Images of Canberra - More Canberra Parking

In my experience, most of the people muttering that 4WD owners don’t “need” them are often to be seen piloting a barge-like sedan or station wagon around, which is mostly empty.

trevar said :

! Come on! What kind of pedants are you!?!?!?

Tired pedants.. it’s a been a long week, and oh so much detail to comment on.

Not sure about being that clever…the driver of the red/hatch/3 can’t get in or out of the driver’s side either.

With all the pedants pointing out that the Toorak Tractor is not an SUV, why has no one pointed out that the smaller (ever so slightly) of the two is not a sedan? It is obviously a hatch! Come on! What kind of pedants are you!?!?!?

And my $0.02 says that it was the tractor driver’s fault, but that the driver of the 3 was very clever; it doesn’t look to me like Toorak will be able to get in the driver’s side…

LOL

Jim Jones said :

If you wanna drive around the city in what is essentially a light truck, you should be prepared for other people to think that you’re a tosser.

Your comments might have validity if you were talking about someone who uses their 4WD for nothing but city driving and has never taken it off-road. My point to you however, (though you have clearly missed it) is that this is not why I own such a vehicle. It’s primary purpose is for camping, fishing, and visiting friends who live on properties within the district that have no other access except for by 4WD. It’s a rare week that my “FascistMobile” isn’t being used in such a way. The thing is covered in dust, dents and scratches from a lifetime of extensive use for its primary purpose.

Your “pub” analogy speaks more to the quality of individual who would spend all his time sitting around at a pub with his mates commenting on every car that comes into the carpark rather than the people who own such cars.

In terms of flashy red convertibles, people who can afford flashy cars are unlikely to really give a stuff about what the pub-dwellers think about their vehicles. Thinking negative thoughts about them is unlikely to equalise the social status of the pub-dweller with the lawyer in the red convertible. The lawyer in his expensive car is more likely to care about what the weather will be like at Moreton Bay on the weekend when he flies up there to sail his expensive racing yacht.

Sorry mate, but that’s the way it is. If you sit at a pub and watch people’s reactions to passing cars, there’s as much muttering of ‘wanker’ at people in toorak tractors as there is when a red convertible with the numberplate ‘LAWYER’ goes past.

See, there’s the thing. If I’m at the pub, I’m there to have a few drinks and socialise with my mates, not sit in judgement of the people driving by based on what sort of car they’re in.

(Although, to be fair, I might mutter “wanker” as someone in a pink pop-collar polo walks by.)

What if you need a light truck? Big powerful 4wd has it uses and places.

But who really needs a car that only resembles a light truck? Open centre diff is next to useless on icy roads. Your better off just locking it into fwd mode, so what is the point?

Get one of these soft-roaders and park it with the passenger side wheels in some mud, leave the drivers side on the road and see how well they unstick themselves.

No better than any other car with limited slip diff (which 99% of FWD cars have standard nowadays).

radonezh said :

Jim Jones said :

Suck it up dude. If you drive a 4WD without a legitimate reason (i.e. living in the ACTUAL country – not being able to cross the median strip in a 2WD is utterly laughable) people are necessarily going to look at you and immediately say “What a wanker”.

Oh dear… I’m so worried about what other people think about me, particularly idiots who generalize.

Sorry mate, but that’s the way it is. If you sit at a pub and watch people’s reactions to passing cars, there’s as much muttering of ‘wanker’ at people in toorak tractors as there is when a red convertible with the numberplate ‘LAWYER’ goes past.

If you wanna drive around the city in what is essentially a light truck, you should be prepared for other people to think that you’re a tosser.

By the way, the Mazda Tribute shown in the photo is NOT a 4WD.

Big 4wds have their place, can’t go on a 4wd adventure without one.

It’s the itty bitty no good on or off the road soft-roaders that concern me. They serve no purpose but are still going to hit above my side impact protection.

Jim Jones said :

Suck it up dude. If you drive a 4WD without a legitimate reason (i.e. living in the ACTUAL country – not being able to cross the median strip in a 2WD is utterly laughable) people are necessarily going to look at you and immediately say “What a wanker”.

Oh dear… I’m so worried about what other people think about me, particularly idiots who generalize.

radonezh said :

and you also don’t need to carry chains up at the snow if you drive a 4wd.

I always carry chains anyway (got my own, they’re cheap), as if it ices up you do need them, and they’re handy. I’ve only used them once, to get out of a snow hole I’d fallen into. there’s word that this is going to change soon, and that all cars will be required to carry chains and fit them when required, including 4WDs.

In Vic they make everyone have them, and there were a few annoying evenings spent in the carpark at Falls, waiting for the cops to nick off so we could drive down without stupid chains. The road was awful though, all cut up and rutted, and I felt sorry for low-clearance cars. I didn’t even find it necessary to lock my hubs.

ant said :

My 4WD is the size of a Barina, and fits into all kinds of small spots, it’s smaller than your magnas and commodores, and weighs a darn sight less too (it’s well under a tonne). You can push its skin in with one finger.

Generalising just blows your argument clean out of the water.

Mine is a big and high and has fascist logos all over it.

