Your Car 4WDs / SUVs

[khanate]

righto...

does anyone here own/drive one? if so, in as reasoned a response, explain just WHY you own such a hugh, hulking MONSTROSITY of a behemoth vehicle, and what purpose it actually serves? i have NEVER understood the 'appeal' of these 'cars' in the urban setting...

 

[year of the roo]

Melbourne Board.

 

[khanate]

pea tear griffin.

 

[Copernicus]

I don't have one, but it's absolutely essential for off-roading in rugged areas or when driving in remote, mostly inaccessible regions. Not that most owners of 4WDs do this. A lot of people over here drive them and usually their response is 'because I want to'. Or they use them to haul boats and crap like that. I'd love to see just one person with a bit of dirt on their vehicle sometime though.

 

[khanate]

so true...

it's funny how the furtherest 'off road' most of these people get is when they mount the kerb as they pull into their driveway.

 

[mantis]

so true...

it's funny how the furtherest 'off road' most of these people get is when they mount the kerb as they pull into their driveway.

Watch them try & park, gawd it is painful, they drive in, then reverse out, drive in again, reverse out, after 4 times they actually manage to park, when they get out of their beasts, I say if you can't drive it, don't own it, Idiots.

 

[WA ROO]

righto...

does anyone here own/drive one? if so, in as reasoned a response, explain just WHY you own such a hugh, hulking MONSTROSITY of a behemoth vehicle, and what purpose it actually serves? i have NEVER understood the 'appeal' of these 'cars' in the urban setting...

My Subaru Forrester is not that big.
Perfect size to tow the new boat I am thinking of buying

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Melbourne Board.

big lol!!

 

[hawkeye23]

My theory is that if you need that big a car as protection, you're obviously a shytehouse driver.... this theory was re-affirmed last Sunday morning as I was screaming at 35kmh down Toorak road among all the Toorak tractors.... their combined IQ would've struggled to reach room temperature! Morons the lot of 'em!

 

[funkyfreo]

At least Foresters are really just a 4WD Station Wagon.

I don;t have one and don;t want one, but the attraction has to be the fact they are cheap because of the ludicrous tax situation supposedly because 4WDs are for "Aussie Workers out Bush".

I was reading in the paper the other week that Suburu were going to bring in a 2WD version of one of their wagons, but didn;t bother because no-one was going to pay an extra $4k for it!

 

[DoubleA]

I don't have one, but it's absolutely essential for off-roading in rugged areas or when driving in remote, mostly inaccessible regions. Not that most owners of 4WDs do this. A lot of people over here drive them and usually their response is 'because I want to'. Or they use them to haul boats and crap like that. I'd love to see just one person with a bit of dirt on their vehicle sometime though.

When I was living in the states a truck (bigger ute) or SUV was basically every 2nd car I saw. Whether it be the fact that I was close to the border or the fact that I was in LA with lots of rich people and nicer cars im not sure, but there were heaps of huge suv's around, and ur right they are big cars. And seeing as my car was recently written off by a 4wd, I definitely don't like them.

I think the question should be asked, which moron was driving through the Iraqi desert in the Gulf War in a hummer and thought HOLD ON, the people of America NEED THIS CAR!

 

[Contra Mundum]

I drive my kids to school - I park around the block from the school becuase of the moronic driving of the Toorak Tractor brigade - I tell you there is nothing more dangerous as a woman with a sense of entitlement driving a Toorak tractor.

 

[TimN]

From what I have read, the stats say that 4WDs are safer, for certain values of safer. Passengers in 4WDs are less likely to be injured in a crash, but they are involved in a disporportionate amount of crashes, and the probability of passenegers in any other vehicles in the crash being injured go up. So I look at most 4WD owners as people who are willing to say "screw you" to the rest of the driving community.

I have given some thought to scaring them out of the city too. My rules for 4WDs would be this: Anybody who wants to can own a 4WD, but if you want to drive them within the city limits, then you need to apply for a special permit to do so. Each vehicle can only be issued with 4 weeks worth of permits over the course of a year. Police should be encouraged to pull over and check the credentials of any 4WD they see on city streets.

The permits would cover country people who need to come to the city now and then, as well as people who live in the city, who like to go 4WDing on the weekend/holidays and obviously need to travel through the city to get to the bush. And yes, I would charge people for the permits.

Of course, the simpler solution is the one that is already implemented - keep hiking up fuel costs and eventually no one will be able to afford to run less fuel efficient vehicles such as 4WDs.

 

[Swifty_446]

I drive an X-Trail, take it off the beaten track fairly often, good to park, economical. Can understand peoples grief when it comes to people using them as Toorak Tractors.

 

[Pessimistic]

From what I have read, the stats say that 4WDs are safer, for certain values of safer. Passengers in 4WDs are less likely to be injured in a crash, but they are involved in a disporportionate amount of crashes, and the probability of passenegers in any other vehicles in the crash being injured go up. So I look at most 4WD owners as people who are willing to say "screw you" to the rest of the driving community.

