Food for thought alright
There are many solutions to tackle the SUV problem, which will need bold action from policymakers. These solutions – taxation, education and exclusion – have parallels with the successful campaign against cigarette smoking.
I would not call a Qashqai SUV. I'm not even sure about the infamous Tucson CRDi either. They're pretty much all ordinary cars in my book. I could sit here bemoaning the death of the saloon & estate but it's not going to bring them back. It would be much better if the roads were filled with two-seater sports cars and convertibles but people just don't buy em. Twould be a bit of a stretch to say that the abundance of Tucsons and Sportage's has a negative impact on anyone's life in any way other than them being ugly.
Jeez these elite liberals.. do they ever stop!?
I am pretty well of the same opinion as you and if people like that look its ok... i often though if a person fell asleep 30/40 years ago and woke up today they think all cars pretty much the same with different badges...
I don't like SUV's either because
They block the view of car /pushbike drivers on the road and blind them with their headlights
It seems to be impossible to park them correctly
They are much less efficient than cars and so add to the greenhouse effect
To a certain extent, the last point can be dealt with via the tax system but I think its a losing battle on the other two.
They are not less efficient. Smaller and lower midsized ones are much the same emissions as similar saloons.
Looking at a few models road tax
Hyundai Kona is 120
Hyundai I30 is 270
Hyundai i40 is 180
Hyundai Tucson is 200
Hyundai ix35 is 280 (these were pre 2016)
This higher emissions is a fallacy
Look at the co2 numbers
Tucson is 140
Focus, Octavia are around 120 for petrol and 110 for diesel
Which would be fairly typical
Hopefully my next vehicle of choice will be the Honda crv, hybrid or maybe good bargains to be had for a diesel.
It’s the drag coefficient. An i30 with the same engine as the tuscon would emit a lot less over its life because it’s under less pressure to get moving and maintain speed.
Also these new square block shaped electric SUV’s would probably have a lot more range if they were in car form.
the new bmw is 2.5 ton and does 0-60 in six seconds or less. It’s competitors appear to be quite similar. Will be interesting to see if there are more accidents in future due to people panicking on the accelerator and launching their 2.5 ton tanks into rows of cars or buildings. 0-60 times only appeal to 20% of motorists at best. Many would think a shade under 10 seconds is a rocket. Interesting how all these new electrics are geared towards really fast acceleration.
Depends on which Range Rover you have..:)
worth noting that the tuscon, using customer reported figures, does worse than the average in 'real world vs. claimed' fuel efficiency.
according to this site, the average actual fuel consumption achieved across all cars is 82% of claimed, but for the current tuscon, it's 75%
(also interesting to note is that the second worst performing tuscon model there is the mild hybrid; but it's not clear how many data points that's based on)
I think OP wants a Range Rover Vogue which is one of the finest cars available. Miss mine terribly 😥
aren't they horribly unreliable?
Not in my experience but some models do have a bit of a reputation
Like a thoroughbred they can be temperamental.
But like the little girl in the poem, when they are good they are very good indeed.
Will be interesting when these high performance EVs hit the 2nd hand market and become more affordable to younger drivers who are more likely to test out the 0-60 capabilities of the cars. They have great safety features / driver aids but there is only so much these features can protect against when the driver pushes the car to the limit in unsuitable circumstances. Will they be difficult to insure for the U25s, given the insane premiums charged for so called performance ice cars with only a fraction of the performance of these new EVs?
that's an interesting way of phrasing it.
a shire horse is not a thoroughbred. anyway, it's range rover in particular which have the reputation for unreliability, the competitors in the same segment don't. the unreliability seems specific to that marque, not to luxury SUVs in general.
Agreed, however there is no comparison between an X5, Q7, XC90 etc and a Range Rover Vogue. RR is in a different league
Thank you, I do my best 🙂
Like a lot of luxury cars when they go down the food chain and don't get fettled properly they can be troublesome.
However if you have a good well minded example they are sublime.
Money no object, one of the best cars in the world.
Fuel price of 250c per litre,
That would sort out a lot of the non essential driving that I see.
It could happen soon, if Ukraine kicks off.
