"Its Road-dominating Dimensions...."

"Its Road-dominating Dimensions...."

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MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Thursday 20th September 2018
quotequote all
"The new Audi Q8 with its road-dominating Dimensions...."

I heard this on the radio earlier. What a ridiculous selling point.

Does it also have armoir plating, a. 50 calibre machine gun mounted to the front and a chaff dispenser on the back?

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
hyphen said:
MC Bodge said:
"The new Audi Q8 with its road-dominating Dimensions...."

I heard this on the radio earlier. What a ridiculous selling point.

Does it also have armoir plating, a. 50 calibre machine gun mounted to the front and a chaff dispenser on the back?
Was that an actual Audi ad?? Sounds a strange PR decision.
It was on Absolute Radio

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
It is not really about how big it is. It is about the decision to market it as something that can be used to get an advantage over others and bully your way around the public roads.

It is not police or military hardware, nor is it a delivery lorry. It is a personal/family transport vehicle.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
Ares said:
loose cannon said:
I don’t remember seeing ques of artics outside the local school or to get in to the local shops
They tend to only gather on motorways and lorry parks so your statement is a bit pointless
No
Really? Loads in towns, cities, by shops, down residential streets, on A & B roads.....
Lorries delivering to shops in town centres and suburbia, parking where there is no dedicated loading bay cause chaos. Bin lorries block roads.

There is a need for bin lorries and HGVs.

If everybody turned up at the school to drop their children off or tried to park in the Waitrose Black Land Rover SUV park in HGVs, it could be a little awkward.



This is silly, though, and is not the real issue.

Very big cars marketed as "road-dominating" is a strange, but possibly honest, way to sell them to people. It's not far from, "F**k You, poor person"



Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 21st September 11:19

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
David87 said:
I suspect the UK wasn't the Q8's target market. It'll be bought my many folks in America, where it's not really all that large. You will not be 'dominating' a Chevy Suburban in your fancy European car: hehe
No, but they are marketing it as such in the UK, on national radio.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
Ares said:
MC Bodge said:
Lorries delivering to shops in town centres and suburbia, parking where there is no dedicated loading bay cause chaos. Bin lorries block roads.

There is a need for bin lorries and HGVs.

If everybody turned up at the school to drop their children off or tried to park in the Waitrose Black Land Rover SUV park in HGVs, it could be a little awkward.



This is silly, though, and is not the real issue.

Very big cars marketed as "road-dominating" is a strange, but possibly honest, way to sell them to people. It's not far from, "F**k You, poor person"



Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 21st September 11:19
The irony that that particular Waitrose (my local, Alderley Edge) DOES have a very large loading bay....that you access through the car park wink

The double irony is that at my daughters school, black SUVs are the most common....and given the speed bumps and state of the road near the school, they are probably best fit for purpose!!
There's nothing ironic about any of those things.

I know that black SUVs are common in that area of Cheshire. That's why I wrote it.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
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Thankyou4calling said:
Why the focus on the size of the car.

It’s smaller than a Range Rover.
The marketing people want people to think that it might be suitable for forcing one's way down a road.

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 21st September 17:39

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
J4CKO said:
I just went to Sainsburys in Wilmslow and took the C1 as thats the best tool for that particular job, need a car to carry a weeks shopping so cant walk or cycle so I go in that, one series isnt massive by any stretch but it is compared to the C1.

But a C1 doesnt convey any status and I think that is quite important in our society, I am not immune but threading a Range Rover through those car parks doesnt look like fun,
I'm of a similar view. We use our Fiesta unless we need the space of the (fairly big) Mondeo estate or travel long distances, although we do sometimes still use the Fiesta.

The Fiesta is much easier to find a parking space for, as well as not having a diesel engine.

Neither of these cars project any sort of "image". Maybe people we drive past think that we are poor? As I don't know them I don't care. People who do know us know who we are and what sort of jobs we have, house we live in etc., although money and wealth isn't often a topic of conversation.

Having an SUV with "road-dominating dimensions" probably wouldn't impress them. They'd probably just take the mick.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
Andeh13 said:
I actually quite like the look of that, bet its sublime on long journeys. :yum
In a way that other cars are not?

Driving along in a modern, even non-prestige(!) family car isn't exactly a tiring, hardship of an experience. Even right across Europe.


MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
Ares said:
True. But this (and the Range Rover et al) will just be better.
Good enough is, well, good enough. Even if it doesn't dominate the road or the stairs.

How many owners will drive 1000 miles across Europe anyway? Driving to school isn't quite as arduous.

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 21st September 19:02

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
quotequote all
Andy665 said:
Think most of the posts on here have missed the point entirely of the OP

The actual dimensions of the Q8 on its own or compared to other vehicles is irrelevant - its about the fact that Audi are using its dimensions as the lead in their radio advertising

Personally I think its pretty pathetic that the best thing they can come up with are its "Road dominating dimensions". Manufacturers were banned from headlining with acceleration or top speed because it would encourage speeding then surely advertising "Road dominating dimensions" should be seen as encouraging aggressive driving
Indeed. As the OP, I did try to emphasise this a couple of times.

