By EWAN KENNEDY
12 January 2009

Hatred is a horrible thing. It removes reason from people’s minds, turns man against man, even in extreme cases causes death and destruction that can drag on for dozens of generations.

Yet hatred is being fostered against 4WDs in Australia. Hatred in all of its usual unthinking, unreasonable, potentially dangerous forms.

The anti-4WD lobby is again making its ridiculous call for 4WDs to be banned from metropolitan areas. Or if that can’t be achieved, at least from all areas outside schools. Failing that, they would like punitive taxes slapped onto 4WDs in an attempt to price them out of existence.

In the meantime car drivers are being urged by the anti-4WD people to show their displeasure of those driving 4WDs. Perhaps by head shaking, maybe even by middle-finger showing. Just the thing to stir up dangerous road rage, something that should be abhorred at all times.

I've seen leaflets that have been stuck under windscreen wipers of friends’ 4WDs. These accuse 4WD owners of making our country unlivable for our grandchildren, even blaming them for totally destroying the planet. All sort of hatred-enhancing nonsense that makes me cringe.

One of these leaflets has seriously upset one lady I know who owns a mid-sized 4WD that’s used to transport her four young children, together with all the associated stuff that’s required to keep modern families going. And by the way, hers isn’t a 4WD, it’s a 2WD that happens to look like a 4WD. She and her husband chose it because the 2WD version uses less fuel than the 4WD variant.

Which brings up the ridiculous situation that applies to the importation of 4WDs to Australia. A loophole in our regulations sees 4WDs being classified as trucks and therefore attracting a lower rate of import duty than cars. Many ‘4WDs’ are built in either 2WD or 4WD format overseas, and generally the 2WD is the bigger seller because it’s lighter and has a simpler mechanical layout – and it’s cheaper.

That’s overseas, it costs more to import a 2WD to Australia than a 4WD. A few importers do the right thing and bring in both versions. They probably make significantly less profit on the fuel-saving 2WD, but feeling it’s the right thing to do. (Car makers generally refuse to talk about any aspect of profits – not that anyone is making a profit in the automotive business these days!)

The same hoary old story is being perpetrated by the anti-4WD people. That 4WDs should only be used in the country, that those in the city never go off the road. Which is true, because most people don’t buy 4WDs because they plan to go off the beaten track. They use them as practical, spacious station wagons that are easy to load and unload and can carry lots off bulky things.

These owners are prepared to suffer the hassles of parking a large vehicle in return for the improved outlook they get from the driver’s seat. And from the other seats as well, because kids just love the large windows and open interiors that are a feature of 4WDs.

And, yes, there's always the dream at the back of their minds that one day they may make that big adventurous trip into the great Australian outback.

Another anti-4WD argument is that it’s hard to see past them in traffic. The answer to that is simple – don’t tailgate.

Sales of large 4WDs have been slowing in Australia for quite some time, with mid-sized and small vehicles rapidly increasingly in popularity. Large 4WDs often use diesel engines and therefore have fuel consumption that’s lower than that of large cars. Indeed, even some medium cars are using more fuel and creating greater amounts of pollution than large 4WDs.

Let’s take hatred off our roads, in fact let's remove it from our lives altogether. And wouldn’t it be nice if hatred ceased to exist anywhere on earth – but that’s getting deep into dream territory …

ewan@marque.com.au