Has anyone got a 4x4?

[momof2]

We have just decided to get rid of our faithful Hippo (Nissan Micra) and branch out into the uncertain world of much larger family cars.
I have been looking at a discovery or freelander - please note all old ones not new.
Has anyone any experience of how good/bad they are please? Or any 4x4's they would recommend or MPV's
Many thanks

multipla is too small, and has the seats pratcially in the boot - which was my problem with a people carrier. I don't have a lot of boot space now, but if a car goes into the back of my car, my kids are safe.

13 minutes is not ages ago!
And if you could read, maybe you can't, you would know that it's the same post repeated.
I don't know about you, obviously, but most people would contrue that as a mistake!
Doh!!

We all share the same fears and worries over road safety when our children come along. I look at where my toddlers head comes to, sat in the back of our saloon, and see that it is just below the top of the ?bonnet? of a 4X4. What would happen if we were side-impacted by one? It?s not a nice thought.

So, I have 3 choices.

A Get myself a 4X4 and thus force more and more people to get 4X4s. If all parents got themselves a 4X4, these cars would outnumber regular cars and then the regular car drivers would feel more vulnerable and then they would have to get a 4X4 and then the parents would want to get an even bigger car to keep their children safe and so on and so on.

B Keep my saloon and just hope that we (and no other child-carrying car) is never hit by a 4X4

C Keep my regular saloon and hope that 4X4s become more unpopular so that there are fewer on the roads.

Since I wouldn?t choose A, the only way to improve road safety for my children is option C. So now, can you see why 4X4s are one of those ?you love them or you hate them? things?

Plus, it?s a consumer choice that affects other people and is highly visible. If it were just a status symbol parked on the driveway, most people would not think much about them. But most people encounter the problems caused by 4X4s on a daily basis. I.e. taking up more road width so two cars can no longer pass on a road, blocking out light from your house if you live in a city with terraced housing and no off road parking, taking up a greater width of parking space so the person parked next to you cannot get their carseats or children in and out of their car, or reducing visibility so the car nest to it cannot reverse safely, or parking on the corners of roads (sometimes where there are double yellows, perhaps because the car is too big to fit in a roadside parking space) and making it difficult for people to safely cross the road, having one of these in front of you also stops you from being able to see ahead to read the road ahead, which I find unnerving on a motorway (much like a van except there are more of them) I encounter these things daily and hence, 4X4s get under my skin and stay under my skin.

I expect if you own one you?re immune to the hassle they cause or else see it as a necessary evil.

Mind you I should have a bumper sticker which reads ?Some of my best friends are 4X4 drivers?

a small Biodiesel plug. DP is involved in a biodiesel cooperative which is about to open in Manchester. CAT me if you want details.

there are others planning to open around the country. I think it's likely to be more widely available very soon.

You don't smoke so it is okay to drive a 4x4?? Sorry? Does that mean I can start again because I don't own a car!?

Also, as far as I am aware smoking will very soon (especially here in Scotland) be banned in public places. But driving 4x4s won't be.

I wouldn't want one myself tbh and I am having difficulty finding any real reason they are necessary... nobody has to 'justify' themselves as someone said but I wish that they could.

I had one once. A 1994 Nissan Pathfinder. B/c we lived in this lovely cabin in the Indian Peaks Wilderness of the Colorado Rockies, off a paved road. A lick of rain or snow and you needed 4x4 just to get home. We used it to get to backcountry ski spots and remote camping/climbing sites.

Other than that, and other business or farming reasons, I don't see much point.

They're nice to look at, I guess, when they're shiny and not all mud-splattered like ours usually was.

"I look at where my toddlers head comes to, sat in the back of our saloon, and see that it is just below the top of the ?bonnet? of a 4X4. What would happen if we were side-impacted by one? It?s not a nice thought"

shudder! hadn't thought of that one

oooh expat that sounds fab - the whole Rockies thing that is!

I have a specific problem with them. It is this:

I walk my 4yo to school with my 1yo in the pushchair. To get there we have to cross a road by a junction where there are railings around the actual corner to keep the children safe. Unfortunately most days there is a 4x4 parked so close to the railings that it is either difficult or impossible to squeeze the pushchair through. Its worse now that I have started using my winter pushchair which is wider than the buggy.

hmc ~ Sorry to put that thought into your head.

I'm not saying that I as I dont smoke I can drive a 4x4. I'm saying that I have very personal views on smoking, but feel that it is a persons right to do as they wish, even though smoking has put my life in danger and my childrens and other people that I care about. If we all had the same views we would no doubt live in a very safe if not boring world. There are tons of other things that I disagree about but I really strongly believe in personal choice and in the most part I am glad that we live in an environment where we can make choices about these such things. Just wish some people do not make such broad assumptions about other people on such small things as what car they drive, as if all of us that drive 4x4 are totally reckless drivers. As I said, I have never been the cause of an accident and I have passed my advanced driving test.

very interesting debate. i have a 4x4, am aware that some people hate them, the environment and accident issues. I have experienced bad driving by 4x4,car, van,bus, MPV drivers. The type of car isn't the issue some people simply cannot drive! People are entitled to their opinions but we are also entitled to our right to choose. I like my 4x4, it isnt a status symbol yet some seem to think that it is. People also seem to think that they have the right to judge me because of my car.

sure you are a good driver but if you should hit another (non- 4x4) car or most of all someone on foot they would come off much worse than if hit by normal car...that surely is this issue/ We all drive, we all walk, we're all members of the human race and IMO it's important to think of the welfare of others when choosing such a potentially dangerous machine as a car, therefore why bother with a 4x4.

very well put pjsmum, some people go through their whole life without causing an accident, regardless of if they drive a 4x4 or not. Obviously if there is a accident involving a 4x4 its going to be worse as the vehicle is bigger, in the same breadth if you have accident with a cycle its going to be minimal. Just please dont presume that all of us 4x4 drivers are accident causing drivers, we are not. Personally I'm more worried about the old age pensioner that took their test 40 years ago.

well the problem isnt just the accident situation Misschief, it does tend to flit between the environmental issues of driving a 4x4 despite cars like Jaguars also been gas guzzling, and the accident thing. Also it appears many people do see them as a status symbol but then everything we own is a status symbol surely?

couldnt agree more Jenkel

IMO people think you are more accident-prone because you drive a 4x4, of course that makes no sense especially if you are a good driver. However, many people resent 4x4s because of their potential much greater danger to others in the event of an accident

sorry that should be DON'T think ..!

but you could fall off your bike crack your head on the pavement and slip of this mortal coil without another vehicle - 4x4 or otherwise in sight.

and while I'm talking bikes and if we're talking road safety - shouldn't we ban those? I mean what protection have you got if a Reliant Robin hits you or especially if its a child on a bike?

and cars have to move out to pass them making it impossible for two cars to pass each other

IMO the group of drivers who seem to cause more accidents than any other are the non 4x4 drivers towing caravans.. This group deserves a thread all of their own

completely agree JT! Bikes are a PITA and wide buggies pushing the pedestrians onto the road as they take up all the pavement !

They are SO ugly! (subjective opinion, obviously!)

And they cost SO much money (Objective opinion).

I drove round Canada in a friend's pick-up, and it was far more interesting, being higher up. But still.

LOL!!! GDG has a double buggy

hey Anteater - we used to have a caravan too! hee hee!

yep, wide buggies are a pita - thts why i keep mine safely tucked away in the back of my 4x4

And it depends on your opinion, I bought mine for pratical reasons rather than looks, but it's a lot nicer looking than some people carriers, especially the fiat multipla prev suggested.