VW - Becoming an SUV brand

[SOL111]

Haltamer said:

Court_S said:

Trouble is people love the bloody things, so whilst they’re popular they’ll find ever more niches to fill.

If only they'd make a lower, lighter, smaller, shorter, faster, better handling SUV

You're definitely onto something. I reckon they should call it a car

I hate the fking things, or more specifically those who can barely handle a normal car, let alone something that they 'think' is a big car.

Twice recently I've been waiting at a t junction turning right to have some numpty trying to turn into the junction, stop and screw me up because I'm 2" inside the white line (on my side) and they think they don't have enough road to make the turn

Or those who can't drive though a gap the size of a bus.

Edited by SOL111 on Friday 16th August 22:57

[DoubleD]

Typical pistonheads moaning about people liking different cars to us.

So what if most people like them.

[cherryowen]

With all these "niche" SUV's / Crossovers, is that why manufacturers are creating increasingly odd names for them?

T-Roc
Kodiaq
Qashqai
Arona
Tiguan
Kadjar

As they produce more and more of these vehicles, they can just add and subtract random letters from the alphabet to create a model name!

How about the Audi Glenqo

Or the SEAT Roqiz (with the exclusive "Mountain Way" pack which is hard wired to play only Joe Walsh tunes through the stereo in Spanish)

[Pothole]

cherryowen said:

With all these "niche" SUV's / Crossovers, is that why manufacturers are creating increasingly odd names for them?

T-Roc
Kodiaq
Qashqai
Arona
Tiguan
Kadjar

As they produce more and more of these vehicles, they can just add and subtract random letters from the alphabet to create a model name!

How about the Audi Glenqo

Or the SEAT Roqiz (with the exclusive "Mountain Way" pack which is hard wired to play only Joe Walsh tunes through the stereo in Spanish)

Arona just follows SEAT's naming of vehicles after places in Spain, surely? It's in Tenerife. (Ateca is near Zaragoza)

[sleepezy]

unsprung said:

Sheepshanks said:

There's Atlas in the US.

here ya go:

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/2018-volkswagen-atlas...

Just come back from Canada where I drove one for 1k miles over a couple of weeks with 2 adults and 3 teenagers (plus luggage).

Brilliant thing but much more suited to the US and Canadian road networks than ours. Really liked it.

[SidewaysSi]

Don't know why VW don't use "Stop the Rock" as the theme tune for the T-Roc or Amarok.

[FamousPheasant]

Another fad, like boot cut jeans or coloured bathrooms, cars like this will very soon look ridiculous.

But, hey ho, if that's what you want fire on.

[RobDickinson]

Ford have already abandoned the car market in the USA (with the exception of the mustang)

[Evolved]

Plate spinner said:

unpc said:

Cloudy147 said:

Interesting article on the new T Roc Cabrio (looks just like an Evoque )

Thoughts?

Err yeah. It looks absolutely nothing like an Evoque.

Change the lights / grille and it really does.

Change the lights/grille/body panels and it may do, nothing like at the mo

There is no way VW will become solely an SUV brand. They have the Golf, that’ll always do the numbers for them.

[schmalex]

I will probably get a Touareg when I sell my 535i.

[67Dino]

Haltamer said:

If only they'd make a lower, lighter, smaller, shorter, faster, better handling SUV

Think you’re onto something there, Haltamer. If they could also ditch the 4 wheel drive, remove the bulky plastic trim, and streamline the front, you’d have something much more Compact, Agile and Rapid. They could call it a... C.A.R.

[DoubleD]

67Dino said:

Haltamer said:

If only they'd make a lower, lighter, smaller, shorter, faster, better handling SUV

Think you’re onto something there, Haltamer. If they could also ditch the 4 wheel drive, remove the bulky plastic trim, and streamline the front, you’d have something much more Compact, Agile and Rapid. They could call it a... C.A.R.

Yep good idea. They could also make a taller hatchback for folks who like taller vehicles? They might not handle so well, but the owners might enjoy the benefits that the taller vehicle does give them?

Lower cars for me though, but choice is such a wonderful thing dont you think.

[DonkeyApple]

kambites said:

Yes I understand that it's consumer driven - people want something which looks like an SUV but actually has all the other characteristics of a conventional car. It's perfect for the manufacturers really because it solves the struggle they've had to make vaguely cohesive styling from ever-rising shoulder-lines for safety reasons; they can make a feature of it instead.

Hatchbacks have been getting taller and more upright for years so I don't think the modern tendency to call them "crossovers" is anything more than a trendy new name for a trend which was already well established. This car doesn't really "cross over" anything; it's a Golf or at least the natural evolution of one.

