Please Have A Look.

[sjrainsford]

http://www.ravenfamily.org/sam/bike/suvs.html

Is it just me, or does this guy not know what he's talking about?

First word that springs to mind? "Idiot"

Anyone else agree?

Sory about that, but I had to show this one.

[rav-U-like]

I got my rav because I live up the north east coast of Scotland....snows several times in winter (bad or good if you got a 4WD0 and always raining. The car is ideal. I would like to see her on her push bike in the snow ! silly :censor: ....

[Piscator]

Over here in East Yorkshire, more and more people are buying 4x4s simply because of the deteriorating roads and the uncontrolled breeding of speed tables.

Your average "clean and aerodynamically efficient" (read also very low to the ground!!) modern family saloon simply cannot cope. One of my local garages, who has no particular dealership, replaces on average 3 sump pans a week due to their owners knocking them off on local speed bumps/poor road conditions, spraying toxic used engine oil all over the place.(How environmentally friendly is that?) They actually stock VW sump pans, despite not beeing a dealer, as they replace around three/four a month!

[chatman]

We could say a whole host of things. WHY should we justify, us buying a Reliable car....

Most of us have a good reason to own one.. We dont have to do a test to get one. But peolpe like this realy get on my wick :censor: :censor: :censor: :censor: :censor: :censor: :censor: (spell it) they jump on the "All 4x4 are bad" wagon saying they must be banned from every where... (tell the army's of the world that) They are not the worst pollutens by far.. I read some where that the small Smart car puts out twice as much as a Range Rover... :ffs: :ffs: (rant over) you've opened a a big tin of worms here....

This person needs to get a life and stop ranting on about old talk.....Same old story bla bla 4x4 bad bla bla (sod it i've started again) going to drive my RAV now but not off road!!!!!! :)

[Uncle Bob]

Hmmm...another tree hugger :D , i did have a brief moment before i bought a Rav4 ,about the 4X4 issues some people have in the UK, then i went and done some research into the fuel consumption, and CO emissions, and the Rav4 runs circles around most up market saloons, you only have to look at the BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Audi.......the list goes on ,most of them have a higher co emission figure, and take up more space on the road, ....so back off over the Rav4 ,its no worse than most MPV's on the road .

[sjrainsford]

Wow, you all see my side!!

:D

I mean the Rav 4 wasn't even designed to be an off roader per say. It was meant to do exactly what we do with them, drive them on road and a bit of the rough stuff.

It's great not having to worry about kerbing your wheels, or that little puddle you come accross in the middle of the road. They are just very practical vehicles to own and live with. And they do as near as damn it 30mpg. Most estate cars with a 2litre engine only do that anyway!

The view of some people astounds me, especially when going on about all that social stuff. I never bought my car to make a statement, I bought it because it does the job I need it to and reliably too!

[AusRav]

Yep....another ignorant peasant. I drive a 4wd because I want to. I was asked once about having a 4wd in an urban area (i use mine for work and pleasure that involves a lot of off road stuff) and my reply was to the woman asking was a sarcastic "Because I want to " Why should anybody have to justify what anybody else what car they drive? Maybe we could just run the whingeing *****s over! It would do the eath a lot of good to get all that fertilizer spread around. Maybe it's jelousy or even just plain pig peasant ignorance. Take care..AusRav!!

[jonbr]

My old car was 12 years old and used more fuel, oil and tyres than the RAV would. It also had much higher probability of killing some one when involved in accidents involving pedestrians. These are the main reasons I got my RAV.

If that person would like, I will return to my old car (it wasn't a bad car after all) and carry on poluting the air more and driving with more chances of killing some one!

[Uncle Bob]

Sorry to say tree huggers really f--k me off, they should get their facts straight, its not just the bigger 4x4's that are high emission ,poor fuel consumption motors (although they seem to be the only ones singled out and get all the bad press).

3 key arguments that single out the 4X4's,

1) emissions,

2) fuel consumption

3) and space on the road.

My Rav4 being an auto has the highest co figure of the range ...

2.0 vvti auto ...211 CO,

2.0 vvti manual....207 CO,

2.0 4D.....190 CO.

Now lets look at some other cars on the road......

Audi 2.0 turbo... 216 CO,

BMW 1 series...130i SE..221 CO

Chrysler PT cruiser 2.4 classic....223 CO,

Citroen MPV C8 20 HDi......230 CO,

Ford Galaxy 2.3 LX.....242 CO,

Honda Accord 2.4 EX....214 CO,

Jaguar S-type 3.0...249 CO.

Next, when was the last time you heard a protest about super cars....

Aston Martin Vanquish.... 396 CO,

Chrysler Dodge SRT-V10....488 CO,

Ferrari F430....420 CO,

Jaguar XK8 Supercharged....304 CO,

Lamborghini Murcielago....500 CO ,

Morgan Aero-8......295 CO,

Porsche 911 3.8.....285 CO

and the Rav4 take up less road space than most of the cars listed above .....OK i'll get off my soap box now :D

[chatman]

Thanks for the info Bob.....

Now when some tree hugging hippy comes my way moaning about 4x4 :censor: I can shove this in there face.......... or I could stick it to the bottom of my front wheel, then they could read it as well............ :P :P

[daviesm]

I don't think we need to waste our time worrying about this persons completely biased and totally flawed opinions.

They quote SUV owners as selfish and fundamentally against society. Surely the arguments used apply to all car owners, not just SUV owners - shouldn't we all be walking/using public transport?

No, we are all individuals with freedom of choice, just like this person has the freedom of choice to not own a SUV, in fact they are exercising the same freedom of choice when posting such a contentious set of comments on the globally accessible internet.

