Little and Largely Ridiculous

While, in fairness, In think this particular version does actually 'work', the presence of so many of these giant behemoth ego-wagons on the school commute or doing the shopping run, is frankly ridiculous.

This Toyota Hilux has the sub-name of 'Invincible', and then you get the likes of the Mitsubishi L200 'Barbarian'. Their targeting of the delicate man-baby market couldn't be more obvious sometimes. And frankly I'll lump in the monstrous SUVs into this regime as well. Wankpanzer Range Rovers and Porsche Cayennes and Audi Q7s that proliferate to make people feel important and Jones-matching.

Good grief, if I wanted to spend that much cash on a car I'd choose something 'interesting'. Something fun. And something that will still fit a bag of shopping.

I remember when I used to collect our shopping from Asda, when we lived in the city, and I'd take my utility bike. Couple of baskets and top of the rack on the back, plus the large basket on the front, and occasionally a pannier hung off the front of that. The staff would often come out and ask, "Are you sure you can fit all of this?" and I always did. I'm not expecting everyone to be able to do that, but it was one day, parking the bike alongside an L200, with the tailgate dropped to put two bags of shopping into the spotlessly clean cargo bed, it really brought home that a Fiat 500 could have easily done that job.

But instead we live in a world where these inflated confidence-prams multiply and we start complaining that parking spaces are too small.

Plus, frankly, my Mini is way more fun to drive and, ironically given people think these urban lorries make them look good, I can guarantee more people will coo over the wee car in a car park if it was parked next to such a monstrosity.