A neo-Jacobin

In defense of BMW X5, and any other modern car

Ok, let's get a few things straight here, firstly, I do not work for BMW, nor do I own a BMW X5, nor am I being paid by BMW to post this. I'm defending BMW, and in particular its X5 range against the ever increasing luddite, childish, small-minded attacks being made on it from the Alliance Against Urban 4x4's, and Greenpeace.

The prejudice of the bike-riding, muesli eating greens knows no bounds - their attacks on big cars like the BMW X5 has nothing to do with combatting carbon emissions, but, everything to do with attacking the type of people who drive them. I've heard drivers of 'Chelsea tractors' being referred to as 'vulgar', 'greedy', and just plain 'selfish'. Greenpeace, in their lastest advertisment no longer mind their language, and simply calls anyone who drives such cars a 'prick'.

These days it seems very fashionable for Guardian reading, eco-worriers to have-a-go at drivers of BMW X5's, Range Rovers or any other large modern box shaped car for that matter, but why? The green luddite Stephen Tindale of Greenpeace thinks Rover bosses are nothing but 'climate criminals' and climate-wreckers - but, hold on a minute here, are BMW X5's and Range Rovers really causing so much 'climate' destruction? It's true that BMW X5's and Range Rovers do push out more CO2 than any car on the road - a quick spin for example in a Range Rover Turbo Diesel will release some 299g of CO2 per kilometre. However, one cycle of a household dishwasher (something that's not too amiss in many a posh home in Hampstead - the centre of eco-worshipping), produces a whopping 756g of CO2, that's twice more than a Range Rover. So, where are all the campaigns against climate wrecking dishwashers then?

A petrol lawnmower produces over 1,000g of CO2 for every hour of use. London buses produces some 1406g of CO2 per kilometre, but, these are not the target of organic food munching Greenpeace supporters. The real target of environmentalist anti 4x4 campaign is not the actual car itself, but, the driver, as graphically dipicted in Greenpeace's new ad - behind all the talk of ecological carnage and safety is pure middle-class eco-snobbery. Worst still, these backward environmentalist attacks are being made on what are technological cornerstones of our modern civilisation - the 4x4 car.

The current environmentalists 'war on 4x4's', is just as dodgy on facts as New Labour's war on terror. When you scratch underneath the surface of these campaigns against large cars, what you find is dodgy science and blatant, high-brow middle-class attacks on the aspirational working class, the very people who drive X5's and Range Rovers. Anyone from footballers, mums on school runs, to skilled labourers like carpenters and plumbers are the very people these activists are looking down their nose at. According to the organic munching and Guardian reading activists, these people are 'clinically insane', or 'a complete idiot' and 'irresponsible', but for what? For having lots of disposable income and ideas above their station.

If anything, the childish, PC snobbery of Greenpeace's new advert is certainly enough to make me want go out and buy a state-of-the-art BMW X5, or a Range Rover (if I could afford it).

Read on:

The anti-4x4 ad that backfired. By Shirley Dent

Honk if you've had enough. By Brendan O'Neill

posted by Courtney Hamilton @ 9:09 AM