I have given some thought to scaring them out of the city too. My rules for 4WDs would be this: Anybody who wants to can own a 4WD, but if you want to drive them within the city limits, then you need to apply for a special permit to do so. Each vehicle can only be issued with 4 weeks worth of permits over the course of a year. Police should be encouraged to pull over and check the credentials of any 4WD they see on city streets.

The permits would cover country people who need to come to the city now and then, as well as people who live in the city, who like to go 4WDing on the weekend/holidays and obviously need to travel through the city to get to the bush. And yes, I would charge people for the permits.

Of course, the simpler solution is the one that is already implemented - keep hiking up fuel costs and eventually no one will be able to afford to run less fuel efficient vehicles such as 4WDs.

Yera - infringe on the poor dears 'rights' and youll have an army of 'I 4WD and I vote' stickers around - note how the libs crawl to this type of voter during elections.

 

[arrowman]

The thing that gets me about most 4WDs, even the larger ones, is the serious lack of carrying capacity compared to a conventional station wagon. have a look at the back end of a Falcon or Commodore wagon compared to a typical 4WD - the Falcodore has much more usable luggage (or dog) space in the back. And the passenger capacity is about the same - and yet some people buy them becausde they're "bigger"

The exception is the Ford Territory, which is a genuine large wagon, and a great piece of work in my opinion. A Ford dealer told me their wagon sales have gone through the floor because all the wagon buyers are buying a Territory and I can see why, especially since the price is so similar.

 

[Blues_Man]

I drive a 4x4 Hilux flatray...it takes me where i need to go to get my firewood also to some great fishing and hunting spots .it's tough and needs to be let me tell you .

 

[patsmith]

We've got a big-ass Toyota Prado. The sole reason we need it is because we go up north a few times a year.

Did the Gunbarrel Highway (including the abandoned bits) early this year, as well as in 2001. Took it into the Kimberleys last year and the year before, and take it up to Ningaloo at least once a year.

However, most people don't use it for such purposes, which is stupid, as they are hell to park.

 

[Chugz]

I don't have one, but it's absolutely essential for off-roading in rugged areas or when driving in remote, mostly inaccessible regions.

Just like the rugged terrain of Perth's western suburbs.

PS - Rising petrol prices did you hear? *cheer*

 

[The Legend]

We've got a Ford Escape.

I wasn't convinced when we got it. Even felt ********ey when driving it. We don't live in the bush, we don't go off-road or out-back. We don't drive it to intimidate, or overcome some dire sense of danger when driving.

I strongly advocate them being classed as a larger vehicle, and that appropriate testing methods be employed (parking being one area) prior to issuing a license to drive one. I see a heap of people on the roads who shouldn't even be in charge of a pair of rollerskates ffs.

I also think that state govt's should put a registration levy on owners of them (to help pay for roads maintenance, accident insurance etc). The levy wouldn't apply if the vehicle was being used commercially, or the owner lived on an unmade road, or in a remote area. Or just put the tax back on them.

 

[hawkeye23]

Just like the rugged terrain of Perth's western suburbs.

PS - Rising petrol prices did you hear? *cheer*

Psst, he lives in the U, S of A!

 

[Jafa]

We have two landcruisers - pretty well a requirement around these parts (Seems like every 2nd vehicle is a 4wd of some description). We don`t see alot in the way of SUV type vehicles - which might suggest that they are perhaps more of a city type status car.

PS - Rising petrol prices did you hear? *cheer*

A visit to the bowser cost me $1.45 / litre for Diesel yesterday. Harsh.

 

[Pedro]

We've got a Ford Escape.

.

I strongly advocate them being classed as a larger vehicle, and that appropriate testing methods be employed (parking being one area) prior to issuing a license to drive one. I see a heap of people on the roads who shouldn't even be in charge of a pair of rollerskates ffs.

I also think that state govt's should put a registration levy on owners of them (to help pay for roads maintenance, accident insurance etc). The levy wouldn't apply if the vehicle was being used commercially, or the owner lived on an unmade road, or in a remote area. Or just put the tax back on them.

You do realise that they are smaller than a standard falcon or commodore sedan?

 

[khanate]

personally i hate them...