I don’t get this “block the view” accusation, block your view of what? If you are behind one, they are likely to hit any obstacle before you do, and if you bump into the back of it, that’s your fault. If you are driving in the opposite direction, what are they blocking?
Are headlights stronger on SUVs? They might be slightly higher but should that blind you? I wouldn’t have thought so.
Less efficient? Certainly if you are talking about the larger diesel 4x4s, but for smaller SUVs/crossovers, are they less efficient than big saloons? Again, I doubt it.
Some people just don’t like SUVs, fair enough, I don’t like lots of brands, personal choice, doesn’t mean I think they should be taken off the road though.
Block the view of the road ahead, mostly, so you can't read the road, as a car or bike user. For the same reason I think it's a bit selfish to have tinted windows.
The efficiency of crossovers seems a bit worse than the equivalent car... So yeah, something like a Tuxon or kashki probably in line with a big saloon, but worse than the hatchback on which it's based.
I wouldn't ban them, but at the same time I would incentivise more efficient and less lumpish vehicles if it were up to me.
If you can’t see the road ahead, you are up the arse of the SUV in front of you and if you hit it, you are at fault.
If you are relying on the windows of the car in front to see the road ahead, you are to close as well.
So are you calling for larger saloons to be banned? Or do you just want everyone to drive fiestas and golfs?
So you don’t like lumpish cars, fair enough, but others do.
Maybe you drive differently than I do, but I find the traffic flows better when you can see what the car two or three ahead is doing, which is much easier if the rest of the traffic is a similar height.
Yep if everyone drove fiestas and golfs unless they really needed a lump of a yoke it would go some way towards our co2 targets... They'd probably enjoy it more too 😊 the amount of suv I see with one person in them, and no towbar, suggests to me they're mainly a vanity car.
Unless you have driven both an SUV and a small hatch, you really can’t appreciate the benefits offered by both and why many prefer the higher driving position coupled with easier entry of an SUV.
Many SUVs are shorter than some saloons, and again, if you can’t see the cars in front of the SUV as they wind through the streets, you are tucked up to tight behind the vehicle in front, if the traffic is slow, what’s the benefit of seeing the cars 2-3 in front of the one ahead of you? You are not going anywhere fast.
We all like certain cars, I doubt many see most of the SUVs/crossovers on the road as “vanity” cars. Is there more kudos in driving a Qashqai or Sportage? No, most people drive them because they like them, not to show off.
I have driven both (if a mokka counts as an Suv) and yeah, I get that they have a better view. I still think they're a bit anti social though. And awful handling on that one.
Easier access through the front doors.. Well maybe, if you have a bad back, but something like a Honda Jazz is pretty OK.
Maybe people will naturally gravitate to more efficient vehicles as fuel prices increase. Or maybe driving a builders car will become less trendy. Anyhow its not something I'm losing any sleep over.
I don’t know what other SUV drivers experience is, but our kids when they were young much preferred being in the back seat of my wife’s SUV than my saloon, they tended to suffer more from car sickness in my car. Also putting car seats into the higher SUV was easier.
I think all manufacturers will be striving to make SUV engines more efficient, I have a RR Sport PHEV and most of my journeys are made using the battery only, so as more SUV hybrids come on line, you will probably find that they outperform your current hatch in carbon emissions.
Do you really think the most popular SUVs sold today are “builders cars”?
Yep
Or farmers cars
Duster, Tuxon, Qashqai
Trendy because Celtic Tiger builders drove land cruisers and pajeros which these are styled after.
Part of it because the tax system favours diesels - you can't claim vat back on petrol.
I’ve got a RAV4 hybrid. Getting pretty popular now and is a decent size. And I get consistently c. 5.5l / 100km. Better than most traditional saloons, and probably in line with a hatchback, which some posters thing we all should be driving
You think those three are used by farmers to do farm work ? They most certainly are not styled on LCs or Pajeros, they neither have the robustness nor torque to ever be considered farm vehicles.
Ive never driven a commercial vehicle nor claimed VAT on it, didn’t know it had to be diesel, I thought it just had to be a commercial designated vehicle with no back passenger seats.
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