I have identifed a "type" who drive 4x4s in London, wondered if it was accurate...

[CountessDracula]

I live in SW London, home of the tossy 4x4s that never see a hill or any mud.

It seems to me that these cars are often driven by teeny weeny pinstick women who are married to big rugby player type men. I think it follows that if you are an ickle bickle lollipop of a woman and you are attracted to a huge manly bear of a man that you like to be pwotected by your big man and so you feel the need for the same type of pwotection from your car.

Do you think I am right?

I mean, usually people are attracted to their own physical shape etc aren't they?

Here endeth the poisson psychology.

Of course they are bought for image! Why else would anyone buy an expensive car when a technically equivalent car which does the same job is available cheaper. Thats true of lots of cars.

interestingly my sisters other car is far less fuel efficient (and even more unneccesary as they already have a car) and few is any people make any comments. And is probably more dangerous due to the bloody speed she drives it at

Quite a few 4x4s around here too (Wimbledon). I don't know them well enough to see if they match the stereotype. (In fact I know one but she's a MNer and very nice too.)

gym carpark 9am - lost count of 4 x4s when i got to 22..(ok, it was an idle, post-sch run moment and I was rather bored...) so they're big here too.. glad we're moving to the sticks as at least might catch the odd dirty one there!

Of course MNers with 4X4s are the exception to the rule and they're all nice.

One 4x4 driver on way home from picking up my girls the other night held up masses of traffic because she couldn't even reverse the bloody thing (there was an obstruction in the road)...I suggested she might swap it for a car she could drive...

weren't the lib dems going for a £2,000 road tax on 4x4's (excluding 4 models which farmers etc are likely to use for legitimate reasons)

DH drives a landrover discovery. He could (on a good day) be described as a big rugger but even on a good day i'm deffo not stick thing!
The only plus thing for me is that it has seven seats, we have 4 children so we need a people carrier. When pg with DS2 and we went car shopping (we previously had a peugot 406) I wanted a Toyota previa or a renault grand espace, but DH drives the car to and from work so I gave in and he got his choose. TBH I don't like it it is hassle and doesn't really have enough room for all 6 of us esp not for holidays. I hope that they do charge people £25 congestion as it will be a good reason to get rid of it.

TBH it drives me mad that he uses that much fuel just driving himself around

wrt fuel consumption, don't get me started on formula one racing...

Round me 4x4s are driven by men who need them because a normal car wouldn't be able to cope with the sheer weight of the bling festooned around their necks and wrists, and also the vibrations from the in-car sound system would soon render a Fiesta to rubble.
Mostly they like a huge black BMW or Lexus 4x4s with blacked out windows, although the huge pick-up truck style with lots of chrome bumpers obviously comes in useful during the cannabis harvest.
I think the bull bars are mostly used for herding kerb-cralers into dark driveways.

Otherwise gum-chewing Violet Beauregards aged 27 drive over-sized barbie jeeps in white.
None have mastered the finer points of the highway code as regards right of way or considerate parking.

round here they all have them esp those RANK bmw ones and the NAFF porche ones. My boys yearn for one ......i would not if i could!

Is a 4x4 (even an urban dwelling one) that is occupied by at least 3 people on every journey better or worse than 3 Corsas with only one person inside? Discuss.

I can't understand why anyone would buy that Porsche one. The lowest model costs something liek £45k and the big engine is nearer £80k.

I can count on one hand the total number of 4x4s I see round here with more than one person in them. Considering I see several every day, I think that probably says something!

I have ever seen round here I meant to say....duh, typing is bad today

OK then, Fio, just for you. I expect a contribution, though!!!!

Not sure about size as they're always driving to fast to see properly...I only get to see the glaring white flash of their french manicure. In our part of London, they are usually female, blonde, surgically attached to a mobile phone and with an utter disregard for pedestrians. Or the two that have nearly flattened me and the buggy at the pedestrian crossing at the bottom of our road have been. Two in one week . Apparently someone in Oxford has been doing a sticker campaign which is

Funny how non-urban 4x4 drivers are completely different (she adds hastily having grown up in a very muddy, hilly, not posh, rural area...)

Can't believe that so many of you live in SW14. I grew up there. Most people mishear me and think I grew up in Cheam.

CD - pleeeeeease put me down for one of your car stickers when you get 'em .
4x4s are my biggest bugbear and they are 10 a penny around here (NE - no, not NE London, NE England). On our 'estate' (think Alderly edge wannabe) we've got 2 Porche cayennes, god knows how many lexus thingys and BMW boxes are just sooo common darling one wouldn't lower oneself! . And yes the stereotype of lollipop waif with perfectly manicured nails, immaculate clothes and pristine hair with 2 kids in the back prevails here(how do they find the time - another thread I think!) I also keep seeing this tiiiiny little middle aged woman driving what I can only describe as a souped-up pick up truck thing. It never has a scrap of mud/dirt on it so can't be justified by the 'I need it for work' cop out (that my dad uses ). I just want to walk out in front of her screaming 'WTF do you need this for are you really THAT insecure?'.
Can't believe they only have to pay an extra 50 quid in road tax, that's not even a tank of fuel/highlights/botox session is it- they won't miss that!

I wish I could say this in the biggest caps I could find....I HATE 4 x 4s! In my neck of the woods they are driven by "new money" in the worst "footballers wives" sort of way. Need one for lugging around your bits for the farm? Great - go to it. You don't need one for the mean streets of St Albans. If I hear another person they need one "for safety", I'll puke. Buy a Volvo. If you are so monetarily insecure that you require a barn of a car to drive around in, I suggest therapy.

I feel MUCH better! Ta!!!

OK CD - have checked sis's car is a carrera 4S - does that mean anything to you? (SJ bows to CD's superior luxury car knowledge).

Sorry no-one else will be remotely interested in that pointless nugget of infomration (including CD probably)