4 x 4 - raison d'etre?

Stooby2

I always love this argument and the OP spouts many of the misconceptions that the anti 4x4 lobby put forward.

Foot print and economy. Well I run a 1996 Discovery 1 that averages 28mpg around town and 35mpg on a run. That's permanent four wheel drive through an auto box so isn't bad at all. The days of the 10mpg 4.6L Range Rover are largely over as most people don't want to spend that kind of money on fuel, apart from a few enthusiasts.

Compare that to my friends five year old BMW 735 that is wider and longer than my Disco and does 18mpg.

I help run a Scout group and the ability to put the seats down and fill the back with kit and tow a two tonne box trailer onto muddy campsites is a godsend. It's one of the ways the Scout Group can do away with the expense of a minibus.

The higher driving position gives much better vision all round and I much prefer to drive a 4x4 than a lower car.

Bull bars are now illegal to manufacture and sell in this country, but there are still some around. I've never agreed with them, but interestingly, I see more Transits with them than I do 4x4's. A lot of 4x4 today have the foam rubber type light bars (mine does) which actually cushions the front of the vehicle.

I used to offroad a lot in my younger days, but the expense and the joy of cleaning and repairing the vehicle afterwards has gone now, so aside from the muddy campsites I rarely venture offroad these days.

I read up there somewhere that 4x4's block your view when they are alongside. Well that applies to vans, lorries, buses, anything slab sided that's bigger than your car.

It's personal choice at the end of day. There are plenty of big engined "normal" cars that take up more space and use more fuel, but no-one seems to worry about those. No-one seems to worry about the heavily modded hot hatches that do about 20mpg and fly around the local council estate like it's a race track.

leosayer

lovesgshp wrote: »

Whats it like in a muddy field?
Do you need all the luxury toys?
Does it go through 1/2 mtr of snow with no problems?
Our Mitsubishi copes with those no problem in the winter,

No problem with muddy fields - mainly thanks to the tyres.

Do I need the luxury toys? No, I just like them.

1/2 metre of snow? No idea, never tried. But with 20cm of ground clearance I imagine it would get stuck

reeac

Noone's come back with an answer to my point about the problems caused by blocking other drivers' visibility.

flashnazia

Richard53 wrote: »

Sounds like it's you that has the problem here.

Let me put it another way. I have a small television with freeview. I can't see why anyone would want a big flash plasma telly, which they only want to show off to their friends how wealthy they are, because 99% of them don't use them to watch actual programmes on. As for Sky packages, only morons without a proper life would ever want one of those. Fat, lazy people who eat chocolate and crisps on a dirty leather sofa and don't get any proper exercise. People with big TVs are obnoxious retards who don't care about the environment or saving the sea kittens, and I can't see how any normal, reasonable person could do anything but agree with me.

Or perhaps we could all live and let live, without feeling the need to judge people all the time?

Big tvs in other people's houses don't tend to affect others.

Big huge cars that: take up two spaces in car parks, threaten to run over small beings because the drivers can't set them, usually contain drivers that feel they can act like an a-hole because they are higher than other cars etc, do tend to affect other people.

Ultrasonic

Stooby2 wrote: »

Well I run a 1996 Discovery 1 that averages 28mpg around town and 35mpg on a run.

Is it a petrol or a diesel?

snowcat75

marlot wrote: »

So I'm not supposed to go to work for those two weeks?

Plus, I live round the corner from the hospital, and often do emergency runs for them when its snowy. If the 4x4 owners near me didn't, then people would go untreated.

I used to live in Utah where they get real snow, could be several feet per night, SUVs were useless everyone who was local would drive beaten up old legacy and imprezas on snow tyres (mine with 220k on the clock and 15 years old) , they were lighter and even without the ground clearance they would still travel and find the grip, but most importantly they would STOP wheres are 3T of SUV just didnt, believe me there's nothing worse than coming down a mountain pass in second gear knowing that the only way you can stop is to hit snow bank or plough into the maridain.

With that said i also drove an old 4.8 Corvette with an auto box RWD, for a couple of months, never stopped me going any ware, and even made it to the airport a 2hr drive in decent conditions in the tiniest little Crystler on the market, It was snowing so hard that the plane was 3hrs in de ice before we could fly, coming over the brow of the interstate and down hill into salt lake I had no way of stopping other than hoping I could stop it sliding in first gear.

No way do you need a 4x4 to drive through the bits of snow the UK gets. People just need better driving skills.

CKhalvashi wrote: »

I'm about order a RR Sport.

It's got 7 seats, an excellent driving position and the one I drove for 2 days averaged 36mpg; not bad for a car with that power/practicality.

Yes, they're the more expensive option, but if you can afford it (and I know mine will be used off road), then I don't see the issue.

CK

Really a range rover sport, a Client of mine had one a loyal discovery owner and pig farmer, It failed on just about all its uses, thirsty , impractical and most of all compleatly usutable off road with its big skirt, big alloys on Road tyres that continually had punctures, and endless mechanical issues.. He was a Pig farmer, Hes now got an old defender.

As I said many of these 4x4s fail because there trying to be all things to all people. Unless 4x4s are on mud tyres without the bling they fail at the use there advertised as.

leosayer

reeac wrote: »

Noone's come back with an answer to my point about the problems caused by blocking other drivers' visibility.

What is there to say? Ban high sided vehicles?

You seem to have a sensible strategy for dealing with those problems. For those who can't deal with high sided vehicles they should avoid parking next to them and avoid getting next to them at roundabouts.

Stooby2

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Is it a petrol or a diesel?

It's a diesel. Petrol would be the 3.5V8 doing about 15mpg on a good day! Unless you go for the LPG conversion.

gilbert_and_sullivan

leosayer wrote: »

What is there to say? Ban high sided vehicles?

You seem to have a sensible strategy for dealing with those problems. For those who can't deal with high sided vehicles they should avoid parking next to them and avoid getting next to them at roundabouts.

Indeed, don't get stuck behind people that can't cope with normal things like larger vehicles at busy city roundabouts, unless they use the bus/lorry/van/4x4 for cover and go out with them you could be there forever, like them.

motorguy

lovesgshp wrote: »

Whats it like in a muddy field?

Who cares?

lovesgshp wrote: »

Do you need all the luxury toys?

Thats the whole point of "luxury" items. You dont *need* them.

lovesgshp wrote: »

Does it go through 1/2 mtr of snow with no problems?

You're clearly not grasping this. These cars are not bought for that purpose. They're bought because people *want* one, not because they *need* one.

To be honest the biggest preventer to me making progress in the snow is all the other dolts on the road who cant drive.

The last really bad winter here i'd a diesel Merc and it got me about just fine.

lovesgshp wrote: »

Our Mitsubishi copes with those no problem in the winter,

Thats nice, but does it have heated leather, reversing cams, 28 speakers, DVD players, 4 zone climate control, xenons, 20 inch alloys and parking sensors?