h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OK, here comes a rant.

I hate SUVs. *Hate* 'em. People who buy the things think they are safer, but in fact they're not. They handle poorly, flip over a lot more frequently than cars, and are more difficult to park. Not only that, SUVs make the roads a lot less safe for car drivers who can't see around the things and who don't stand a chance if they crash into one. And there'e nothing like trying to drive at night with the SUVs' headlights shining right into your eyes.

Not only that, SUVs guzzle gasoline like there's an endless supply of the stuff. Then their drivers have the nerve to complain about the rising cost of fuel. Well duh, people. You've heard, perhaps, of the notion of supply vs demand?

Stupid, irresponsible vehicles. And don't get me started about the Hummers...

quizzical
(who drives a Honda Civic hybrid and fills it up every other month, thankyouverymuch)

Hear hear. Agree entirely. except the bit about owning a Honda Civic. I can't drive .

And in London, we get people driving OFF-ROAD Landrovers and the like, in the CITY, what are they expecting, wildebeest on the pavement? Shoot Up Hill turning to savannah? As it is, the visibility in these huge things is poor, making the driver far more likely to mince small children and cyclists who get in the way, and the bull-bars on the front do far more damage than an ordinary car front when applied with force to unwary pedestrians (Bull bars? In London? What bulls for ****'s sake?). And then the drivers whine on and on about how they drive this monstruosity for the protection of their own children. Protection from what? Rhinos? Hippos? Other off-roader drivers? The little old lady they didn't see at the zebra crossing? The neighbour's child crossing the road?

OK, I'll stop now before I lose my temper or anything...

Amen. My only hope is that with gasoline passing $2 per gallon here in the US, some folks will have to trade in their SUV's for a pair of sneakers (and maybe even get some cash back in the deal to pay off their credit card gas bill).

But it gets worse, we have guys driving vehicles like this (well, almost like this) on city streets:

http://www.gluck.net/jesus/

And they have bumper stickers reading "No Blood for Oil!"

Wildebeest on the pavement...

Judging by the price of petrol in Europe (Over $1 per litre) I would say that an increase to $2 per gallon is unlikely to have any effect at all. The cost of petrol in the UK has all but doubled in the 15 years that I've been driving although prior to that there were massive increases in the late 60s and early 70s. I've not looked into the figures but it seems fairly likely that the number of vehicles on the roads is in some way proportional to the cost of fuel!

ok, this is probably not the most healthy of urges to admit to, but i felt a massive surge of testosterone driving my friend's 1979 ford cortina - it's a beast of a car that is criminally fuel in-efficient. but in all seriousness, i could sit in her driveway revving it and feel the power of the thing go rushing to my head.

i live in rural australia, and we took it for a spin out along the backroads - doing a 120 in a car that makes about as much noise as the apocalypse is a giddy thrill that i'm (almost) ashamed to admit to enjoying. as a noteable aside, my friend is about 160cm tall, and can only drive her car if she's wearing stillettos/ platform shoes.

earlier this year i took a job on a nearby farm and got to drive my boss's (gasp) landrover - circa sometime in the 1970s - it's built like a tank and has a clutch so heavy i need two hands to put it in reverse.

all of this however, was put in perspective for me when i paused to consider the cost involved in running these monsters - financial and environmental. getting behind the wheel of my little mitsubishi colt (which costs about A$25 to fill and goes about 10 million ks before it needs to be topped up) is much more responsible - but nowhere near as thrilling.

Sounds like an Aussie only one to me! The biggest engine you could get in a Cortina here was only a 2.3 V6 and they're not that thirsty. Plus when people talk about damage to the environment they tend to forget about the polution caused by making the car in the first place. It takes over 200,000 miles of travelling in most cars before running it has put as much into the atmosphere as making it. Therefore the 1979 Cortina is actually quite environmentally sound since the fact that it's still around means that one or two less new cars have been made!

after a brief consultation with my mechanic boyfriend, he tells me that my friend's cortina is a V6, and the plumes of smoke it leaves in its wake are more to do with her cavelier approach to getting regular services (people that don't do this really bug the mechanics that i know), and so i now feel much better about borrowing her car and leadfooting it whenever she's down here staying with me.
thanks!

In the context of the UK and especially city centres, I totally agree with the menace as you and others describe. On the other hand, I travelled around New Zealand earlier this year and was upgraded to a 4x4 SUV - namely a Toyota RAV4. Given the number of barely sealed roads, the occassional unsealed road and the benefit of greater visibility offered by the higher driving position I'm afraid I was almost (that's almost) converted. However, a couple of months back in the UK and my opinion is once again set. Hate 'em all (except where it's a proper muddy Landrover Defender in use by someone in an agricultural profession).