Edited by kambites on Friday 16th August 20:20

I’d say that’s really the nub of it. Just like the hatchback dominated because it was more practical as a general runabout so the ‘crossover’ has morphed out of that as it is more practical again.

The core reality is that just as adding a hatch to the back of the family car made it more practical and usable, so has adding height in the body.

The real difference between the evolution of the hatchback v the crossover is just that the former was seen as good by those who suffer from ism’s but because a crossover is tall like an expensive SUV the crossover suffers from the fact that it tends to trigger sufferers of ism’s. The primary ism being the one where sufferers can not comprehend how another human that they deem inferior to them through sex, colour, class, education etc could not just have more money than them but visually display it by driving a taller car. Because ism’s aren’t allowed anymore as it’s not the 70s, society has evolved its language to use various codes, like the Cockneys did, such as claiming that mpg is cripplingly important or that a marginally higher centre of gravity is totally devastating.

The benefit for VW in the evolution of the hatchback and estate car into the taller crossover is that they are having to go EV quicker than the market wants or consumer demands and it makes the packaging easier.

The 30+ year evolution of ever larger and heavier cars is only going to stop if weight becomes a primary taxation point. The weight gain has been accelerated in recent years as the quick solution to meeting lower emission targets has been to add weight and this is only going to continue as more ICE pack in hybrid tech to fudge taxation or enormous battery packs to try and fudge the inconvenience of pure EVs.

From a personal perspective, I find all these modern utility transport boxes remarkably uniform and uninspiring and can’t help thinking that ditching taxation on emissions and taxing on weight would be the best thing to happen to the automotive industry as it would inspire wholesale rethinking and evolution and throw open some interesting, innovative and clever avenues.

Edited by DonkeyApple on Saturday 17th August 08:56

[ThunderSpook]

Threads like this worry me, the show just how car-ist some people on PH can be. ‘If you don’t like the same type of car I like then you’re wrong.’

[anonymous-user]

re the pic in the OPs post - is it just me or does that just look like a normal VW with taller springs fitted?

I can see zero signs at all there of "S"ports or "U"tility, it's just a "V"ehicle. Utterly pointless and rather tragic in every way (IMO of course, I expect they won't be able to make PCP-white ones fast enough, coming in vast numbers to a new-build housing estate near year when the reg changes etc etc ...)

[untakenname]

I assume 20 SUV's means 7 for VW, 6 for Seat and 7 for Audi?

The Mercedes G Wagon is the only SUV I'd consider, what surprises me every time I get in a modern SUV is how cramped it is inside and the fact the boot space isn't all that great.
I don't go off road much and judging by how many faux suv's were stranded last year with the great storm in the S/E they don't seem that great for inclement conditions.

cherryowen said:

With all these "niche" SUV's / Crossovers, is that why manufacturers are creating increasingly odd names for them?

T-Roc
Kodiaq
Qashqai
Arona
Tiguan
Kadjar

As they produce more and more of these vehicles, they can just add and subtract random letters from the alphabet to create a model name!

How about the Audi Glenqo

Or the SEAT Roqiz (with the exclusive "Mountain Way" pack which is hard wired to play only Joe Walsh tunes through the stereo in Spanish)

They like naming them after remote tribes or places so the owners can tell you all about it (yet pronounce the name incorrectly).

[RDMcG]

The never-ending conversation.

If there is a demand it will be filled. In the US demand for conventional cars is nearly zero.

SUVs are easy to get into, easy to pile kids and the dog, and people can see further. They are not bought for off-roading Even proper off-roaders like Jeep Wranglers are frequently just used on the road.

Although I have some fast cars, my old Cayenne is an essential vehicle. 12 years old and equipped for towing .has transported many Great Danes in its life and is also a default choice for older passengers. Many people find conventional cars too low. I recently helped a man of 90 into my Panamera but it was so much easier to have him travel in my battered old Cayenne.

I do not find SUV drivers especially different to others except in one period -first snowstorm. Sometimes people do not put on snow tires and also forget the laws of physics and fail to allow proper braking distances.

I still enjoy driving a conventional old manual but would not be without an SUV.

[DonkeyApple]

They aren’t different. It’s the perception of others around that changes depending on what car you are driving. This has always been the case. A group of people genuinely have a big issue with taller vehicles unless they are vans, where they still feel superior to the occupant. Vans are ok because the people who drive them clearly are lower in the pecking order. Except T5s of course where the driver isn’t necessarily lower in the mind of the angry man.

[spookly]

People should just buy what they want.
But.... claiming modern SUVs and CUVs are more practical is rubbish. Very few have any more load space or passenger space than their hatchback/estate equivalents, and quite a few have less space.

[cmvtec]

My kingdom for a good looking saloon car.