Are you for or against 4x4s?

Don’t assume that there’s less to go wrong on a 4×4. I bought a new BMW X5 six years ago, and lots of things have gone wrong over the years. The most annoying thing is the geometry (a bit like the tracking), because it can’t withstand an uneven road surface very well, and when the geometry gets knocked out, it causes excessive tyre wear, and the tyres are around £300 or more each.

The performance on 4x4s is a big advantage, especially when accelerating from stationary. You can really feel the extra grip that the car has on the road. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Lamborghinis are also 4×4.

I had a 4×4 a couple of years ago. I quite liked it at first but eventually realised the thing had abilities I simply didn’t need 99% of the time and, it had a drink problem, got though tyres quicker than I liked and because of the complexity of the transmission was more prone to going expensively wrong.

If you live on a hill, it’s great you can get up that hill on the few days a year it’s covered in snow and ice. However I found most Winters “going” wasn’t really the problem with any car, “stopping” was the problem and 4×4’s are really no better at that than any other car.

Don’t think I really need or will get another. I’ll spend the petrol savings, the repair savings and the tyre cost savings afforded by my mid sized hatchback on me (or the gas bill).

I have never owned a 4×4 as I live in the city and a normal car suits me just fine. I do however find 4×4’s a real hindrance to my comfort and safety. In car parks they take up more than a fair share of a parking space and overflow into mine. I then find that I’m unable to open my door fully so entering or exiting my car, with a sometimes dodgy back is almost impossible. They reverse without thought to smaller vehicles and use their size to dominate. If I follow a 4×4 in traffic I have no idea what is happening ahead as they block my view. The same applies if we are side by side and they are waiting to turn right, I can’t turn left until they move as again I can’t see when it is safe to move. If I’m in a collision with a 4×4/urban tractor, I know I or my supermini will not come off best. Perhaps Motoring Which? has some statistics on the outcome of such accidents. Perhaps all normal sized cars should be fitted with a periscope so we are aware of what is happening around and about 4×4’s.

For most people the 2WD drive version and a set of winter tyres will give them everything they used on the 4WD drive version for less money.

I have never bought or considered buying a 4WD car. Extra cost, more to go wrong and possibly poorer fuel economy are the main reasons.

Having owned a Freelander I would say that the major requirement that seems to be missing is reliability. A head gasket blew at 70,000 miles and throughout it’s life with me the electrical connectors were anything but! Apart from the above, oh, and a rear window opener that was always jamming and poor servicing by a Landrover specialist, it was a nice 4×4. I will not be buying another.

I am very happy with my Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.0 crd. A mercedes engine and gearbox mated to Jeep suspension allows me to live in the deep campo for three months every year which pleases my doctor as well.
Non 4wd visitors have to park at the entrance to the valley where I live having previously arranged a pickup time (poor mobile signals in mountains) which is ideal for ensuring only welcome visitors arrive.
My (mostly Spanish) neighbours in the valley are also 4wd owners from luxury to donkey power and still behave as a community in the poorest region of Spain, helping each other as needed.
They are simply the appropriate vehicles for this region and cope with flash flooded river bed roads as well as motorways. Having bought a four year old it has cost less than 400€ in repairs over the last 4½ years with low fixed costs for this 67 year old.

Most people haven’t a clue that smaller cars can be 4x4s – or that some are only use 4wd when they need it.

Shame on you! Are you for or against 4x4s . . . Would you say the same for vans? Or hatchbacks? For some owners purposes a 4×4 is necessary and the ‘class war’ overtones that being ‘for or against’ stir up irritate me. The fact that some people who have no use for them whatsoever choose to buy them is not the fault of the vehicle nor some dreadful act committed by all owners or users. It reminds me of the ‘Yuppy’ sneers that used to be levelled at everyone who owned a mobile phone . . . until everyone had them then attitudes changed.

I travel into woodlands and forests and have to have a vehicle that will do the things that my ancient but reliable Discovery does and, incidentally, by not driving it as a ‘point and squirt’ on rural lanes, A roads and motorways I regularly get 40 mpg running on biodiesel made from waste cooking oil.

Townies may complain that they have no place in the leafy suburbs and they may be right however I have dragged many a townie out of the woods or from a ‘nice place for a picnic’ but that doesn’t result in my saying that their low ground clearance, poor visibility, (comparatively) smooth tyred, two wheel drive conveyances should never venture away from the city.

Most people have a car, or other vehicle, that is unsuitable in one or more significant ways but this particular spite seems to be motivated by personal factors, a form of envy, rather than rationality like the ‘Mr Angry’ and his self righteous partner who laid into me in an Aldi car park for driving a ‘Chelsea Tractor’ . . . I opened the back door and dragged out my industrial size chainsaw and asked where would I put that and all my kit and safety equipment in a little saloon?

Our other car? My partner has an ageing little two door as a city run around so generally we can fit the car to the purpose.

Clearly the army and folk who need to earn a living by motoring off road need to have four wheel drive vehicles.
As for most of the rest of us we really don’t need them and we could save a lot of CO2 production if we stopped using them or converted them to two wheel drive.