Forum Topic

4x4 vehicles

Me and my partner are new to W4 - great website - we love it. One thing that amazes about Chiswick us is the sheer number of large new 4x4 vehicles, usually being driven at high speed in the middle of the road to the inconvenience and danger of other road users.Big business and greed are destroying the planet!  We have to STOP them NOW! But where to start? Wearing sandals and campaigning for more recycling and public transport is all very well. But some of us feel the need for more immediate measures. taking on the symbolic targets will help change wider public attitudes. So - how about the 4x4 for a start? 4x4s are DANGEROUS for children, cyclists, pedestrians and wildlife, not to mention other drivers. They use a LUDICROUS amount of petrol, destroy the peace of the countryside, and are TOTALLY unnecessary for 99% of owners. 4x4s are a STUPID status symbol. They sum up all that's wrong with our SELFISH consumerism. So let's try to make the 4xFOOLS who drive them more aware of what they're doing. Let’s SHAME them onto bicycles, or at least into Nissan Micras!Anyone else feel the same way? Or disagree? Let's get a debate going. Raoul and Peter (2CV drivers and cyclists)

Raoul Evenant ● 7790d211 Comments

“New analysis from Transport & Environment UK has found that SUV sales in the UK have increased by 23% since 2022. In 2022 the number of new SUVs registered stood at 910k and were but now that number has grown by a third and stands at 1.12M.In 2021 50% of all new car registrations were SUVs, in 2022 that figure stood at 57% and in 2023 that rose again to 60%. If the trend continues then in 2027 SUV registrations could make up 75% of new registrations.Such high numbers of SUV registrations would blow a hole in UK carbon budgets as the vast majority, 83% in fact, of these SUVs are petrol and diesel cars, hybrids, or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) meaning they are producing significant carbon emissions and will continue to do so as they remain a higher proportion of vehicles on the UK’s roads over the next 15 years.Worldwide sales. The SUV market showed a strong growth trajectory in 2023, with registrations jumping significantly by approximately 33%. This surge indicates a continuing trend of consumer preference for larger, more versatile vehicles. In 2023, over 51 million SUVs were sold globally.3 May 2024”

Steve Taylor ● 105d

Just happy to report facts and if that makes others miserable because they can’t handle the truth - tough!!

Steve Taylor ● 105d

SUVs are the Coldplay of cars

Paul Campbell ● 105d

Well, you must feel even more pleased with yourself than usual.

Stewart Jones ● 105d

Never miss the opportunity to post an insult Campbell, true to, oh so predictable, form.

N V Brooks ● 105d

“I think you might agree that the OP might easily hold a different view now as his post was made over twenty years ago.”Oh absolutely. As I said in my post yesterday. A lot has changed in 20 years with  SUV sales vastly increased they are truly in their rightful place as Kings of the Road in London and across the UK. The OP will have had to suck it up and accept it or he will be very miserable because there’s nothing he can do about it.

Steve Taylor ● 105d

Love a good SUV
This 2024 KIA is not a bad looker either

Julian Pavey ● 105d

John has the observational skills and attention to detail of a SUV driver

Paul Campbell ● 105d

I think you might agree that the OP might easily hold a different view now as his post was made over twenty years ago.

Stewart Jones ● 105d

Cycling is quite dangerous in London. We continually hear about accidents with cyclists and cyclists hitting pedestrians. We cycle a lot in Devon. The Tarka Trail is fantastic.  Fresh air. You aren’t breathing in toxic fumes as you do when you cycle in a city.

Steve Taylor ● 106d

Sorry Raoul, we’ve lived in Chiswick for decades now, we love our SUV’s and 4x4 as it takes us out to our beautiful English countryside with the convenience of the M4 nearby. Sorry to say if you don’t like other people spending their hard earned money on things they like (and which aren’t illegal) you can choose to live elsewhere with the kids. Oh and before you go on about us SUV owners cycling, we have three bikes we take cycling regularly on short journeys around town.

John Bird ● 106d

Indeed. As sales of SUVs escalate we are seeing many more of them in our cities so it’s good that they are getting bigger and better to make driving an absolute pleasure.

Steve Taylor ● 106d

The Hybrid SUV that I drive now has c.20% of the emissions of the estate car that I drove twenty years ago. It is far safer for ALL other road users with more pliant panels and countless safety systems ans one hell of a lot more comfortable and economical to run.

N V Brooks ● 106d

Hasn’t really worked. SUV sales and 4x4 sales have quadrupled since 2005. They are the Kings of the Road

Steve Taylor ● 106d

This thread as relevant as ever ...

Davey Harris ● 110d

not only in argentina and chile......

Silvia Diaz ● 6980d

LPG powered stretch Hummer H2 - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8002549075&category=43120

Bob Roberts ● 6980d

You don't expect logic from Red Ken, do you ?

Richard Greenhough ● 6980d

a BMW 4x4 with 4 massive exhaust pipes omitting more fumes than should be legal for an inner city vehicle at the recycling plant in actonHA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAA

Mel Waterhouse ● 6980d

I thought the congestion charge was to discourage cars being driven in London - what difference does it make what it runs on? It is still one more car in the traffic jam....

Rebecca Hobson ● 6980d

You don't have to pay the congestion charge if you use approvedl "green" fuel - a good enough reason to have your engine converted

Jessamy Sanbello ● 6980d

Why?

Lois Westby ● 6980d

Pajero - Slang in Argentina and Chile - refers to he who takes himself in hand.

Jerry Makides ● 6980d

SI, JEFF exactamente.....what a nice way to put it!