Suck it up dude. If you drive a 4WD without a legitimate reason (i.e. living in the ACTUAL country – not being able to cross the median strip in a 2WD is utterly laughable) people are necessarily going to look at you and immediately say “What a wanker”.

I would not accuse the mazda of being a 4wd.

They just take a good front wheel drive car jack it up and increase the weight by adding a couple of extra diffs. The fact that 99% of them drive around with road tyres is very telling about their off road ambitions.

I don’t know why people buy them. Is it the illusion that ‘if they wanted to, they could escape it all and go bush’. Yeah right..

No good on the road, no good off the road. Strictly for posers only (sorry ant).

toriness said :

4wd drivers are shite parkers. i like to leave little notes under their windscreen wipers telling them so. i suspect they know they’re bad drivers so they buy a giant hunk of metal to surround themselves with for the inevitable accident.

My 4WD is the size of a Barina, and fits into all kinds of small spots, it’s smaller than your magnas and commodores, and weighs a darn sight less too (it’s well under a tonne). You can push its skin in with one finger.

Generalising just blows your argument clean out of the water.

toriness said :

4wd drivers are shite parkers. i like to leave little notes under their windscreen wipers telling them so. i suspect they know they’re bad drivers so they buy a giant hunk of metal to surround themselves with for the inevitable accident.

Do you know, this is a load of old codswallop. I go out of my way to park my fascist 4wd as considerately as physically possible, only to find that it is all in vain. Just yesterday I parked in a multi-level carpark as close to the concrete pillar as I could so that the empty space next to me had LOTS of room. And guess what? The moron in his/her 2wd who parked there was so close to my car that I had to fold the mirrors in to reverse my car out.

Jim Jones said :

Are you really saying that a normal 2WD car can’t cross the median strip on the highway?

Depends where you are crossing..

Are you really saying that a normal 2WD car can’t cross the median strip on the highway?

Jim Jones said :

Why in all hell do people think that a light truck is necessary to navigate the suburbs of Canberra?

It’s not really necessary for the streets.. but it sure is handy when you want to enjoy all of the stuff in the local countryside. You can’t get up to the best fishing spots in a 2WD, and you also don’t need to carry chains up at the snow if you drive a 4wd.

Come to think of it, it’s very useful when you want to chuck a u-ey on the Monaro Hwy and need to cross the median strip (like everyone else seems to do).

Yep, the 4WD.

Probably some nazi, fascist, swastika wearing, tory party voting, John Howard biography writing, white shoe and sensible haircut and suit wearing stooge toadie member of the Liberal party.

Or maybe just an inconsiderate driver.

Thumper, nazi is a subset of fascist. Also no Liberal party member would drive a 4wd that is over three years old.

Hear hear.

Why in all hell do people think that a light truck is necessary to navigate the suburbs of Canberra?

4wd drivers are shite parkers. i like to leave little notes under their windscreen wipers telling them so. i suspect they know they’re bad drivers so they buy a giant hunk of metal to surround themselves with for the inevitable accident.

Tooks said :

If I was the driver of the red car, I would’ve reversed mine in as close as I could get to the 4WD, making that driver have to get in through the passenger side.

Another benefit is that the dents and scratches the other driver puts on your car in anger are on the passenger side and you don’t have to look at them every day!

Tooks said :

If I was the driver of the red car, I would’ve reversed mine in as close as I could get to the 4WD, making that driver have to get in through the passenger side.

Agree.

See it all too often around town.

Make them climb in if they can’t park in the centre.

Swaggie said :

Just call me curious but why are the regos blacked out? I’m sure there are good reasons and I’ve no problem with it but I’m curious as to what they are.

There’s no good reason, it just saves getting shouted at by nerds.

Having said that I usually blur rather than black, which gets less comment, but this is how the pic came in.

Just call me curious but why are the regos blacked out? I’m sure there are good reasons and I’ve no problem with it but I’m curious as to what they are.

New buildings, less carparks and useless public transport. I’m sure we can all join the dots here.

That said, the 4WD driver needs to learn to park.

If I was the driver of the red car, I would’ve reversed mine in as close as I could get to the 4WD, making that driver have to get in through the passenger side.

Blood pressure is a funny thing…the driver of the second car that parked would have had to crawl over and out of the passenger side.

I would say the driver of the SUV caused a problem and the driver of the red car is a tosser.

Unless one of the vehicles has out of Territory plates, it will clearly be the Government’s fault for not providing sufficiently commodious spaces.

We Canberrans are always perfect in every respect.

So who’s more to blame?

Jointly, the manager of the car park for not properly line-marking the spaces and the ACT Gov. for massively reducing the number of parking spaces.

The glorified station wagon might be a victim of a third offender! Always remember the old “butterfly flaps it’s wings in Bogota and I get road rage” adage.

It appears to be the SUV’s fault, however I always like to give the benefit of the doubt to the supposed offending vehicle. Who’s to say that the person that might have been next to him on the other side didn’t park too close to the line, forcing him to park that way. (although odds are that they are just bad at reverse parking)
And no, I don’t own/know that car, but it happens to us all at some point or other, being forced to park off-centre because of another driver.

SUV? Let’s just call them 4WDs like we did until like…a year ago!