Why do people want SUVs rather than estate cars?

[f1eng]

I know I am not a typical car person but whilst accepting the reality of the popularity of SUVs I am completely baffled by the total lack of a rational reason for it.

The only objective comparison I have experience of was a colleague, also a racing car designer, who had a BMW company car.
He is a keen off-road cyclist and went out every lunch time for a quick thrash along the Ridgeway.

Anyway he had had a 5-series estate which suited his life style well for a long time but got persuaded by the BMW marketing people to get a X5 next - the cars were sold on as ex-demonstrators at 3-6 months old and the X5 was more fashionable hence easier to sell on.

Anyway he described it as an inverse-Tardis - for Dr Who fans to understand.

The X5 needed the front wheel removing to fit his ’bike whereas the 5-series estate did not.

The X5 was noisier, slower, handled less well, used more fuel, had a higher load floor to lift into and a less usable shape to the load volume.

He didn’t find the higher viewing angle - its only point of superiority - to be worth it being so comprehensively worse in every other way. He went back to a 5-series estate at the next change of course.

The differences he found are all to be expected technically, except perhaps the lack of utility for him of the load space shape.

SUVs are heavier, less aerodynamic and have a higher centre of gravity so will always be worse in dynamics and efficiency.

Is it just fashion and/or trendy styling or are people just ill informed about the shortcomings?

A shame, and a bit silly/pitiful if it is just image…

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[kempez]

We chose an XC90 T8 as it was an available hybrid, had huge load space, which we use constantly and has 7 seats, which we’ve used a surprising amount. This was the selling point for us in the end

For my wife I think there was a little bit of image in there too, but I’d have happily gone for an estate.

It’s also worth noting that I don’t think people care as much as we do about how the car drives. For my wife it drives brilliantly and I’ll be honest: it drives better than the company Passat estate she had before.

That said: for the majority of use cases I think they don’t work. Especially the smaller cross-overs. The problem we have now is that there’s getting little choice. Who would have thought Volvo would scrap estate cars? ??

 

[f1eng]

Who would have thought Volvo would scrap estate cars? ??

For me that was the information which convinced me it was probably an image thing.

It isn’t just estate cars though, normal cars are being superceded by technically inferior small SUVs and crossovers because of customer demand.

 

[kempez]

For me that was the information which convinced me it was probably an image thing.

It isn’t just estate cars though, normal cars are being superceded by technically inferior small SUVs and crossovers because of customer demand.

Technically inferior and in many cases: far uglier

 

[Hanny]

…this thread is going to challenge many on truths?….as I’m a current SUV operator I feel compelled to provide my reasoning as to why I’m driving a T-T-Tesla model X….?

1. 2020, (time of purchase), model X was only large size EV with a large space between second row (6 seater)
2. 65kg Rottweiler could sit on the floor without infringing on my 2 teenage boys space on long journeys
3. High seating position is good whilst allowing easy entry/exit (am sure that I will have to compromise on the Taycan!)
4. Good for camping trips even though the stupid gull wing doors prevented use of a roof box ?
5. I like the vertical/volume of space, even more so with mum, dad, x2 teenage boys, their girlfriends and the dog

Bonus, model X is so ugly that it detracts from my imperfections I was born with ? and thus diverts unwanted attention ?

In all seriousness, I think there is a big UK thought process that ‘big is better‘ and gives an impression of being safer/bigger than others…….I could be talking out of my backside but there seems to a very materialistic affair going on with the abundance of ‘Chelsea Tractors‘ to coin a phrase/categorisation. Perhaps it all stems from rich horse owners/farmers being seen in 4x4s and others thinking the urge to replicate for image purposes only……..

 

[f1eng]

1. 2020, (time of purchase), model X was only large size EV with a large space between second row (6 seater)

I understand if you need a crew bus sized vehicle for the family neither a car nor estate is an ideal solution.
We have 4 children and I had a Mercedes 300TE with rearward seats in the back for short family trips and my wife had first a Toyota Space Cruiser - really a Hi-Ace van with windows and seats, which had the advantage of still having luggage space when all seats are in use because it is a “forward control” as was the original Toyota Previa we had next.
I tried a Renault Espace but it was like all of them now, shared platform with a car. so the front seats were far back and it was either 3rd row of seats or luggage, not both.

The Previa was a special design and very expensive to make so the second and subsequent variations had the same luggage or extra passengers problem as all the others

 

[XLR82XS]

I don't want one. I LOVE estates/wagons!

