To think that the majority of cars on the road are now SUVs?

[Forwardthinkinglobster]

I have a Honda Jazz which I suppose would be categorised as an Old person’s small car, although it has plenty enough space for me!

I was driving long distance today and it really struck me how small my car looked compared to other “family sized” vehicles either side of me on the motorway. The UK has not adapted to the width of such vehicles, and it’s sometimes really hard to get into a space with them parked either side. The fuel and maintenance cost must be a lot more too, so I wonder how many people can afford to own them!

AIBU to think that sales of SUVs have now overtaken smaller vehicles?

Definitely. It’s great fun in car parks when the monster SUVs are so big it makes it really difficult to park. Naturally, none ever go off road, and are mostly used to take little Giles to school or to Tescos. Should be banned unless there is a need for them - farmers, etc.

All cars are bigger nowadays , park Fiesta from 30 years ago next to one today, and you’ll be amazed at the scale.
But yes, certainly where I am, most of my neighbours have at least 1 SUV in the drive, and a lot of the others are 4 wheel drive versions of smaller cars. I am in Scotland , in an area which gets snow, but definitely the suv is more common today( and yes I have one)

I don't know the numbers but I agree.

I wanted a small 3 door car but they don't really make them anymore, so annoying

I needed a big car (3 DC and 2 dogs!) and it took me nearly 6 months to find a decent, low mileage 7 seater that wasn’t a 4x4 or SUV within a small budget. Ours is triple the size of most space size but it’s not fashionable. Hardly any manufacturers are even making people carriers any more so I can see why the amount of them has increased, it’s an SUV or take two cars for those of us with multiple children!

Saying that, selfishly I love driving our other car which is a 4x4. It did go off road and tow as we had livestock (and is for soon to be sale because we don’t need it any more!) I prefer being elevated as it’s easier to manoeuvre plus it feels so much safer. I can see why people buy them.

Good for you in your wee car. You’ve got a Particularly small one so everything else probably does seem big.
A lot of family cars that would have looked liked estates are now shaped more like SUVs without actually being one.
we have one - it’s the same size as our old estate but looks bigger because it’s a bit higher on the big wheels.
it’s far more efficient fuel wise as it’s a hybrid, so actually fairly cheap to run. It’s the same to park as our old estate, so yes bigger spaces are better but with cameras front and back, and sensors in each corner it’s actually much easier to park.
We have it because there our 4 of us - kids are now older so bigger- and a dog and we don’t use it much locally ( we walk/bike/bus) but when we do it tends to be full of sports stuff, dogs stuff and camping stuff.

I voted yabu because we now have what I suppose is an suv but it's a hybrid and the miles per gallon are breathtakingly higher than our old small petrol car. I'm seeing lots of hybrids around now in different sizes.

The only flip side in my view is that larger cars can cause more damage in collisions.

As for your point about parking, well I controversially feel most on-street car parking should be totally eradicated and replaced with better solutions. I hate the stress of worrying if I'll clip someone's wing mirror. And I think it's nuts that we all basically leave one of our most valuable possessions in a public gutter - you wouldn't do it with jewellery or something. More houses should be built with drives and garages.

It does seem to me that the majority are now either SUVs or those weird crossover-type cars. Given that we’re being supposed to want electric cars for environmental reasons, I don’t understand why there are so many SUVs. Surely they take up more resources to build, maintain (bigger tyres etc) and run (heavier).

Another SUV thread, lovely! 😄

There's a lot of hate for what people consider to be Massive gas guzzlers without many facts.

As the PP said, a lot of these cars are higher but the actual footprint is not a huge amount bigger than a normal car because pretty much all cars are getting bigger. Often the width difference is a couple of centimetres which is nothing.

Partly more width is needed in modern cars for improved safety features and surely that's a good thing? I remember a friend's accident in her old fiesta . It was completely crumpled and she was lucky to get out ok.

I needed really good boot height which I only found in an SUV because they're taller. Others buy them for the higher drive position or because they have mobility issues where a taller car is easier to get in and out of.

It's not just vanity or showing off.

Yes there are cars now that are massive and expensive and people do struggle to park in small spaces but I find loads of cars are lumped into that hated SUV bracket unfairly.

And actually @Thriwit makes a good point that most cars considered to be SUVs like the qashqai are actually crossovers.

Most cars are bigger though & for many an SUV is more comfortable. I don't see that many giants ones on the road tbh

‘Given that we’re being supposed to want electric cars for environmental reasons, I don’t understand why there are so many SUVs. ‘

Many of these new cars are hybrid and/or electric. They’re much more efficient and better than the environment than an old Honda Jazz … our ‘SUV’ looking car is exempt from most parking/congestion/ pollution control schemes or is super cheap compared to normal cars as the emissions are so low.

We didn’t get it because we wanted a car that was or looked like a SUV. We got it because when we went to trade in our old hybrid car they no longer made that model anymore.
our new car was the replacement equivalent.

Sales of new suv are around 50%
Of which more than half class as small suv

But if you include second hand sales that drops to around 20%

SUV can be small overall - but taller than traditional car

I don't know about what's sold, but I personally don't see more SUVs than anything else around. And we live rurally.

You can still get small cars - we have a three door Kia Picanto, which is a lovely car and very reliable but quite hard to get two children in it (made harder because for various reasons not relevant to this thread we really wanted the baby in a lie flat seat) so we now also have an estate.

I wouldn’t even call a Honda Jazz “particularly small” - it’s really roomy inside! Just not high up or wide. This sort of cements my point though. If people are viewing my Jazz as a particularly small car (when even 10 years ago I think it would be classed as medium sized), then times are changing!

Right, but if people were buying for environmental reasons then surely a smaller electric car would be the way to go?
Buying an electric SUV-type car just seems a bit performative. The amount of extra resources it takes over a smaller electric car just seems contradictory when it comes to an environmental argument.

I don’t know why there’s always this myth that SUVs are petrol guzzlers. My husband switched from a little BMW 1 series to a Mazda CX-5, and it’s much more efficient than the BMW. It’s not even especially big.. my little 2 seater sports car is about the same width!

Its quite difficult actually to buy a proper SUV 4x4, most are 2wd and just built a bit higher

But the Honda jazz is also higher off the ground than a standard car OP, the new ones are styled like an SUV??

Don't think I even know what an SUV is. I've got a Q5, is that one? I know it's bigger than normal but I need space for the pram in the boot and this was the biggest boot (after a lot of research) that wasn't an old man's estate

I wouldn't say so where I am, they are chunkier styled but not 4x4. Plenty of low slung sports cars here

There definitely seems to be a larger gap between small cars and SUV size , I’m thinking around the size of BMW series 3 type cars , the ones left in that type of size tend to be on the expensive side .

My model is 8 years old - I’m not even sure what the newer ones look like! Also, if my Jazz is higher off the ground then why is it so painful going over speed bumps?! 🙈 Other than that, it’s a great car!

Just looked up new Honda Jazz.

Whoah!

Mine certainly doesn’t look like that.

I don't perceive that most people have SUVs now in England.
Me & my immediate neighbours seem to have ... work van, saloon car, very mini van, Fiat 500, small van, sports car, powerful Merc, mini.

In America, however... they are all ruddy SUVs. It's shocking, I was super delighted when I managed to rent a little compact last year.

As an often cyclist I would say most cars are too big for the road, not just SUVs are too big. Stupid slow cars hold me up a lot in urban areas. "Get oorf the road...."

In my lovely small car, When I find carpark spaces almost too narrow, I seriously wonder what SUV drivers feel about carparks.