SUVs are useless for carrying stuff

[Pale Rider]

SUVs really are a dead loss for anyone needing to carry lots of luggage - unless you buy one the size of a small house.

There's plenty of evidence to support this statement.

The pro peloton teams all use estate cars because they have a genuine need to carry lots of bikes and rider support equipment.

The coppers are another example.

Most traffic cars and armed response vehicles are estates for the same reasons.

A poster in a Brompton thread said the folded bike took up 'a lot of room' in his Audi Q5.

That's daft, my Brommie would easily fit in my Focus hatchback with plenty of room left over for bags of shopping.

SUVs do have a bit more ground clearance - handy to avoid grounding getting on and off ferries during that Scottish SUV 'adventure' which, in reality, is driving from one tea shop to another.

A far better solution is one of the few high ground clearance estates, such as the Volvo XC.

Experience suggests this type of estate car does not sell well.

Merc made a couple, but withdrew them from the UK market due to poor sales, to be replaced by any number of SUVs.

The Audi Allroad has been in and out of the catalogue.

Thus we tend to get the cars we want, even if those cars make no logical sense.

My conclusion is SUVs are a triumph of style over substance, and a victory for the car makers' marketing departments.

 

[Gunk]

I’ve always had a regular estate car, mainly BMW’s - their ability to swallow a big load is so useful.

 

[nickyboy]

In my SUV this week...3 bikes. Just chuck them in the back with the seats folded down, no problem

Recently in my SUV...3 adults, a large bike box, three large suitcases, three pieces of hand luggage, no problem

 

[Drago]

Yes, I greatly mourn the near demise of the small estate car. I bought the 2008 not because I particularly find small SUVs sexy, but because its one of the closest things to a small estate that anyone sells. So etching akin to the olde 206 SW would have been right up my street.

 

[markemark]

I find them better to carry people. They're higher than other cars so manage to give more space and leg room. My kids are tall. The equivalaent saloon was neary1m longer to give them the same space in the back. SUVs can give similar internal space with smaller footprint.

 

[Dadam]

I like an estate car, had a 13 plate Focus Estate which was really nice car but most of all I like my 3 series GT. Its boot is HUGE, way bigger than the 3 Touring and has massive rear leg room. The sloping coupe hatch is lower at the back than an estate so clearly not as good for carrying wardrobes about but for 99% of load lugging I've done, boot floor area is way more important than height.

 

[Pale Rider]

SUVs can give similar internal space with smaller footprint.

The few SUVs I've been in have struck me as cramped for the size of vehicle.

Reminds me of a Hummer, huge outside but less room inside than a supermini.

 

[markemark]

The few SUVs I've been in have struck me as cramped for the size of vehicle.

Reminds me of a Hummer, huge outside but less room inside than a supermini.

We tested a lot of cars and on the whole SUVs offered much better internal space, particularly rear seat, for the foot print size. Not always the best boot space compared to an estate. But as 99% of our driving is accommodating people, not large loads, it gives us the best space.

 

[biggs682]

Bring back the old Citroen cx estate or Peugeot 504 estate

 

[T4tomo]

I’ve always had a regular estate car, mainly BMW’s - their ability to swallow a big load is so useful.

although there sloping backs aren't the most efficient for load carrying - equivalent Volvo, when Volvos were "squared off" carried about 50% more!

 

[icowden]

SUVs really are a dead loss for anyone needing to carry lots of luggage - unless you buy one the size of a small house.

Bit of a sweeping statement?

The VW ID4 is an SUV and is not huge in footprint. It has enough boot space to fit 4 suitcases and other accoutrements. The pop out tow bar hitch can be used for a bike rack or a trailer. It can also take a roof box. The interior is reasonably spacious and there are some useful places you can put some additional small bags.

 

[Pale Rider]

Bit of a sweeping statement?

Absolutely.

As Oscar Wilde didn't say: "A statement is not much use unless it's sweeping."

 

[Jody]

A Fiat Panda cross classes as an SUV and so does a Range Rover.

There is a gulf between the two in terms of size, use and practicality depending on what you want out of it.

 

[Hacienda71]

We go camping with three other families, I have a Passat estate, one guy has a Skoda Superb, one an Xtrail the other a Volvo XC60. The boot capacity and space in the two VAG estates put the SUV's to shame. We were quietly smug. 🙂

 

[Drago]

An ID4 is an SUV in name only, doubtless to make it appeal to gullible fashionistas as Paley suggests. "Rather blobby and tall hatch with no real extra ground clearance, off road ability or lifestyle load capacity" only fails to trip off the tongue because marketing types find the truth an inconvenience.

That most cars sold as SUVs are no such thing seems to make the loss or the small estate efen harder to swallow.