to love my 4x4

[holidaysarenice]

And to not have to justify it to anyone!!

Pringles please?

Pendeen A very good point. I am generally dubious about the 'I live in a rural area I need a thwacking great SUV/Range Rover type vehicle.' I think that in many of those cases there is an element of status symbol in those purchases. I've known farmers whose working vehicles has been knackered old Ford Mondeos rather than Land Rovers.

People may prefer a car with four wheel drive, but it needn't be something the size of a truck, you can get Fiat Pandas with four wheel drive. Anyway as Pendeen said 4X4s aren't automatically better in the snow. Winter tyres and not driving like a dick (Gentle acceleration & using the gears carefully) are far more essential.

I experienced exactly the same thing when I was working in rural Scotland in one of the worst winters in living memory and never had any problems in my battered and aged 2wd clio.

Had to log on to comment to the twats about canary yellow cinquecentos-I had one of these for my first car & absolutely loved it-very nippy & could park it literally anywhere, was very sad to part with it. So while you're slagging off those who don't like 4X4's perhaps you shouldn't be so quick to judge another car which you have clearly never driven!!!

Also people presume you are referring to Range Rovers etc when you say 4X4's but not all 4X4's are of this type-hubby has an estate which is a 4x4 & is lovely.

Couldn't agree more, I love my range couldn't be without it!

In the interests of full disclosure I was quoting from a 4x4 hating site here:

www.stopurban4x4s.org.uk/

All their claims are referenced so you can assess the quality of their data.

AFAIK 4x4s are more fatal to pedestrians as you tend to hit at waist/chest height where all your organs are, and then get dragged under. With a normal car you get hit knees/waist and bounce off (relatively soft) bonnet.

everlong I did say most cases

I must however point out that DH can drive anything in any type of weather condition, he'd have had no problem with your audi

I love my car too! It's a Honda Jazz not a 4 x 4, but I guess they are all bad for the environment / congestion so I can't feel smug.

pyjama: "I like having the last laugh when it snows and everyone else gets stuck."

And has it ever occurred to you to wonder what it would be like if everyone drove 4X4s?

Blimey, you'd think the roads hadn't been tarmaced the way some talk about their 4x4s

And I can drive (rurally) a Corsa, Fiat 500, Fiesta, and in the past a Metro (!) perfectly well in the snow - all small cars but with rear wheel drive, it's that you don't want in the snow. Common sense and being a good driver help, too.

Oh dear, I meant without rear wheel drive, course I did!

So what people actually mean is 'I hate large vehicles' rather than 4x4's as all the arguments re safety for pedestrians/other drivers and space taken up on the roads/in car parks that relate to the height/size of the vehicle are not exclusive to 4x4's.

I think people are confusing big cars and and cars with big engines with 4x4s.

What they mean is Very Large 4x4 Chelsea Tractors I suggest.

You don't have to have a 4x4 to not get stuck in the snow. We have Audi A6 Quattro (which I now know means 4 wheel drive) and I have never even skidded. Apparently 4x4's can be more dangerous in a crash because the height means they topple over more easily. All that said - I do daydream about the Q7....sigh.......

I have a Porsche Cayenne and live in a city (Dubai)
I don't even drive it myself as I'm too fecking lazy so have a driver.

I call Top Wanker Trumps

You get the most pringles

So what people actually mean is 'I hate large vehicles' rather than 4x4's as all the arguments re safety for pedestrians/other drivers and space taken up on the roads/in car parks that relate to the height/size of the vehicle are not exclusive to 4x4's

I think is what gets people's goat is that these vehicles are bigger than they need to be for no apparent purpose other than status. A Chelsea Tractor might be the same size as a Transit Van or a minibus, but there is a good reason for those vehicles to be that size in order to carry large amounts of freight or people. I think it is a problem of it being big per se, but 'bigger than it needs to be.'

Oh really, honestly who gives a shit ?

I don't care if you ride around in a gold plated pooper scooper as long as you don't bore the pants off me going on about it. Where's Clarky to waffle on when you need him?

I have a 4x4, its not a status car its over 5 years old, covered in mud outside and covered in child muck inside.

I'd love a status car, thinks longingly of something with a soft top and two seats only, oh and really expensive.

DH has a Mitsubishi truck for work, last year when there was a fair bit of snow we cleaned it up (builders eh?) for a long journey we had to make with the family.

The seven or so drivers we hauled out of trouble en route didn't think we were a bunch of selfish wankers.

DH is a bit of a wanker though.

Juggling: "but there are things in life that matter besides money - especially life itself " Err I know that thanks very much. right back at you for assuming I don't. And money had nothing to do with the point I was trying to make, which was that if 4x4s were so much more dangerous, then I would have thought that insurance premiums would reflect that. Insurance premiums do tend to take into account stats surrounding safety afaik.

I remember I had to do driver awareness training at my last company - it was mandatory for all drivers choosing a high insurance group company car and a bloody excellent policy imo.

They get in the way because they're so big, though, especially when you're driving down a narrow suburban street with cars parked at the side of the road. They make life difficult for everyone else. It's a bit like sitting next to a massively overweight person on a train.

"And has it ever occurred to you to wonder what it would be like if everyone drove 4X4s?"

um, I don't suggest a holiday in Canada....we've all got 'em

Narrow suburban streets come in all shapes and sizes and you are as likely to be inconvenienced by a car as a 4x4. Or a van or truck.

And actually the problem is caused by the cars parked at the side of the road...

Stella

It was clearly a Joke!

And yes I have driven one, I had its successor, the Seicento, for many years. (Which I also mentioned)

Although I admire a person who will defend a small Fiat, I love them.

Look Rinder I wasn't at you, only annoyed. But I'm angry at the high number of casualties on our roads.

I know nowt about 4x4s other than the following;

When I was last at a ski resort in Switzerland we saw quite a few of them skidding about all over the shop. We parked our crappy old Ford Mondeo and helped push a couple (heavy feckers).