SUVs

I am looking at changing my 2 + 2 sports car in the New Year (GC getting to tall to sit comfortably in back)

I will hopefully be able to find a suitable hybrid 4 X 4, if not it will be the most eco friendly 4 X 4 SUV on the market.

DH is undecided on whether to keep his beast or change it 🤷‍♀️

GrannyGravy13

Maggiemaybe
A study by the European Transport Safety Council found that in a collision between a modest-size SUV (sports utility vehicle) weighing 1,600kg and a lighter car weighing 1,300kg, the risk of fatal injury decreases by 50% for the occupants of the heavier car but increases by almost 80% for the occupants of the lighter car. Similarly, pedestrians and cyclists are more likely to be killed if the car that strikes them has a bonnet that is higher off the road than average, a typical feature of an SUV. (The Guardian)
Close family members were involved in a car accident abroad earlier this year.

The police and ambulance services at the scene said if they hadn’t been in a top spec Range Rover all four of them would have died.

I’m genuinely pleased for your family members, GrannyGravy13, and that must have been a great relief to you. It rather bears out the report’s conclusions. Top spec SUV’s are statistically safer, for their owners and passengers.

But the report shows that if a lighter car had been involved in the crash (perhaps it was?), the risk of fatal injury to its occupants would have been 80% higher than if it had been in collusion with another “normal” car. That’s a cause for concern, surely?

Casdon

It’s less the type of car, more the way people drive and park I think. I live in the country, so loads of people drive SUVs for practical reasons because they live up bumpy tracks. My supermarket car park is full of them too, my only complaint is that I wish some SUV drivers (and van drivers) were more conscious of the car next to them when they open their door, as because they are bigger there is less gap to the next car, and my car has been dented by an over enthusiastic door opening.

In fact, I'm not sure that it's the width of te car that is the problem but the width of the parking spaces which has changed.

We saw a nearby carpark, taken over by a somewhat notorious car park firm, have all the lines repainted and more spaces were squeezed in by making them narrower. There are just three spaces for blue badge drivers.

Surely it has always been the case that if you are unfortunate enough to be in an accident in a smaller car you are more likely to come off worse when hitting a larger or heavier vehicle.
There may be more SUV s about but they are really nothing new.
Our present SUV is only marginally heavier than our previous saloon both being the same make of vehicle. The main difference with the new one is the amount of cameras and parking aids it will also stop dead if you get too close to anything whilst manoeuvring.

Having been pressganged into doing the morning school runs all this week to 2 different schools in opposite directions, oh joy, I do wonder if some drivers and sorry to say, mostly ladies, struggle with SUV's. They are everywhere and although most are competently driven, some are not. They do not know the width of their vehicle and some have a job to see over the top of the steering wheel. I drive along a lane every time I go out and the SUV's are often over the white line due to their width. Hardly any room in car parks if there is an SUV parked either side. Do women insist on these tractors to keep up with the Jones's? Project an image?
On a serious note, something should be done about their lights. They are blinding. It's like being in the beam from a lighthouse.

MickyD

I have a Range Rover and love it. Nothing to do with it being a status symbol, I have a passion for sports cars, great looking cars and powerful cars. My exDH was rally driver and I loved every aspect of that. I am also a brilliant parker and leave plenty of room for car drivers beside me to get in and out. I find it odd that people think we should be driving smaller cars just because THEY find them more sensible.
My DH also has a Range Rover. This fits all of his golf clubs, golf trolley etc in it and as he is almost 70 he can no longer easily get in and out of the much lower Maserati so the RR is great for him height wise.

That’s taking “ The Mickey” to a new level

Our 4 x4 has a matrix system so the beam is automatically adjusted for oncoming traffic.

I think most vehicles have the same now.

Sago

Our 4 x4 has a matrix system so the beam is automatically adjusted for oncoming traffic.

I think most vehicles have the same now.

Available as an extra on many, some premium spec as standard, it’s an expensive extra

EG. Mid range Ford Focus matrix not available

Sago

Our 4 x4 has a matrix system so the beam is automatically adjusted for oncoming traffic.

I think most vehicles have the same now.

I think that a part of the headlight problem might be that many people think their headlights are dipping automatically, but for one reason or another fail to notice that it isn't happening.
Ours should do that, according to the manual, but don't. Luckily, after forty years of dipping the lights manually, it is second nature for us to continue doing it.

Oldnproud I had that problem last week someone flashed me as we were approaching each other down our main village road. I checked when I got home that the setting was on auto. It was so now I don’t trust it and follow your example. I always think I’m more efficient than the automatic option anyway.

