Why have 4x4s?

[jdurbo]

Originally Posted by Cazzie

Yes Please! but don't forget the ice'n'slice ok!!

That reminds me... hafta laugh, I've had my Honda CRV just about a year now and I've never used the 'in-built' picnic table - has anyone else? Do peeps have picnic's in Chelsea I wonder

Picnic table has it got a built in picnic basket with glasses and champange!!

jen xxx

[Cazzie]

Originally Posted by jdurbo

Picnic table has it got a built in picnic basket with glasses and champange!!

jen xxx

Sadly not just the cleverly designed fold away table which is so cleverly designed and folded away that I forget it's there lol!

[kshotton45]

Look at what the kids get up to when their parents own 4x4's .........!!!!!!!

BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | Teen tractor drivers face court


Keith.

[almostnormal]

oh dear....how irresponsible of them although....at least they can only go 30mph tops on a tractor, rather than 90mph in a four wheel drive land rover type vehicle!

[JOHN WEST]

Were all as guilty of the next chap who drives , is this thread about polluting or just a attack on people who have to have a large vehicle because of work or where they live or someone who feels safer driving a large car and wants to protect there loved one`s.If car manufacturers say that they are concerned about Global Warming , why then has there been a massive launch of V8 sports cars not doing much more 12mpg and having tyres much larger than a Hummer and horrendous noise pollution,I havn`t seen or heard grumblings about these in towns and city`s or even the school run.So the constant attack on 4x4`s is very pointed and in some cases is blown out of preportion.Quite a lot of 4x4`s have been converted to LPG at great expense to the owner making the emissions of these cars cleaner than the smallest engine,so maybe when your wondering why and commenting to or about these vehicles you`ll consider other car`s who are bigger villians than 4x4`s.

[Coley]

Read some of the previous posts and then go to bed kid.

[Paul mabbott]

Originally Posted by Cazzie

............ and I've never used the 'in-built' picnic table - has anyone else? Do peeps have picnic's in Chelsea I wonder

Of course, but the servants take those in the other car ....

I didn't know about inbuilt tables. The one thing I've always missed in a car is a fridge to chill the wine, and perhaps an ice maker ... and perhaps even a microwave to warm up the hors d'oevres. Well, why not a grill .... after all, you want something out of a car that you don't get from a bike or a bus ....

[Paul mabbott]

Agree in general - why not call them 'Killer' or 'Terminator' but, actually, Dodge is an American motor company which was in existence fifty or more years ago, long before 4x1s - although it's probably not the name anyone would chose now - what most road-users have to do when they approach a tractor!

Originally Posted by cresshead100

oh yeah and they've got really dumb *macho* names. "dodge" anybody?
one things for sure,you're gonna have to do a lot more of that in the future with those oversized hunks of metal around...

[Strontium]

Looks like I steped in way too late on this thread. It kind of sky rocketed - but who won? I only hate the ones that are driven by people with too much disposable income, and sneer at you as they try to drive you off your lane (like dual carriageways where you over take and they are cruising half way in the overtaking lane) or if some drive way too close in the outside lane down a motorway.

In one journey to a city close to where I live I had 2 encounters, one mercedes that wildly swerved out of the over taking lane infront of me nearly taking out my whole family (my horn was on full on till the battery dried up I think), and on the way back some 'land-cruiser' was chugging along in 2 lanes. OMG.. these people have some attitude problem.

One thing I dont understand is how they suddenly became so streamlined, and chromed up like caddilacs (if spelt wrong - PM me ). If its for off road use, why does it look like a flippin limousine, with impossibly stupid sized wheels, you have to be a kid to think thats cool. And if its streamlined, tell me.. when is that thing gonna take off.. I think they design them to look like moon buggies.. except will executive style cabs. Some people are watchin way too much sci-fi

[Xanadu2]

Originally Posted by kshotton45

I recently drove up the Hardnott Pass( awesome) in the Lake District. A 4x4 had to use a passing place to let us by. The passing place was rather rough ( still OK for cars) , the 4x4 driver was terrified ! and tiptoed into it!
Let's face it, only farmers need 4x4's

Keith. ( I've a feeling I shouldn't have said that !! He! He! )

Hey, 4x4s can't do the Hard Knott pass? I've done it on my little C90 motorbike! Yes, I in 3 and Up we went!

[Xanadu2]

Originally Posted by Coley

Who was it that said "I need one because of the hills in my area". I've got a bike that I regularly use for my transport and I live in a city that consists of nothing but hills. I've ridden up hills with like a 60 degree angle or something lol. I don't need a 4x4 for that.

You've got good strong legs. I'm a former Himalayan trekker whose knees have worn out.

Today I had a lift in a 4X4 over a wild hillside (which we did not churn up with bad driving) and I loved it! There is life after arthritis and knee operations!

[Ambriel]

Originally Posted by Xanadu2

Hey, 4x4s can't do the Hard Knott pass? I've done it on my little C90 motorbike! Yes, I in 3 and Up we went!

Whilst I'd agree that most vehicles can manage roads such as Hardnott Pass would you want to drive it every day? How long would an 'ordinary' car last given that sort of daily punishment?

I live on Kintyre and the state of our roads is a disgrace. Serious potholes that can break an alloy wheel rim. Landslides undermining or blocking the road. Localised flooding from blocked or inefficient drainage systems. Unmetalled forestry roads.

