Low speed crash proofed car - they bounce off, you laugh.
Discussion
So thinking about the last decades incidents with car for both the Mrs and I.
They have all without exception been in town when either the car was parked up (reversed into a couple of times - girl pulled out of a space and put too much lock on to early and dragged the rear of her car down the side of ours etc) or moving in slow traffic and some muppets reversed into the road with out looking, run a red light, simply "didn't see" us, cut up and forced on the the pavement by muppet straying across lanes (she hit the side of my car even though I was on te horn and had mounted the pavement trying to avoid her - and she still didn't notice, another motorist stopped her furthur down the road..)
Each and everytime its settled in our favour i.e. 100% non fault so not really ever cost anything but all the same its damn annoying knowing your surrounded by retards and having to arrange collection / delivery of cars, hire cars etc. I'm coming to the conclusion that the nice cars should be kept for countryside and track use where its safe and your either surrounded by good sensible drivers or no other drivers. For the town driving even a moderate shed can cause distress as it can be disabled lights smashed, wings bent to wheels etc.
So the solution - I was wondering about a 4x4 with bull bars, steel bar for side step, nice solid rear bumper bar. Basically something that if a retard drives into it will be un-effected whilst their car gets smashed to bits. So whats the ideal 4x4 for this? New ones are all pedestrian friendly plastic clad things, is it legal to give them bull bar treatment? Old Range Rovers and Landrovers I occasionally see covered with bars? Could I buy a Shogun or similar and find a good range of off the shelf bars to fit?
They have all without exception been in town when either the car was parked up (reversed into a couple of times - girl pulled out of a space and put too much lock on to early and dragged the rear of her car down the side of ours etc) or moving in slow traffic and some muppets reversed into the road with out looking, run a red light, simply "didn't see" us, cut up and forced on the the pavement by muppet straying across lanes (she hit the side of my car even though I was on te horn and had mounted the pavement trying to avoid her - and she still didn't notice, another motorist stopped her furthur down the road..)
Each and everytime its settled in our favour i.e. 100% non fault so not really ever cost anything but all the same its damn annoying knowing your surrounded by retards and having to arrange collection / delivery of cars, hire cars etc. I'm coming to the conclusion that the nice cars should be kept for countryside and track use where its safe and your either surrounded by good sensible drivers or no other drivers. For the town driving even a moderate shed can cause distress as it can be disabled lights smashed, wings bent to wheels etc.
So the solution - I was wondering about a 4x4 with bull bars, steel bar for side step, nice solid rear bumper bar. Basically something that if a retard drives into it will be un-effected whilst their car gets smashed to bits. So whats the ideal 4x4 for this? New ones are all pedestrian friendly plastic clad things, is it legal to give them bull bar treatment? Old Range Rovers and Landrovers I occasionally see covered with bars? Could I buy a Shogun or similar and find a good range of off the shelf bars to fit?
iva cosworth said:
I think you may have insurance "issues" if you turn a 4x4 into a legal tank
especially if you hit a normal human being and kill the car and them
People don't walk anymore, they only drive cars - thats half the problem. Don't think i've seen a child playing in the road since the early 90's, so no concern about running anyone over.especially if you hit a normal human being and kill the car and them
I'm thinking more defensive than offensive.
I would take the opposite tack, buy a banger that you don't mind being pranged - the French and Italians seem to take it as a given that any car used in their cities are gonna get crumpled. Whenever I wander round, say, Paris, it strikes me that people just simply aren't as precious about their cars over there, which is presumably why they drive so many older small hatches and don't really bother getting minor scuffs and scrapes fixed.
Bull bars are rubbish for that; they tend to damage more panels than they save because they fold into them.
My neighbours' cars seem to bounce off my Defender well enough without any additional armour - I quite often find bits of plastic lenses on the ground next to it.
I once found a fairly large quantity of body filler under my front bumper; I'd imagine that person had done some pretty extensive damage to their car, but they did manage to put a slight twist in my bumper in the process. I cared not a jot.
My neighbours' cars seem to bounce off my Defender well enough without any additional armour - I quite often find bits of plastic lenses on the ground next to it.
I once found a fairly large quantity of body filler under my front bumper; I'd imagine that person had done some pretty extensive damage to their car, but they did manage to put a slight twist in my bumper in the process. I cared not a jot.
Eggman said:
Bull bars are rubbish for that; they tend to damage more panels than they save because they fold into them.
It depends how good they are. The ARB bar I had was fantastic, it was only slightly bent by a crash when stationary that wrote off the car that hit it and the car that was sandwiched between us. The downside is the 20% insurance loading from the very few companies that would cover it.You're better off running something you simply don't give a s
t about IMO. 
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