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

But some of those SUVs are huge on the outside and tiny inside (I had a lift in the back of a BMW X5 recently and thought how cramped it was.)

Well, I drive a truly practical 1990 diesel VW Caravelle. It's footprint is no bigger than an average estate car (slightly shorter actually) but it's MUCH bigger on the inside. It's a bit slow, but soooo useful.

Of course - I walk to work.

UG

You should see the new Land Rover Discovery. HUGE on the inside, and HUMUNGOUS on the outside.....

(VW Caravelles are cool, though )

I drive a Shimano bicycle. It has negative interior space and zero collision resistance. On the other hand, it consumes excatly zero litres of petrol per hour and is good for the heart, pl;us gives a thrilling ride. I rarely get stuck in traffic since I can often just weave between the cars. Bicycles are surprisingly good at crossing rougher terrain.

Often when I am cycling into college I am cut up by all manner of motor cars. Not just SUVs (Those bastards are thankfully relatively rare in Ireland), but anyone who has to burn octane to get to where they are going. So far I have not been hit, but it seems that the slower and smaller your vehicle, the less respect you get. It's like school all over again!

I do so agree with everything else said so far.

I know what you mean about bicycles - I try to look out for them as my boyfriend used to cycle to work. Not many car drivers even notice bikes, though.

He wasn't hit and knocked off as such, although he was once clouted on the shoulder by the wing mirror of a passing SUV . Fortunately, traffic into work tends to be fairly sedate in progress so he wasn't hurt.

"it seems that the slower and smaller your vehicle, the less respect you get" - can't argue with that!

Once whilst cycling I had my hand whacked by someone's wing mirror, I was going at about 25mph and the car at least 70mph so as you can imagine it hurt quite a lot. The force of the impact knocked me off the road. It's years now since if cycled anywhere but as a driver I always treat a bicycle as though it's the passenger in a car and therefore give them plenty of space when going past. Even so a lot of cyclists don't seem to help themselves, on more than one occasion I've had one overtake me just as I was about to turn right, luckily I spotted them each time...

I used to cycle to work before the hills became too much, so I always have sympathy with and am careful of cyclists - but some really are idiots. The other day at a roundabout, I had right of way, and was half way round when a cyclist cut straight across me from my left simply because he couldn't be arsed to stop. When I shouted at him what he thought he was doing(he was risking serious injury to himself), he just gave me a hand gesture. To be fair, I've had cyclists do stupid things in front of me, even when I too, have been cycling.

My bicycling days finished when I left school (NO it wasn't a penny-farthing), but I have continued on two wheels as well as four and that's made me very aware of the stupid things done by riders on two wheels. For example, three cyclists abreast on a dual-carrigeway, speed limit 60, start of the rush hour, no lights and it was pouring down

I look for two wheels and assume the rider's an idiot.

If the rider is under 30 and Irish, chances are it's just because s/he can't afford insurace, as it literally costs more than a car. I am generally very careful, though occasionally I cut across a car if I'm going fast enough since my brakes are at present a little iffy.

Getting back to SUVs, read recently that some of the more modern ones aren't even designed to be taken off road at all. At this point, the SUV loses its one and only saving grace and becomes a clear indication of how small one's penis is, or how large their breasts or bank account are.

[Note to small penised/large breasted/rich people who do not drive SUVs - good on you! Especially the rich ones. This goes for pretty much everyone else who doesn't drive an SUV as well.]

Our cities are becoming more populous, the roads more congested with traffic, yet the cars are getting larger? Whats going on? I guess having a 4x4 in the city is like people who wear sports clothes, but don't do any sports. It's all about the look sort of 'fing, innit?

Having observed many, many instances of suicidal stupidity on our roadways, I've concluded that simply getting behind the wheel automatically lowers a person's IQ by about 50%. You know that 'new car smell'? Fumes. IQ-lowering fumes. The car makers could make a 'truck-osaurus' that gets 2 mpg, and buyers would be beating down the doors...

We're not all idiots over here, though. I'd wanted to buy a Toyota Prius (another hybrid vehicle), and there is a one-year waiting list at the local dealer! There has been enough demand for the technology that the manufacturers are making bybrid versions of larger cars. And, yes, you can now get a hybrid SUV.