Are SUVs/Large Cars Unfairly Stigmatised?

What annoys me is people who buy range rovers and then refuse to go on a grass bank in narrow country lanes. They’re literally made to do that.

The best "SUV" I've ever had was a MK1 903cc Panda 4x4! Amazing in snow and that's why you still see so many in the Alps. I've had SJ's Vitara's, Rav's, HRV's, CRV's X3's and even an Octavia 4x4 estate. The Panda was the answer, light, small and skinny tyres that cut through the snow! The only thing that ever stopped the Panda was when it had driven itself onto a snow bank and it's wheels were no longer touching the floor. 2wd SUV's are a pointless waste, less aerodynamic and heavier than their hatchback equivalent.

Basically they are unfairly stigmatised and you gave great examples of why we could easily be wrong in our judgement. People who buy SUVs are the same as people who buy hatchbacks or estates. They are spending their own money. Everyone else can keep their noses out of other people’s business.

You didn't touch on one of the major causes of irritation people have with SUVs: the hood height. I live in Canada so I don't know if the UK gets this as badly as here but there are some SUVs and especially trucks that seem to be designed to be as agressively dangerous as possible to pedestrians and other road users. I think the ID Buzz gets a pass because it has a sloping front with a bumper at the normal height.

A Great Christmas!? How long have you been sitting on this video? 🤭

I’d far rather a smaller vehicle - but fitting a wheelchair in the boot is a feature I really don’t want to do without. (I can disassemble the chair, but it’s very inconvenient)

My mum has to drive a car that sits higher up as she finds it easier to get in and out of. There’s an older lady who lives next door to me who drives a Kia Sorento, which she obviously has as it’s easier to get in and out of. I have a Mini Cooper hatch 3 door and my mum finds it hard to get in and out of.

A TV reporter was interviewing a man sat in his car last week. The man was complaining about EVs, saying that they were the cause of so many deep potholes due to their weight. He was sat in a Range Rover 🙄

What grips me is people parking large SUVs in disabled or family spaces that have neither. They just think I've got a big expensive car and I'll stick it where I like, no Fs given.

I went to wash my car at our local car wash and I had to argue with the guy about the price he wanted to charge me as he said my car was a 4x4/SUV I argued my car was a small car but it was about the height. I'm sure no one on this channel would consider a BMW I3 as a large SUV.

Weight seems to be a simple variable to tax going forward, based on size and road wear.

Whats wrong is that anyone thinks they have a right to say what some one elses drives. Nothing to do with me what anyone else drives, or if it does then should we question what everyone needs a car for, questions like do you have kids, do you have a job, do you need a car in your job, but life doesnt work like this. If you have £1mil then you can buy and run an SUV or lambo, and you get charged accordingly if you can only afford a little Citroën again you get charged accordinly. Its all about jealousy just because you don't like them and probably can't afford them. This is all thats wrong with this planet, we all started judging each other even thought we had the right to, we don't.

The real SUVs are the huge American family cars based on pickup trucks, like Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban. Those are just too big in my book. And they are generally not safe for anyone, not even for the occupants.

You saw what happened when they tried to amend the benefit in kind allowance for double cab vehicles it wasn't the outcry from the public but the manufacturers that got this stopped, and probably a brown envelope or two. A farmer relation of mine was bemoaning the fact that it was almost impossible to find a new single cab unit as "no one wanted them",then why would a farmer want a double cab and a trailer to do the same work as the single cab he had before.

The SUV issue is multifaceted. They are thicker in their plate work because its a smaller car padded up. That gives thicker pillars making it harder to see what's going on around you. Longer and more square front making people less aware of where their front wheels are. Higher seating which often attracts older and lazier drivers, also usually form fitted deep seating inviting not to lean forward for looking even though that doesn't help anyways with the wide pillars. Its a lot of individually not important points that any one can overcome if they aren't useless twits, but we all know useless twit is far above the average driver, so yeah they stand out on the road because they more easily let people do stupid things than a tiny car. Its the White Van Man syndrome just covering so incredibly many of the cars on the roads.

I think my Model 3 is a bit big to be honest. I’ve come from a staple diet of 2 Golfs and a Corsa. While driving a Model 3 is absolutely fine, even on single track roads, it’s parking that’s the problem. Fitting a model 3 into a marked bay at Tescos, especially when the car park is full, it’s tight, and I find myself squeezing out of the door. The Model Y is a good 10cm wider and longer by a few cm as well. I really wouldn’t want the hassle of a big car in a supermarket car park. So do they deserve abuse? Well if they double park, even by 1cm, they have denied someone else an otherwise empty parking space, so yes they deserve abuse! We managed perfectly fine in the 80’s fitting 3 kids into a Vauxhall Cavalier and going on holidays with it. The parking spaces are the same size now as they were back then, so we’ve got zero entitlement to bigger spaces and roads.

I waiting waiting at a roundabout in my Nissan Note, an SUV came up beside me and I couldn't see the oncoming cars on the roundabout because of the bonnet height. I was less than impressed with that. Surely the bonnets on them don't need to be as high as that.

Did you mean Easter instead of Christmas or was this recorded a long time ago?

I would do nothing, I don't think there's a problem.

If they repaired all the potholes in the roads there would be no need to have SUV’s, on some roads around by us it’s the equivalent to driving off road.