4x4 cars

[Dontknowwhattodo2024]

just reading about those two girls that where killed a year ago in their school
grounds by an out of control driver, it’s utterly heartbreaking. Apparently the driver had an epileptic episode but had never had one before, I wonder if she’s had one since? The car was a truck! Why on earth do people drive these stupid 4x4 trucks. They’re everywhere. So bad for the environment, and so dangerous. What’s wrong with people. If you’re a farmer or live in the country fair enough but I live in a city and these selfish people use them to zoom around to the shops or drop thier kids off at school. Walk people! Tw*ts

Using your car every couple of weeks says it all to me.The first bus leaves my village at 9.00am so we have no choice but to use cars for school and work. Many people who live in well connected towns and cities have no idea what transportation is like in rural areas. And the lane that I live on doesn’t get gritted so it’s four wheel drive or the kids miss school on bad weather days.

Our second car is electric which we use as much as we can but it’s as heavy as our SUV.

Drive an SUV and live in london. It's not a landrover defender which is possibly the most aggressive of them but it's still an SUV.

We acrtually had a hatchback Range Rover before and with the baby car seat it was really a squeeze, the passenger front seat had hardly any room and we are both tall.

Our SUV fits baby seat for baby.2 comfortably. We don't have family support unless we drive 3 hours and they won't travel down (only have 'help' from one side) so for us it was essential to be comfortable on journeys. Especially a 6 hour round trip to just see family.

We also travel outside of london when we can, not as much now with kids but we do one staycation a year. The boot space is handy when we are a family of 4 with a dog.

Who cares what car other people drive. It's quite funny as on 'next door' when someone has their Kia stolen people are full of sympathy but when it's a Range Rover (which we don't have) people say 'why drive that car'. I'm certain people don't judge those with old cars that are probably dangerous in their own way.

The woman who killed those girls would have done so in most cars, let's face it the car didn't travel that far from road to impact zone and those children were outside having an end of term tea party.

You can of course get 10 bags of cement into a ford Fiesta BUT it will severely impair road handling and trash the plush interior, almost as much as an infant projectile vomit! It is the installation of airbags and side protection etc that has diminished the feeling of insecurity when driving which is a serious issue because the adverts suggest the car occupants will survive anything rather than emphasising the whole vehicle is a dangerous weapon if not handled considerately: I know when driving my 32 year old Golf that it has none of the 'fancy' protection so it is up to ME to drive responsibly at all times. Antilock brakes and other 'fancy gagets' are NO use if the driver is half asleep and driving recklessly because they are too comfortable and isolated from the real world outside and possibly messing with their phones or arguing with the kids.

A Landrover Defender is an Utility Vehicle and NOT Sport. Hell, I struggled to get up to 50mph on a motorway with mine. 0 to 60 Eventually if it was downhill!

I have a Range Rover PHEV and my husband has a Defender. We live in the countryside and do lots of country pursuits, so go off road in them.

Have you ever driven one? To be honest they are absolutely lovely. Sick to death of being demonised by city dwellers who are all very worthy and get buses everywhere. Good for you.

Surely any large car going at normal driving speed would still kill a small child if out of control with an unconscious driver? The issue isn't really the Defender.

New Defenders are a luxury status symbol. The old ones are workhorses. Completely different vehicles. Some cost over £100000...

https://www.landrover.co.uk/defender/defender/models-and-specifications.html

Would you prefer if everyone got around by walking?

While:

1. Heavily pregnant
2. Injured
3. Sick

?

In all weathers?

To:

1. Do shopping?
2. Go to work?
3. Go to the doctor?

It's not vehicles that are an issue. It's the skill of the driver. You also can't take a tragic one-off incident as a reason to force everyone to give up their cars. You have an irrational and totally unjustified hatred and fear of anything with wheels on at this rate. Stop it.

Yes they are luxury but they still qualify as Commercial vehicles, hence why a lot of business owners buy them.

It's jealousy.

Regarding the arms race bit: have you ever considered switching to a rusty white Transit van with bits held on with gaffer tape?? I can assure you they'll be diving into the hedgerows at the sight of you 😆

Don't worry love, most of us country dwellers hate your car too. Driving something wider than the average back lane down here is never going to win you friends outside of your tiny "countryside pursuits" circle 🙄

I don't have a 4x4, I have an S max which is a big car though. We tried fitting 3 child seats into the back of a mondeo and it was really difficult to access the seat belt buckles for the high back boosters as the eat often went over the top of the buckle. The middle seat often isnt a full sized seat even in some bigger cars. Now they are bigger it's also a lot more comfortable to have 3 proper seats in the back for long journeys and we use it to tow.

