SUV Tyranny

ChrisR777
ChrisR777 Community Member Posts: 1,887 Championing
in Everyday life
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/15/suv-normal-family-cars-roads-supersized-consumer-choice

I would like to tax SUVs off our roads, especially those monstrous US style 'trucks'.

Comments

  • Mary_Scope
    Mary_Scope Posts: 5,670 Scope Online Community Children and Family Specialists
    edited August 16

    I have a small 3 dr Peugeot 107 and I had to park in between two of those types of cars yesterday to do the food shop and it looked ridiculous, like a little lego car sandwiched in the middle of those big ones! 🤣

  • ChrisR777
    ChrisR777 Community Member Posts: 1,887 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1144740#Comment_1144740

    You're lucky there was enough room, alot of them are too wide to fit into a standard parking spot. The two Land Rover Defenders i saw last night, they look absolutely vulgar and out of place parked in the High Street. Even the run-of-the-mill Vitara, Qashqai etc, they are dwarfed next to such monstrosities.

  • Ross1975
    Ross1975 Community Member Posts: 1,608 Championing

    I can understand the argument for discouraging the very largest and heaviest vehicles, particularly where there are genuine safety or environmental concerns, but I think it's worth distinguishing between different types of SUV. They're not all enormous American style trucks, and many are no more unusual on British roads than other family cars.

    If the aim is to reduce the problems caused by vehicle size and weight, it would probably make more sense for any taxation or charging system to be based on measurable factors such as weight, dimensions, emissions and safety impact, rather than simply putting all SUVs into one category.

  • egiste2r
    egiste2r Posts: 199 Connected

    Do the drivers of these monster cars have a HGV or LGV? 😁

  • 66Mustang
    66Mustang Community Member Posts: 15,537 Championing
    edited August 19

    I share the concerns about SUVs and ordinarily have been of a similar opinion but the move to EVs complicates this somewhat.

    Little EVs have much lower ranges, predictably because there is physically less room to put batteries. Because electric cars are good at hauling weight and bulk around, the range isn't overly negatively affected by the size/weight of all those batteries, either. This means the logic we're intuitively used to – that a big combustion-engined car tends to be significantly less economical than a small one – isn't really transferrable.

    I've driven small cars all my life but have ordered my first EV and it's also my first SUV, not because I wanted or needed one, but simply because the range of most of the small cars tended to be 100-200 miles (which could well correspond to far less in the real world). It's going to cost me a third as much to fuel, yet at the same time also be faster, than the little city hatchback I'm going to swap for it. 🤔

  • ChrisR777
    ChrisR777 Community Member Posts: 1,887 Championing

    I saw one last night, a Jaguar ( A Jag SUV 🙄). It had one front wheel on the pavement, the rear of the vehicle sticking out into the road. I think a nice Suzuki Swift was more suitable for the driver, whoever they are.

  • ChrisR777
    ChrisR777 Community Member Posts: 1,887 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1145472#Comment_1145472

    An HGV is now called an LGV, most people aren't aware of that ( I still say Class1 and Class 2 HGV).

  • CarNineSix
    CarNineSix Community Member Posts: 56 Contributor
    edited August 20

    [Removed by moderator]

    I am an adult, my partner is an adult, daughter and second daughter that is four people.

    Now I'm just an average man and both the girls are average but my partner is where the fun starts.

    She is Hemiplegic, this means she is paralysed on one side, the left hand side. She has also had a stroke, both were caused by aneurysm which also left her with brain damage. Due to this we need to carry supplies which I don't need to explain but they occupy the space of a person plus a powerchair.

    Due to he limited mobility when transferring we needed the seat height, when looking at the many vehicles available. We also need extensive luggage space due to her condition.

    With the distances we travel an EV was no good and they also weigh more. We looked at fuel consumption and the Grandland won.

    It is not a vanity car by any means, it is not fast or powerful, not the best looking and not a badge everyone wants. But when needed, four adults and yes one with special needs in her own way can be transported from home to shops, a day out, doctors, hospital AND for the first time in 18 years she got to go away on holiday.

    . . . . . and just food for thought Mini Countryman, it is basically the same size as our car.

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