I drive a Mondeo estate, which is not that much narrower -and less easy in town than our old Fiesta.

It's not about the actual size.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
quotequote all
Ares said:
MC Bodge said:
Ares said:
True. But this (and the Range Rover et al) will just be better.
Good enough is, well, good enough. Even if it doesn't dominate the road or the stairs.

How many owners will drive 1000 miles across Europe anyway? Driving to school isn't quite as arduous.

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 21st September 19:02
People with this budget don't want 'good enough' - and comfort doesn't need 1000 miles to show.
Are you a "community leader/spokesman" for the Cheshire Set?

I think we all know that even a plutocrat would be comfortable driving/being driven about in a Skoda Superb.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
quotequote all
Ares said:
MC Bodge said:
Ares said:
MC Bodge said:
Ares said:
True. But this (and the Range Rover et al) will just be better.
Good enough is, well, good enough. Even if it doesn't dominate the road or the stairs.

How many owners will drive 1000 miles across Europe anyway? Driving to school isn't quite as arduous.

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 21st September 19:02
People with this budget don't want 'good enough' - and comfort doesn't need 1000 miles to show.
Are you a "community leader/spokesman" for the Cheshire Set?

I think we all know that even a plutocrat would be comfortable driving/being driven about in a Skoda Superb.
You are missing the point by a space that would dwarf even the biggest SUV wink
Are you telling me that they just don't want a Skoda Superb?

As spokesman, what is your membership's official view on this?

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
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TooMany2cvs said:
If it's good enough for the president of a country...
As Ares quite rightly points out, on behalf of the wealthy, they need the absolutely most potentially comfortable vehicle available. Have you never heard the story of "The Princess and the Pea"?

It has nothing to do with anything else. At all.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
quotequote all
Brooking10 said:
MC Bodge said:
As Ares quite rightly points out, on behalf of the wealthy, they need the absolutely most potentially comfortable vehicle available. Have you never heard the story of "The Princess and the Pea"?

It has nothing to do with anything else. At all.
I’m not sure that what he said is it ?

What do you drive out of interest ?

Always intrigues me how those who make some of the most sweeping statements about others’ choice of vehicle quite frequently don’t share any details of their own,
You are taking this very personally.

PH's Alderley Edge correspondent had said that the people he represents require much comfort, not the kind provided by a normal, cheaper car, even if they are not doing long drives to school or Waitrose.

I am the OP. I was surprised by the not so subtle message in the radio advert.

I have no particular issue with big SUVs from a width/length or social point of view, although I wouldn't buy one for urban family duties. I drive a battered Mondeo estate which has a similar footprint and an old Fiesta, which I had said earlier is more pleasant to drive around town in due to its small size.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
quotequote all
Brooking10 said:
I don’t know you from a hole in the ground so it’s hard to take anything you say personally.

Just slightly baffled by your stance as regards “Cheshire set” etc.

It belies your claim of not taking a socially biased slant.

By the way I think the advert is utterly ludicrous too.
I don't have a stance on the Cheshire Set wink

Mr Ares often reminds us that he lives in Alderley Edge and does put forward the position of the other people there on supercars, SUVs, houses etc. I don't know what his position in the community actually is.

We agree on the advert. Excellent!

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
quotequote all
Kenny Powers said:
My goodness. Now we’ve moved from telling people what to drive, to telling them where to live laugh
?

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Monday 24th September 2018
quotequote all
Shakermaker said:
That's the reason I bought a Superb, because the President of the Czech Rep has one too..

Also because it is very comfortable, and capable at swallowing lots of stuff in the boot.
This cannot be true.

Only a big SUV can be comfortable and have big boot space.

Although it is never a consideration, what do people think about your lack of status as you drive past?

How are you to dominate the road such a car?

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Monday 24th September 2018
quotequote all
Brooking10 said:
Where does the status thing come from ?

How does the average SUV, which in terms of new car sales is rapidly becoming simply the average car, convey any sense of status ?

At the other end of the scale if we compare so called premium brands how does an expensive SUV convey any more status than a comparably expensive saloon car, estate or sports car ?

You are significantly eroding any credibility your earlier statement about your lack of love for SUVs not having a social element to it might have had.
Er, I'm joking.

MC Bodge

Original Poster:

21,661 posts

176 months

Monday 24th September 2018
quotequote all
Shakermaker said:
I avoid worrying about the status by ducking down and hiding behind the steering wheel whenever I see another car or pedestrian, that way nobody knows I am driving a Skoda.

But also, dominating the road is about attitude, not size. And for this the Superb is fine - get close enough behind someone else and whack the full beams on, they won't see the Skoda badge until it is too late and you've already flipped the bird at them as you drive past!
Superb, as one might say.