Minister Brands 4x4 Drivers 'Irresponsible'

[TonyN]

Mostly we dont need to have big 3.0ltr engines hauling tones of motor around occupied by one person most of the time. I know some of you do use them for work and can justify having them. So in a nut shell the minister is right but.....

The whole arguement is wrong and misguided, the only people any amount of tax hike WON'T affect is the 'Chelsea Tractors' the majority of these people have no money issues, everyone else who has a 4x4 because it is a multi-purpose tool and can fulfill the role of several different cars and can only afford one car is gonna get shafted, AGAIN!!

Its wrong and unjust that a whole class of vehicle is made to be cause of all the worlds problems, just because a small majority of owners bought a car that isn't really appropriate for their needs.

I bet the vast majority of 4x4's are well under the average size and emissions of the average vehicle in the UK. But then no-one would have easy bandwagon to jump on.

I think I've said it before, it pi$$es me off!!!!!

[kitesurf_phil]

The thing that I think is dead funny is that, because they have been pushing for manufacturers of average to large size engines to get emmissions down, smaller engined cars and bikes have been largely ignored. A recent spot emmissions testing survey in London that has been swept under the carpet, because it didn't reveal the results King Ken wanted, showed that the most pollution is coming from taxis, buses and.................motorcycle s (with their little eco-friendly engines). It seems that their misguided rule of thumb has been, "Big engines = BAD, small engines = GOOD."
I have a collegue who commutes on his 1000cc bike from Peterborough to London daily. I mentioned that it must be very economical. He said it is not really much cheaper than using his car, except he doesn't get stuck in traffic and doesn't have to pay the congestion charge.

[IIIrd]

the minister is a bit of a james hunt methinks. he probably penned that fom the back seat of his jag, or whilst driving his range rover to the hunt. a pox on him (a nasty one at that)

i run on veg oil, and my cherokee ran on lpg....wonder what his jag runs on

[Bogus]

i drive my SURF because I work hard all week and do not spend my money on any other vice (eg smooking) and only have the occasional pint. Its a luxery I choose to have. The reality is i have to agree with the minister in that factually most 4X4s are used for the school run and many never ever go into 4x4 mode as they are used to ferry the kids to school. Mostly we dont need to have big 3.0ltr engines hauling tones of motor around occupied by one person most of the time. I know some of you do use them for work and can justify having them. So in a nut shell the minister is right but..... there are other more pressing issues to be addressed first and emmissions can be cut in easier ways than denying us a choice of what we drive. For me its not a 'green' decision interms of the envoirmental impact but a green one in terms of how long I can afford to run it as fuel once again heads towards the £1 litre mark

Dont encourage this by saying he is right, he is NOT right, its not his or anybody elses business what I use my vehicle for ( provided its legal). Are you saying that provided we can justify having a SURF its ok, but if we cant "sorry mate its got to go" This is heading down the road of what I said in an earlier reply. Licensing for 4 x 4s similar to shotgun licences.
Youre right when you say there are more pressing issues but like all politicians hes lazy and wants easy politics, but dont say hes right or he has a point cos hes WRONG and he doesnt. Hes a pillock

Bogus

[TonyN]

Hes a pillock

thread winning statment right there!

[Grimreeper]

can we not get some sort of petition going online and send it to the mps to support the use of veg oil at lower tax rates for greener imissions instead of increasing road tax.

[stevetubbyturbo]

have these ministers got nothing better to do than try to con more money out of the 4x4 user.

as someone else said i work hard all week so i can have my luxurys and my Surf is one of my luxurys and a car i own by choice.

To say that 4x4 owners are irresponable i Insure, Mot, and tax my car, i dont speed and break motoring rules how am i irresponable because i choose to own a 4x4 as i dont want and butt ugly Prius

[Diezel Weazel]

Can't type a sensible reply ATM, the keyboard will probably end up out the window.

this B/S after the all veg oil B/S is just STUPID!!!!!

Is Aol being bias ? or is it another Government intervention ?
Cos I ain't got it, I wanna vote by proxy to whoever has Aol on behalf of me,
cos I won't be there to Vote
Tony for PM I recon !!!!! Thats BiG T not the other one

There's always a Payback.... You just can't see it Comin !!!!

[Diezel Weazel]

the minister is a bit of a james hunt methinks. he probably penned that fom the back seat of his jag, or whilst driving his range rover to the hunt. a pox on him (a nasty one at that)

i run on veg oil, and my cherokee ran on lpg....wonder what his jag runs on

Expenses paid by guess who !!!!

