I-spy an Ugly SUV

[myglaren]

Tell me one thing. Why are these so-called SUVs so popular?

I really don't get it...

Yes I don't get it either. I always have my bargain basement head on though so probably don't think like the SUV owner( or should I say renter/contract hirer/leaser/personal contract purchaser). For my needs I can perfectly adequately run my older vehicles at a fraction of the outgoings for the additional pleasure of running a new one which I dont quite get either.

All right occasionally if my MOT tester finds a few things that need attention, and I need 4 tyres at the same time and a new exhaust, the annual bill might creep up to £399 at a push but look at some of the "deals for new cars" and you'll be paying not much short of that a month!

Just straight out of google a Deal on the Car of the Year SUV First one out £389/month plus a customer deposit of £4,405..oh and despite paying us all of this money you can obviously only do 10,000 miles per year!

Might be nice to drive around for a bit, and no doubt a safe an well put together car, but for me its the 6 bottles of wine Clio with an airbag light that needs sorting that I will always plump for!

Regards Neil

I had a customer deposit of £650 and after having the brakes and timing belt/water pump/tensioners renewed (free - I gave the guy my old C5) I have an ANNUAL bill of around £500 for tax, insurance, MOT and wear and tear items (tyres mainly).
I have no desire whatsoever for a shiny new money pit.
OK, mine is a shed but a new car would soon achieve the same status under my care.

The Jones' around here don't give a **** whether I keep up with them or not

[CitroJim]

£500 runs ALL my cars for the year almost Steve

I feel exactly like you... Bugger what others think...

It makes me giggle how my bike and my gear gets looked down upon at Sportives... Neither wear the right boutique labels...

[andy5]

In the supermarket car park, one of these things parked jauntily with the two nearside wheels up on the kerb of an end-of-row island, because the vehicle is too wide to fit in an ordinary width space and still let the driver get out.

I know. Living with one of those vehicles on a daily basis must be a right pain... No wonder their pilots seem to be very stressed and aggressive.

Not only must car parks be difficult but normal driving along typical British narrow back roads must be a constant trial...

It would drive me totally batty...

One of the joys of driving little 'uns

I drove a friend's Discovery back from Lithuania and Poland, after being there 3 weeks. Swapped into my Xantia to go home, and had to stop and walk around the car after about 5 miles, to talk myself out of the feeling my car had invented a new suspension setting. It felt like I was sitting on the ground.

[ekjdm14]

Not only must car parks be difficult but normal driving along typical British narrow back roads must be a constant trial...

It would drive me totally batty...

One of the joys of driving little 'uns

It must be terrible for them, these big 4 wheel drive monsters and they daren't get over to the side to allow a car to pass on a narrow road for fear of scratching their lump of metal... So much so that they near invariably expect the oncoming car to get right into the grass verge/brambles to get past. Ironic really.

[CitroJim]

One thing I've noticed now I'm cycling a great deal more is how the edges of the grass verges on the narrower roads are really badly and continually churned up nowadays...

SUVs trying to pass each other no doubt doing all the damage...

And don't start me on how much litter is scattered across all roadsides, verges and in hedgerows now :evil; It is awful... Some is neatly tied up in bags and hung on a branch... What's in the minds of these people?

I despair...

[Paul-R]

You know what's inside those neatly tied up bags, don't you?

Dog owners pick up their pooch's crap in a bag (as you're supposed to do) and then some tie it up and fling it into the hedgerow. Why they do it is beyond me but it's disgusting.

[Hell Razor5543]

My Mum does clean up after her dog Brandy. If there are no suitable bins nearby the bags will sit on the roof of her narrow boat. As soon as there is a suitable bin theses bags will be moved. She is NOT the sort of person to leave a mess for others to clear up!

[Paul-R]

Neither were we when we had a dog. I always took the bag to nearest litter bin or even home.

[CitroJim]

You know what's inside those neatly tied up bags, don't you?

Dog owners pick up their pooch's crap in a bag (as you're supposed to do) and then some tie it up and fling it into the hedgerow. Why they do it is beyond me but it's disgusting.

Ive seen that on the Milton Keynes Redways Paul, it fairly sickens me...

Not nice to step on one of those bags when running

[MikeT]

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/1 ... onto_tree/

[Mandrake]

Ok, spent a few seconds reading up on Cd now today (to follow my 'interpretation of basic principles' previous post) and now wish I hadn't started to...

