Prior Convictions: Life after the SUV
Don't assume that every manufacturer is placing all their eggs in the same basket...
Forgive me if I bring up two brands that - one or two feature models aside - don't usually make large blobs on the PH radar: Peugeot and Kia.
These days they're two ostensibly similar car companies, in that they sell cars in the mainstream, to people in the mainstream, and that they're both working on being perceived as a bit more exciting than that. It's a place they've come to from rather different ends.
Back in the day, when a five-model line up of saloons and hatchbacks and the odd coupe or convertible was the norm, a Peugeot, even a cooking version, was really entertaining to drive. It was desirable.
But Peugeot left that situation behind as it pursued fleet sales in shrinking market segments, and that's why an old 508 is worth less than 30% of its new value after about three years.
So trying to make you want one is a place Peugeot would like to find itself again, hence the introduction of SUVs and the promise, with the new 508, that not only is it good to drive, but that it won't be flogged out at massive discounts to lease companies. We'll see. But that's not why I mention it.
Kia, meanwhile, would like to get to the 'desirable' place for the first time. You'll remember used to be a budget brand: retail buyers, buying cheap, and getting a pretty dull shed with a long warranty. Well. Not only that any more. It has put the hard yards in making cars that are agreeable to drive, making really good decisions, and with cars like the Stinger, and the i30N from its sister company, Hyundai, it is continuing its upwards shift.
But here's why I mention the two companies together. Kia is going to continue to make crossovers, obviously, because it'd be daft not to. But it is also potentially eyeing up a really sleek wagon, alongside a more conventional, blockier estate car. It's a coupe-slash-fastback-slash-shooting-brake (or break, whatevs) or whatever you want to call it, and the concept, at least, looks very cool.
Kia is being quite discreet about it, but I'd like to think that they might actually build it. They sense a time, and it's likely one when emissions regulations get really tough to hit, when an SUV just has too much frontal area to easily hit stringent targets.
Peugeot hasn't quite got the product to show yet, but it certainly has the intent: it wants a sleek-backed variant of the 508, for example. "In the coming five years you'll see business fleets who have ten SUVs available," said Peugeot CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato this week, who perceives that, at such a time, the idea of picking a really classy fastback estate car will be quite the fashionable alternative. "We are trying to invent the after-SUV," he said. He knows it won't be today, or tomorrow, but "maybe five years' time".
Which matters why? It matters because compact SUVs and crossovers are generally grim, and because sleek estates look great, have a lower mass, lower centre of gravity, can have more power for the same emissions and is, therefore, generally more fun to drive. Praise be. That's why Kia and Peugeot aren't the only ones looking forward to a post-SUV time.
Tiguan's / Skoda Yeti's mostly then the well heeled rock up in Disco's, Evoque, RR Sport or the odd X5, Q5, Macan or Cayenne.
The imperious driving position and the illusion of extra solidity and safety is obviously what sells these vehicles as driving dynamics and economy clearly aren't there strength.
I have a young family and had to get a practical Dad motor , sleeker, faster better looking german estate was the only option for me, An SUV is motoring death IMO.
The marketing is strong for the SUV sector and estates are out of fashion, which hopefully means the used estate market should have decent pickings when I come to replace the current wagon so there is an upside!
When the choice is dull anyway you may as well go with the crossover/SUV.
Fair play to the likes of Kia though. Having spent some time in North America over the last few years, they appear to be doing really well over there. You see them everywhere. They're certainly doing something right.
Fair play to the likes of Kia though. Having spent some time in North America over the last few years, they appear to be doing really well over there. You see them everywhere. They're certainly doing something right.
I suspect we will see SUVs here grown bigger over time. The yanks have an entire class that sits above the likes of Q7/X5/RR in terms of size.
Do they still sell 'estate cars' in the US?
Re the efficiency angle this is interesting and I think may actually favour the SUV do to additional packaging options. Look at Tesla for example.
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/peugeo...
The latest Peugeot Sport 208 and 308 GTIs are close to class leading. This site even rates the PS 208GTI as its favourite hot hatch.
The current gen 5008 was voted number 1 in the Auto express Drivers survey poll this year. Its smaller 2008 model was the only car in the survey without a single reported fault.
I agree that for years they WERE mediocre, but I am not sure that's the case any more.
When the choice is dull anyway you may as well go with the crossover/SUV.
Shopping around means you can also get more kit and the manufacturer will wear the depreciation for you. Our 2017 Touareg is fully loaded and costs 170 quid a month less than the F31 330 I had before (I suppose the deals would be better on the F series now than when I got it). Yep, its wider than a oil tanker, and thirsty as - but they do make ideal family wagons.
The problem we have is what to replace it with. I'd look at another estate; but the RS6 / E63 leave me a bit cold and its totally pointless in London (and its still a tarty rep-mobile). The only viable options are another SUV or if I can push budget perhaps a Panamera Sport Tourismo.
Ok if you live in London where it's rammed day and night and you're never getting out of a traffic jam or manage to take a corner faster than 15mph due it may be different. Even then though, on the motorway the sliproads are fun on something that handles and there is entertainment to be had by full bore acceleration from restrictions. Encouraged at times by giggles and "again" from the back...
It's all what you make of it and if you don't care about that aspect of driving you're right, there is no point care about driving dynamics and may as well get an SUV. If you want to take a corner with any kind of pace or even a take a tight urban roundabout at quick (but still legal) pace then just no.
I'm glad the likes of KIA and PSA are making interesting cars, and are providing more mainstream alternatives to a german whip.
when someone claims practicality as a reason. Surely an MPV offers more space and easier access?Had to laugh when a woman at work bought a Qashqai, one of the reasons being "it'll be useful if it snows"...
Oh, not *that* kind of useful.
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