AIBU to think that people should only be allowed a 4x4 if they actually need one?

[boomting]

They are ridiculously fuel inefficient, and given the finite supplies of oil and the effects on climate change (and no this isn't a climate change thread!), I think that the government should only allow you to own a 4x4 if you have a demonstrable reason for needing one. You would have to submit a form and be issued with a special licence to own one. Reasons could include being a farmer, or having to tow heavy trailers that cannot legally be towed with a smaller vehicle. This isn't an exhaustive list of acceptable reasons, but people who only use them for the school run and going to the supermarket shop should not be allowed to use them.

AIBU?

As I said Shelly our 7 seater is SMALLER than the 4 wheel drives parked out the front.

I only mentioned it was a 7 seater to let people know we don't have a small family car.

But it is SMALLER than these massive trucks parked out the front that only transport ONE person.

Do you get my point now?

Fuel tax costs all petrol/diesel powered vehicle owners.

The cost of road tax is pretty insignificant if you can afford an expensive vehicle I'd think - the difference between tax for smaller/more fuel-efficient cars and cars with bigger engines doesn't compare with the difference in price of vehicles.

I read last week that a vegetarian who drives a 4x4 is better for the environment than a meat eater on a bicycle . . .

I love my 4x4 and yes, we do need it, because we drive on and off sites, off-road, etc, but I also drive it on the school run and can just imagine people like the OP making snap judgements about my need for one.

(celebrates first and probably last contribution to a 4x4 thread )

urkedtoolong Sat 12-Jan-13 21:24:37
Let's remember this in a few days time when it's snowing and hospitals are begging 4x4 drivers to help bring their staff into work or councils are asking if us inconsiderate evil 4x4 drivers can do a bit of shopping for old people. Now off you fuck with your smug desire to control everyone else's choices

Please, please, allow me to borrow your 4 wheel drive if /when it snows and I am one of those people trapped within their own home due to living on a very, steep hill within an estate. Untouched by road ploughs and gritters. Oh and fwiw no decent public transport to help us out. Only a couple of food shops within a 3/4 mile radius (if you can call a country post office a shop. )

I really wish townies with their abundance of decent public transport and amenities would sod off.

Our old landrover was about as fuel efficient and about the same size as our current car. Both seven seaters (4 children)
The landrover was more useful though as we lived in a rural area and for a while lived on a farm in the arse end of nowhere. We moved into a small town with it but dh still took it out off road for some of his hobbies
Also useful for towing people who got
Stuck in the snow and blocking the road
Yet according to the op the landrover wouldn't be allowed but the Chrysler would.
Where's the logic in that?

We own a Mitsubishi delicia, and we would not part with it for the following reasons, we live in the country and with the recent floods we were the ones able to drive thru the flood water where cars could not, we have 5 children so plenty of space , we like camping and ideal to either sleep in (seats turn into beds) and take our camping gear, and I crashed one doing 60 when sum idiot pulled out on me and me and my kids lived to tell the tale, whereas , if I had of been in the zafira I had previously then I no doubt would have rolled it and been seriously injured if not killed.we are also the only ones in the street that can get out if it snows.yes they are costly to run but the government make the money out of the fuel so they would never limit who can drive 4x4s.

Trying to remember the term for people who post deliberately inflammatory and controversial subjects on fora. I think there are two names for it and the least likely one is totally naive newcomer. Threads like this should be deleted.

Let's remember this in a few days time when it's snowing and hospitals are begging 4x4 drivers to help bring their staff into work or councils are asking if us inconsiderate evil 4x4 drivers can do a bit of shopping for old people. Now off you fuck with your smug desire to control everyone else's choices

Yes!!! Totally agree

I live at the end of a mile long and hilly unmade track. The first sniff of rain and it turns the road into a mud bath. I laugh my socks off every time my very vocally disapproving of 4x4s neighbour knocks on my door to ask me to tow his Smart car out of the mud (again) or a lift to the doctors because he can't get his car down the lane (again)

We tow a lot of stuff, DH is a warden for our local Scout campsite so drives off road a lot, we live rurally at the end of a muddy lane in a faily isolated area.

