The illusion of SUV safety

[Devil2575]

skyrover said:

A Nissan x-trail is no larger than a Ford focus.

X-trail 182 inches long, 67 inches wide

Ford Focus Estate 180 inches long, 72 inches wide

Ford Mondeo 192 inches long, 73 inches wide

I know that now. The point was that I had been told that people chose vehicles like that because they offered the practicality of a people carrier in a more stylish package. I found out that they don't.

[lostkiwi]

Not all 4x4s are big inside - it depends as with cars on the individual 4x4.
For example a Land Cruiser is vastly more capable of carrying loads than a Rav 4 just as an A6 estate can carry more than an A3.
The larger 4x4s (Land Cruiser, Discovery, Kia Sorrento etc) generally have more interior space than the equivalent Estate, mainly due to increased height. My Land Cruiser Colorado I had until last year was a good foot higher inside than an equivalent estate and with a similar internal length could carry pretty big loads.
A Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon for example has a load area 40" high, 49" long (with 2nd row seats deployed) or 90" (second row seats folded) and 42" wide. Thats a huge load space (470 litres seats up, 2280 litres seats folded). There's no way a Rav4 or Evoque would carry that kind of load as they are aimed at different markets.
I doubt there are any estates could match it either.

[skyrover]

Devil2575 said:

skyrover said:

A Nissan x-trail is no larger than a Ford focus.

X-trail 182 inches long, 67 inches wide

Ford Focus Estate 180 inches long, 72 inches wide

Ford Mondeo 192 inches long, 73 inches wide

I know that now. The point was that I had been told that people chose vehicles like that because they offered the practicality of a people carrier in a more stylish package. I found out that they don't.

They do if you buy one in the correct size class, otherwise your simply moving to a similar space to your little hatchback though maybe taller.

Many of the larger SUV's are not offered in the UK and if interior room is your number one priority, you are probably better off with some sort of van type vehicle.

[Devil2575]

skyrover said:

Many of the larger SUV's are not offered in the UK and if interior room is your number one priority, you are probably better off with some sort of van type vehicle.

As I said in an earlier post, we have a Corrolla Verso. Loads of space. When I went looking at people carriers I was won over. It was amazing what can be achieved with respect to space and practicality when you aren't also trying to make it cool, fit 4x4, give it rakish lines etc. As long as you don't care what other people think and you put aside any notion of it being fun to drive it is a perfectly functional vehicle.

It's interesting to note that every class of vehicle has the popular/fashionable ones. With people carries we found that the S-Max was the one. Like a Galaxy only smaller but a decent chunk more expensive on te used market. With van type vehicles it's anything with a VW badge on. I know about half a dozen people who either have one, are in the process of buying one or who are saving up for one.

[DonkeyApple]

skyrover said:

They do if you buy one in the correct size class, otherwise your simply moving to a similar space to your little hatchback though maybe taller.

Many of the larger SUV's are not offered in the UK and if interior room is your number one priority, you are probably better off with some sort of van type vehicle.

The smaller SUVs are exactly that. A hatchback but taller so a better load space, plus easier to hop in and out of, easier to see the road ahead and sometimes with awd, so a bit more useful in some conditions. Larger SUVs are just more practical estates. They really are just more practical versions of existing niches. You obviously lose some handling but if you're buying a car for hooning then you'd generally not be looking at these cars for the most part.

Most of these SUVs are just the hatchback or estate from the same manufacturer but jacked up. Especially these new crossovers.

[surveyor]

After my near miss last night I got home to find that my wife had nearly wiped someone out in our Range Rover.

A young girl in a Corsa apparently missed 2.5 tons of car with Xenons trundling on at 40, and pulled out straight in front of her. My wife though she was bound to hit the Corsa side on and would have have done serious damage to the Corsa and it's driver.

Now I know that you are expecting me to report from the hospital, the car having fallen on to it's roof, but amazingly it stopped and did so bloody quickly. Which was just as well as apparently there was not a nat in it.

So there you go. SUV's can stop after all. phew.

[Impasse]

Nothing too exciting to see here, just a quick picture of a few minor marks in the dirt on the side of my car that were collected while not moving over to the hedgerow to allow a Honda Jazz space to pass.

[heebeegeetee]

bqf said:

If I crash I hope it's into a smart car or something because if I roll it, i'm in deep st, apparently.

They're tougher than you think, as this rally car found out.

https://www.facebook.com/SmartistasPortugal/videos...

[heebeegeetee]

surveyor said:

After my near miss last night I got home to find that my wife had nearly wiped someone out in our Range Rover.

A young girl in a Corsa apparently blinded by 2.5 tons of car with retina burning Xenons at eye level

Ftfy.

[Slow]

heebeegeetee said:

surveyor said:

After my near miss last night I got home to find that my wife had nearly wiped someone out in our Range Rover.

A young girl in a Corsa apparently blinded by 2.5 tons of car with retina burning Xenons at eye level

Ftfy.

Retina burning at eye level? You know they are dipped right?

[henrycrun]

The xenon beam arms race is for a separate discussion, but why do 4WD owners have to flash oncoming vehicles a thankyou after dark ?