 

[Quick]

I have a 23 BMW X5M that serves as my ICE vehicle. A few reasons for this, but I can ultimately distill it down to 2.

1. Unlike your colleague, the shape for cargo fits my needs better. I need enclosed climate controlled space for putting bulky items which exceed the rear trunk height in an M5 (my previous car). Obviously this applies to the sedan version, not an estate.
2. I wanted something that was on-par with the performance of my M5, but in estate trim. Unfortunately the M5 Estate is not brought to the US.

So, X5M is the only option for me.

 

[jonjon808]

Anyway he described it as an inverse-Tardis - for Dr Who fans to understand.

That's funny, as I used the exact same phrase to describe my X5. I also had a Mercedes 320te (sportline too ) and a C7 RS6 and both were soooo much more practical for load space than the X5 for general family use..

I guess the cabin felt a little more 'boxy' for the rear passengers, and maybe therefore more spacious for them, and having gone straight from the X5 to the Taycan, you do have more advanced sighting of traffic on motorways, but I am much happier to be back in an estate.

Part of my outward rationale for the Taycan to others, is that it has almost the same boot space (front and rear) as the X5 45e, and that should tell you something about the lack of real world practicality of the SUV, for me at least.

 

[WuffvonTrips]

My previous car was a Cayenne, my first and only SUV. I ordered it right after open-heart surgery- I wanted the comfort, convenience and psychological security of the higher and more upright driving position (as it turned out, Porsche took more than a year to deliver, by which time those attributes were no longer a priority for me, though I still enjoyed the novelty of imagining I was white van man).
Sadly, in some cases, the psychological appeal of the SUV in the car world is probably similar to that of the XL Bully in the dog world.
Bonus question- why do city-dwellers want pickups?

 

[Jonathan S.]

Although I personally dislike SUVs, I do acknowledge the following reasons:

1. Obesity, fortunately not me, or my immediate family, but two friends and also my wife’s brother really need the extra room.
2. Stature, not me, or my immediately family, but our daughter has a friend whose father is a massive Swedish expat, and he really needs that equally massive VW Atlas. (I still remember the look on a volunteer’s face when this guy walked up to a fall festival axe throwing demonstration. Almost all the participants couldn’t get anywhere near the target. The Swede, by contrast, overshot the target and sent the axe flying in the woods, which fortunately were empty.)
3. Dogs, not into that either, but owners of big dogs claim that reason.
4. Groceries, somehow I manage with my little CT, but the only place I ever see a Porsche around here (other than alumni events for my alma mater) is when my wife sends me to Whole Foods where I’m always assured at least one Macan.
5. Stratton, a ski resort in southern VT, which has good skiing for about another month in the spring after the lifts close, where I specified to a friend that we get to park for free now in the parking garage, specifically the *UPPER* deck, to which he replied, “Is that where during the winter you can park only if you have a Porsche SUV?” and then sure enough he took a picture the next week parked next to a Macan.
6. Disturbing the peace of the quaint town center of an idyllic New England college town today by driving a Lambo SUV with exhaust notes that sound like distant artillery fire to pull up to a smoke shop in an alley.

 

[Murph7355]

Depends on the SUV. Some are trinkets - the "coupe" SUVs I really don't get, but each to their own.

• We needed 7 seats (4 of us, plus friends/grandparents regularly). This rules out pretty much all normal cars/estate cars.
• Needed light off road duty. We live in the countryside. Winters can be bad
• My OH prefers the high driving position/view (living in the countryside, this is doubly useful)
• The XC90 is cavernous. Takes 7 and enough beach chattels for the day...it also, better than pretty much anything (including a Discovery and about par with a Q7) took prams very easily with all 7 seats up
• It's simply a very nice, airy and incredibly safe feeling place to be

They serve a purpose. Which is exactly what transport should do

Speaking of reverse tardis on a Taycan forum.... ?

 

[Vercingetorix]

Napoleon complex.

 

[Zcd1]

It's telling that so many "automotive enthusiasts" can't see beyond the end of their noses to understand the appeal of an SUV over a wagon/estate.

The buyers have spoken with their wallets, and by and large they prefer SUVs to wagons/estates.

The general public values practicality and convenience over most other vehicular attributes, and SUVs deliver that in spades.

Automotive enthusiasts and publications hilariously continue to lament that THEIR values aren't the values people spend money on. They don't understand that THEIR values aren't important to most buyers.

I especially enjoy it (in a perverse sense) when an auto journo lambastes an SUV for not handling/cornering as well as a wagon/estate. In 99% of drivers' everyday driving, that simply doesn't matter....

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