to think that 4x4 drivers are the most selfish w@*&(*&s ever???

[redrobin]

It makes my blood boil! They drive their big childcrushers whilst on the phone, they tailgate other smaller cars, they use enormous amounts of petrol, they block up roads, they look threatening...how can people choose to drive something like that? Do they have ha a selfish gene, do they think they are just better than other people so rules don't apply to them, or are they just thick?

(NOTE this is only about town drivers, i appreciate that they are useful in the countryside).

Sometimes, I think Jeremy Clarkson is winning.

[pedilia]

I get 'looks' when I go into town in mine. I drive one because I need a 7 seater, I tow a horse box and on a daily basis I have to cart 30L water containers and haylage across a 5 acre field!

[redrobin]

apart from PSCMUM

[Lulumama]

why do you ask if you are being unreasonable and then ignore all the comments except the ones that agree with yours??

[AitchTwoOh]

oi. and me.

[AitchTwoOh]

because she knows she is right. so do all of you, that's why you're getting so chippy.

[ingles2]

I live in the countryside and drive a 4x4, which I also use in London as I have to travel a lot of miles and carry a lot of equipment for work. I don't use the phone, or tailgate, or block roads but the amount of dirty looks I get from sanctimonious mothers is just unbelivable. I constantly feel like winding down my window and shouting out my excuses along with a small friendly handsign!

[fletchaaarr]

[ingles2]

x post with a million other people

[redrobin]

Yes Lulamama and Pedilia, i accept that there are circumstances where they are useful and practical...but the school run is not what they were designed for. Edinburgh, where i live, is cursed by them, they are everywhere and they are bloody dangerous. Both the drivers and the vehicles themselves. And the environmental cost! I don't care how much they pay in petrol tax, that doesn't replace what they are consuming in terms of resources!

[bookwormmum]

I drove a 4x4 off-road last year (this was in rural Cheshire - not Chelsea!) and when I got used to it, I could see why peple like them - fantastic vision all round and great big protective bars on the front/rear to protect it further. Hell, they could probably drive over someone's car if they were in the way and they felt like it.

An ex-bf used to drive one since he was/is a professional photographer and needed it to lug all his equipment around. On one shoot, he had to use his 4x4 to pull another car off a beach before the tide came in. Plus it had heated seats - lovely first thing in the morning . It's not all selfish people using them in towns. Sometimes there's a reason why people run big cars.

[AitchTwoOh]

[Lulumama]

so should people have to buy an extra car to do the school run?? surely that is more of a waste of resources etc..

[CantSleepWontSleep]

YABU. Far too much generalisation.

And actually dh checked the fuel consumption figures for the Prius, which is supposed to be oh so green, and it's mpg was no better than many 4x4s.

[pedilia]

I do see your point RR, just to add I don't do the school/nusery run in mine, I walk!

[redrobin]

Ingles 2 - maybe they give you dirty looks because your exhaust is level with their childen's faces. Or perhaps they can't cross the road safely outside their school. Or are scared to cycle their bikes in tank filled traffic.

[ingles2]

We'd like to walk but 3 miles might be a bit much for my 6 yr old before 9am!!!

[lardylumps]

But it is ok to drive a 4 litre sporty car that eats more fuel and thus resources as long as it isn't big and make you feel small.... your ideas dont add up.

[redrobin]

ah well, heated seats...i understand now. sorry for thinking you were all selfish.

[AitchTwoOh]

oh but you all look like such wannabe idiots, that's my main objection. that and the fact that if you are driving something the size of a shed you have to be MORE considerate than other drivers, not just the same.
i hate it when 4x4s park (illegally) at the end of my street, i couldn't give a fig if an ordinary car does so. why? because i can see through an ordinary car so don't have to go blindly into the road to cross. they're white van men in disguise, is all.

[ingles2]

mmmm... could be that redrobin...
OR it could be that they are smug sanctimonious pious gits!

[dinny]

always makes me laugh - at our local children's farm there is a separate bit for coaches and there are ALWAYS 4x4s (no normal cars, ever) parked in there. they obv have inflated egos, lol. idiots.

[Lulumama]

that is a good point lardylumps

[redrobin]

Smug and sanctimonious for wanting safe, clean streets? yep that's me!

ingles2, do you have long dark shiny hair which you flick a lot and sunglasses? this is the standard 4x4 driver in edinburgh.

[AitchTwoOh]

look, if you've got a 4x4 suck up the disapproval, at least your arses are toasty. people do think you look like an idiot, that's all. i do feel sorry for all those photographers etc who had to manage to do their job (with real cameras) before 4x4s came along, really i do. they must have been exhausted carrying all their equipment in a picnic basket.

[bookwormmum]

Sorry - perhaps I should have had my bf turn the heated element of the seats off and buy a mini car to lug his photography stuff in. He put the seat on for me since I'd had to drive to the garage to have my car window put back in in winter. With the window dropped down. Think what that would do to my petrol consumption!!