Too much is made of Cd (drag coefficient) as a means of comparing one car to another IMHO, especially across sizes or classes of vehicle, (sedan, SUV etc) because on its own the figure is useless as it has to be multiplied by frontal cross sectional area - so it is only a dimensionless measure of "goodness" of the aerodynamic design, not actual drag. (Hence it is called drag coefficient not drag)

So for example an SUV with a large frontal area may have a Cd of 0.35, but have more actual drag than a car with a much smaller frontal area with a Cd of 0.40.

A great example is this is that the Wikipedia page for Cd shows that the newly announced Tesla Semi-truck has the same Cd of 0.36 as the Citroen CX! For a truck that is an exceptionally low drag coefficient, (they tend to be 0.5 to 0.7) but the actual drag is still going to be several times larger than a CX due to the massive frontal area!

A figure that you never see quoted is drag and drag coefficient of a car side on! When it comes to cross wind stability you want the drag to be as low as possible to wind trying to pass the car sideways or at an angle. And you don't just want a low drag coefficient, you want low total drag.

This is where the aspect ratio of a car starts to matter. If you compare a car that is wide and low to one that is narrow and tall, both can have the same frontal area so similar drag going forwards (for the same Cd factor) but the side area will be greatly less on the car that is wide and low than the car that is tall and narrow.

From the 70's to the 90's the trend was for cars to get wider and lower to the ground, that trend has reversed since the early 2000's and cars are getting very tall indeed. To the point where when I drive my Xantia these days (designed to the 90's ideals of car tallness) I can't see over other vehicles when pulling out of junctions! (But can in the significantly taller Ion)

A side effect of this movement to tall vehicles is much more cross sectional area to the sides of the car relative to the cabin volume, which means worse cross wind stability, all other things being equal....

[Timmo]

I love school runs for watching the hordes of mums in their quashkie jobbies, having to get to school early enough they can drive into the space to park along the road, none of them even try a reverse parallel park!
I guess they feel Safer being sat higher up, and more demanding 'get out of my way' as the discovery drivers did when they first launched! One think tbst i can't help but smile at though, Yes your 20" wheels make you look all pimp, but a pair of tyres will cost more than i paid for my Car!

I often play the hypothetical game in my head of a set amount of money you would have to spend on a car, what would you get? Be it 5k,10k,30k, never can i come up with anything i would be truely happy with over my xantia!

[Mandrake]

As the parent of a 2 year old I do see the point of higher seating and taller cars though...

I normally take Joshua in the Peugeot Ion which is tall and narrow and has a relatively high seating position - not quite SUV high, but pretty high compared to a Xantia! It's quite easy to lift him into the seat.

When I occasionally use the Xantia and put the child seat in that it is a massively awkward reach down to get him into the seat with the suspension at normal height, and even with it lifted right up its still awkward! So for getting small children in and out of their car seats a tall car with a higher seating position is definitely a win. Bad for cross wind stability though.

I also find the driving visibility (at least forwards and to the sides) on the Ion far superior to the Xantia due to the seating height. When I turn out of the road I'm on to the main road there are cars always parked about 10 metres to either side half way on the footpath - with the Ion I can see over them to see traffic coming before turning out, with the Xantia I can't see past those parked cars at all!

Part of this though is that the parked cars are also tallish cars, so there is a bit of an arms race going on in the area of car and seating heights! To see over everyone else you buy a taller car with a higher seating position and get a great view. Soon everyone buys taller cars and now you are back to square one!

I think this is why everyone drives SUV's these days - it is the ultimate extension of a visibility arms race where cars keep getting taller and taller until it gets silly.

I would hate to be driving a CX today - you wouldn't be able to see a thing as the seating in that is even lower to the ground than a Xantia!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Just spotted the Car of the Year 2018's big sister the XC90

That would have to be in the category enormous SUV. The Lexia our threadstarter does of course knock spots off it in the ugliness department.

The one I saw was the Hybrid Twin Engine Version. The Volvo website isn't shy about BS

The Volvo XC90
Each detail of the luxury XC90 is designed around the people using it, to make driving easier and more enjoyable. It’s this purpose which gives the car such natural confidence.

If I was paying over 70 Grand on a car "natural confidence" would be the first thing I would be looking for!

Here's a quick deal for the one I saw which was the T8 AWD...£3000 deposit, £1015/month 36 months, optional final payment £40,435. Oh yes and that particular PCP allowed you a generous 6,000 miles per year! Does £2/mile sound cheaper?



Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Oh Yes..and a big treat for SUV fans....pop over to POTD for the XC90, and one of the most iconic railway bridges in England!

Regards Neil