What a shitty article. Their only source is a hotlink to a different newspaper, and you can’t even read it because it’s paywalled.
And “SUV” alone is not a great metric. The Audi Q2 (compact SUV) is just as high, just as wide and shorter than the Toyota Auris (hatchback). This is the case for many compact SUVs.
Exactliy! I am more than willing to trade in my aging station wagon for a comparable EV or hybrid, but there are hardly any models available. The few ones that are, are fucking expensive.
I bought a Merc the other day pretty cheap because it wasn’t an SUV. If I was to go with the same volume, engine and trim package on the same age Merc we’d be talking 30k+ on top of what I paid.
Solution is simple: tax and regulate. These large vehicles come with externalities including contributing to global warming, increased road wear, increased use of road and parking space, and higher rates of pedestrian injury and fatality.
So, tax them so the owners pay for those externalities, and/or regulate to prevent them in the first place. This is an entirely solvable problem if governments, and the people they represent, really care.
I just want a nice modern hatchback with an electric motor. I was so happy to hear about the c40 when it got announced cause I have a C30 now. And its not a coupe or a hatchback. Its another bloody suv. Screw these suvs. They no fun to drive. I wanna be low to the ground and zippy around corners. Not drive something with mobility of a fridge that will bore me to tears in the twisties.
I can only understand that they are great for older and/or overweight people who have trouble getting in and out of lower cars. They don’t need to be that large though
What would you recommend then in the countryside for a family of 5 or more with ample snow in the winter and lots of gravel roads? That can accommodate taking the kids to soccer and to/from school no matter the road conditions? As well as be used to go ski and other car based vacations like going to a beach resort/camping for a week. All of the above being very normal requirements for a family car in at least the Nordics.
A normal station wagon type generally has too low ground clearance but there are exceptions like the cross country models of Volvos. They also only have 5 seats so they just barely fit the family with no additional friends tagging along, and very few can handle double child seats without dropping down to max 4 people. For older kids then yeah it works well, if you don’t need the ground clearance, and you can pack on the roof if the trunk isn’t big enough.
A large pickup truck has issues with being usable for the vacation stuff. Sure you can pack on the flatbed and there are “houses” to give it cover but it’s hardly smooth, and they’re even larger and more expensive than a SUV.
Since 2007 ourworldindata.org/…/urban-and-rural-population more people in the world live in urban areas rather than not. I’m not saying it is not your case and thus the question isn’t important to you. What I do want to highlight though is that, without any additional context, someone would be statistically right to assume that a complete stranger does live in a city, not on the countryside. Consequently while suggesting the use of SUV making suggestion first for urban population is what would have the most impact.
TL;DR: no idea, it’s not the majority of people and the trend or urbanisation worldwide is accelerating.
Kinda like an immediate moron-indicator. Whenever a new neighbor moves in, or an existing one buys an SUV, we know not to interact with them. Saves time. Same with looking for work. If the boss drives an SUV, just move on. I love moron-indicators, but I prefer smaller ones.
What do people like about them? I get Americans. They have big roads and lots of space. Here in Europe, you have trouble parking a SMART.
I despise this SUV trend, too, but isn’t it a bit extreme to judge a person just by the car they drive? The majority of people don’t even think about it and the market is flooded with these things, so they have less and less choice. There are cases where SUVs make sense, in mountainous regions and where it snows a lot, but I agree that space has to be better used and public space respected.
It’s the “they don’t even think about it” part that makes me feel this way.
With cars, it just leads to wasted space and resources.
Working in a hospital, that same thinking leads to Dialysis, Metabolic Disease and amputations. I see it multiple times per day.
Often intelligent people, but acting moronic. Not using their intelligence. That’s quite apparent in SUVs. They cost a fortune, so it’s usually not stupidity. It’s just them being mindless. And without a second thought about others.
I stand by my choice of words.
Sometimes, yeah, an SUV makes sense. Then again, driving it into a congested city, that doesn’t make sense.
If I saw someone driving it through a mountainous region, I wouldn’t say anything. That’s fine. :)
You get easily in and out when you’re older. Most SUVs on the market here are just higher versions of normal cars, so that’s probably it, they don’t do anything else better.
Yeah a European “SUV” is usually a Golf with raised suspension, whose internal room, worse handling, worse fuel economy. They are completely pointless.
A proper SUV would probably be the better option here. How much lifetime waste do you think is generated through those constant AWD, unreliable, unrepairable, plastic unibody POSs versus a 2WD parts-swappable SUV?
Come to Germany then. A license costs about 3-4000€ and involves a few theory classes, a theory test, somewhere around 20 hours of driving lessons with an instructor, and a practical test.
Our main danger here are currently people who got their license before the Vietnam war and refuse to give up driving.
For 3,000 €, you can learn Spanish and pass your test there and still save 500 €. Nevertheless, I found German drivers to be among the best in the world, in terms of politeness maybe the training is worth the extra 3,000 €
It’s a sort of arm’s race. People don’t feel safe in cars anymore with all these predators out on the roads, so they get bigger vehicles to feel safe again
And it will just keep going. Soon everyone will drive tanks. 🙄
Maybe we need a car that is low and wedge shaped, like something from battlebots. When cars high off the ground run in to it they will be guaranteed to roll.
Seriously 3 hours every day usage of your car is extremely high, especially in Europe, where things are not so remote. I would be very surprised if many drivers have that mileage or usage of their cars.
Last I have read it was using the car for 2 hours a day for work. But thinking about people buying groceries and doing entertainment related stuff must also contribute some minutes, so I was leniently adding an hour.
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