ncap testing was one of the highest possible safety scores, and we travel 45 miles a day on a high accident route. So it was about the safety of the children for us over and above everything else. Of the highest safety scores we narrowed it down to the most fuel efficient too.

As an aside, all those MPVs you mentioned are being discontinued.

It is OP's business. We don't exist in a bubble, choice of car and method of transport effect everyone.

Oh for godness sake, can you not just take it at face value that I found it tricky to see out of a car because I was lower? Why do you find it so important to undermine or disprove that particular experience of mine? It's really quite odd and has absolutely nothing to do with you.

I know what you mean. I once was (as passenger) in fucking Dacia Dodger and couldn't see anything except glove compartment 😂Certainly would not be able to drive it.

We're a family of 6 and went for an MPV over a 4x4. Buying a 7 seater is the dullest purchase ever and we went for the thing that would suit our passengers better. And having test driven masses of things, I can never quite work out where all the space goes in an SUV, MPVs are like tardises but still drive like cars. So I never quite get the thing that you have to have an SUV if you have more than 2 children. Plus mine has sliding doors in the back, so no need to take up more than one car space.

I always think the Italians have the right idea on 4x4s, small cars that can cope with their narrow roads. Umbrian towns are full of Panda 4x4s, I'm having one once the children are bigger (and hopefully once its NCAP ratings improve).

I fucking hate them because of the the headlights which seem to be so bright and right in your eyes when you are driving a car closer to the ground.
If people are going to drive the fucking things they should
a) know how to adjust the headlights
b) be able to actually drive them
c) be able to park them without taking up 2 spaces

Not saying everyone who drives them can't drive and can't park, but the vast majority of them have problem headlights.

Sorry, not DODGE (dodger 😂). One of those saloon Dacias, but couldn't see a damn thing. How are you supposed to drive it?!

Yeah I dislike them and I cannot work out what purpose they serve other than to give shit drivers a better vantage of the car parking space they’re about to make a muller of parking in.

We live on a farm, my husband has a defender (as in, the proper defender rather than the new urban plastic version) which he obviously needs for driving around the farm and putting equipment/livestock on.

I have a volvo V90, I can get much more in the boot than those cross overs and I can get most places on the farm. Yet I’m often receiving suggestions to “upgrade” to the XC model because it is apparently crazy to live in the countryside and not own something bigger and less useful.

The posters who have suggested they own one just to see better honestly shouldn’t be driving.

Me and my ancient battered Freelander were about to be offended, but I see we meet your approval…😁

Tbh it’s because they look better than a people carrier. People carriers just look a bit loser.
I have lots of children and I’d hate a people carrier! But I don’t think you’d disapprove of me as we also like at the end of an uneven muddy track and definitely need a proper 4x4

I guess it all depends on your circumstances. I'm currently looking into getting either a Renault Kadjar, Dacia Duster or a Hyundai Tucson. We have a Citroen C4 Picasso at the moment. I like my car but had to put snow chains on the other day to get it out of the drive. We live in the mountains and while our main roads are gritted and cleared quite well, our side road isn't at all. I'm not that fussed about the SUV thing in itself but need something with four-wheel-drive. I have to be able to make it to the main road in the first place.
Three years ago, I got stuck in the forest with DS. We had to abandon the car and tried to walk home. Luckily, someone picked us up and dropped us home. Not a nice experience when it's getting dark, you are still 10 miles from home, it's snowing, -5 degrees and you've got a 3-year-old in tow...I'm amazed that guy's car made it up the hill. It wasn't an SUV but a small van. Plenty of other people spent the night in their cars that time...and I was kicking myself for not having put the snowchains in the boot. They live there now - always.

Oh ok! In that case I'll clear all future car purchases with them!🙄

Lol I have a fake SUV. Skoda Karoq. I bought it because it's comfortable to drive and I needed space for the kids. I used to have an Astra and it cost £100 to fill up a tank, the Karoq only costs £70, for the same size tank, so it's much more fuel efficient. A lot of newer cars are more fuel efficient than older ones. I can park it perfectly well, better than my Astra, because I'm sat higher up and it has parking sensors. A good driver will be able to drive any car. I don't get the outrage about cars on MN. Let people drive what they want!

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)

Really? Dh is 6'3" tall, even for my own car I need to make sure he can fit in the passenger seat so his head isn't wedged against the roof. That rules out far more cars than you think as lots don't have height adjustments in the passenger seat.

Lots of cars he can fit in the front of but according to you you think he could drive a Focus? You cannot fit an adult or teen in the seat behind him, there is no leg room. He also doesn't want a VW golf. We have children, you cannot expect one of them to have no leg room. Also some cars have a built up centre console meaning he cannot drive it because once he takes his foot off the clutch he cannot turn the steering wheel left because his left hand hits his leg. There is no room to relax his knee to the side.

We don't want a car with a shitty 3 year warranty when a Kia has a 7 year warranty. Not everyone gets to drive the car they want, sometimes you make do with what you can fit in, what your teenage 6'0" sons can fit in in the back seat and what you can afford. Nothing aspiring about a Sportage, just a practical car we can all fit comfortably in, surely a Golf has more prestige.

This is true too. I had to replace my hatchback when we had our second as DH is 6ft5 and a rearfacing car seat couldn't fit behind him driving it. No passenger could either for that matter unless they sat cross legged.

We can't all be driving around in Toyota Aygos, and OP has still not explained how a high heavy MPV is better than an SUV.

Because in an urban setting you simply don't need a 4x4 (pretend or otherwise) that has such a large footprint it affects other road users. I would love for it not to be my business but I often don't have that choice when for example last month I returned to my parked car at the supermarket to find the enormous SUV in the space next to my car that prevented me from actually opening the drivers door forcing me to climb over the passenger seat instead. I'm nimble enough to climb over the seats, some other people would not be able to do that and would have to wait for Mr/Mrs SUV to return before they could get on with their day. It is carnage at drop off time at the school at the end of my road as just a handful of SUVs is enough to clog up the place as there is again zero room for them to pass one another without mounting kerbs or having to reverse to a passing space. Fine if you live in the country where winter conditions can cause access problems for two wheel drive cars but I cannot fathom why you would opt for one in a city.