Only until next year...
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...e-bow-out-june
Utterly depressing. Why do the motoring majority lap up this mobile living room nonsense? I do get sick of following the fat-a$£&ed things wobbling their way everywhere at 40mph. BMW and Porsche don't seem to have a problem building a variety of vehicles.
"Jaguar's new era begins in 2025 with the introduction of a 600bhp electric four-seat GT car in the vein of the Porsche Taycan, which is thought to be followed a year later by a Bentley Bentayga-style luxury SUV and then a large luxury saloon."
So not all SUVs.
Still depressing though. Every other house has a huge Kia, Hyundai or MG outside. Big, cheap and nasty looking.
Unless the EV market turns around Jaguar won’t be making anything in the future. It was a very bold decision to go full electric when they did.
+1, hell will freeze over before I buy an SUV, ugly things that don't do anything a decent estate car or even a hatchback can do. As a Jaguar owner (XF) I still struggle to associate Jaguar with these boxes on wheels, goes against all my perception of what the brand stood for.
Terrible state of affairs. Car industry is basically a scam.
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Do you mean the Jeremy Clarkson who has a Range Rover because he actually has a farm?
Gavin Green calls SUVs 'weapons'. The French have it right with their malus (on cars with high CO2) and high parking charges for SUVs in Paris. The sooner these overweight lumps are taxed off the road the better.
"A man of little significance"
being 6'5" with a bad back I'll keep buying SUVs; this style is a godsend to me. Also works as being slightly rural with horrible roads where typical runflats are blowing out on a weekly basis.
had a 5 series estate for 3 years and it was horrible for me as it aspired to be a sports tourer kinda thing and simply a PITA to get in and out of with the low raked windscreen. Had a similar issue with a merc saloon.
I have an Skoda SUV for my sins, my first one. i dont really see any benefit over a decent estate, the only reason i went for the Kodiaq was it was considerably cheaper monthly lease that a same spec Octavia or Superb at the time.
The more depressing one for me is Volvo no longer doing estates, that's what they're known for, that is crazy
True, but they look shit, and until I reach the stage where I struggle to get in and out of a normal car I won' t have one . I have a large drive with parking at the front of the bungalow, whilst sat in my lounge I can see the arse end of my car, I prefer to look at a car that pleases me rather than an ugly brick. If I had to own an SUV I' d park it down the drive where I couldn' t see the bloody thing.
Regardless of the badge on the front all SUVs are totally devoid of style and aesthetic appeal, trying to make them look better is like trying to polish a turd.
With advancing years and knees that are feeling the effects of wear and tear, getting out of my Jag XF, involves a degree of pain especially after exercise . The car is surprisingly low for getting in and out, but at least it looks nice and that'll do for me. It'll be a sad day when it has to be replaced, there are very few cars currently being produced that I find appealing.
Funny that those who decry SUVs have never owned a bloody SUV.
Go try getting pegged, you might like that too.
Deleted. Not worth it.
Last edited by gunner; 7th March 2024 at 11:55.
I spent a few days driving a DBX round Scotland and couldn't find a single thing about it that I enjoyed or even liked. It was too big for the roads and while it produced a decent amount of poke it was only good in a straight line. It was a proper mess to try to carry any speed into corners, very much a case of trying to drag 2+tons of weight down to a low enough speed to enter the corner (even with power steering it was not fun wrestling the thing through corners if you tried to carry even a reasonable amount of speed in) and then powering out (where the grip and ooomph were great, its only party trick). There was no skill in driving it, other than keeping it within the lines on the road. It looked rubbish and I felt embarrassed every time I was in it. Had it been a Vantage estate, on the other hand, and weighted a few hundred KG less, it would have been a lot better.
I've also spent some time in a new Range Rover and thought it was as far from what I want in a car as possible. Yes, you are ensconsed in a much more glamourous and technologically advanced interior than most living rooms and it's very comfortable but I don't want to be detached from the road or want to look down on other people. I actually enjoy driving. I've had fun in vans, cheap rental cars, ridiculous supercars and who knows what else. I've never had fun in an SUV*.
*Actually, I have, when I straightlined some corners at the Nurburgring in one. But that's only because it wasn't any good at going round corners.
"A man of little significance"
I really like driving too but I think driving for enjoyment i.e. driving for the sake of driving and driving as part of another (essential) activity i.e. commuting etc. are very different things for most people.
My current commute consists of 2 miles to the M1, then about 60 miles on the (usually very busy) M1 and then 3 miles off and the reverse at the end of the day - thankfully only once or twice a week. For that commute I would certainly prefer a RR over a "sportier" car as I want to be detached from the road and as comfortable as possible, with a good infotainment system etc.
If my commute consisted of quiet country roads, I might have a very different view.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/p...ault-8bqhkmjhp
Never quite sure what to make of these articles, but there seems to be a few incidences...
Sounds like perfect Volvo saloon or estate territory to me.
The main problem with SUVs on country roads is they often have to come to a crawl just to pass each other. But the roads are so chewed up (I guess by so many heavy SUVs), country road driving can be somewhat costly now to anything low to the ground too.
I remember a few years ago when someone on here asked what happens when everyone has a large SUV, what next?
