John Bingham wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 7:51 pm

Clutch Cargo wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 3:50 pm

hanno wrote: ↑Tue Nov 08, 2022 11:22 am This proliferation of SUV's is absolutely ridiculous. Most of them are used to bring the kids to school and go to the pub. Meanwhile, cities across the world are choking on traffic.

I'm thinking the reason people took to SUV's like ducks to water was mainly so that they could sit up high and look over sedans. Only problem now is.. nearly every man and his dog has one and it doesn't work anymore

Back in the late 80s and very early 90s Mercedes sedans were what people aspired for. When the UN came along SUVs got really popular. Before that there were Jeeps, Land Rovers and Russian UAZs, but the Landcruiser series 80 was both good off road and comfortable. So popular that when the UN were leaving most of their fleet was stolen.
Anyway, while I agree that it's painful navigating city traffic in anything big, I can see advantages. While road conditions in general are vastly improved since 3 decades back, it's still not unusual to encounter adverse conditions. Mao Tse Tung can still get pretty deep in a rainstorm and if you're outside the city or around new developments you are likely to find some rough, potholed, churned-up surfaces that will need 4WD.

hanno wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:20 pm

mannanman wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:16 am

hanno wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 9:20 am I learned driving in a Citroen CX. Pretty unusual car for Kenya at the time:

I had a red CX2400. Very strange car with centralising steering, weird controls, semi auto box (manual but with no clutch pedal) and up and down suspension that was so comfortable it should have been illegal!

As you can imagine, roads were pretty shite in Kenya back then. SItting in this car, you never noticed.

mannanman wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 4:42 pm

hanno wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:20 pm

mannanman wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:16 am

hanno wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 9:20 am I learned driving in a Citroen CX. Pretty unusual car for Kenya at the time:

I had a red CX2400. Very strange car with centralising steering, weird controls, semi auto box (manual but with no clutch pedal) and up and down suspension that was so comfortable it should have been illegal!

As you can imagine, roads were pretty shite in Kenya back then. SItting in this car, you never noticed.

Most countries used that CX as a camera car that followed the horses around the track. It was so smooth. Then most tracks changed to Range Rover or big estate cars and you could tell the difference, until modern camera stabilisation came into the game.

Even now the picture isn’t as stable as back then.

I know a Citroen dealer who looked after the CXs at Ascot and they were getting old and silly cheap expensive to repair, even if you could find parts. That’s why they were changed, plus Range Rover wanted their cars on treacle.