To think that 90% of Range Rover owners

[Dinosauratemypudding]

Don't need such a big fucking car and should buy something else amd stop taking up most of the fucking road.

As much as I agree with your post OP. I want/need one!
I'm currently saving up for a discovery. Not brand new, but I think I'd have to be mental to buy a naice one with the reasons that I have for buying a 4x4.
I'm a dog walker, boarder, anything really! And this means I spend a fair amount of time travelling to bloody hard to reach walking areas, so it's feasible that a 4x4 might come in handy!

My in-laws also live in a desolate little village which is a pain in the area to get out of come rain, snow or ice. It has actually seen us spend nights there before. I'd much rather not!

Then of course, the in-laws are getting old, and I don't think my FIL will have his driving licence much longer, both being on the overweight side, I cannot see them fitting side by side with my (squished) daughter in the car with them for journeys out... I envisage myself bundling them into the boot with the two spare chairs, a flask of coffee and a packet of biscuits and not hearing anything from them until we reach our destination- I'm then interrupted by the fact that FIL and MIL both have mobility issues, and would never make it into the boot!

And then there are the dogs, who I have to fit in my car. I currently have a rather large breed of dog who wants more space than my current car has.

I can see the need for land rovers sometimes. I can't help but smile at the people who drive around on their own, or with one small child in a 4x4. My ex is one of these people. He has a range rover, and would kill someone if he got mud on his car. I know what he's like, despite the car in my mind being for going off reading and getting covered in dog fur.

I live in the states, Home of the Oversized Vehicle. I don't know where everyone got the idea that if you have kids, you must have an SUV or minivan. Or that the bigger, the better! It's ridiculous some of the monstrosities out there. Don't get me started on luxury Hummers.

(Disclaimer: I drive a minivan. However, I use it to haul stuff to shows and conventions for work, and I fill every inch sometimes. Not a lone sack of groceries from Trader Joe's!)

Weather related issues are not confined by county!

I live on the East/West Mids border, the village is at the top of steep hills on all sides but my street is at the bottm of steep hills on all sides (think of a crater at the top of a volcano). When there is even a sprinkle of snow, the taxis and buses all stop. A 4x4 is the only way H can get to work on those days.

In general I dislike big 4x4's, ugly, antisocial cars. But I love the Evoque and very nearly bought one. The deciding factor for me was that at the time it wasn't available with Adaptive Cruise Control in the UK, and that was one feature I really wanted on my next car. I bought a Golf, and so glad I did. The extra width of the Evoque would have been a real hassle, starting with the fact it would mean it couldn't be kept in the garage, which would mean it would be on average much dirtier.

Whoever said the Evoque damaged RR is nuts, it's the biggest success story of British motor manufacturing in decades. It has turned RR from a niche specialist car manufacturer into a mass-market one, they are selling hundreds of thousands of them, they're highly desirable all over the world. Selling so many cars means they are starting to learn concepts previously alien to them, such as quality control. (Range Rovers are the least reliable and least well-built cars you can buy.)

For all the spacious, seeing over country lane hedgeonmy, the carbon footprint destroying sycophancy, the bulky parking, enviromentally destroying, early adopter private plate priggishistic intent.
For all that disappears into the ether, in the stark reality that this could happen in a Transit van, and you are not, in fact, Victoria Beckham, or neither have an immaculately coiffured beard.

It's not the cars that are the problem! It's the twatty drivers! If they could actually manoeuvre the things then all would be right with the world.

I quite like the big beasty cars

I also grew up in the back of beyond but the roads were made of this marvellous stuff called "Tarmac". As far as I'm aware, all cars are designed for Tarmac so the "need" for an off-roader in this instance is moot.

Hear what you say, moot is good also!

bogey that seems unusual circumstances where you live.

As I said, I drive my Astra along country roads daily, (proper ones with grass growing in the middle) all year round without problems. In bad weather they're quite protected as they're narrow, have overhanging trees and are edged by tall hedges or rock faces. Although here in the midlands we get a light sprinkling of snow maybe twice a year? Not much.

yorkie

Seemingly my aged Renault Clio managed to cope in rural Scotland with two of the worst Winters we'd seen since Mike and Bernie were last on the TV.

I managed to negotiate these seemingly treacherous roads by using the technologically advanced NDLD feature (Not driving like a douche) and as for the farmers? The one I knew used an ancient Austin Montego estate as his primary transport on and off the farm.

