Largely unnecessary: now even the RAC advises against urban SUVs

 

Two cars, one from the mid 1960s, the other from 2021. This is progress. One of them was found to
be capable of containing 27 adult humans, the other is a six-seater with plenty of capacity for a
Waitrose shop.

I swore I'd lay off SUVs for a while but the strangely belated announcement by The Royal Automobile Club chief  that London residents might think again before buying an SUV - was an irresistible cue for a rant.

The RAC's Steve Gooding was commenting on a recent bit of research by the New Weather Institute which found more SUVs were being sold to city-dwellers than to people in country areas where their use might be more justified.

He used the quaint old term "Chelsea tractors" to highlight a finding that SUVs were indeed most popular in the London boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Westminster.

I'm surprised these had not been overtaken by boroughs like Wandsworth, while the truly super-rich were these days more likely to be whisked around London in chauffeur-driven Mercs or Bentleys, or in a sleek Tesla - leaving their huge Range Rovers at one of their country properties.

Nevertheless it's good to hear this bastion of motor car ownership speaking against the bloated behemoths that clog London's narrow streets, even in such meek and mealy-mouthed tones.

Critics pointed out than many SUVs are as or more energy efficient than a lot of saloon cars. It's true that there are huge numbers of mongrel SUVs out there - basically an SUV shape body on the same chassis as a hatchback or saloon car. 

What they fail to address is that the pollution inflicted by the "real" SUVs is not merely atmospheric. Most residential streets in London's zones 2 and 3 are now blighted by the nose-to-tail parking of huge vehicles, mostly black or shades of grey. Many of London's handsome Georgian or Victorian terraces are now scarcely visible behind these walls of static or crawling motorised metal.

Many are wider than the parking bays and their bulging bodies and tyres infringe on road space shared by cars, bikes, delivery vans, refuse trucks, etc...with a resulting increase in road rage. All those "I got here first" scenes; the cursing and swearing, the raised fists and fingers, bulging blood vessels on puce faces.

Oh well, I broke my vow but I feel better now and will shut the duck up.

Read the New Weather Institute report, Mindgames on wheels, here.