I've just had to drive a Freelander back from the garage as a courtesy car while my Lotus is being serviced. I thought I disliked 4x4s before but my god, it was the worst thing I've ever had to drive. The lack of any sort of feedback from the road is staggering, it feels like you could go spinning right off the road without even noticing. Then there is the suspension, WTF is going on there? Going round corners in this seems like something you would only do for a joke, it's so bouncy and rolls so much. The steering? Far too light, again with no feedback whatsoever. Even my old 1994 Fiesta is more comfortable to drive, with the bonus it doesn't make me feel like im on a trampoline. As for the safety/higher up thing, I just felt like an idiot, probably the same as I would feel if I walked round town on stilts all day. I can see why they are so poor at road handling, because they are meant for off road right? Fair enough, but I can't understand why someone would drive this on the road out of choice?! Granted I'm basing all this on only one model, but others of similar size can't be that much different. Anyone else got any opinions/want to completely disagree?
I completely agree. Those who buy these things because they like the ride height obviously havent used cars like the Scenic or C-Max. They are NO safer than other cars on the road, probably less so in some cases because they are so big. For people who have big familys that's what people carriers are for. There is literally no excuse to own one unless you live on a farm, estate or in the sticks but even then they are almost always equipt with road tyres making any sort of off road almost useless. But then again, you KNOW a farm/estate 4x4 when you see one because it'll be dirty. I just view clean 4x4 owners as pompus *******s that like to blind me with their high headlights. The "sports off road" is the stupidest concept I think I've ever heard.
Maybe they feel safer higher up? Sod the padestrians that they might hit while trowelling on their makeup on the way to pick up the kids. I don't know. I don't get it, I like being as low as possible. This reminds me... Some bloke at the petrol station filling his 4x4 up was checking my mr2 out and complimenting it but said something like "doesn't it bug you that you can't use that what it's meant for" i.e. to it's full potential. This is while he was filling up his sparkling clean discovery. hehe
I agree with this too. Higher ride height? Get a van like a VW Transporter, you can stick more stuff in the back than in a 4x4. I have been passenger in my mums partners Merc but its just a horrible horrible ride and as you say, it rolls alot.
My parents aren't farmers nor land surveyors, nor would either of their jobs specifically require a 4x4...however....where they live swayed them to make the choice. We live in a fairly remote village. But you could own a normal car, but over time the brakes would degrade from all the crap on the roads, and the skirting gets all scratched up and so on and so on. How would you prove that to the government? I see taxing every 4x4 owner as taxing someone for their opinion. Obviously there are cases where they are completely unnessercery, but there are also cases where they are sometimes unnessercery but useful enough to sway the purchase...that's not exactly something that can be government regulated in my opinion.
How do the brakes differ on 4x4's to normal cars to make them immune to road dirt? (dont answer that, its a rhetorical question). However, if they own Landy Defenders I'll let them off .
I live in a fairly remote village down a long drive which isn't even classed as a road, its basically mud and puddles at this time of year. I don't find that my brakes degrade or find that any damage is done to the car at all, they just don't stay clean for long. Sometimes I wash the car and can't get out the drive without it getting plastered in mud. Besides, I really don't care if people want to drive 4x4s, all I know is that to me they handle like canal boats (possibly worse than) and I would never drive one out of choice. Saying that, I have to drive the damn thing back in the morning!
I drove BMW X5 3.0d for about an hour some time ago. Although this is a 4x4, you can't really call it an offroad vehicle. I agree on the lack of feedback from the road. It feels like you are floating over the road, not driving on it. But other then that, I think the X5 is pretty good. You really feel "king of the road" in these because you are sitting so high. It did however exceeded my expectations on cornering & acceleration. I did had low expectations, but for such a big & heavy car it handles quite well. Before I drove it, I really hated all these "city jeeps" and thought they were so silly and just pointless. But now that I drove this X5, I must admit it is a fun car to go out with some friends in. It's a comfortable drive, I felt very relaxed in it and it handles better then I had expected. That sed, I would rather own one of those lovely BMW 5's then the X5. But I wouldn't refuse to drive it if it was offered to me, I just wouldn't pick it out myself. But I reckon a proper jeep is much worse on the road then these X5's. L
I used to drive a Ford F150. The handling is soft and sloppy, didn't mind the ride height as much though because I could actually see farther ahead in case something happened. It worked great for tailgating (tee hee) but other than that, there was no need to drive a 15mpg highway vehicle. I'm happier in my Cavalier, but sometimes I just want my truck back.
Oh come on, do your part and drive something 20' long and that gets 11 mpg on the highway. Those oil companies arent getting rich fast enough. And the ease of parking is the greatest feature.
Easy in my truck, in the "commuter truck" that my friend has you need about one and a quarter spaces to park in downtown milwaukee.
Well the left front brake on my 206 definetly got weaker over time when I was living at home. All the clogging up seemed to make the caliper move less easily. Disassemble it, clean it up and it'd be ok for another 4 months. But there are definetly parts of my skirting ruined on my 206.
Well if he's parking in parrallel or downtown lots, I can understand, but where I live, spaces are at LEAST 10 feet wide. Even at 9 feet wide I can still slide my truck in there. I'm a pro
I challenge all of you truck drivers to come and parrallel park in Bruges! Most spots are probably smaller then those big american trucks.
Probably a fitting place to post a link to this photo. I wouldn't say "normal car" but you get the idea
Ahh cmon J, that's a BS picture. One is a Japanese-micro car, specific for the Japanese market and Tokyo roads in one of the most densly populated cities on the planet, compared to Texas which has more space than you need and they can afford to run cars that big. If you tried to run one of those truck outside of the US it wouldn't work though, and noone does.