[StuartDH]

I think 4x4s are very important. They're vital in enabling everyone to have someone else to blame for pollution, congestion, carbon emissions, bad parking, traffic noise etc...and direct the attention away from our own non-4x4 cars

I should add that I live and work in the area of Altrincham, Wilmslow, Didsbury, Knutsford. Around here, sitting in traffic on the school run is like being in a convoy during the US-led ground invasion of Iraq...except most of these Humvees, Range Rovers etc drive around puddles

Although, come to think of it, maybe they don't drive through puddles in Iraq either...because there aren't any

[stripee]

Originally Posted by Xanadu2

Hey, 4x4s can't do the Hard Knott pass? I've done it on my little C90 motorbike! Yes, I in 3 and Up we went!

and I've done great off roading in an old Marbella. A bit slow up the hills but gets you there. 4x4s have their uses, as has been discussed, but are ridiculous in cities, although not the only vehicles....people like these things for status, safety fears, selfishness etc etc.
Needs the small car to be seen as cool and 4x4 drivers (and also some other vehicles too) as stupid and uncool when driven in inappropriate settings

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

Originally Posted by StuartDH

Although, come to think of it, maybe they don't drive through puddles in Iraq either...because there aren't any

There are plenty of puddles in Iraq, or rather there will be in Dec, Jan and Feb. And what’s worse when the sand dries out and bakes in the sun it sets like concrete. Definitely need 4x4s then.

I can't believe this thread has reared it's head again.

BWD

[moo]

we have a landy discovery because we run an outdoor centre and do a lot of towing of canoe trailers and boats on beaches and in and out of lakes etc.

Before the landy we had a very big transit van (very handy for living in during F&M!), and we also ran off road driving courses using defenders. On one "fun" course with a not-very-switched-on instructor, the older landy got stuck on a track in the back of beyond and the instructor rather brilliantly then managed to drop the second landy into a ditch whilst attempting to recover it. Cue my OH in large and rust-ridden transit van who went up and pulled both vehicles out. He has the photo in a frame on his desk and will not be happy till we get another transit van.

However, at least with a slightly posher 4x4 he's not always being pulled over by the police to check the back for gates, sheep etc

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by StuartDH

I should add that I live and work in the area of Altrincham, Wilmslow, Didsbury, Knutsford. Around here, sitting in traffic on the school run is like being in a convoy during the US-led ground invasion of Iraq...except most of these Humvees, Range Rovers etc drive around puddles

dont be silly, you dont think they'd risk putting there precious car through a dirty puddle!

[richardkm]

Funny how I often have to break sharply as I'm pulling out of my drive because of the sudden appearence of a Land Rover full of kids, being driven by a harrassed mother who of course is late in delivering her darlings to school, so is driving greatly in excess of the 30mph limit. Interesting how the children never seem to be wearing seat belts

[Squirrels]

I don't know why so many people have 4x4 vehicles. I can understand why they do when they live in the country and need high-clearance vehicles (for example, if they're farmers), but they really DO NOT need them if they live in towns and cities. I think it's a fashion/status thing!

[Xanadu2]

Originally Posted by Ambriel

Whilst I'd agree that most vehicles can manage roads such as Hardnott Pass would you want to drive it every day? How long would an 'ordinary' car last given that sort of daily punishment?

I live nowhere near the Hard Knott pass, but there are plenty of serious hills (1 in 6 to 1 in 4, with a thousand feet of ascent,) near me, and the little motorbike can handle them. However when the road is covered in mud from tractors, I'd like to be in a 4x4.

[Run rabbit]

I just hate being stuck behind one - they spoil my view ahead, like being stuck behind a truck or van.

Jo

[Xanadu2]

Here’s my take on 4x4s.

Since I live in the hills and neighbours keep sheep, so need trailers, I’m not surprised at the number of 4x4s around here, and I get used to sympathising with people when the road tax goes up. I’ve already described how glad I am to get a lift in one when the terrain becomes to difficult for a little motorbike, but I do sympathise with farmers who find land churned into mud by inappropriate off-roading.

Years ago my boyfriend, (driving an ordinary van) and I had to visit an old country house used as an office. When the boss wasn’t listening I said some very scathing things about people who come to work in a 4x4 that looked as though they were out to take a troop of boy scouts up a mountainside. But I was a great admirer of his secretary’s little SmartCar.

I wonder at the 4x4s involved in the school run. I’m sure it’s all about showing off to the other mothers, but when another neighbour explained that a 4x4 kept her children safer, I thought: ‘Who am I to argue?’ On the other hand, according to that logic I should probably be dead by now after nearly 40 years on a little motorbike, whereas in fact I’ve never had an incident, and even went over 18 years without even a minor tumble. So the way you drive could be the biggest factor.

I know a guy with a little motorbike like mine, who also has a 4x4 because he says it is the best vehicle to tow a caravan and his children love camping. I guess the best justification is towing, because I’m always seeing 4x4s towing horse trailers.

Years ago I had a horse and discovered that even if you have good riding country nearby, it gets very monotonous to be confined within a certain radius of the stables because that is as far as the horse can reasonably go under his own steam. Also, roads become increasingly busy and dangerous for horses, because too many drivers don’t know or care about passing them carefully. Yet I had no choice but to use short stretches of road if I was to reach the blacksmith or the fields for which I had a riding permit.

Hence horses and 4x4s go together nicely, because then people can take horses to wherever they propose to ride without getting mixed up in horse-unfriendly traffic. I haven’t ridden for years, but I disapprove of making it more difficult for people to enjoy reasonable hobbies.

But to own a 4x4 myself? That’ll never happen!

[Lance Morgan]

Here are my reasons for owning a 4x4 in a town:

The school run for my daughter
To do the shopping
To occupy a whole parking space in the supermarket carpark so other people wont' park next to me because they can't open their doors.
When I open the doors to dent other peoples doors because I parked too close.
For driving down country roads and making other drivers pull over because I don't want to get the tyres dirty.
For hardly ever using the 4 wheel traction control because you don't need it in a town
For looking down on other drivers
because it looks good and makes me look wealthy