Live data from Hacker News

Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

theguardian.com

41–50 of 194 posts

Re: Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

#41
post #24

I was nodding along until I read that they deflate XC90s. To me, that is a completely reasonable car if you have 3 children. I know people who buy Range Rovers just to drive to work, but not XC90s.

This is the equivalent thought process as "everyone making my salary + £1 or more gets paid way too much money and should be taxed at 100%"

Re: Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

#42
post #11

Is this motivated by environmentalism or is this about class?

Class... is a tricky definition here in the UK. For instance, the richest person I will ever know drives a crappy wee Japanese hatchback, whilst SUVs are often high-monthly fee status symbols for people who could spend their money 'better' elsewise. shrug

Old money vs. new money, etc.

Re: Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

#43
post #31

Oversized SUV's littering urban landscapes (taking effectively twice the space of a small electric car) are the tangible evidence of how society grows not just unsustainable and unequal, but aggressive and in-your-face. I don't think there is any other period where the front "face" of a car aimed to create such an ugly, intimidating impression (i am huge and i will tear you apart). Their popularity speaks volumes abo…

> aking effectively twice the space of a small electric car Not that many "small electric cars" out there, Teslas are big, as are the ID.3s and the like coming from Volkswagen. For reference, an ID.3 weights a maximum of almost 2 tons (1935 kg, to be more exact), that's compared to the maximum of 1500 kg for a Golf 7. To say nothing of my 2006 1.4 NA Seat Ibiza weighting just 1054 kg, but which is seen as worst than…

The issues talked about here are mostly about size (width, length), not weight.

Yes, the higher weight of EVs is a bit of an issue. But not as much as people make it out to be.

But there are a lot of big EVs now. I think it’s mainly due to all car manufacturers coming out with a new generation of EVs and the first models they make are the ones with the highest margins. I.e. big cars.

In the previous generations you had cars like Hyundai Kona EV which is completely reasonable size. But the first in Hyundais new generation is Ioniq 5 which doesn’t look like a monster but is surprisingly big.

Re: Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

#44
post #21

Cars should be taxed based on their weight and there should be much stricter standards regarding visibility. There is no reason why most of us should subsidise a few people’s status symbol and their entirely unnecessary use of public resources. Ultimately you should not be able to buy these, at least in their current form, as they serve no purpose whatsoever besides inflating their owner’s ego at a significant cost t…

I'm not in the UK. But, you can pry my minivan from my cold dead hands.

I’m guessing you live somewhere with wider roads and more private vehicle-centric urban planning. That is not the UK.

Re: Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

#46
Flattening tyres on other people’s cars could cause fatal road accidents. Consider these leaflets could get lost and the driver not realizing their tyre is flat (especially if it’s one on the back) when driving off. If you are an „activist“ you might potentially commit manslaughter.

No amount of environmental conscience gives you morally the right to potentially hurt other people.

Re: Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

#48

Note to American readers: The most popular "SUVs" in Britain are small crossovers that are compact or subcompact cars by American standards. The Ford Puma is currently the best-selling car in the UK and while it's marketed as an SUV, it's based on the same platform as the Ford Fiesta. It has big wheels and an SUV silhouette, but the base model has a 1 litre engine with a mild hybrid system and 4 wheel drive isn't eve…

As a london, uk resident, I recently got a hatchback-sized lexus hybrid "SUV", the ux 250h. Perfect for the place, possible to go to a motorway, high mpg, reliability. My kid is just fine in the back sit, I can see a second one fitting just fine.

my American friend laughed at me, saying something like "a family needs at least a range rover, you can afford one".

So it's not about reason, not about making a balanced choice or something. No, in many cases it's about "get it if you can".

Re: Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

#49
post #43
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> aking effectively twice the space of a small electric car Not that many "small electric cars" out there, Teslas are big, as are the ID.3s and the like coming from Volkswagen. For reference, an ID.3 weights a maximum of almost 2 tons (1935 kg, to be more exact), that's compared to the maximum of 1500 kg for a Golf 7. To say nothing of my 2006 1.4 NA Seat Ibiza weighting just 1054 kg, but which is seen as worst than…

The issues talked about here are mostly about size (width, length), not weight. Yes, the higher weight of EVs is a bit of an issue. But not as much as people make it out to be. But there are a lot of big EVs now. I think it’s mainly due to all car manufacturers coming out with a new generation of EVs and the first models they make are the ones with the highest margins. I.e. big cars. In the previous generations you h…

ID.3s are also big in terms of size, it's just that they're not branded as CUVs/mini-SUVs and that's why they get a pass. For example they're bigger than a Mazda CX-3, which is branded on wikipedia as a "Subcompact crossover SUV (B)".

Re: Monsters of the Road: What Should the UK Do About SUVs?

#50
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> aking effectively twice the space of a small electric car Not that many "small electric cars" out there, Teslas are big, as are the ID.3s and the like coming from Volkswagen. For reference, an ID.3 weights a maximum of almost 2 tons (1935 kg, to be more exact), that's compared to the maximum of 1500 kg for a Golf 7. To say nothing of my 2006 1.4 NA Seat Ibiza weighting just 1054 kg, but which is seen as worst than…

Fiat 500e, Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, Peugeot 208e, whatever ugly shit Opel/Vauxhall is pushing out...

None of those cars (toys) get you very far outside of the city. And inside of the city we've got public transportation.
Post reply on HN