Why do people drive big cars they can’t manage?

[HulinSings]

I’ve lost count of the number of (usually women in hubby’s RR) driving big cars that they simply cannot park or simply manoeuvre.

Is this just an issue by me or does anyone else encounter this on a daily basis?

Surely the need to be seen in a ‘brand’ isn’t worth the hassle driving one of these cars must bring..Insta has a lot to answer for

a Family member now has a wheel chair which won’t fit in the boot of my smaller RR so now I need a bigger one

Where I am it’s mainly the older people with the massive cars they can’t manage, I don’t get it

Well, you said 'hubby' so YABU 😂. That said, how on earth do you know it's their husband's car? Lots of women in well off families drive huge cars. Remember Chelsea Tractors?

YABU because of your rampant misogyny. There are just poor male drivers (usually testosterone driven) and you have made huge assumptions about who the car belongs to.

You’re as bad as those dreadful car sales people who talk only to the husband even if it’s the woman driving the car.

She means Range Rovers.

I need a big car to fit my wheelchair in.

it’s actually not that big, it’s a Volvo xc90.

i’ve had it 12 years and can park it fine (in blue badge spaces if the car park bothers to have them).

some multi story car parks are a nightmare to get it round though. One near me has such tight corners on the ramps between levels that I need to carefully do a three point thing before getting up the ramp. It’s clearly not just me in that car park as the walls are scraped to shit and have multiple colours of car paint on them.

when I went to Spain a couple of years ago I hired a car and specified wheelchair accessible and they gave me an actual minibus. Now that was a learning experience!

I was too scared to take it into a multi story.

You remind me of a woman I met when my children were tiny. We were at an NCT coffee morning. I had walked round from the next street with my baby in a pushchair. I asked where she lived. She said the other end of the road we were in which I knew to be a maximum ten minute walk. Oh, that's handy for you, I said. Nice straightforward walk. Oh no, she said, I drove here. I don't like pushing him in the pushchair because then he's at the level of the exhaust pipes on all the cars. I thought but did not say that this was one of the most I'm All Right Jack utterances I'd ever heard. Pollute the air for my child, but keep yours safe? FFS.

Having a 4x4 when you need it to do a job is fine. But I guarantee my work horse estate is muddier and done more off roading than most SUVs and 4x4s I see. But we bought our car for a job, not for looks. People need to buy cars for their lifestyle not how they want to look.

Lots of kids? Get a people carrier. Need space? Get an estate. The amount of SUVs I see with roof boxes is ridiculous, get an estate if you need space.

When we drive rurally we encounter 4x4 drivers who refuse to move onto grassy verges. It’s a 4x4!

4x4 drivers know their cars are too big and park on pavements which really annoys me, get a smaller car.

Why do people drive big cars they can’t manage?

The same reason people have big dogs they can't handle or have more children than they can adequately cater for.

Most people don't think about the practical aspects of their decision or the consequences of their actions. They just do it because it's expected/looks nice/tradition/culture/brand name/status, etc.

Yes, this! I saw a RR driver trying to squeeze into a space in a multi storey car park. They obviously misjudged the space and scraped the side of a concrete bollard. She then reversed too far and bumped into another car. I kid you not. I have to admit it made me chuckle when I quickly and effortlessly parked my old mini 😅. I know I'll be accused of schadenfreude!

My ancient Aygo is pretty much as competent rurally as the Q7 I sometines drive. Weighing nothing with skinny tyres is actually an advantage on rough tracks.

I live rurally too, and you're bang on. I find it's always the arrogant bloke who will just barge through in the RR. I was going to buy one but I've been put off by cost of maintaining it, but also its reputation for tossers driving them - bit like Audis.

We have a tiny car and a medium sized car because of all the places where bigger cars are a pain in the arse, i.e. car parks with tiny spaces, narrow country lanes, etc. Neither car is mine nor his. We just take the most appropriate car for the journey. DH ends up driving the tiny one more because he goes to places with tiny parking spaces, but I'd take it if I was driving to work because my work parking space is a very narrow drive and I wouldn't want the big car being scratched or dented by idiot neighbours barging their wheel barrows or wheelie bins by it (as they did with one of our previous cars!). Neither of us have problems parking/reversing either of them and we're both 60 so hardly spring chickens any more.

How does that make it their husbands car though?

My car is tiny but still a bastard to park. It’s ancient so no power steering and if the roof is down I can’t see anything behind me. The massive by comparison camper van I had previously was much easier to park.

I did have a chuckle to myself the other day though. I parked up at the local retail park as I needed to return a pair of shoes. Had just got out my car and a woman arrived in a huge Mitsubishi Outlander and for reasons only known to her, decided to try and park in in between my car and another one despite the car park being fairly empty. I’d walked to the shop, returned my shoes and got back to my car before she’d managed to get into the space. Then she could barely get out because the spaces are too small for such big cars.

Bastard to park 😆 🤣 😂

New Full Fat Range Rovers, and X5’s (I would assume the other big names too) can park themselves though? Drive themselves on motorways, slam on brakes if they mistake a wheelie bin for a pedestrian. Even the worst driver should be ok.

I also wonder if so many people have them now as they are very cheap to buy 🤔 (have they not depreciated so much in value that when people are coming to the end of a PCP contract, they are unable to pay the final balloon payment as it's more than the car is actually worth?)

Because there's the demand for them. If people didn't buy them, they wouldn't make them.

It is ridiculous the size of modern SUVs, but it has been driven (no pun intended) entirely by the two bob millionaires who think they need such enormous vehicles. I often wonder where they think they live - I mean, unless you live in out back Alaska or somewhere else incredibly remote and cut off, there's really no need for such big vehicles.

N'awww, have I touched a nerve?

The visibility is really poor in a range rover ( I used to drive one for work) the cameras and sensors beep really early too. Possibly add in a little paranoia about denting the expensive work vehicle. I drive a van day to day without camera and without issue but it cost less than 10k so

Oh lighten up, it's funny to watch people fail to park.

There's that and the realisation of high maintenance costs. To me, the RR Evoque looks nice and sleek but no good if practicalities outweigh the benefits.

This really made me laugh 😃 😀. Spot on.

Not really. It's normally men who get off on that.