There's always a Payback.... You just can't see it Comin !!!!

[Dunno]

Interesting - here is the latest on the vote for those of you that cant get on to aol


Should 4x4 owners pay more tax?

votes
Yes 17721 50%
No 17679 50%
Total Votes: 35400

[Diezel Weazel]

wonder what else he drives and if he actually drives it or whether it sits on his amply sized drive as a showpiece while his jaguar xj12 sits snugly in the garage

Probably a Pushbike hidden in the Boot !!!!!!!!!!!!

There's always a Payback.... You just can't see it Comin !!!!

[SURFVIRGIN]

the minister is a bit of a james hunt methinks. he probably penned that fom the back seat of his jag, or whilst driving his range rover to the hunt. a pox on him (a nasty one at that)

i run on veg oil, and my cherokee ran on lpg....wonder what his jag runs on

taxpayers money mate

[golly]

gas guzlin 4x4

well my surf may drink a lot of fuel but i dont do a lot of miles in it because
it costs so much, i drive our surf with lots of care i am very easy on the throttle n do not thrash it everywhere i go ,in fact some would think i was towin a bl00dy caravan or hauling enriched urainium the speed i go.
i am sure that most of us surf drivers drive with fuel use on our minds all the time and i think that with the amount of tax that the to55ers get from fuel.that some of it could be used to get rid of all the knoby poostabindoodooders and that mr dick sorry wick he only drives that toyota twinfuel thingy cos us dumbsh1ts bought it for him and maybe he aint into ofroadin just like jsp aint well thats cool but they should just fukoff n leave us alone we aint doin no harm to no one .so they say lets all use biofuel n using that sh1t will wipe out the rainforest as they burn it down so that they can grow the stuff .dont they know that the cure for cancer is in the rainforest they just have to find it.i am sure that they have found it and found it long ago but some nogooddogoodinsh1t4brains will of sweaped it under the table 4 fear of somthing i know not what
i do know that if i ever see jsp i may well end up in prison it would be worth it am sure and then again maybe not, mabe she aint worth a good smackin in them goofy pigin chops of urs n then again maybe it would if it happened then maybe i would then learn to type n spell better than she
ah she could better spend er time teachin me to type n spell.
well i better stop trying to type n spell as i think am starting to loose it now i just re read my rant and i to have loads more to add gollygonetobed
happy surfin look on the bright side as the inkas say it all ends in 2012 and their calender aint been wrong yet hmm i think it was the inkas?

[CaptainBeaky]

well my surf may drink a lot of fuel but i dont do a lot of miles in it because

{Rant removed by Snippomatic TM}

Sheesh - and I thought I was p!$$ed off...

Just don't vote for them next time!

[sheeprus]

Rant Begins

I have to say, over here we have a system that taxes you on the size of you engine, if you run an engine of 1.4 or less the tax is less than 400 Euro per year. My 2.4 Surf TD is taxed at 824 Euro Per year. My friends Saab 2.0 Turbo is taxed at 740 per year. A colleague of mine is charged 1150 euro for his 4.0 explorer.

I can get with this, the bigger in the engine the more pollution. Regardless of the body style. I may not agree with it when it comes to tax time but I understand the logic and accept it. Focusing on a style of car is not going to cut emissions or pollution but will alienate a section of society.

The best system I have encountered was in Holland a number of years ago, the fuel price in Holland was over double that of the UK but the road tax worked out at about 10GBP at the time when is was about 80gbp in the UK. The logic there was that if you use a lot of fuel you are paying the tax to clean it up, and if like many of the site users here, you don't do a huge milage in your thirsty car then you don't pay as much tax because you make less percieved mess.

If you wish to do 10mpg in your V12 jag then cough up.

These days many of the drivers of the of 4x4's are quite aware of the fuel consumption and take measures (Veg Oil and LPG) to take care of that, something which seems overlooked by the Chelsea School run crew and most ministers. The fact of the matter remains, all of these muppets living in the center of London and other large congetsed cities that sit at an average speed of 9mph are only doing the same MPG as most of us with 4x4's in an outer urban cycle. Family members in Bexley, London tend to do less MPG with a 1.4 Corsa that I do going the my fields on the farm in my 4x4.

If these fools in government had any real understanding of the big picture then a lot more money would be spent on Park and ride, Public trasport and infrastructure etc and most of the pollution problems will be reduced.

Rant over - Thanks for listening