We both work very hard and can afford top of the range suvs
My DH has new defender and I have a Range Rover.
Why such animosity about doing well.
Have you driven one?
I agree with some of your comments and concerns but I think some of your remarks reflect your jealousy
We live in a very remote hilly area and need these vehicles.
I hope my comments don’t offend anyone but it seems unfair for some to be so judgemental

lazydays
I am not passing judgement here, just wanted to say that when someone says

We both work very hard...

I always want to add "so do most people I know" (or did, before retirement).

How hard you work does seem irrelevant to me.
I'm not sure who you think is jealous though.

Sago

Our 4 x4 has a matrix system so the beam is automatically adjusted for oncoming traffic.

I think most vehicles have the same now.

But the average age of a car on the road in the UK is 9 years. How long have these systemss been installed and how are they making their way down the cost price of a car, from top of the range to a Toyota Aygo?

Our cars are 12 and 19 years old respectively.

No one in in their right mind would park next to a big SUV, they are definitely more comfortable and safer though. I always reverse into a space but avoid at all costs. I do prefer travelling in them.
What intrigues me in the op saying she lives in a posh town. Is there any such place, towns have good and not do good areas and supermarkets and petrol stations etc. or maybe those services are provided in a nearby not push town or flown in.

Not spaghetti
I accept your comment and yes people do work hard or the majority do but that’s whole different political thread,
My point is we work very and have our own business so not only do we work the standard week which we do work we have all the ‘paperwork’ not much paper involved in it these days so we’ve had to negotiate all that comes with being 70 and 80.and learning computerised systems
We employ over 50 staff which is getting harder and harder in these times.
I hope that explains my comment, we don’t just earn a big pay check and have a luxurious lifestyle.

Allsorts

No one in in their right mind would park next to a big SUV, they are definitely more comfortable and safer though. I always reverse into a space but avoid at all costs. I do prefer travelling in them.
What intrigues me in the op saying she lives in a posh town. Is there any such place, towns have good and not do good areas and supermarkets and petrol stations etc. or maybe those services are provided in a nearby not push town or flown in.

Yes I raised this a “posh” town!

I hate the word posh!

What is a posh town?

Could we have some examples please?

Any town in the Cotswolds?
Or, come to that, in parts of Somerset around Bruton?
Rich commuter towns around the edge of London?
Windsor and environs?
That expensive footballers enclave near Alderley Edge/
Towns like Beverley, Malton and others in Norh Yorkshire.

I think every region of th country has small towns and areas, where house prices are more expensive than elsewhere in the immediate area and the town centre has a Waitrose and a Lidl.

My son purchased a Ford Ranger for work it was new to him and hadn’t yet been sign written. He had parked in our local supermarket and one very put out lady berated him saying he shouldn’t be driving that and he should have something like hers pointing to her small car. He smiled at her and said firstly I wouldn’t fit in your car (He’s quite tall and well built) secondly your car would not do well on a site visit pretty sure it would get stuck.
He came back to mine still chuckling he thought it quite amusing.

lazydays
I still think what you are saying is irrelevant - and as you say, a whole different political thread.

I did notice you said you lived in a remote rural area and would accept you might be off-road and on non-paved roads... however employing people and working into 70s or 80s, and adapting to change is really nothing to do with SUVs, any more than working hard is.

I still hold this to be true.

Sago

Allsorts

No one in in their right mind would park next to a big SUV, they are definitely more comfortable and safer though. I always reverse into a space but avoid at all costs. I do prefer travelling in them.
What intrigues me in the op saying she lives in a posh town. Is there any such place, towns have good and not do good areas and supermarkets and petrol stations etc. or maybe those services are provided in a nearby not push town or flown in.

Yes I raised this a “posh” town!

I hate the word posh!

What is a posh town?

Could we have some examples please?

What is a posh town?

Anywhere where the Green Wellie Brigade lives, driving huge SUVs, pushing up house prices and making sure the riff-raff is kept out.

I have a pair of green wellies but I drive a very small car 😂

The wellingtons must be Hunter or Arriott

People who live in, or rather just outside ‘posh’ towns have buckles on their green wellies.

Another thread that involves wealth, that has gone pear shaped.

GrannyGravy13

The wellingtons must be Hunter or Arriott

Oh, I think they're just common or garden ones from Countrywide 😁

and the town centre has a Waitrose and a Lidl.
✔✔
Although Waitrose is shut pro tem.

LauraNorderr

People who live in, or rather just outside ‘posh’ towns have buckles on their green wellies.

There could be a mouse living in mine, haven't inspected them for months, they're in the garage.