Shouting Match

[4F]

I rarely experience bullying behaviour from people in superminis. I quite often experience an attitude that comes with driving a 4x4. Which seems to be different to the negative attitude that can get from some Jag drivers.

If the driver's attitude has some influence on choosing the car that he/she drives, and it clearly does, then it's inevitable that some behaviours will be more prevalent in some types of vehicle.

Got to say I agree with this. In my opinion a fair percentage of those that drive 4x4 do so in a misguided view of superiority and have contempt for other road users. They almost feel impregnable in their tank size vehicles and expect everyone else to move out of the way .

 

[LLB]

Well it's definitely not about functionality is it?

It's about expression. And what does someone who drives a Hummer want to express? What attitude?

(Don't ask me to tell you. You've got a brain, and don't need to avoid accepting the reality, because it doesn't necessarily have to relate to you personally)

Why use an example of a vehicle which isn't sold in the UK by its own manufacturer

A Hummer is NOT and never will representative of the average 4x4 in the UK, Very straw man MrP, I expected better from you

 

[Landslide]

Why use an example of a vehicle which isn't sold in the UK by its own manufacturer

A quick Google would suggest that Hummer do have a substantial interest in the UK (return pages from the UK only and the sponsored link is entitled "Official HUMMER® UK"), and this link makes a number of comments regarding their design features to ensure UK suitability for the H3:
http://www.4x4news.co.uk/index.html#31mar08
I think given that the point of discussion is not the off-road ability of 4x4s, but the mindset of drivers who will probably get no further off-road than parking on the pavement, the Hummer is an ideal example.

 

[BentMikey]

http://yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-04-16

Is particularly relevant to this discussion.

 

[Smeggers]

How boring.

This thread has resorted to yet another "all 4x4's are t@ssers" argument.

I far more enjoyed talking about the enormity of FM's brain and its associated arrogance

 

[GaryA]

How boring.

This thread has resorted to yet another "all 4x4's are t@ssers" argument.

I far more enjoyed talking about the enormity of FM's brain and its associated arrogance

Lets talk about the size of your income...rumour has it that all those staunch defenders of free market capitalism and post office destruction are motivated primarily by personal vested interest in maintaining the present status quo

Can this be true...are you all 'very well off' under our present system?

 

[LLB]

Pot, Kettle me thinks.

The straw man is you.

Firstly, it matters not where the car came from.

Secondly, I used a Hummer as an example. I could quite easily have used a Range Rover Sport. Or a 2CV.

You repreatedly moan and accuse everyone of lumping all 4x4 drivers into the same boat, yet on your post above you've done just that.

It's pretty sad really linf that you have such an obsession with looking for attacks on all 4x4 drivers that aren't there, and then making such an awful job of trying to defend them. You're even trying to distance Hummers from being 4x4s. All it does is lose the thread of the thread.

Now, instead of trying to divert, how about having a think about the theory. The one that applies to all types of vehicle. And stay with the programme.

You used a Hummer as the worst possible example to bring some sort of weight to your assertion MrP. Now if you had used the Range Rover Sport as an example, It would have had some relevance to the argument, but you didn't........

 

[LLB]

I used a Hummer because it was a perfect example, being the furthest away from a function-buy as possible, and so the easiest to understand. I'd have put the Range Rover Sport in exactly the same boat, and probably have used that if I'd not have thought about the Hummer first.

Please tell me why you are arguing about this? You're only showing your agreement with the theory.

Pick any vehicle and we can talk about why someone would buy it.

There's no getting away from the fact that some people buy cars that reflect their personality or attitude. If you disagree with this then please say why, and we might be able to move on.

Toyota Landcruiser VX Amazon 4.2TD

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

.. That car will be bought by middle aged men with receding hairlines and ponytails. The only off-road exercise it will get is when it mounts the pavement for the owner to try and chat up school kids as they walk home.


Next.

 

[LLB]

.. That car will be bought by middle aged men with receding hairlines and ponytails. The only off-road exercise it will get is when it mounts the pavement for the owner to try and chat up school kids as they walk home.


Next.

I could think of a few cyclists who fit that description also around this way

 

[4F]

<sigh> Yes, I know, you have yours because you need to tow your horses to horsey things. So that's one buyer group.

What about those who own the same but don't tow anything?

If that one is like Linford's where are the bull bars ?

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Now if you has said 'chelsea tractor', there would have been less confusion, and I'd not have felt like you labeled all 4*4 drivers with the same tag.

Question - do you feel the same driver would behave any differently if they were behind the wheel of a large saloon car like one of the big Mercs instead ?

If you read, my other posts from today, you will see I got a mouthful of twattishness from an Audi driver, and I've been egged by kids in a Nova. There are other classes of self-gratification artists, but it does not stop there being a particular type who drive what I originally called 'urban assault vehicles.'

Question for you - do you honestly believe that these are suitable vehicles for use in British cities? Do you think that even using them (not getting on to how they are used) reflects an attitude of careful thought, courtesy and consideration?

 

[tdr1nka]

May I narrow down the generalisation to 'IMO, the vast majority of 4x4 drivers who only use their vehicles in urban environments are twunts'?

 

[Flying_Monkey]

May I narrow down the generalisation to 'IMO, the vast majority of 4x4 drivers who only use their vehicles in urban environments are twunts'?

You may. Though I am also sure that many of them are 'very nice people' outside of their air conditioned mobile armoured cycle crushers. Is there something about being practically invulnerable (or at least thinking that you are) - combined with being 'considerably richer than you' - that makes people more insensitive to the needs of the more vulnerable?

 

[jonesy]

Well, I had another twunt today - almost the same place, in a large black Audi. Same stuff 'get on the ****ing cycle path!' followed by driving off very quickly and hand gestures over his shoulder. This time he didn't stop anywhere near me - however I did almost get run down by another 4*4 driver near the private school where the bloke had been dropping his kids off the day before...

What is it at the moment? A series of coincidences? The good weather? Schools being back...?

I've found this sort of thing seems to go in phases. I got shouted at last week for not riding on the pavement (it is a pavement near a cycle path and lots of people assume it is also a cycle path; curiously, he actually called it a pavement, demonstrating even greater ignorance of the HC).

It may be linked to anti-cyclist articles appearing in certain newspapers or motoring rags. Last year I noticed a spate of letters cropping up in local papers to the effect that the circular blue cycle path sign is 'mandatory', therefore it is compulsory for cyclists to use the path instead of the road. Can't help feeling there was a common source for this myth. Maybe ideas like this circulate on the loonier motoring forums...