to love my 4x4

[holidaysarenice]

And to not have to justify it to anyone!!

Pringles please?

Eh? What has buses got to do with it Klaxon?

And are you assuming that everyone that drives a 4x4 is an arrogant driver who puts their families convenience first?

Drive what you like

No one has to justify what car they drive.

What's the point of this then, as most people are saying I have a 4x4 go then call me a wanker but I'll pull you out of the snow!

It's ramadamadingdong full of people justifying having one. Don't then! Just say I got one. In fact, there is hardly anyone I saw on the thread that didn't have a reason for having one?

I don't really care what car people drive as long as they don't drive it like a wanker.

I haven't seen the 4x4 threads before. It's it akin to p&c parking? Will make mental note to stay away next time!

I don't care what people drive as long as they know:

a) how to drive it
b) how to park it
c) how wide it is

In London they tend to be a pain in the neck as they are often, not always but often, driven by people who can't drive very well and park them in such a way as to cause an obstruction. I'm not sure if they are bought by these people because they want to feel safer as they are aware of their poor driving skills.

We live rurally now and the 4x4 drivers tend to be the ones who can actually drive properly - if I meet one in the narrow lanes we can generally get past each other without too many problems. If I meet a Ford Ka or a little BMW it all turns into a massive palaver because they are convinced their car is either half the size it is or the size of a bus!

Having said that, for a village with fairly crap roads, a farm and a couple of smallholdings, there is only one landrover in the whole place and most people seem to drive small or average sized cars,.

But we know we need our 4x4s don't we everlong

Whatever - I was referring to your comment: 'Again it's the size of the car that may make it more dangerous to a pedestrian not the fact that it's a 4x4'

Hence my reference to buses.

But if a bus hit a pedestrian surely it would cause more damage than any car?

everlong - no I don't put my family first to the detriment of others.

All human life is sacred and no human is worth more than another.

And I'll say it again. I don't care what you drive but arrogant drivers are dangerous WHATEVER they are driving. I believe 4x4s (proper 4x4s btw, some mentioned on this thread are pseudo 4x4s and not quite the same) encourage recklessness - the driver assumes because they are higher up they have a better road view (yes you can see other cars, but not necessarily pedestrians), that they are better drivers and parkers (oh yes they come with parking sensors so that clearly makes a better driver ) and that they are safer (which studies suggest is not true for the people IN the car AND the people in other cars or pedestrians.

In fact I'll go further. If you drive any car that makes you think you are some sort of driving superhero you are probably driving like a tit. Boasting about your car is vulgar and shows a lack of insight into other people and complaining about people's comments thereof just proves it.

whatever - indeed - but there are less accidents involving buses than cars. So surely the size of vehicle is not what's important. I would suggest it's what happens inside the brain of the driver, not the actual vehicle which causes the problems. A bus driver knows he's driving a bloody huge vehicle which is pretty dangerous, has had to take specialist training to do so and drives slowly. A 4x4 driver is required to do nothing of the sort. And you can kill someone just as effectively in a Punto. In fact, you can kill someone by cycling into them. So it's not size that matters (in many things ) but attitude (in all things)

everlong I do live in the countryside btw. FWIW it snows two days a year and the school closes. Woopdy doo. Day off etc. Having a 4x4 doesn't help in that situation because the roads are already blocked by stupid drivers who get stuck because they arrogantly believe they can get through. (and most of them are not in puntos).

We do not live in fricking Alaska (apologies to anyone on this thread who does). Snow is not a regular occurrence in England. If you live in the Highlands, you may experience it more regularly but it's a red herring really.

Why buy a car which only comes into it's own for two days a year when you mostly use it to drive to Waitrose and clog up the roads for a mile round your DCs school?

klaxon It may only snow for two days where you live but not where I live.

And we don't have a Waitrose.

A crap driver is a crap driver whatever they are driving.

I need my 4x4 but see no reason why I should have to justify my choice of vehicle. To anyone.

why buy a car which only comes into its own two days a year?

Do you apply that rule to convertible drivers? They don't use their car's USP very often in this country either but People aren't banging on about them.
You are being sizeist-I have never been to Waitrose because we don't have one here and making a judgement.
People become flippant and make throwaway comments about their driving prowess because they are sick of defending their car ?!?
You can't just pick on a minority group and say i don't like you and you're arrogant and trying to kill me it's a bit unfair...

Ooh dp is getting his evoque in September, must admit I'm looking forward to it!

I do think it's a bit silly to have a 4x4 when you don't live in the country though

I only travel on my 4x4 bicycle, a patented design by me. The only problem is that I must consume lots of cabbage and beans, as the frame is a little heavy I need the extra fart power to get me along.

I am therefore better than everyone.

arf at cockwomblw

snorted so loud I made the baby jump and i may have weed a little too...

I love most 4x4s and if i win the lottery I fully intend to buy myself a defender to pull the horsebox.

*I wonder what the statistics are as regards the gender of 4x4 drivers

Near here, 100% (made up statistic but not far from the truth) of 4x4 drivers are women. Unfortunately they are mostly driving really quite badly. *

Great, I'm on mn and someone is slagging off women drivers. What love, don't you know what 6" are.

In fairness, the lady who drove into you was driving badly but its not fair to say that we all drive badly. I'm a dab hand at reversing back up one track lanes for a suitable passing point.

Oh, most of the farmers round here have battered land rovers, shogans etc plus another battered car to bomb around in.

I'm a bit fed up of being told I'm driving a status symbol. I wish I was. I'm selfish, or no, I drive it carefully. This is not the same as saying I'm a great driver, I just take care, more so than when I drove a mini.

So now we have 'proper 4x4's and 'pseudo 4x4's' Surely 4x4 relates to whether or not the car uses 4 wheel drive or not?

So not only am I a selfish wanker who is universally hated for driving one now I'm told it's not even a 'proper' 4x4

IMVHO VW Golf drivers are the absolute pits - speeding, tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic and don't possess indicators

Err, Klaxon I was taking the piss out of myself for being such a cliche, not boasting. Although I can understand how this was lost in translation.

I don't believe I am an infallible driver, who is perfect in every way. I just said up thread that I have done a couple of driving courses because, knowing the vehicles I drive could be more dangerous, I thought that it might be a good idea. So shoot me. Oops, that's a piss take again, please don't take me seriously

I firstly questions Juggling's stats that 4x4s cause twice as many fatalities. Stating that as fact when you merely copied & pasted it from someone else on the same thread who in turn obtained it from a highly questionable source is rather leaving yourself open to further investigation imo. I wasn't rude to juggling, just asked what that was based on. She didn't know. She then intimated that she was angry with me for believing that money was more important than life itself. Again I questioned this. I actually think that this is a grossly crass and hurtful comment regardless of someone's personal circumstances.

Of course no life is any more or less important than anyone else's. However, to me, my children's safety is paramount. This is not why I have my car. I have my car because I chose to.