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.

Refuse/recycling trucks aren't allowed to reverse without a banksman (or two) to guide them - in fact they are encouraged to avoid reversing on their routes if at all possible due to the obvious dangers inherent in backing up such a large vehicle and the refuse office will probably have the route plans marked out with the reversing points on it for the drivers to familiarise themselves with (barring unexpected things like a road suddenly being closed off due to a chemical spillage). Just thought I'd throw that in - the comment is a few pages back though.

I would add that with the amount of children being ferried around in cars, the amount of road-sense they have generally seems to have decreased - maybe as fewer children actually have to walk. Ironically as that seems.

Anyway, back to the debate

Bloody hell, more thirsty than a Volvo Estate? That's a horrifying thought. In that case they're not selfish, they're mad!

The driver of the 4x4 that is currently parked over the end of my drive, blocking me in is a selfish wanker. Can't be arsed to park 20m further down the street. God forbid he should actually need to use his fat little legs.

PPH - say it, say it, say it. (and film it for youtube pleeeeease).

This link is as unbiased as I've found. It states simply the pollution that all cars give out and what you can do to reduce pollution. It states quite factually that the heavier the car, the more diesel or petrol it will need and therefore the more pollutant it is being.

Common sense really.

for me, sue, it's the fact that i can't see through a 4x4 but i can a volvo. the subject came up because there was a tv show where a woman was saying i neeeeeed my 4x4 for all my stuuuuuuff, and they managed to pack it into a volvo with more space left over and she was forced to concede that she just waaaaaaanted a 4x4.

I found it interesting, whilst googling for that site, to come across a quote from Jeremy Clarkson questioning the sanity of anyone driving an off-roader in urban areas.

Rhubarb, I believe Jeremy Clarkson has said a few times that he thinks 4x4s in an urban environment are stupid.

I can't see through most cars as I drive a small, slow, rollerskate (1L. Nissan Micra). Anything bigger than a bicycle in the right hand lane of a roundabout and I'm stumped. Maybe we should all get periscopes fitted to our cars? .

no link Rhubarb...

oops!

Well, fair enough. I'm not really that bothered about, tbh, having had my fill of nastiness for owning a Volvo Estate.

It is a green Volvo Estate, though

article on 4x4 safety good and bad

I've lost count of the number of times on the motorway people have pulled out in front of me because they've failed to do the basic "look over your sodding shoulder" manoveure. I hate to say it, but women are particularly bad. Supermarket carparks, cars just suddenly reverse as you are walking behind them and 9 times out of 10 it's a woman. It makes me feel ashamed!

I remeber once rofling at this guy who told me that me that my car (an erm, Volvo estate) was the most dangerous car to pedestrains on the road.

He said this as he got into his Prsche Cayenne. And he was unable to see the irony

Twat

I'm gonna get one of these and run over anyone who gets in my way, so there!

I find it interesting that Parisians seem to manage without 4x4's. Half their vehicles seem to be Smart cars, half of the other half are Twingos and the rest are a mix of saloons with the occasinal 4x4.

On the subject of space in 4x4s - you can fit more stuff into a ford focus than into a freelander apparantly, (so I have recently been told by relatives of mine that own both).

( at being related to a freelander owner even though he lives on a very steep hill in the countryside and moves large quantities of earth and rubble on a daily basis)

people carriers cause less injury because they have a lower bonnet that tapers back. Most 4x4's (all?) have a square flat front, often with added-injury bars on the front.
And they do out-weight the majority of people carriers. When I had a Galaxy I parked it next to a Landrover Discovery to see and the 4x4 was wider, taller and longer and higher..
And only had 5 seats in.

I feel quite ashamed that women don't stick together as mothers. If your bf/IL etc got a 4x4 would you suddenly stop being acquainted? Doesn't that make you a very shallow person redrobin, rhubarb et al. It's such a sad world being judged on the vehicle we drive, or do you judge on the type of house we live in too? Or the area? If we live in the country we have to use a car and pollute the environment to get anywhere. Are we being bullied for this choice we've made?

I really can't make the argument that a Volvo estate is less boxy than... anything, really.

I hate people-carriers. I want space to actually transport stuff as well as people.

We're going to get a re-conditioned postvan when the Volvo packs up

and no-one took the opportunity to trash my exP...

anyone who drives a porsche Cayenne must be a twat. At least if they paidgood money for it and it wasn;t given to them free. Ugliest cars in creation wihtout the advantage of being cheap or economical to run.

nicecupofwine...i would doubt my friends would buy 4x4s. just not that kind of people. however, i would definitely question their judgement if they did, since i know none of them actually NEEDs one.

and frankly why would i stick together (whether as a mother or a woman) with someone driving something so offensive to my children?