It would be really good if car parks with relatively narrow parking spaces would have width restrictions banning oversize cars. Yes, the big 4x4s are easy to park (especially with all round cameras) but the next door car parking spaces are unusable, especially with children or elderly passengers.

Road tax should be by size and weight (mass). It is a little known fact that the damage done to roads is proportional to the mass of the car to the power of four. Your average RR will thus do 16x as much damage as your small family car.

I don't believe in banning but a combination of very high taxes (especially in London) and banning them from unsuitable car parks would definitely reduce demand and make the roads pleasanter for everyone else.

Reading this thread i just found out there is a difference between landrover and range rover! I thought they were the same thing :/ what is the difference?

We've had a few 4x4s (not for driving in London) but never a Range Rover. Some are obnoxious, RR, Cayenne and X6 being the worst in my book.

I always remember the old joke. What's the difference between a hedgehog and a Range Rover? With the Range Rover, the pricks are on the inside..

In addition, heavy cars have longer stopping distances and, in recent tests, some Range Rovers performed particularly badly. So, for those who (selfishly) think your children will be safer, you will be impacting at a higher velocity as brakes will take longer to slow the car.

Small cars that are front wheel drive with narrow wheels are actually quite good in the snow. We live on top of a hill, it's the large cars that get stuck.

The inverse snobbery on this thread is embarrassing.

The reason a lot of people choose a big car is because in a prang they are more likely to survive.

Yanbu! Chelsea tractors.

It's nonsense to suggest that anyone who doesn't like them is jealous. I could be given my pick of every car in the world and wouldn't choose a 4x4 because I think they are unnecessarily large, harder to park considerately, reduce visibility on the roads, cost too much to run and make people drive aggressively because it gives them a weird sense of invincibility.

I do like them. But I feel such a nob driving one. I have an old estate which feels more like me. I live in the country and it does annoy me when 4x4 don't pull over as my estate is very low slung, but I am pretty much at peace with myself and the world, so if I have to reverse then I reverse. It doesn't annoy the utter fuck out of me like it used to

Blamch again, nope, all of the farmers I know own thousands of acres, not tenanted. Highly respected and respectable (err not that tenant farmers aren't btw!)Their farmer managers mostly drive Hiluxs so they aren't even used as farm vehicles really.

Funnily enough though one of our farm manager friends drives a Porsche...

Pooh2 at one time there was little difference between a RR and a Land Rover. The original RR used the LR Defender chassis and running gear. engine etc. just a less army/farmer looking body than the Defender to attract a wider market. Nowadays RR are monocoque construction (where the chassis is a part of the whole of the car and not bolt on/bolt off) just like every other car out there. Please people don't confuse the Defender with every other type of 4 x 4. They are the ultimate green car in that every part can be taken apart in the average owners shed and replaced cheaply. They can end up like Triggers broom but it is green because they are not thrown away so much and a new one bought. It is in the manufacturing of cars that costs the planet so dear. If more cars were made like the LR Defender (or Deafener if you have one like mine with no sound insulation) everyone would have much cheaper motoring and the planet would be better for it. There are still arseholes that drive them badly unfortunately. Wouldn't have a Nissan Juke as a gift!

I love ours (although I think its a land rover rather than a range rover). Its one of the few cars that has three full flat seats at the back, which when we had 3 under 5 meant that we could actually get all their car seats in.

Its also big enough for 6'5" to drive comfortably even with 3 kids in the back. I also use the extra seats in the back a lot for the children's friends and when transporting the rainbows.

We use the 4x4 function and snow function in the winter as we live on a private road that isn't gritted.

Loads of boot space too for holidays and reversing camera is really clear and subtends a really wide horizontal visual plane.

I don't take it into London though, the thought of having to navigate narrow streets with parked cars down either side makes me shudder....

God heavens - what a lot of twaddle there is being spouted on this thread. I remember a few years ago it was BMW drivers who got all the bad press, then Audi drivers......and now JLR drivers!

You are talking about bad driving irrespective of the car being driven. I could stereotype for example about the numerous smaller car drivers I see daily on the motorway or those in MPV's who think that everyone should give way to their precious family cargo. But I don't because they would be bad drivers in any car.

I have an evoque for three of us and a dog - i bloody love it. It's a dream to park and is shorter than the fugly Ford Focus (admittedly taller and slightly wider). If people want to spend £600 on a car and can afford it - then why not? I bought mine outright and got a fab deal. I'd never have a ford, Peugeot or Fiat agin but I don't judge those of you who do.