PD

Ahhh I like something with a good comphy seats ans a nice sound system, cus all i seem to do is sit in traffic and wait for it to move another 3 foot (1 meter if you like the decimal version) also the use of 4x4's is such a waste of space! too!

I think that they should tax people with 4x4's lot's and the farmers who have to use them in there work be not taxed for using them, just can't understand how its important to run the kids to school in the mornings in these things, it's not like there going to school in the outback of Oztralia it's just down the road, and of course we all know that theres going to be an earthquake or heaven forbid another parant with a nicer set of alloys on her 4x4 taken little johnny to after school music lessions, my god not an upgrade!

Toyota RAV4 - greater visibility - I've just had to have an operation on my hand, damaged when I was tail-ended by a RAV4, the driver reversed out of a parking space right into the back of my Citroen Xantia and then said she didn't see me .

Having ranted that, I drive an MPV, a Citroen Synergie, now, for a multitude of reasons, we need the extra seats for the grandkids, we need the room to carry a PA, speakers, guitar amp etc, and the driving position's good for my back. I've had a reversing gadget installed though .

RJR

The Toyota pick-up truck icon or Taliban Taxi ??

RJR

Have to say I agree the thread - Jeeps and Landrovers, keep 'em out of the cities, they're not Urban Friendly. Why are so many driven by people not looking where they're going? I hate sayin' this as I'm a girlie, but in my city there's a real problem with women driving 4x4's and just not paying attention, they're even on their mobiles fer pete's sake! This is supposed to be illegal now in the UK. Not to mention the mess those driving them get into trying to park.
Nuthin' wrong with people who work in the countryside using them though, that's where they come into their own.

I drive a tiny little Seat Arosa diesel (60 miles to the gallon? Easy!) and I have been considering swapping it for something like a Defender or Discovery, even though I live in town.

Why?

Either people on the roads where I live have zero common sense and have such limited vision as to not see me when it is patently my right of way, or my car has incredible powers of invisibility. Seriously. I can't drive anywhere without being cut-up, or people trying to push me around the roads, or people simply pulling out in front of me when I'm practically on top of them. I'm not talking SUV drivers here. I'm talking everyone from Fiestas, to Xsara Picassos (now, I *hate* those things, they're ugly!), to Mitsubishi Warriors to Transits....

I know SUVs are huge and thirsty and take up a lot of room on our already crowded roads. But the next time some ing moron cuts me up or pulls out in front of me, or tries to force his way past me, I for one would rather be in something a lot bigger to push my way past - or to run the idiot over, one of the two. The only thing preventing me from getting myself one of these is the cost of running one.

Rant over now. Thanks for putting up with it! I suppose the summary is small is good - as long as people remember small shouldn't mean "easy to push around"!

Oh, it's the same over here, but if there's a serious 'difference of opinion' on the roads, guns are pulled or a fistfight ensues. You just can't tell if you're dealing with a clueless driver or a homicidal jerk, so as a matter of policy I try to keep a cool head and get out of the idiot's way. (I generally don't pack a weapon and I'm too small to win a fistfight. )

I think the bigger vehicles actually encourage rude and aggressive driving, but I can understand wanting to drive something a little more solid.

I agree on the issue of moronic drivers - aggressive or oblivious, it doesn't matter if *I* am the one getting crunched. So safety sould be a big factor in any auto purchase. I actually think the safest car I own is my 1976 Chevy Nova (bought new ), with a steel frame all the way around - a feature I think has disappeared from most new cars. I was once stopped in traffic on the freeway and got rear ended so hard it pushed me into the car in front which got its rear end folded up. The car that hit me was pretty much crunched in also, but my Nova looked new ... well, it looked like it did before the wreck, no new damage, front or rear. I know some of this "folding" is to cushion the passengers, but as long as the OTHER guy's car folds ...

My other strategy is to avoid the freeways where possible, i.e. take a few more minutes and use the old fashioned streets. At least the wrecks tend to be fender benders instead of fiery 18 wheeler Armageddons.

And since I don't have to drive at rush hour anymore, I choose my times for low traffic.

A wise choice. Unfortunately, the choice around here seems to be heavy traffic or please-forward-my-mail-to-the-small-Honda-on-I-275. I pack a good book and a picnic any time I get into the car...

I allway travel with a book and a lunch and a towel

" ... the choice around here seems to be heavy traffic or please-forward-my-mail-to-the-small-Honda-on-I-275."

I assume those are two different freeway situations? Heavy and parking lot? We certainly have both in Houston, but the worst is in an area I can (happily) never enter.

"... I pack a good book and a picnic any time I get into the car..."

I kinda prefer a cassette book and some beef jerky. Drivers reading and enjoying a footlong sandwich kind of scare me ... even more than cell phone users. Or maybe I misunderstand ...

Seems to be an international problem, my record for travelling home from work, a 12 mile trip is 3hrs 10mins and that's not on the morotway/freeway but through a residential area