"A man of little significance"
Presumably high CO2 performance cars, that cannot be driven anywhere near their potential safely on the road, should also be taxed out of existence?
Regarding Clarkson, as a farmer he now needs an SUV. Range Rovers also often seem to be exempt from the usual "petrolhead" SUV critism for some reason.
SUVs are safer statistically, and with so many large SUVs and lorries already on the roads, drivers with families have to make a decision on the safety of their family when chosing a car. For example I believe no'-one has ever died in a Volvo XC90.
I'm not a fan of some of the larger SUVs especially when they will be occupied by only one person most of the time, however, for families, small to mid sized SUVs are a practical, safer and more interesting alternative to a van like People Carrier.
We have 3 cars.
A Yaris that the nanny uses to ferry the kids to and from their schools every day and for activities in the school holidays.
A Tesla Model 3 that does the bulk of the local (<150 miles journeys) - we would have the nanny on this and get rid of the Yaris, but the insurance increase is bonkers
A GLE 53 thar does ~9k miles a year, which is almost all trips to my house on Skye or road trips on holiday in Europe. The other duty is to ferry the four of us and a couple of grand parents around when they visit (8 weeks a year).
The car we'll get rid of first is the Yaris, then the Tesla, then finally the GLE. The GLE is the only one that can do all the jobs. I don't want a big car, but it's better than taking two cars on every trip.
I've owned a number of suv' (Kuga, Range Rover, Honda CRV, Freelander, to name a few) so are definitely not against them, but the 'styling' has really gone to pot lately. Sat in Tesco carpark the other day waiting for wife and there were four suv's parked in my line of vision. All different manufacturers but if you took the badges off them they were 95% identical to one another and virtually impossible to identify. Blandola.
All cars I don't like should be banned. And buses. And bicycles. Especially bicycles.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Replace cars with members....
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Aren't high CO2 performance cars already being taxed out of existence? Manufacturers should be encouraged to make smaller, lighter, more environmentally-friendly cars, whether ICE or EV or whatever. Taxation based on weight/size would be a good starting point. It's got to start coming from somewhere if petrol sales and the taxation that goes with it all are to decrease with this planned EV takeover.
No idea who exempts Range Rovers from criticism.
Has no one really ever died in an XC90? How many people have been killed by XC90s? I know they've tried to kill me more than once, I guess there are benefits to me driving my family round in a Skoda Fabia - it's small, handles really well and is great at avoiding other people's accidents.
"A man of little significance"
I love my xc60 suv and would replace it with an other suv in a heartbeat I have a knackered back and find it a lot easier to get out of than my Mrs fiesta and a lot comfier and love the driving position.
Best car I've ever had and I can't remember when driving in the UK had anything to do with enjoyment
My wife has a ‘cuv’ only a little taller than its ‘normal’ partner in the range, but it it is easier to get in and out with my dodgy hips/knees, drove a SUV recently as a courtesy car and needed to climb in to it, my car is low but I can fall into it and equally fall out, maybe if we followed the Netherlands? and taxed cars by weight many would change their choice of vehicle, several (lots) SUV owners in my local area, most are owned by 2 person households so travel 50%+ empty, many I know that have one treat it like a status symbol, I got used to this when dealing with motability customers in the garage, often first question was can I get one of those big 4x4s?
Jaguar should only be making side cars, none of this new fangled stuff.
Imagine if they hadn't kept up with the trend for change.
I’ve just bought a ‘big, cheap, nasty looking’ MG in the past week. Suits me perfectly as I’m quite big, cheap and nasty looking.
I’m neither for or against SUVs.. I like a nice saloon or coupe, but had to get rid of my Merc CLS as it was just no good for my back on anything beyond a 30min drive (got 2 slipped disks in the lower back). Having had 3 SUVs since last July (a Disco Sport briefly, Jeep Renegade stop gap after the disco blew up and now the cheap MG), I’ve had far less issues with my back.
I do agree with a point made earlier though regarding styling of a lot of SUVs… many of them are very similar looking if you remove the badge. I’m not sure that’s just limited to SUVs though, but it is certainly more noticeable in that segment.
After the Ipace fiasco anyone buying a car from Jaguar would need their head examined
Obviously. Why would you buy something that doesn't work for you. I've driven and been a passenger in plenty of SUV's from most of the major manufacturers and still don't want one. I think that they're great for a number of people, especially families but performance versions are purely member extensions. They are far too big and heavy to handle like a sports car with the same amount of power and if driven in anger on a racetrack would be left for dead. Around 20 percent slower around the Nurburgring than a sports car with equivalent power. Anyone who talks about SUV's in performance terms is over compensating.
I was not suggesting in my original post that SUVs have no purpose, my parents are in their 80s and love their elderly Jeep GC for all the obvious reasons. My rage was just that they seems to have become the default choice when many buyers would be better off with a saloon. It's also sad to see Jaguar letting go of their sportscar heritage when their is clearly a market as demonstated by a raft of other mfrs.
I think Jaguar lost its way a long time ago sadly, the most valuable thing about them now is the sports car heritage, once they started getting sold on to buyers who were only interested in that, the die was cast.
They’re trying to survive by building what it appears many people still want to buy.