'economically' speaking, people have been marketted to perfectly. they have been told "you have two kids? protect them with a four-wheel drive!", and that is why something like 2/5 of all car sales are now 4wds...

they are not safe AT all. they are death traps. roads have been designed to cater to regular sized cars (such as the 1.9 million kilometres of the skirting rail around this country), and now that cars have gotten larger, all that is shot to sh*t.

they're marketted as 'family cars'. has anyone ever tried to bloody get out of one of those nissan patrols??? i'd hate to be the disabled mother in law trying to get in/out.

and it's all image. think about the office-bound middle manager. he pulls 10 hour days five (sometimes more...) days a week, and in between being stuck in an office, and getting GRILLED by his missus for NOT 'spending enough time with the family', the only place where he's NOT being told what to do or being emasculated is in that 45 minute gridlocked traffice jam trip to and from work. the only place his overweight balding self is no long some 5 foot, 100 kilo submissive type, and is now a prado driver...

that's just my opinion, really...

gotta love the fuel efficiency, too...9 ks per litre...that's terrible. but then there's the diesel engines which, unfortunately, chew up our ozone layer...

they are a status symbol nowadays...it's funny watching all the bored housewives clog every road around a primary school JUST to drive little junior the 3 minutes it takes to their home. why are women driving them??? it makes NO sense!!! i thought they only appealed to the paper-pushing marketting/real-estate types who think they're 'letting their hair out' in their market and demographic researched jeep cherokee...

they rollover, too...don't take corners too fast, either...

also, poor rear visibility...you're five times more likely to run over a kid (maybe your own...) while reversing out of your drive way in a fourwheeldrive...

4wds are a stupid fashion trend which cost tens of thousands of dollars. it's pretty stupid, really...we need to follow every thing america has already done, don't we? there is SERIOUSLY no need to own one in the city or ANY urban setting. if you do go up north or bush, rent one for the prescribed anount of time. instead of spending $60000 for a car you use, what, 4 weeks a year, spend HALF of that, and buy an practical car. why do people buy one when they say "i go to the snow". you drive on a ROAD you moron. what difference does it make? seriously...

the appeal to the "sucking my way up the corporate ladder" carrie bradshaw type (who end up becoming 'soccer mums') and the frustrated corporate types. you'd think with the way urban planning is going these days (people moving into the inner city into apartments with SANCTIONED carspaces and TINY ROADS), people would want a SMALLER vehicle...it's SO stupid. and what about the DUMB names??? ford escape? escape from WHAT??? southland shopping centre??? land rover discovery??? a discovery of a LARGER BLIND SPOT. suburu forester? more like DE-forester. automotive corporations are selling EMANCIPATION to the masses in the form of an IMPRACTICAL vehicle. you know that the CONSTRUCTION cost of a ford falcon is MARGINALLY less than the constrution of a ford expedition. yet the RETAIL value is like, nearly twice. that's why they are promoted and marketted. notice how ALL the ads feature some part of nature, as if you're EVER going to go there. i love how some people use the "four weeks annual leave" excuse to spend twice as much on a car that is a death trap.

why do people buy them? because they were told to.

they aren't safe at all...the width of a 4wd tyre is MINUTELY larger than that of a sedan's wheel. often the 4wd's chassis and everything else is TWICE as heavy as that of a sedan. they obscure traffic and cause accidents. people who buy them because "they'd rather do damage to someone rather than be damaged" often regret the 'vehicular manslaughter' conviction before the second week of their 12 year jail term.

like little lemmings, people are told to buy them, and buy them they do...

my partner's family have a property in central nsw, and they NEED their fwd. the terrain is UTTERLY rough. 4wds aren't meant to be on paved roads. google it if you want studies and research on it.

and because the market is currently FLOODED with 3 year old second hand 4wds, these are the types of cars future P platers will have easy access to. this is so typically endemic off our greedy, excessive mentality. that's another word; EXCESS. you don't need it, hell, you don't even WANT it, but you MUST keep up with the jones. you're mortgaged up to your eyebrows, you've maxed out all three of your credit cards, and car repayments are draining you, but who cares, you LOOK LIKE you can afford the car.

status.

i love the 4wds that have the shaded cloth. that to me just shows how SHELTERED and 'taken care of' the car will be. it's a family car. nevermind the housewife couldn't drive her toyota starlet to begin with, let's get her a car twice as wide and thrice as big. it's safe. people are stupid. ABSOLUTELY stupid. they should be outlawed and BANNED in the cities. if you go up bush, rent one for the week. how much will it cost you per week? $1000??? if that...compare that one grand to the 25 grand extra you paid. it's TOTAL excess and serves no other purpose other than showing off the fact you can AFFORD it.

and how contradictory is the entire 'luxury' 4wd??? luxury? is there ANY luxury in driving at ALL??? has anyone ever driven 10+ hours interstate? it's anything BUT luxury. and how the hell are leather seats and cup holders 'rugged'? they're not. it's all clever marketing and image which people sop up.

i love that x-trail ad. rugged good looks. yeah right! look at the 1970 landcruiser. that's rugged. i love how they are associated with 'extreme' sports like off road bmx and mountain climbing. the people who buy these cars are bloody regional managers. go manage something you twit.

gah. it's such a toss, really.

 

[hawkeye23]

Great post khanate!