Vehicle owned by gullible and stupid people in the mistaken belief that one day supermarkets will only be built with mountainous unmettalled car parks with heards of wilderbeast roaming across them. The ownership of 4x4's is inversely proprotional to the roughness of terrain, the incidence of proper mettalled roads, and the amount of urbanisation - i.e the flatter the county and the better the roads and the less countryside, the more 4x4's there will be (see Surrey). 99.9% of a 4x4's life is taken up with only four activities;

1. Driving to the supermarket / shops / retail park;

2. Driving to and from a School to pick up / drop off 4x4's owner's offspring;

3. Parked in a Railway Station car park (see Oxted railway station);

4. Putting dents in other people's car doors (see 1 and 3 above).

Even though a 4x4 is supposed to give the impression of a tough, rugged all purpose, all terrain vehicle, owners will often adorn them with additional fittings such as bull-bars to ensure that any school children bounce off them without scratching the paintwork and humourous spare wheel covers with animals humping each other to ensure the spare wheel stays nice and clean.

Modern 4x4s are decended from Landrovers used by farming folk who needed a vehicle that could traverse rough ground in all weather, but the modern counterparts are not likely to be found in anything as dirty and gritty as agricultural work, as most 4x4 owners work in offices and used by their spouses during the day.

All car manufacturers have now realised that their is no correlation to the amount of income and sense people have and hence all now offer expensive psuedo rugged vehicles and use highly trained salespeople who are able to keep a straight face when would-be buyers ask if child seats can be fitted and does it have a cup holder.

To see 4x4's at their best, it is usual to wait for the 1 day in 20 years when it snows heavily. Then the 4x4 owner can demonstrate the superb road holding capabilty of the vehicle as they return home after they've realised that the shops / schools / railways have all shut down because of the adverse weather.

Large child killing petrol wasting vehicle purchased by the lowest form of pondlife on the road - usually middle class bimbo women who have morbidly obese children raised on a diet of McDonalds and ice cream and are unable to walk 100 meters to school.
Males who buy 4x4s foster a mistaken belief that they not only own the roads but the motor vehicle they drive adds some enhancement to their sorely lacking personality.
Probably Daily Mail readers

The ultimate explanation of why hell would be crowded if it actually existed.

jargon; a vehicle capable of four point propulsion by means of front and rear axle differentials. Power from the engine and transmission is directed fore and aft via a transfer case into differentials which turn the tires. Vehicles generally capable of traveling with little or no problem on most types of terrain. See also word Jeep

An all purpose vehicle which creates a lot of jealousy particularly among tree huggers who have nothing better to do than whinge about the things they cannot afford. Though it is true they are often wasted on the school run but if these mugs wish to squander great wads of money taking brats to school, then more fool them!! I'm not losing any sleep over it.

A system designed to give power to all four wheels of the vehicle to give it traction in adverse conditions (such as in a blizzard, or off road).

A common misconception is that a 4x4, loud, large and guzzles gas, this is not true. There have been vehicles in the history of 4x4s that are tiny, like the Suzuki Samurai.

Some urbanized areas will have 4x4 vehicles that are never actually used in the conditions that they were designed for.

The first practical 4x4 vehicle was the Willy's Jeep, created by the United States in World War 2. It was powered by a Ford flathead inline four engine. Later variations, like the Land Rover soon followed in it's path, sharing it's chassis.

Without Willy's Overland, Ford and the need for a smaller, faster all wheel driven vehicle, the 4x4 would not have been built in a manner that small vehicles can use it.

four meters by four minutes