I can't speak for others, but I definitely do use mine for off-roading as much as I can.

Is it as much as I'd like? No - I have to earn the money to afford the hobby. But it's absolutely worth it, especially when I get to show my daughter some of the awesome things we have to offer.

The reality is that we're a rough, tough country, and getting to see lots of it requires special vehicles.

The reason this seems so recent is because, previously, 4WD vehicles were either purpose-built, or expensive if they were tricked out to be daily drivers. That made them uncomfortable or expensive.

With the death of our local car market, it's opened up a much wider, cheaper, more refined set of offerings, so more people can afford to get into the hobby.

Sound good. Maybe something like make them have an extra child to make up for the one the will inevitably run down? Lol

Yeah absolutely. This silly car doesn't even have enough room for a suitcase and the dogs in the back but it's a good head an shoulders above my dad's holden station wagon.

Part of that is the battery sure (maybe the head part) a lot is also ground clearance. I need a bit of ground clearance sure but we used to manage with firm suspension just fine. If it's shaking the crap out of you just drive slower. No need to tear down lumpy roads at 80 km/h unless you're actually a farmer.

We are also talking 2 big greyhounds and 2 six foot people, one with back problems that prevent a more reclined seating position, living in the blue mountains. We're not your average family. This stuff is marketed to average urbanites who defs need to be able to fit an entire Holiday's worth of luggage and their whole family on those red pavement roads they take to the school in the morning?

Surely there's room for more practical stuff ffs.