Silvia Diaz ● 6981d

Or of course the Electronic Test Equipment manufacturer 'Wayne Kerr' (seriously - look them up on the Web).

David Noades ● 6981d

Marvellous thread.  Lets throw in a grenade.How about the new Lexus RX300 4x4 with huge hybrid engine ?  Loadsamoney, huge, but strangely silent and frugal, actually uses less juice than my toyota yaris.  Clearly we all need one. I also understand that it is congestion charge free.

Bob Roberts ● 6981d

Sounds like the same mistake as a certain IT company who introduced their support package in the 80's..... WangCare

Verification required ● 6981d

i currently own a 4x4, but i cycle to work and used to own 2cv, which was rather fun. i did not buy the 4x4 simply as a status symbol (it's 13 years old) but simply to be able to transport heavy equipment. if you are going to criticise 4x4s, call them SUVs as 4x4 includes a lot of rather nice cars, like audis, subarus, porsches and lamborghinis. and there are plenty of fuel-guzzling vehicles out there that aren't 4x4s. if 4x4s were banned, manufacturers would simply make 4 wheel drive selectable, defying the whole point of it.

Rupert Dickinson ● 6981d

I remember reading an article by Will Self a year or two ago. He'd heard that pajero was Spanish slang for one who pleasures himself...True?

Jeff Gear ● 6981d

the name couldn't be more appropiate....

Silvia Diaz ● 6981d

I will keep you in suspense for the moment .... have tried my OXFord dictionary and it is not there.....how PC!

Silvia Diaz ● 6981d

Could be a grey import from Japan - assuming it was right-hand-drive. Go on then, what does the name mean to a Spanish-speaker ? Is it like the Chevrolet Nova which meant "No Go" in Spanish ? Or the Rolls Royce Silver Mist which meant something inappropriate to the Germans and so became the Silver Shadow ? Or the Citroen BX TRD which became the DTR for the British market ? Do tell.......

Richard Greenhough ● 6981d

I promisse you that I have seen that vehicle here in UK with the name PAJERO in the back. but, of course ,the owners are oblivious to the meaning and keep driving it SO proudly...

Silvia Diaz ● 6981d

Normally sold in the UK as the Mitsubishi Shogun.

Richard Greenhough ● 6982d

by the way ...does anybody know the meaning  of the word "PAJERO" in Sapnish?I can't remember the make of this 4x4, but the model is called PAJERO. was it named on purpose?

Silvia Diaz ● 6982d

"Speaking as a cyclist, I reckon the most menacing vehicles on the road are buses - clogging up the cycle lanes, belching out particulates, pulling in and out from the kerb without indicating - in short a real public menace."Also speaking a cyclist I too agree they are a nenace BUT their benefits far outwigh the personal risk to myself.  4x4s have no redeming factors in terms in social terms.Stew Dean

Stewart Dean ● 6985d

"Jonathan, who are you to dictate to people what vehicles are necessary or unnecessary for their particular requirements ? While I agree with you that having a 4x4 for solely urban use is foolish, one of the benefits of living in a free country is that people have the right to choose how to spend their money, and if they want to be foolish with it, that is up to them"You've missed on bit off there - as long as it doesnt inversly affect others. I have been inverstly affected by 4x4 drivers on a regular basis. They act as a visual block making some junctions harder to navigate. They jut out into the road when parked meaning I've had to swerve several times to park ones (especially badly parked ones - and most are). I've had to find new parking spaces because of this as well having to lug heavy amplifies a good distance in a couple of cases.  Then there is the potential threat as a cyclist (you're less visible to them when close up) and environmental issues. I would have just called 4x4 drivers wankers for buying something so impractacle and buying the advertising bullshit wholesale (I used to work in advertising) but as soon as they cross the line and affect my life because of their lifestyle choice then they become selfish idiots as well as clueless wankers.Stew Dean

Stewart Dean ● 6985d

Feeble excuses.."Can't agree. One reason 4x4s are popular in London, not just Chiswick, is the extremely poor state of the roads. "Odd, my clio just kinda rides over these. I would have thought that 4x4s would actualy add to the problem!"They are also good at negotiating daft "traffic calming" humps."You failed physics then - again my clio takes these with ease due to it's small size. A 4x4 will have more weight to displace making it more able to handle these bumps but at the cost of them being more noticable. Ride in 4x4s tends to be not set for off road but on road as well.  Think about it, you obvously havnt."I think perhaps jealousy drives your rant."Personaly I don't want to be dispised by other car drivers and I certainly don't need an expensive car to prop up my insecurity. I used to work in advertising - it's morons like you that buy the whole 'get this car - get respect' thing. YOu've bought into a lifestyle and are trying to justify it. Sucker.Stew Dean

Stewart Dean ● 6985d

Even on a farm most modern 4x4s are not practical - they're often too high to get stuff in the back. A good normal sized van does the job and can handle most things. I know - my father is a farmer.I think the flood of 4x4s should be stopped. They need to be portrayed as the anti-social, view obscuring, badly driven insecurity compensating inappropiate things they are.Stew Dean

Stewart Dean ● 6985d

C’mon ya’ll -  stop all this pussyfooting about.  Ye all know the real truth! Confucious say, man who drive large car, i.e. 4 x 4 = have small willy, so work hard, make money to show can be big man in other way.woman with small brain, marry man with small willy – get big car =  compensation.  All happy!Dan Murphy . you are a card!  Great posts. LMAO!

Jessamy Sanbello ● 6985d

I am buying one of these no problem on the road.

Hugh Telford ● 6985d

See this thread which did 4x4s to deathWhere's Rauol these days?

Jerry Makides ● 6985d