WHY WE BUY BAKKIES AND 4x4s

Terence, you asked why South Africans buy double-cab bakkies and, by default, large 4x4s when SUVS cost less and are much more suited to urban and occasional dirt-road driving ( The big bakkie riddle, May 2017). I am a city dweller stuck in a rut and exist between a cellphone and a couple of 100 emails per day. My family and I were attacked twice, once at gunpoint. I studied with the dream of a fulfilling career, but the reality of most jobs is that they have become secretarial, even more so at management level. I have two teenage children; one is a boy and he constantly asks me when we can go camping or have an adventure. I always say soon, but soon never happens.

Over the years, I have mostly driven 4x2 SUVS, one 4x4 SUV and two all-wheel-drive vehicles. I bought them for the space and all of them were good, solid cars.

I recently had a breakdown from being over-worked and over-stressed. I ended up in hospital for a week. While there, I realised that I will not live forever and that life flies by. I was discharged and the very next day I traded my 4x2 SUV for a 2012 Pajero Sport 4x4; my first real 4x4 with two gear levers. I felt alive.

I love the Bushveld, the Karoo and our great country. I have always longed for Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia – heck, any country north – but unfortunately I stopped living, and work and financial demands made me exist only.

Now, Terence, I don’t know if I will ever be able to afford the roof-top tent or even the diesel required to reach these places, but I will make sure I at least take my son camping. I acknowledge that my SUV could have done the same but, man, looking at that second gear lever makes me dream and, without dreams, life is pretty useless.

This country buys bakkies and real 4x4s because men have been reduced to stressed, scared citizens. They long for the days you described in your column. They long for open spaces where they are safe and in control; places where life is simpler.

That 4x4 button/second gear lever keeps you alive even if you never use it. I feel I can leave the office and drive to Moremi, the Kaokoveld – even Saldanha, if I wish. A new Tiguan (read any SUV) only reminds me that I can’t really do that and that I made the civilised, practical choice, as I do with so many other choices. DANIE BOTHA Johannesburg