Many cars are no longer made to be ‘fit for purpose’.  That is not to say that they are in any way defective or not roadworthy, it is that they are built for a purpose that they either don’t actually fulfil, or their purpose has become redundant. 

I have had a few friends that have owned Minis in the past and while I would agree that their cornering ability is second to none (except perhaps the Mitsubishi Evo range), they are no use as an all round car.  In the event that you want to take off and drive for any great distance you will always think twice about doing it in a your Mini.  And the Mini owners were never the ones saying "no, why not come in my car", when a group of you went to the coast on a sunny weekend.  The same can be said of almost all of the modern ‘City’ cars, that the government is keen to promote via tax breaks.
 
The notion of having a car that is only good for short journeys surely makes that car itself something of a nonsense.  Cars are not like shirts or hats, in that you have a wide selection that can be worn or used to suit certain occasions.  They need to be versatile and be good for as many relevant situations as possible.  Owners of small or city cars will often cite using them for the convenience of shopping, or popping round to see friends.  This is understandable, but surely an extremely expensive luxury if it is a car that isn''t really suitable for more than a short, local journey.
The internet has brought all areas of shopping into the living room of anyone who is on-line, so there is no longer any need to own a small runaround in order to go to the shops.  If you are going out for the evening there is every chance that you will not be driving home anyway, as you’ll probably be having a drink or two, and if you’ve got one of the new two seater city cars it wouldn’t give you any room to take more than one mate anyway.

The cost of car ownership over the course of a year could be broken down as below:-
Car tax -  £70
Insurance - £200
Fuel costs -  £250
Maintenance -  £200
Depreciation -  £1,417
Total cost  -  £2137

Those figures are based on owning a Citroen C1, and putting £5 petrol in it per week.  The depreciation costs are based on a new car over three years falling in value from £7090 to £2942. 
The total cost of owning a car equates to slightly over £41 per week, and this is a cheap car to run.  If you only have two seats in the car and use it for the shopping run then you are wasting quite a bit of money.  Similarly, if you use it to visit your friends locally twice a week, you’d be better off getting a cab (although your liver may not agree).

4X4 vehicles are just as bad, as they are fitted with lots of innovative, useful technology that is never used, as they are never taken off road.  While many of them are great cars, they have become nothing but a status symbol, a show of wealth.  I’ve got no problem with seeing working 4X4s on the road, they are an impressive piece of engineering, but to see so many, driven badly by people carrying one child to playgroup is a nonsense.  As I’ve stated in at the start of this piece, used in this way the modern 4X4 is a vehicle that is used for a different purpose than the one it was designed for. The 4X4 issue is one that is taking up a lot of airspace and legislature time in parliament.  The current thinking is to make the cost of them punitively expensive, in order to dampen their popularity.  While this does seem to be a good route to go down, it doesn’t achieve it’s goal, which is surely to make the vehicles less appealing.  The added cost is, somewhat perversely, likely to make the 4X4 more appealing as they are a more obvious sign of wealth, especially disposable wealth.
If the Government was serious about curtailing ownership of these overly large, luxury vehicles, then they should introduce a compulsory test that drivers have to take in order to drive one.  Failure to pass the test would result in the owner not being able to drive their ego inflator on the road.  This would mean that only competent drivers (albeit affluent ones), would be out on the road in them.  They perform notoriously poorly in NCAP passenger and other vehicle ratings, so it makes perfect sense to ensure that they are only driven by capable drivers.

If you only want a car to go to the local shops, or to see your local friends, then you don’t need a car, get a cab or public transport, or a combination of both.  If you need a car to take one child to the nursery then why not get a small family car, there are loads of great models to choose from, and many are good for much longer journeys than just a short local journey.  There are very few instances when a 4X4 is really necessary but the big luxury models are a great drive and extremely comfortable to be in.  If people can afford to buy and run them, then it’s their decision to do so.  Let’s just make sure that their driving abilities match the depth of their pockets.  Most of all we need to think about why we’re buying a car and get something that is fit for our purpose.

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