There is also the comment about the Soham murders, which has nothing to do with SUV's, but it is a fact of modern 'society' and one which forces a lot of parents to make the choice that they will drive their children to school, sports clubs and everywhere else, as it is not always safe to let them walk on their own, and society also dictates that all cars should be safer, so we have seat belt and child restraint laws and regulations, so it is no longer legal to take 4 kids and 2 adults in a normal 5 seater saloon, forcing those with more than 3 kids, or who transport their own and others kids, to own a vehicle with more than 5 seats, limiting choice to either a multi-seat MPV or SUV.

I could go on, but I think we all agree here anyway....

by the way, Happy New year everyone!

Mal.

[JITSU]

The Blokes sad but right in some things he says....I'm dead already :) :D here goes anyway; ........It does ***** me off when I see the Roads clogged up every day at 9.00 and 3.00 by Women in 4X4's and MPV's picking their Kid (not Kids,they dont 'Car share')and parking here there and everywhere,even on dangerous Corners as they are in too much of a hurry or too lazy to walk the extra 15 Meters . Why they can't walk beats me. My Parents didn't come and meet me from School :( and we wonder why are Kids are getting fatter??. If they are worried about their Kids safety, walk and meet them.

Anyway back to the 4x4 issue. I own 2 Ravs,my wife use one to commute to work as it's easy to park being a SWB and smaller than most saloons and no more harmful to the environment around Town than any other Vehicle with an Engine that size.I use the LWB as I need to carry awkward items for my Job plus I have to be able to get to places where most Cars wouldn't on occasion and yes I use them both for Towing Trailers and a Caravan too. I suffer from Back problems and the higher Driving position makes entry and exit alot better for me so I have no intention of going back to saloons again.

I think most of the negative comments us 4X4 Drivers attract is because of the ones that are used on the School run. If I could afford to run a Landcruiser just to take my Kid 1 mile to School everyday I would I expect but really it's just a waste of a good 4x4 and just laziness and as for the safety issue,it's catch 22 really,if the School runners all drove smaller Cars they wouldn't have to worry about crashing into each other in huge 4x4's.

I'll probably get a slagging for this but they are my views

Long live the 4x4 but not at 9.00+3.00

Cheers, Andy.

[sjrainsford]

I'm glad others agree with me anyway. I don't have a problem with people having an opinion, it's their right after all. But I prefer opinion based on fact. Maybe that's the engineer in me!! I need to get a life!! :D

I'll close this subject here then, before we all get to heated!

Thanks again!

[Moffmo]

just a thought, i dont consider a Rav 4 to be a 4x4 as such becuase its tiny compared to a Range Rover.. :P

[sjrainsford]

He he, that's true!

It's nice to have an upright SUV, but it's quite funny when you're sat at traffic lights next to a Range Rover or a Landcruiser. You don't half feel small!!

[Percydood]

I also own a RAV 4. I bought it from a friend who needed to shift it quickly due to company car. Firstly, that's the reason I bought it. I've always liked the car so that's a bonus. I need a biggish car as I play in a band and need the room to carry equipment. I also pull a caravan and so the car needs to be of reasonable size to match the weight (although I've discovered the car doesn't weigh as much as you think). I owned an Audi 90 2.3 saloon before getting the RAV and the Audi, I feel, was a bit more up market and pulled harder at lower revs. It also returned a regular 35 mpg. But, at 185,000 miles, I needed to have a car I could rely on a bit more.

If I could have my way, the car would be a diesel and then I could go green when all the oil runs out and use biodiesel. When I drive my cars (and I've had a few, all very different) I do so because I want to go from A to B. When I go there, since it costs me quite a bit of money in fuel, road tax, car purchase, etc, I'd like to do it in a bit of comfort. I have to use a car for work. It's a long way. I do not, and never have, driven a car in order to deliberately pollute, congest or kill. Let's face it, you don't need a SUV or 4x4 to kill a pedestrian or cyclist or to clog the roads on a school run. And any vehicle driver, or cyclist, or pedestrian can be a selfish w****r. Bus drivers being one of the worst. No offence to any bus drivers. I know you have a job to do.

People immediately think that 4x4's are more dangerous for the recipient of a collision, but the RAV kerbweight is less than my Audi, by about half a tonne!!! And besides, if you step in front of a tonne of moving steel, you ain't gonna come out laughing if it hits you. What about lorries?

I could go on and on and I might do a website where I can and then email the prat that thinks I am socially irresponsible to see it. I bought the RAV for no more reason than I needed to change and now, I've come to really enjoy it. I like the driving position, and getting in and out is a breeze. It's a bit thirstier than I'd like but there we go. I don't use it to intimidate other road users and obviously contrary to treehuggers beliefs I actually try to avoid hitting anyone.

At the end of the day, the socially irresponsible are the ones that provide us our social infrastucture with no other options. I have to use petrol. There isn't an alternative. I actually believe that there should be a barrier between pavements and roads. There should be cycle paths seperate from roads and maybe lorries should offload their cargo onto trains.

So for those that live a sad and miserable life criticising everything else with nothing constructive to say, I'm enjoying life with my RAV 4 and letting others get on with theirs.

Sorry for going on. They make my blood boil.

Percy

Sorry, just realised this thread was closed...oops!

[Uncle Bob]

Thats ok Percy, we should let the tread run , as we all need to vent our views on SUV's to all the tree huggers :D .

[JITSU]

just a thought, i dont consider a Rav 4 to be a 4x4 as such becuase its tiny compared to a Range Rover..

As long as the Government think the same as you I'll be happy