Show Us Your Motors!

Man of Honour
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13 Oct 2006
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They may look nice, but it still doesn't mean they're the future. They're less efficient than their estate cousins and don't necessarily have more space in them.

They certainly aren't an evolution, more of a devolution.

True - but at the moment SUVs and pickups are on the rise and estates less popular than before. Can't say I'm sorry though as I much prefer a higher up driving position.
 
Soldato
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I’m not old.

Estate cars are annoyingly long anyway.
A Superb estate is 10cm longer than a 110 Defender (new one) if you don't include the wheel on the back, with the wheel the defender is longer.

Not sure your point is entirely valid, they just look longer as they're lower.

A velar is about the same length as the superb too and I'dh said (without extensive experience) that the superb has more space than a velar
 
Soldato
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A Superb estate is 10cm longer than a 110 Defender (new one) if you don't include the wheel on the back, with the wheel the defender is longer.

Not sure your point is entirely valid, they just look longer as they're lower.

A velar is about the same length as the superb too and I'dh said (without extensive experience) that the superb has more space than a velar

Sorry I wasn’t looking for a discussion on it. Defender isn’t really an SUV anyway.

Don’t confuse engine orientation and its effect on the front wheel centre to accelerator distance as you jump between segments, nor ignore 60mm between cars as “about the same”

Discovery Sport case in point, huge benefit from posture to the knee and effective legroom for the same length car; when both are transverse engines.
 
Caporegime
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Sorry I wasn’t looking for a discussion on it. Defender isn’t really an SUV anyway.

Don’t confuse engine orientation and its effect on the front wheel centre to accelerator distance as you jump between segments, nor ignore 60mm between cars as “about the same”

Discovery Sport case in point, huge benefit from posture to the knee and effective legroom for the same length car; when both are transverse engines.

Where do crossovers sit in that? As far as I can tell they have the negatives of the seating positions of a hatchback but with the negatives to handling, performance and economy of a suv?
 

Ev0

Ev0

Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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SUV's should be bought by old people with back issues who cant get into an estate car, and nobody else. :D

Apart from the old bit, exactly why my wife bought a T-Roc to replace her Mini.

She’d originally wanted a Golf but with back issues plus a baby the extra height the T-Roc gives is ideal for her all round.

Having had a Golf R myself before she got the T-Roc R I can compare how they drive, and it’s unsurprisingly not that different just with a little more roll/feeling of weight over the Golf.

Compared to the RS3 it feels like a skyscraper getting into it!
 
Soldato
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Where do crossovers sit in that? As far as I can tell they have the negatives of the seating positions of a hatchback but with the negatives to handling, performance and economy of a suv?

As the name suggests they are kind of a halfway house. Hip point maybe you 40mm up from the hatchback/saloon which tends to more the driver forward aswell benefiting footspace and knee room for the passenger behind. Something like an 5series to x5 would be more like 80mm lift.
 
Caporegime
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Apart from the old bit, exactly why my wife bought a T-Roc to replace her Mini.

She’d originally wanted a Golf but with back issues plus a baby the extra height the T-Roc gives is ideal for her all round.

Having had a Golf R myself before she got the T-Roc R I can compare how they drive, and it’s unsurprisingly not that different just with a little more roll/feeling of weight over the Golf.

Compared to the RS3 it feels like a skyscraper getting into it!

I never understand this baby argument. When I am loading my baby into his isofix in my estate. It is at waste height which is the correct posture to be at when manual handling an object. Also plonking his pram and stuff into the loading bay in the rear is simple and easy as again I am only lifting to waste height. I am also 6ft 3 so it must be a struggle for a shorter person in an SUV as they will always be lifting above waist height when loading.

Likewise with my dog. I have a Collie and she would jump up on the roof if I told her but it surely must be a struggle for other breeds to get in and out of a tailgate on a SUV. No real issue what so ever in an estate.

I also drove a 1800 mile stint in an estate and my back was fresh and fine afterward. No weird problems or medical conditions arose from it either.
 
Caporegime
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As the name suggests they are kind of a halfway house. Hip point maybe you 40mm up from the hatchback/saloon which tends to more the driver forward aswell benefiting footspace and knee room for the passenger behind. Something like an 5series to x5 would be more like 80mm lift.

See, I've tried a few and never really noticed that. I found the juke in particular to be utterly loathsome and far less practical and comfortable than even my mum's Micra! I just cannot see what they offer.
SUVs, yeah as you say the more upright driving position and potentially better access for the infirm. Not always though as my grandparents found them a struggle and were actually far more comfortable in mpvs for example.
 
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