City drivers 'should think twice' before buying SUVs

In London, we regard them as nuclear weapons: “My neighbour’s got one, shit, we’d better get one”

The design has shifted into ordinary cars with higher driving positions which provide better visibility for drivers, but reduce it for those around them. In a congested city, it means we need to keep more space around ourselves for the same visibility, which means everyone needs to slow down, and so 20mph speed limits are popping up everywhere.

In the advanced riding course, we are taught that safe riding involves safety for EVERYONE on the road around you, not just self-preservation, which appears to be one major factor in the purchase of SUV-style cars.

I suppose one should always be careful about what one says. For decades I denigrated SUVs as being for urban wannabees who had delusions of being off-roaders.

Twelve months ago, my wife's health situation was such that she needed to get a mobility scooter, handicapped scooter, or whatever you call them where you come from: like these https://mobilitycaring.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/GOG... The advantage of this type is that they disassemble like this https://mobilitycaring.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Go-...

Now I used to have lovely C-class car, except that it was murder to squeeze the disassembled bits of her scooter into the boot, and even then the seat had to be put on the back seat of the car, taking up about half of that space.

In effect we went from having a four-door car with a boot and 2 spare back seats to having a two-seater car.

So we bit the bullet and got (ugh!) a GLC SUV, which holds all of the scooter's bits in the cargo area and leaves us an empty back seat which we can use for passengers or luggage.

But given my druthers, I'd really prefer a small zippy car like one of these https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Me...

These sorts of anti-SUV articles always seem to miss that, you know, people ain't buying SUVs for shits and giggles. In my case, for example, I need a vehicle that's flexible enough to be able to handle hauling moderately-big things (or lots of smaller things) or can haul friends and family around, and I often need to be able to do that in e.g. snowy weather where a combination of all-terrain tires and 4WD/AWD is invaluable. An SUV or CUV/crossover is arguably the most affordable option at that intersection of features.

That said, if 4WD/AWD vans were easier to find, I'd probably switch over to one, since even a minivan is strictly superior on the fronts of both cargo and passenger space (especially with removable seats). Unfortunately, relatively few seem to be on the market whenever I've looked (at least at reasonable prices), and even fewer have good enough ground clearance to not effectively turn into a boat when snow driving (though I guess I could get one lifted, lol).

When the boomers were small, you could stuff three or four people on the front seat of a car, four or five in the back seat, and if it was a station wagon some in the back. Nobody said, "How many seat belts?", because seat belts weren't standard until about 1965. If I found and packed a car the way they were loaded in the 1960s, people would call Child Protection Services. So a low-slung sedan or station wagon had a lot more capacity then than now.

I dislike sports utes--which during the rush hours are mostly occupied by a driver and nobody else--but I do understand why some buy them.

I’d love to get a flyin miata or similar compact car but it’s not practical. It’s a second vehicle.

I have a SUV and love it. I can haul lumber, small freight, large grocery trips, tow my boat, and I can drive with 4 friends somewhere.