If you buy a massive 4×4 SUV...

[bravefox]

... to ask you to practise parking it in a single space? Saturday afternoon in the town multistorey and the number of huge cars parked half in a second space is 🤯

A fat tum.

I want an electric car big enough for 2 kids with large car seats, a dog and too much camping gear that isn’t an SUV.

They don’t exist.

Even fossil fuel estates are all but extinct.

People buy SUVs because there is no other choice anymore for those who need more spacious vehicles.

Free market choice doesn’t exist when there is only one option.

And the reason SUVs have become the only option is the American tax and safety legislation.

You don’t need to buy Apple because Microsoft and Asus and Samsung exist. That’s the equivalent of saying, I won’t buy a BMW - ok have at a Fiat or Ford.

What I’m pointing out is like if they all phased out desktops, forcing you into a laptop when you really didn’t want one.

From memory… Fewer people had cars. Roads were maintained to a higher standard. Cars had big bouncy tyres that were better able to absorb imperfections. Cars and, in particular, tractors were smaller so the roads didn’t get their verges chewed up and covered in mud. Safety standards were lower so more people could be crammed into smaller cars. It wasn’t that unusual to squeeze five children on the back seat with no seat belts, never mind child seats.

I could go on.

I hate selfish people like this

@Thirteenblackcat it’s a wind up! Ignore…

Nice.

Oh! Thanks.

@JohnofWessex

”Car makers are not selling estate cars”

Ah that old trope again.

really?

So Toyota are still selling the Corolla Sports Hybrid (that’s an estate).

Skoda literally has the two best in class estate cars with the Octavia and the Superb, wonderful cars.

BMW still sell a 3 series and 5 series estate last time I looked.

Mercedes still sell an E Class estate; you can buy it with a six cylinder engine even!

Audi still sell the A4 and A6 Avant (their fancy word for estate)

Do I need to go on?

People love to say “manufacturers don’t sell estates any more” when what they really meant to say is “manufacturers are making lots of cars which I want , but I need an excuse to explain why I buy that over an estate car”.

I’m sorry but this is such nonsense @Organically

Even fossil fuel estates are all but extinct.

No they are not.

Skoda sells the Octavia and Superb. Both have HUGE boots (more cubic space than most SUVs) and massive legroom (there’s a reason why the Superb is so popular as a taxi).

Then you have the Toyota Corolla estate, and the BMW 3 and 5 series, the Mercedes E Class, I could go on

People buy SUVs because there is no other choice anymore for those who need more spacious vehicles.

Nonsense. People buy SUVs because they don’t want to look at the other choices when something “rugged” and “chunky” catches their eye. They buy them for the perception of safety, size, and to feel “high up” when driving.

Free market choice doesn’t exist when there is only one option.

why do people on Mumsnet state this kind of thing? There isn’t “only one option”, there are dozens of estate cars. It’s just that people are dictated by fashion and don’t want to admit it.

Land Rovers have been around for donkeys years (Rover introduced them in 1948). Nissan and Toyota have been doing them for years too. Isuzu trooper was 1981.

Farmers put trailers on them for their livestock and other bits. And have done for years.

Electric car for your needs - dont exist?

VW ID7 is one.

More here:

www.topgear.com/car-news/electric/nine-electric-estates-available-now-or-near-future

Fossil fuel estates are all but extinct?

You might wanna look here:

www.topgear.com/car-reviews/find/body/estate/fuel/petrol

"Free market choice doesn’t exist when there is only one option."

LOL

You obviously need glasses - SUVs are not the only car option available today.

What you are pointing out is utter codswallop.

I agree re the Skodas - great cars.

I would never buy a BMW or Mercedes because round me they are exclusively driven by twats and the indicators never seem operational.

Having said that, I last looked a couple of years ago and couldn’t find any electric estates except the MG and I wasn’t convinced of their reliability. Having just had a quick google, it seems many of the classic estates are now found in electric - fantastic. Even less reason for anyone to own an SUV.

I would never buy an SUV unless it really was my only option - I’d rather go for a van - so you can save your ‘fashion’ sneers for someone else. I was simply explaining the realities of a ‘free market’ to someone naive enough to believe they exist.

Yeah, I just wrote to another poster that when I looked a year or so ago, the MG was the only one.

Things change, and I’m delighted there is more choice now. To be fair, several of those models are brand new.

I don’t need glasses, just clearly more time to search for a car I no longer need to purchase.

"I was simply explaining the realities of a ‘free market’ to someone naive enough to believe they exist."

Your explanation was tosh.

Choices exist - you seem to deny this.

Thats fine and you can happily die on that pointless hill, but the reality is, is that cars of all shapes and sizes that are NOT SUVs exist.

And people can freely choose what they want to buy - just because peoples choices dont fit your narrow world view doesnt make their selection wrong.

Car makers will continue to sell what people buy - whether thats morphed SUVs from the USA or Jupiter, if people want them and buy them, then thats what the market will cater for.

And thats what they're doing with continued sales of SUVs - because people demand them.

I need 4x4 with good ground clearance so SUV is my best option. The only other thing is a 4x4 van with raised suspension but I’ve had one before and they are not at all comfortable.

I have just googled to see the description of my car it's a compact SUV crossover so I don't know where I am on here. I need something bigger but can't afford to run anything more expensive. Anyway I can park it very well in a parking space but I like to be on the end of a line for the baby seat.
It's a workhorse for gardening/ handy man/ childcare service we are. Sometimes I run my son to the pub in it and his wheelchair fits in the boot without having to take the wheels off and us all get covered in mud.
Children are so much bigger these days sometimes I have 5 grandchildren to pick up etc. can't stick them in the boot like in the 70s.

Just thought I'd return to point out the thread wasn't anti-suv per se, but rather to make the point that if you buy a large car the onus should be on you to learn how to park it properly

My enyaq is the same. It has self park. I've never used it though.

I think the PR for expensive 4x4s is really clever and the number of people who buy them is a testament to brilliant marketing.

I think a lot of their appeal is aspirational. Who wouldn’t want to take their two smiling children and perfectly groomed Labrador cross country for a wild picnic and then rock up to a 5 star hotel in the city to be greeted by the doorman like a long lost friend?!

The reality is most who have them just block city roads and tight car parks and they never use their off road capabilities.

A Range Rover is a brilliant car in the right environment, not around the streets of Chelsea or Wimbledon though.

All the more reason to do it then. Aren’t we missing green goals and in a billion pound financial black hole??

Idiot.

We need to start heavily taxing these fucking things and restricting their ability to enter builtup areas. They belong in rural areas.

Well said 👏🏻

Which is why cities need park n ride facilities. Many have them already.

Also, the VAST majority of these cars are owned by non farmers.

Kerosene, match, boom!

No amount of tax would deter me from an SUV purchase.

They are great, efficient, safe and drive people like you bonkers.

Win win!