Why does everyone need a massive car these days?

[Britishsummertime22]

Tesco this morning. Full of people who don't know how to drive or park their fuck off range rovers.

It’s usually a status thing, a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses thing. Not a ‘need’ thing.

IMO all those bloody enormous cars like tanks (not just Range Rovers, far from it) should be paying double road tax. It stands to reason that their weight must cause more wear and tear to the tarmac.

That’s because you’re on the inside looking out and not seeing what others can see - that’s your mentality ans you’re happy with it.

what others can see is huge cars blocking roads, badly parked and often dangerously driven.

Like I said - I think if you want to drive one of these monsters you should pass a driving test in one.

It’s usually a status thing, a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses thing. Not a ‘need’ thing.

This in a nutshell.

This is exactly what I think when I see them.

These threads come up frequently. People will list all manner of reasons as to why they 'need' massive cars.
Truth of the matter is, they like them and can afford them. That's it.
I don't get worked up about what other people choose to drive.

That said, I also live very rurally, and drive a Ford Fiesta. It does irk me that I'm the one pulling right into the hedgerow to allow huge fuck-off Range Rovers to pass!

Offroading my arse.

Leaving aside all the self-justification, the truth is: they enjoy looking down on other people - quite literally.

Well I drive a Smart ForTwo.... Very easy to park and as it's electric, super cheap to run. It suits me!

SUV’s aren’t a status symbol at all. Unless you live in an area where car ownership is a bit fancy 😂

Status symbol. Was judged by someone in my NCT group by the car I drove. Ironically we're probably the wealthiest. Many will be paying a huge monthly payment for a depreciating asset to look rich.

YES!!! We also have a Fiesta (we’re in London) and when on holiday in the West Country have more than once been the ones to pull over into a hedgerow of brambles so a huge pristine 4x4 can take up the whole lane without a smallest scratch to its paintwork.

However - it’s also very noticeable when driving home from the west country that the closer you get to London, and in London itself, the more “off road” cars there are.

Weird, that.

To be fair, it's not road tax, it's vehicle emissions. Some of these (newer, electric, whatever) might actually be quite good on that compared to other cars, despite their many faults, so shouldn't be penalised there.

It's really more about attitudes, like the driver feels safer, so behaves more dangerously around those who are more vulnerable, or someone really wants one, but actually can't manage to handle it well. A test in it (like a HGV...) to drive it might solve these things.

They've actually changed their mind and are bringing them back this year.

It suits our needs - pretty simple

We like the options it provides us
Can tow our boat
Can go long distance and have a fridge in back - also great for shopping in Aus summer, dairy and meat stays cold from shop to home
It gives the 3 of us all plenty of space, we hate being cooped up in small spaces.
Can go bush and off road easily
Hold all our christmas shopping
We only have to hire a $35 trailer if we want to bring home something big, not pay more for delivery

We dont see the need to have 2 cars, one for city/suburbs and one for going away

Nah, as a passenger, im looking at my phone
DH, the driver is looking at the road
DD is looking at her switch or a book

90% of the time it’s a status symbol thing. Very few people actually own them, they are on a lease and they are paying £400/500/600+ a month for them to look the part. The ‘look’ being new leased Audi/BMW/Range Rover on the drive, new build house mortgaged up the eyeballs with a grey interior, two all inclusive holidays to Turkey a year, with a couple on very modest wages.

The world is full of people living off credit well above their means.

I presume many/some of them are leased or bought on HP? Any of these people admit to being all fur coat and no knickers?

As per my username, I’m into reenacting, if we both go to an event- we totally fill the boot and backseats of a normal sized car, now we have a toddler as well and funnily enough they need a lot of stuff too, and take up the backseats!

We carry all our camping stuff, antiques, clothing, furniture items and accessories. When you visit these stately homes and reenactment events, most of the historical items people are using, belong to them!

We’ve got a Skoda Koqiaq, the boot was much bigger than any of the estates I compared it to.

I have an SUV but not a huge one. Bought when child was a hockey goalie and also played a largish musical instrument and we did lift shares. Now I need it for uni drop offs, flat moves, carrying 5 adults including elderly parents with mobility aids. My next cat will be a suv too as most of the above still applies. The one after that will be smaller though.

If you ask all the dads, they'll say they've been strong armed into buying them because they have more space for kids and are higher. "You have no idea how hard it is lifting kids in and our of a low car" etc.

I don't get it. The mums I know seem to have real trouble parking them and just use them to bully other cars during drop-offs.

I traded in my bmw beast for a tiny wee car because I was fed up of the hassle of a big car.

1. I can park anywhere I fancy.
2. people always let me out at junctions cos I’m little and they feel sorry for me
3. I can do 3-point turns without batting an eyelid.
4. cheap as hell to run.
5. don’t both to lock the car half the time - not worth nicking
6. can’t speed easily 🤣

Fair enough in Australia for all the reasons you just mentioned, but this is the nearest town to my house. You get a big SUV coming towards you here and you're buggered!

Dog, DC erc

I think these days car manufacturers push these SUV vehicles as they are more profitable than smaller cars, so perhaps SUV drivers are more susceptible to advertising and peer pressure.

There is evidence to show that in accidents these vehicles are safer for those in them; but more dangerous for pedestrians and other vehicles. So for those who drive them, perhaps the safety of others is less important than the safety of themselves and their families.

SUVs also use a great deal more base materials in manufacture so hog mineral resources as they hog road space.

And presumably there is more to it than boot space as there are plenty of old-style estate cars with considerably more boot space than a lot of these SUV models.

I think to sum it up, I would say that SUV drivers are more invested in appearances than the average, aren’t really so interested in the safety of others as themselves; don’t really think about the state of the environment too much; and don’t mind taking more than their fair share in life. Vain, gullible, selfish, thoughtless and greedy. There, I said it.

Another week, another flawed anti-SUV rant.

Focus your ire on what the problem is - and that is bad parking.

Even people in crappy small Fiat 500s park like utter twats.

The size of the car is irrelevant. Its about the competency (or lack thereof) of the drivers.

The vast majority of people don't 'need' them at all. There are 5 of us (4 adult size, 1 small adult size) and a large dog. We manage fine with a 5 seat mpv (C-Max size). Just need a roof box for holidays.

Because normal sized cars still struggle to keep up with normal sized things.

We had a ford focus and a silver cross pram didn't fit in the boot. Now yes obviously it was our fault for not measuring but Mothercare wouldn't let us take the model pram out to check it fitted. They, my own mother, DH and others all assured me that of course it would fit. It did not fit.
DS was a surprise baby, I only found out I was pregnant very late on and he came early so I didn't have a lot of time to research prams. Anyways, it was a very confusing and stressful time, so as soon as I could, I scaled up to a much bigger car (yes over correcting), because I wanted to make sure that never happened to me again. Never had that second baby so we've downscaled again.

I know it's daft, but that was why I had a massive car.