I don't need the 4x4 aspect of it every day, occasionally I do the school run/super market shop in it or am I supposed to own 2 cars so I only drive the 4x4 days on days my need is considered acceptable

Don't tow a smart car, just drive over it.

Tempting even more so if he was sitting in it

I'd be tempted to tell you neighbour where to put his Smart, Freddie!

If you 'need' a 4x4 or other large SUV style vehicle to drive in the snow then you don't know how to drive.

Yeah, try doing it at 7000ft in a blizzard when 4ft falls in one weekend and it is coming down faster than the snowplow plows and you need to climb another 200 ft up an unplowed steep road. I used to spend up to 8 weeks a year in the snow and DH wanted us to have AWD. I have driven without it many times in rental cars but the AWD is more surefooted, it just is. We don't have winter tires because we live in a warm climate and it would be wasteful to have them.

We used to have an MPV and shock horror also have 2 kids. We also car pooled with two other families to school.

"Yeah, try doing it at 7000ft in a blizzard when 4ft falls in one weekend and it is coming down faster than the snowplow plows and you need to climb another 200 ft up an unplowed steep road. I used to spend up to 8 weeks a year in the snow and DH wanted us to have AWD. I have driven without it many times in rental cars but the AWD is more surefooted, it just is. We don't have winter tires because we live in a warm climate and it would be wasteful to have them.

We used to have an MPV and shock horror also have 2 kids. We also car pooled with two other families to school."

Well I'm a member of the IAM and have a police advanced driving certificate so I know better than most.

I'll stay again, if you "need" a SUV style 4x4 to drive in the snow then you can't drive. The heavier weight and the wide, low profile tyres that seem prolific on the things nowadays just cause most to get bogged down. The higher centre of gravity also makes them a menace in ice and more likely to skid.

Give me a small, front engined hatchback with proper winter tyres any day of the week.

Let's see your 4x4 get up Hardknott pass in the winter.

The average SUV style 4x4 does very little well and an awful lot of things very very badly. Aside from the pollution aspect, they cause huge damage to the road infrastructure, are no where near as safe as most family cars, are a menace to pedestrians, cyclists & horses and are a pain in the arse in cities because most people simply can't park them.

Don't ban them but tax the living shit of them - £10000 pa VED would be a start.

Like to see you get the our trailer with pigs in out of our field with a small hatch back.

Just saying.

YANBU
I regularly have to pull in to spot on the opposite side of the road to let 4x4 drivers pass because they can't seem to manoeuvre their vehicle into the spot on their side of the road.

My children also cannot see around the cars easily to cross the road to get to our normal sized car.

I may be biased because my neighbour has a 4x4 and cannot park it, thus taking up 2 spaces on a limited available space road.

Without 4x4s the horses would have to walk everywhere Beanie ;)

I carry coffin sprays in mine. I deliver them after I finish the school run.

Would that be on the essential list

I won't dictate on your choice of vehicle, you can mind your own about mine.

Hardknott Pass.

Respect, BeanieStats.

Made me laugh anyhow

Well this thread is really showing 4x4 drivers in the best possible light.

OP, I agree with you, but I think a better solution would be a carbon allowance for everybody. Then we could all decide whether to spend it all on a gas guzzler (4x4 or otherwise), heat our houses to 21 degrees, fly on holiday, etc.

I'm not going to drive up some pass in Cumbria, this year I will do it in Oregon, California, Washington state and in Utah in ski resorts. I obviously don't 'neeeed' an AWD because as I've said I've done it in rental cars before but I do slide less with AWD. My brand new driver is also driving it in snow and ice and he doesn't have a IAM or police driving anything.

My AWD is not huge, it is 4" longer than a ford focus and it was a star in the snow/ice this year. It isn't some mammoth thing.

YANBU.

The problem with freedom of choice is so many people make the wrong choices

However this has been done before againandagainandagain and it never ends amicably.

Teatimes, I agree that a carbon allowance would be fairer. For instance we only heat our house about ten days a year and that heating is a single oil filled radiator.