One of our cars is a smaller SUV type. We need at least one bigger car (for a very tall husband) that sits higher up off the road - my parents live along a dirt track and it's got a fondness for knackering the bottom of lower-riding cars. You wouldn't necessarily know that from seeing us around our home area in it.

Other car, that gets most miles on because I use it for work is a dinky little Corsa so I figure it balances out.

I'm just going to spell it out for all the "But I neeeeeeed my late model Range Rover wankpanzer because I live in the countreeeee and all you townies don't understand!" posse:

Our rural single track lanes down here are exceedingly narrow. Your wankpanzers are exceedingly wide. See the issue?

In addition, it's amazing when meeting one of these beasts in the lanes how difficult the drivers usually find it to reverse into a parking space. I put this down to: a) most of these cars are incredibly expensive and the drivers don't want to affect their value by scratching them. Bit difficult when driving down a 7ft wide hedge tunnel. And also

b): most of the people driving these monsters are not, in fact, from down 'ere. The number of them massively increases in the summer, and given that the Borough with the biggest registration of new SUVs in the country is Kensington and Chelsea, I think we can draw our own conclusions from that.

I know nobody who lives down a proper rural track full of potholes who drives a wankpanzer. They generally drive ancient estate cars held together with cable ties, or at a stretch an old school Defender. The only shiny Range Rovers you see down here are on the gravelled drives of prim little bungalows on the main road 😆

But that all said....please don't stop driving down to Cornwall in your wankpanzers. And when you do, make sure to drive straight onto the beach in them. Pay and display car parks are just for the little people. There is an entire local meme industry dedicated to the latest photos of Range Rovers stuck on the beach in Newquay with the tide coming in, and it does warm our little hearts a treat 😊

People like them because they give them a feeling of invunerability plus put them high up.

Most of this at the expensive of the rest of the worlds safety.

When I pointed out to someone it was effectively a Tory Wagon because you are prioritising you and yours over the common good they weren't very happy.

There are relatively few people who need these things, and they should be taxed off the roads.

Its all utter jealousy i agree @confessionsfromadreamer Makes me howl.

Living somewhere that floods, there’s lots of suvs round here. We have one and its fuel economy is so much better than our previous estate car. It has a large boot that fits a dog crate and paddle boards, is comfortable and safe for my dc inside it. It’s a legitimate choice of car. Most cars seem to have higher bonnets these days except sports cars.

Only 15% of UK families have 3 children. Even then, the elder one can often fit in the middle or use the front passenger seat.

In addition to my comment supporting suvs… I also agree with this. I only know one person with a Range Rover and never see her with it as it’s always in the garage being fixed.

Er not the case!!! I had dd1 added 3 then twins so needed a wide car for 3 car seats.

OP, would the outcome have been different if it had been a Ford Focus?

Just as well that not many people are driving around in 3.5 tonne trucks.

The point is that high bonnets pull the person under rather than over.

It's not jealousy when people criticise i have zero interest in any cars, most people don't care enough to be envious.

They are useful for towing caravans/driving in muddy fields etc but should not be encouraged in cities.

I totally get what you're saying about aggression. We have an suv (typically hated driver brand) and a tiny car. The respect I'm automatically given in the smallish but wanky suv is disgusting compared to the almost bullying I'm given on the roads in the tiny car. I'm the same driver. People seem hesitant and amazed when I'm the same courteous driver in the suv.

I absolutely understand the argument about 4x4s being higher up and having potential to harm more should there be an accident but i believe the 4x4/any big or heavy car isn't the biggest issue here, it's the egos behind the wheel and the status some people think that a badge gives them.

Apparently the driver had an epileptic episode but had never had one before, I wonder if she’s had one since?

A near identical thing happened to me when I was the same age as this driver. Fortunately without the tragic consequences. Had just parked my car up & walked into my office. Realised I was speaking but not making sense, next thing I'm waking up in casualty. Had lots of tests but no cause found. Lost my driving licence for a year. Two & a half years later the same thing happened - this time in M&S. Again it was only minutes earlier I'd been driving on a busy dual carriageway. More tests & an excellent neurologist diagnosed migraine triggered seizures. Very strange as I never had a headache but did have weird zigzag patterns in one eye. She told me it was hormonal/perimenopause related. Again lost my driving licence for a year. Started on medication and it never recurred. That was 20years ago. Feel so sorry for the families of the girls but also for the driver.