what the FUCK is that advert for 4x4s doing at the top of this page????

[CountessDracula]

I cannot believe it

How about one for air rifles too?

certainly if i were the sort of person who would park anything on the corner then I would listen. However as Im not I will do as I always do and keep moving

just to be clear about this, jampot, i don't mean illegally parked on the corner. i just mean the last legitimate space parked nearest to the corner. honestly, it is frightening how dangerous it is to pull out from my quiet street onto the main road nowadays, with all the 4x4s around. what does it mean, that in order to keep our children safe we will all be forced to buy larger and larger cars?

Personally i dont see the point of people who live and work in towns or citys having 4x4's, unless they do alot of towing.

In the Countryside its completly different. Small lanes in the winter can be death traps- well they are round here. When they get muddy or icy small cars dont handle well, and its easy to loose control. At least with 4x4's you dont have that worry.

Most people that i know who have 4x4's have them for a good reason. I have mine because i go across fields most days, mine is big, and i need the space for the children and the dogs, i do alot of towing, and it can handle the roads round here in the winter.

TOTALLY different if you live in the country and it is a 'working vehicle' so to speak. (but be considerate if you ever go into the town, eh? did i mention the corner spaces? did i?! )

That is sad news but not surprising unfortunately Joshuaandchloesmum.

Just seen the 4x4 ad...

Ohh dont worry, when i go into town i always park it in a car park.

My truck is big, and its not something that i woild park on the side of the main road in town, because you cant see round it that well.

Im a very careful 4x4 driver, i know that it can be an obstruction, and it can be a lethal machine.

Please excuse my spelling. I seem to have lost all brain power and typing skills this evening!

exactly jandcsmum,
'because you can't see round it', 'it's an obstruction'. so why don't people where i live understand that...? it amazes and enrages me.

and that it crappy news about your folks' farm. for various reasons my parents (total townies) knew a lot of dairy farmers in the lake district, but it's been too hard for their children to take over. it's a disgrace.

No-one ever said anything about 4x4s when they were called landrovers and were driven in rural areas. But the huge marketing splurges, and the burgeoning increase in them is nothing to do with rural life.

Sorry - I don't see the problem. MN is a business ... they have salaries to pay, upgrades they want to make to the site so we all still enjoy it and come back, and they would probably like to save some money for the future.
We are a very diverse community and they cannot possibly please all of us all the time ... some have the money for an expensive car, some are environmentally aware, some are interested in baby clothes, others in plastic surgery ... since all of these things are legal, I don't see any issue in MN accepting advertising for their business.
These things tend to self regulate themselves in a way ... advertisers who don't get click throughs on the site won't chose to advertise on MN again. Clearly Boden get good business from here which is why they continue to advertise. So if the car company don't get any leads they will probably not advertise again anyway ...

Stop whinging and get an ad blocker if you don't like them. I don't see any ads at all.

It is a car CD - lots of people drive cars, a fair proportion drive 4x4s. Or do we all have to buy cars that run on sunflower oil now?

Ooh good point. Hadn't noticed it as I always scroll down immediately, though. Think the combination of danger to pedestrians/other vehicles, pollution and lack of necessity unless you are a farmer and live up a mountain makes them particularly irritating. Like a badge saying 'I'm a selfish git NOW GET OUT OF MY WAY'.

ooh there it is again! Its a nissan!

the nissan pathfinder is actually one of the only 4x4s to get the higher rating for pedestrian safety. I had a terrano, now have a MPV, I want the pathfinder next.

Ah yes - the Pathfinder was one of the ones that is safer for pedestirans than, I think, a Clio or something similar.

I think MN has been quite gracious about choosing which ads they run based on forum sentiment. It's a business, for goodness sakes. When we all become stockholders, then comment on ads might be more acceptable.

No car is safe for pedestrians if driven the wrong way. What is the matter with MN these days? It is le living with the thought police.

Mnay of the arguments given for 4x4s can be also applied to people carriers too - size, parking, petrol....

Mumsnet is for ALL parents. This includes those who do have a need (or even a desire) to have a 4x4, not just city dwellers not liking them for whatever reasons (all valid no dount I hasten to add).

I don't have that software but have to say I rarely pay any motice to the ads around. I find the threads generally much more interesting and distracting.
If you don't like ads - get an adbuster software thingy for your computer.

Sorry, but it makes me laugh that subs from members are expected to keep the site afloat ! I suspect that the revenue from subs is a tiny drop in a fairly big financial ocean.

well as someone who was hit by a car as a child, was in hospital for three months and very lucky to escape with my life, i would say to those who own 4x4s, i I had been hit by a 4x4 I would not have survived. the survival rate for those hit by 4x4s is pretty bleak. I live in Oxford and the things are everywhere, driven by yummy mummys on their mobile phones and they need them as much as I need a hot air balloon. I you want to argue the the environmental issue then go ahead [although i don't agree - they are gas guzzling monstrosities] but you can't argue the safety issue. Though i appreciate MN need as much sponsorship as possible, I do think they should draw the line at this one.

Maybe we shold ban the mobile phone compny ads too - couple of them on there. Think of those masts being out up in residential areas or near schools.........

Or the SeaFrance & P&O ones - those boats must pump out an awful lot of rubbish into our seas.

Prudential advertising the car insurance - encouraging us to use nasty petrol guzzling, environment polluting cars...

P&O one is advertising DisnelLand Patis - amassive multinational company, probably also another gripe people might have.

Where do we stop???

But surely the size/danger thing can also be applied to those driving the big people carriers, white vans, trucks.....

If any vehicle is driven carefully, then there should not be the problem.

I suspect P&O ferries chuck out more pollution than all the 4x4s in the UK.

i think if you had ever been hit by a car you might have a different opinion.