How did this morph from a piece of useful info on tpms to Range Rover/other SUV driver bashing thread...?

Probably because most people realise that the owners of large SUV's generally deserve a good bashing.

Take a former colleagues wife. Had to have a large diesel SUV to take the kids to school in, just not possible to get them there by any other method and its much safer for them in a large SUV of course. So off he went and spent £48000 on one.

The real facts are:

• School is less than one mile away from where they live.
• When it snows he would not allow her to drive it should it get damaged.
• When it snows all the schools are closed for H & S reasons (this does annoy the hell out of me - in the 14 years I attended school they never closed for a single day due to the weather and that included the winter of 1963).

After 3 years and under 10,000 miles they swapped it, for a new model of the same car that was even more expensive.

Why don't they walk for feks sake.

Peobably too fat and leg muscles atrophied through being ferried everywhere from birth. Parents' brains atrophied as well, from stated facts.

Hmm, funny about their brains having atrophied, yet they still are clever enough to have a job paying enough to buy such a vehicle. Jealousy is such an ugly thing. How people spend their hard earned is up to them.

If we wanted we could also afford such a car but we have enough brain cells left to realise its totally unnessary and have enough brain cells to make our own decision rather than simply thinking you have to drive an SUV simply because others drive an SUV.

While I worked at that company I had zero days off work due to bad weather and my route to work included several fair inclines, for most of the time I drove a BMW with Kleber all season tyres fitted during the winter months. During the same period colleagues with 4 X 4's who had in some cased less difficult and shorter drives regularly phoned in saying they could not get into work. It used to really annoy me (and other members of staff) as we sat there after driving our 2 wheel drive cars over tricky hilly roads.

Most people who buy 4 x 4's do not think it through. They never really need one and are paying at the pumps for 12 months a year for the privilage. If they genuinely cannot get into work for a few days because of the weather their loss of pay would be much less than the running costs incurred owning a pointless leviathon. And as I said above it was the 4 x 4 owners who failed to get in when they saw 2 flakes of snow.

When we ordered our new Skoda Superb I did not look round and try to match neighbours etc, I bought what we found to be the best car for our needs at a great price. I don't think that is jealousy, personally I think it simply shows inteligence.

As I said I am not in any way jealeous and what is there to be jealous about, certainly not a loan or PCP on a £48,000 car.

I find that we don't really need a 4x4 because there is now a tarmac road all the way to London.

You're going the wrong way - the only good road in London is one that leaves.

Having said that you also said you owned a BMW. Now, how many aspersions can be cast about BMW drivers, and are, on a daily basis. By your own logic I can only assume all of them apply to you as well.

I bought a BMW 118D simply because at the time it was the car that best fitted my needs and compared to the competition it was way better. Had it for 5 1/2 happy years, no regrets.

When I swapped it I was tempted by another 1 series (probably a 116i at the time) but the newly introduced Seat Leon 1.4 TSi soundly beat it on just about every count plus it was quite a bit cheaper so I bought one of those.

You have now ordered a new Skoda Superb. Did you NEED a new car?

I do actually need a new car since our current requirements mean the Leon is too small. As with previous purchases I bought the car that works best for me which in this case is the Superb.

a used Superb would probably have been sufficient. In fact a 5+ yr old Ford Mondeo would probably have met most of your actual NEEDS.

I have been buying new cars (or pre-reg) since 1978 so there is no way I am going to buy a 5 year old Mondeo even if it does happen to theoretically match my requirements. In truth my Leon is only 3 1/2 years old so I would have to be as mad as an SUV owner to buy a 2nd hand car that is older than my current car which was purchased new.

Suppose you might have spotted that I have no particular brand allegiance, just buy what is the best at any time.

If I lived at the top of a mountain or at the end of a dirt track I would probably consider a 4 x 4 but while I am living in a part of the country with tarmac roads which get badly snowed over about once every 10 years (this sums up probably 99.9% of the UK population) I won't be bothering. Anyway, a decent front wheel drive hatch on good winter tyres will outperform a 4 x 4 in all except the most extreme conditions. Even my BMW on all seasons in the worst winter for many years never let me down.

I bought the Leon and the Superb via the same broker. Fortunately he seems to be a decent sort.

My point is that it would be better for their health (and their childrens' health) and would reduce both congestion and pollution if they walked to and from school.

I and most others of my generation routinely walked to and from school, and now still walk for any journey of less than a mile.

As you know, such short journeys are not good for the car (unless its pure electric).

With all due respect, I can understand the TheBroker defending those whose custom may be important to him. (And I could buy a Range Rover with my own cash if I chose)

Edited by galileo on 23/01/2017 at 18:36