Even though I have a mostly hate/hate relationship with 4x4s, I think a lot of the public campaigning has its roots in a second-hand US agenda.
Sports Utility Vechicles (i.e. 4x4s) have been (were, at least) close to being the largest selling segment of the US car market for the best part of a decade - medium and large SUVs were taking
over a quarter of all sales of US light vehicles for most recent years. It's worth bearing in mind that the largest proportion of these will be made by American motor manufacturers and that some of them are amazingly HUGE, dwarfing a even a relatively large European 4x4 such BMW X5.
Even by the standards of the US motor industry, SUVs are hideously inefficient with fuel. Sub-20 mpg figures seem to be quite common and the growth in their use since the mid-1990s contributed significantly to a
drop in the average fuel efficiency of vehicles on US roads.
While there are genuine questions to be asked about how appropriate they are for use on most British roads, especially in cities like London, in the UK, 4x4s sell
closer to 7% of the total market. General Motors and Ford gas guzzlers don't really have much of an impact on our market, which tends to favour European car makers. Manufacturer figures for BMW X5 3.0sd come in at 34 mpg (diesel being to all intents and purposes illegal for private cars in California until very recently made selling models like this practically impossible in the US).
In contrast, genuine sports cars sell in tiny proportions. US legislation keeps many European models from even being sold there. The more popular and affordable models are far more fuel efficient than SUVs- for example, the Mazda MX-5 1.8i roadster averages
38.7 mpg. Being tiny and light helps a lot.
. Driving a huge 4x4 round narrow urban streets just annoys every other road user and makes you look like a cunt. So its the same size as a van but vans are actually doing something useful not just carrying your athsmatic little darling to the ladybird Montessori school
