Driving Us Crazy

[Pippa68]

So..did any 4x4 owners watch the TV programme last night with John 'Horrible cars' Sargeant..and if so, has it made you consider changing your vehicle?

[ELVIS68]

I never saw it, but apart from getting out of a muddy field quicker, whats the difference between a four wheel drive and a two wheel drive vehicle?

[Pippa68]

Apparently the differences are:

Emissions
Danger to pedestrians
Danger to smaller cars and passengers in accidents
They make you drive like a maniac

[ELVIS68]

Ok.. ta very much, surely the car is only as dangerous as the person driving it?

[Pippa68]

My thoughts exactly.

If you an axe to an axe murderer what would you expect?

[ELVIS68]

I take it the majority of 4x4 owners on there were stressed out posh mums doing the school run...all 1/2 a mile of it?

[Pippa68]

There were 3 owners on the programme.

One was a mum, one was a dad (I think) and the other was just a bloke with a huge pimped up 4x4..in fact I couldn't even tell you which model it was as it was beyond any recognition!

[NORMANTHEDOG]

i suspect from your posts,you have had a accident with one in the past.

[ELVIS68]

So that`s it, a programme about 4x4s and their dangers to the ozone,pedestrians,smaller cars and passengers?

That`s a joke, eastern europeans and chavs are ten times more dangerous than any 4x4 driver

[Pippa68]

Who has had an accident with one..me or Elvis?

I certainly haven't. The only accident I have ever been involved in was when a people carrier sped out of a driveway and ploughed into the side of my (small) car..writing my car off.

[Pippa68]

That's about it, yes Elvis!

[ELVIS68]

I had an accident in a 4x4...I farted and followed through

[Pippa68]

Hallelujah for leather interiors, Elvis :o)

[almcd007]

I thought the program ridiculous in the extreme - I sat there shouting at that gnome of a man and all the pointless and utter tripe he was spouting the first program in ages to get me so wound up - it was biased in the extreme.

The three "representatives" of 4x4 drivers were quite pathetic the only sense came from the bloke from the department of motor vehicles and manufacturers who was allowed to defend the so called "arguments" with one sentance per 15 minutes of drivel.

One example was putting 6-8 children stood still behind that blokes car and asking when he could see them in his mirrors and then showing a hatchback and what he could see with that. How many times have you seen eight toddlers, on their own and without adults with them, stood behind a car perfectly still, in the road? The view from a people carrier would have been the same. If a driver sets off without properly looking then it's the drivers fault - not the cars. The crash testing was completely one sided - it didnt show how much safer you were in a 4x4 doing 30mph being hit by a car doing 60mph. And as for the height of the car - all non-car derived vans, lorries, buses, trucks etc are as high as a 4x4.

And one last thing he kept saying about them being off roaders. That only accounts for a percentage of 4x4's and a percentage of those having limited off road capabilities - not all of them - for example the escalade & X5's were designed with going off road and that type of driving being their prime use.

[Llamatron]

Unless they have a good reason, e.g. they live in the country, 4x4 owners should have their cars crushed and replaced with Minis.

Almcd007, vans, trucks and so on are high for a reason and it's a reason for which they actually get used.

I'd bet good money that 99% of 4x4s never see anything worse than a slightly uneven driveway.

[almcd007]

Llamatron - don't know what planet your - on but my point is not that a 4x4 isn't high - the programme was simply saying that they are higher than a regular car - I am saying that they are as high as the other vehicles I named which are equally as likely to be in an accident than any other vehicle.

Why does a 4x4 have to go off road? Many are dual use and at the end of the day most were never designed to spend any time off road. A hybrid is a 4x4 e.g. the Volvo XC70 and the Audi Allroad not meant to go through water/up 1 in 3's in the mud or accross a field. Audi put 4 wheel drive on most of their range for the superior grip it gives in all weathers.

I like and feel safer driving a 4 wheeled drive car.
My children are safer in my car rather than a Mini or a small hatchback.

I like the quality, comfort of ride, drivers height position and view of the road and equipment level my car has - you're going to have to go a long way to convince me to get rid of my car as funnily enough I bought it because it was suitable for my familys needs.

Most people who slag them off have never driven one the whole group classed as "4x4's" are a very diverse class of vehicles and it's wrong to group them all together.

[horselady]

I drive a 4x4, I like it and resent being told by anyone else what I should drive. I wish people would save their protests and complaints for the thousands of un-taxed, un-insured drivers who have no right whatsoever to be on the road.

[almcd007]

With you "Horselady" - it's borderline dictatorship and the last I looked we don't live in a communist country - they'll be getting us all to drive Trabants next !!