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.

Of course it’s not affordable if bought on lease.

It was never the ‘default way’ until the masses decided they had to keep up with one another and all have big cars.

The standard ‘default’ way of buying a car is to save up and buy a small, older car you can afford.

Nobody envies leased cars or the drivers unless they are company cars.

I don't, have a VW up and we have gone on holiday as a family of 4 in it with 2 pushchairs and luggage for 2 adults and 2 children under 2

Kids have to be in car seats until they're 12 these days, and car seats are huge. So are prams etc. We have 2 kids under 4 and a dog, and we're busting out of a Kia Niro (what I'd consider a medium sized car). I'd much prefer something smaller for town driving but I wouldn't get the pram in the boot.

It's great that everything is safer but that requires a lot more space.

Agree.

The only drivers I envy are those who are given company cars and they are changed every two years

Paying back big figures every month and then a large balloon payment at the end is not a status symbol in any shape or form.

How is it not affordable? You can afford £800 a month it’s affordable. You can afford your mortgage can’t you? Is it unaffordable because you haven’t bought it outright?

no one wants anyone to be envious of anyone else, frankly, but if you walked into a dealership with £80k cash for a car they would think you were a wally, yes.

I've never leased a car, I've always bought them outright second hand and driven them until they no longer drive. I was surprised to learn how many people have leases, I don't even know how it works. If you can't afford to pay outright for a second hand one is it not better to get a bank loan? Or is it about having a new car?

The standard ‘default’ way of buying a car is to save up and buy a small, older car you can afford.

It isn't, the car industry has been kept going by the lease schemes and people being able to get a new car. Around 30% of cars are leased

Three kids ranging from 2-13 and a dog. When the third was born the middle dc was still in a car seat and our compact SUV was the smallest car they’d all fit in the back, even then it was a squish.
It’s not odd that a few decades on we aren’t managing in the same tiny cars we had before. I grew up in the 90’s, and we fit easily in the back of a small hatchback but the car seats were tiny and you didn’t stay in them past being 3 or 4 at the most and even then it was just a booster cushion. If there was no room someone went in the back of my dad’s estate car. And I remember my mum driving with 4 kids in the back of a regular car 2 smallest ones on one seat with one belt around them.

Who do you think profits financially from a car lease?

There was a post I saw on Facebook recently about how on the greek islands... people happily drive absolute bangers and how cars are not a status symbol at all there.

I went there last year....it was so refreshing to be somewhere where people's self esteem and penis size weren't wrapped up in how new and how big their car was.

This drives me crazy especially where I live (in London). Huge tank of a car that doesn't fit into a parking space so takes up two spaces or sticks right out at the front or they can't squeeze past you or are too hesitant to. Why on earth do you need these huge cars in London or any city. Countryside, fair enough. Is it just a status thing?

They're always getting nicked too around here and, apparently the insurance is huge for them too.

🙄

well I have 3 kids and 2 foster kids, 2 play guitar, 2 play football and 2 play Rugby, some play hockey and netball, one is away at uni and one about to go osmlots of dripping and picking up stuff. Hear disease in the family so important they excercise and foster kids need to keep busy for mental health due tonpast trauma. I also have to transport my mother who has mobility issues to medical appointments. So unfortunately I need a 5 seater with a large boot and drive an X5. I can't really go much smaller than that and get everyone to where yhey need to be.

I wouldnt drive a RR though, the huge ones are ridiculous. My X5 has parking sensors and cameras, like most larger cars, and is WAY easier to park than mynold Renault Clio.

Not true. I drive a VW Up

Oh you'd love me, I have a massive van.

But I have 3 kids and 4 large dogs who are pretty much taken everywhere with us.

I've seen some larger cars being used as homes!
I've seen them parked with people sleeping in them.
That is the state of the housing market, obviously.

Which is why I often have a bonnet above my head in my Fabia hatchback.

I'm dating a guy who drives what can only be described as a 'monster truck'. I struggle to climb into it it's that big. Absolutely no need for one - single, no kids, only drives it to work and university.

Some people just like big cars.

The worst driving I see is Fiat 500 drivers, not SUV drivers.

Sorry I should say behaviours are getting more dangerous as opposed to roads themselves. I phrased that badly so my apologies.
What I meant was, I drive the same motorway every day and the change in dangerous driving behaviours Ive seen over the last 4 years is outrageous. Evidenced by the number of road deaths. The deaths were car related only, so not cyclists or pedestrians, and are the highest in 5 years. Increasing year on year. I really enjoyed driving in the past but fear it now. That's my experience anyway.

This is one of my biggest bugbears OP, especially if they are petrol/diesel. There is absolutely no need for such a big car in the city. Land rovers were designed as working vehicles. Everyone would get everywhere much more quickly if we didn't have to give way all the time. I'm quite aggressive about it and carry on driving. I drive a small car so I'm not the problem here so I'll be damned if I am waiting for them. The main issue really though is if you hit someone in any SUV they are more likely to die because of the height of the vehicle. For that reason alone I will never drive one.

I've got a Skoda Kodiaq, the biggest car I've ever had. I need the space for a mobility scooter and hoist, and have always had estate cars in the past, but this time when I changed my car the choice and availability of estate cars was abysmal, so i had no choice but to look for alternatives. I was told by several car people that there just isn't the demand for estate cars any more, and a few said that it is just a fashion thing - estates aren't fashionable.
I do know how to park my big car though!

In the olden days kids car seats were much small or less often used. Now they are much bulkier, so you need more space. Plus dogs and all the gear that goes with them.

I don't want a big car, but we were limited by the need to fit 2 adults and 3 children under 5. With the size of car seats now that meant that very few cars were suitable.

Of course 20 years ago, the babyseat would have been much smaller and 2 of the kids would already have been in booster seats with all the safety issues we are now aware of.

Ime some of the people who drive them do hurtle at you and are often on the wrong side of the road, they seem invincible