OT: Why are 3 door cars allowed on the road?

I have a Zafira, so plenty of room with the seats folded down, but for dirty stuff, I usually use a trailer - it's handy to fill up a bit at a time over days too, as I'm doing work.

It wouldn't fit the fifth door (hatch) either??

Yes there are. Some people still want and have a use for a "formal sedan" where you can separate passengers from cargo, hide the cargo, and lock it safely away. These people GENERALLY don't need to use their "car" as a "truck" - either because their lifestyle never requires that or because they also own a "truck" or utility vehicle.

What happened to "station wagons"??? They've all turned into SUVs and CUVs, and to a lesser extent now, Minivans. I guess you Brits would still call them "shooting brakes"

The back seat does that in both formats.

Any well designed hatch has a cover for the cargo that doesn't go any higher than what you can out in the conventional sedan boot/trunk.

Just as safe in a hatch.

But a hatch still works better for the occasional bigger stuff.

Nothing, you can still buy those in most jurisdictions. The poms call them estates.

Nope.

Nope, estates.

I recently saw references to yet another (new to me) classification called MPV, for multi-purpose vehicle. I'm not sure, but I guess it's like an SUV but more geared to people rather than cargo.

I had a (French) car like that, I used gaffa tape on it. The (German) car was fine.

I did that once to park in a very narrow space. I probably pissed off the two car owners I was inbetween.

I would have placed it on top of someone else's car. Piss off two people with one prank.

The front person having to get out to let out the back person looks so ridiculous. For example you take your kids to school and have to get out to let them out!

I never use seat belts, I just avoid crashing.

Ah, so you dont drive at all?

Knew a girl once. Sister was almost paraplegic. was stationatry at traffic lights when got rammed by an idiot from the side. Before side impact bars. Ruined her pelvis.

Another girl was driving along at legal speeds on a road at a very safe distance behind a truck. Vaguely remembers something flying at her as she went under a bridge and then nothing till she woke up in hospital 2 days later.

Police who interviewed her said 'we found this in the passenger footwell' - it was half a large truck's brake shoe... Thrown up by truck? thr?wn from footbridge

She had somehow managed to stall the car on the verge while unconscious.

Same road almost in same place I see headlights swerving coming towards me. And go off the road. Pull up and 4 lads in dads Rover have spun it and turned it over. Ls in front with belts are dazed but ok - lads in back are not - broken arms and bad concussion

Apart from not driving at all, tell me how you personally would have avoided these accidents? Especially if you were not driving... ..or does no one want you as a passenger?

It took only two motor races and seeing someone killed in front of me when he was flung out of a vintage racing car with no belts fitted, to convince me to never ever get in a car where it was near other motorists, without wearing a belt.

You may control the car, but you cant control other people

I never look ridiculous, no matter what I'm doing. You?

That's too bad...for us.

On Wednesday, June 16, 2021 at 12:53:21 PM UTC-4, NY wrote: ...snipped...

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I knew a guy that converted a cargo van into a camper by bolting a pull out couch to floor as the "rear bench seat". He even added seat belts. I thought it was pretty cool to be sitting in a comfy couch until I saw how he bolted it in.

He used off-the-hardware-store-shelf L-brackets with 2 bolts through the floor and 2 lag bolts into the couch's wooden legs. In a crash, the seat belts would probably have held the passengers securely to the couch as it went careening around the inside of the van.

I opted out from riding in the van after I saw that.

And if you pull up on the other side of the road? Or your wife is in the passenger seat? Or there's two kids, do they shuffle across?

Didn't move me out of my seat one bit. The conservation of momentum states the light deer will have f*ck all effect on the speed of the heavy car.

Very unlikely to happen. And a seatbelt wouldn't have helped there.

And a seatbelt would have helped there how?

Because those accidents don't often happen. Now go and list every safe journey that has happened.

You can avoid other people, it takes two bad drivers to cause an accident.

It's so funny when a safety device causes danger.

Why would anyone not want to be a driver? Driving is fun!

The thing that annoys me most about doors is when they bounce. You swing one open, are just putting a box into the car, when it shuts on your and you drop something. Apparently you can replace something called a "check strap", I thought it was just a s*it thing that happened to everyone.

A 7 seater with removable seats makes an excellent van. It also confuses the hell out of the test centre when they can't test the rear belts that aren't there. I've had to point out to two of them that legally if the seats are not present at the time of the test, you don't need to test the belt. So, if your rear belt is faulty, remove the seat for the test, it will pass.

What's wrong with sticking it out of the sunroof?