to not understand why people drive massive pick up trucks?!

[PyongyangKipperbang]

There seems to have been a big increase in these recently, and I dont get why!

They are not filled with gardening/farming equipment and clearly used rurally, but immaculately clean with those "boxes" or whatever they are called creating a normal boot. So why bother? They are so wide that a lot of UK b roads are too narrow for them to pass another vehicle, they are no more useful or practical than other 4x4 cars and they are very expensive to buy and insure. There are now several on the school run and its bad enough around school at the best of times, without these behemoths taking up masses of space. You cant park next to one in bay parking as they are so wide and they are UGLY!

I have noticed that a certain type of man seems to drive them, flame me for making generalisations, and I am wondering if they are the new generation of Mid Life Crisis Car.

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is it about jealousy! Jesus fucking Christ, talk about weird comments. Weird appearing to be a word you rather like.

As I said above, using them for what they were designed for is one thing. I would imagine that towing horses and horsey stuff was one of the original uses as ranch vehicles, but driving from home to school to work to tesco and home again hardly necessitates one does it?

My DP has one (hilux), he's a tiler and has to cart around a ton weight worth of tiles every day and various other heavy tools so it suits his job, not really any different size wise to a van. He needs the front and back seats for his two labourers and for DS (he'll sometimes have to do some drop off and pick ups) so it's more practical than a van in that respect. I'm more than happy with his dick size thanks.

We have one and yes, it's a commercial vehicle therefore we got the VAT back when we bought it through the company.

We need one, because we live in a very rural area and sometimes struggle to get about (mud, rough tracks, snow, difficult sites to visit). But it's also a great family car if you have children, dogs, bikes and stuff to cart about.

They're not so good if you need to move furniture, though, as the back-boxes aren't that big. Ours is only about 1.5m front to back so the Discovery it replaced was actually bigger inside, for moving big stuff. Never mind. A bit of rope and we're done.

My gripe is that they waste fuel , so v polluting. Also because of them being classified as off road vehicles they don't have a crumple zone (safety feature required in all cars, that the front crumples on impact protecting passengers). 4x4 S don't have this and will ride up over bonnet in head on impact, crushing the passengers in other vehicle.
So given that drivers of SUVS are putting our lives at risk on a daily and more long term environmental basis, I feel ok to say THEY SHOULD BE BANNED unless you have proof it's necessary.

Obv none of this applies if you have a job where you genuinely need it. But most owners are NOT farmers.
Ps I love the word crumple 😀

I have one. I drive it around a country that is more than 50% small lanes (you learn very quickly exactly how wide your car is!) - I have no trouble driving it, or parking it (I poke out a bit from a standard space, I'm a little wider, but I have better visibility.

We have it because we drove here from the UK so it was easy to pack all our stuff into, and now we're here it's really convenient to be able to just go and pick things up rather than organise a delivery, and the weekly supermarket shop is a breeze.

It's no more expensive to buy, service or insure, no more diesel hungry than other cars, just as comfortable, with a dual cab so room for the kids.

We also have a little car which DP uses for his commute to work. Best of both worlds.

I don't understand MPVs myself - not enough bigger than a normal car inside to justify the expense/external size. But to each their own.

Well I am definitely not jealous. I'd choose a smaller car any day as that is what I like.

Its not so much judgement as not getting why anyone would get one if they dont actually need one, given that they are so large as to be impractical for day to day use.

One guy at school I know owns his own business. Office based, doesnt lug around equipment or anything. Drops the kids at school, drives to his office and then repeat in the afternoon. They live on a new build estate so no off roading required there.

I can understand you might need a 4x4 in the very very hilly parts of Wales or Scotland and you occasionally might find yourself off road, but I saw a lot of the beasts in London. Ridiculous. We had one but it's stupidly big and annoying to park. It has saved us though, during a heavy downpour when the dirt road was nearly vertical and had a gully of water flowing down the middle, we managed to get clear and out of there. I can't imagine that problem comes up a lot in the home counties! It's also dual fuel (runs on alcohol). But when we no longer need a 7 seater we're going to get rid of such a monster of a car.

I would love one. High off the ground for getting into fields and plenty of space for a tonne of camping gear. Not as my only car though and I love my teeny nissan for town parking.

Its not so much judgement as not getting why anyone would get one if they dont actually need one, given that they are so large as to be impractical for day to day use.

But it's not - it's totally fine for everyday use - especially in the UK. Here I have to scope out a carpark first, to make sure there aren't any tight bits or low ceilings, but in the UK I never found any place it couldn't go! A disco is a very similar size, those mega BMWs are bigger, an Evoke is the same width but a bit shorter etc. It's absolutely fine - smaller than a minibus or a transit which lots of people drive every day for work.

I did use to feel the same - I'd always pick a standard or small car (and we do have a small car too, as I said) - but since having this thing, I've discovered it's just not a problem.

I don't understand why people drive small cars but hey ho. I loved our pick up but the quality was shite and sold it after 6 months. Now I have a full blown Chelsea tractor.

I'm not really concerned what people think about me, I enjoying driving a big car!

(But have always lived rurally, learned to drive in one, grew up with one and have dogs and horses, I do enjoy a trip to Waitrose in it though)

I love pick up trucks, the older the better.

Why can't you understand why people drive small cars cow?
Genuine question.

Also, horse owners have to use supermarkets too, sometimes they even go without the horse so that may be why you see lots in the supermarket.

I'd love one like this..

One of DH's jobs involves towing mobile home size vehicles so he needs a pick up that can cope with the weight of the vehicle he's towing. None of our neighbours know that though so they might judge us for it.
It's also handy if I want to take kids, dogs and bikes to Dorney Lake or the country parks.
I can't fit the dogs and their bikes in my car boot.

I have one, for 2 reasons. Firstly, like another couple of posters we have horses & the boot is brilliant for all the saddles etc & it tows the trailer Secondly, we have dogs & because the 'boot' section is separate, the car doesn't smell of wet dog.

I work in a small town, where i dress smartly for work & it's never even crossed my mind people would be judging me on my choice of vehicle, as i drive through & park up .

Maybe i should put a sign on saying 'normal sized vagina drives this, used for equestrian reasons at a weekend'

Why do I drive one? Because you can't pull a horsebox with an ever so virtuous Nissan frigging Leaf! You can poke your judgement right up your arse. And you're wrong about the insurance as they're classed as commercial vehicles and not luxury cars like Chelsea tractors are. I do not struggle at all to pass tractors and huge farm machinery on the b roads round my way. People who drive "normal" cars drive far more dangerously because they're so afraid of getting mud on their precious car. My truck works for a living and it just happens to do the school run as well because Mr Elbows takes the small more economic car into the city

Willow you should definitely get that sign
Although I am struggling to understand how a normal sized vagina could drive any car, never mind one that big. How you would reach the pedals and see over the steering wheel?

Because they've stopped making Landrover Defenders, which were the (better looking) equivalent of these trucks before, and Diacoverys and Range Rovers have become aimed at posey folk rather than practical (and priced at them). So those of us that genuinely need to tow livestock trailers etc end up looking at these trucks..

And I don't get why a 4x4 is essential in winter! We rarely get one. My focus manages fine in the hills of the Pennines, it has to be really bad before we need the 4x4! Hasn't been really bad for over 5 yrs now.

*how would it

That statement was 50% sarcasm, I have owned small cars in the past but I just don't like them! I find bigger cars so much easier to park and they just feel much sturdier and safer. To my mind I would try and avoid owning a small car if I could.

Plus I have a LOT of stuff in my car!

But that's my personal choice. I like big cars, not everyone has to as this thread shows.

Although decent MPG would be nice!