Does the car make the driver?, Personality-wise? Options

[CAMAricer]

Just wanted to get some other people's thoughts and opinion on this one...
Do you think the type of car a person drives has some/any influence on how they are as a driver? Or do drivers seek out cars that reflect their personalities?


Do certain car coincidentally have aggressive/reckless/idiotic drivers? For examples, Corvette, H2, Porsche drivers all have the same attitude when they're driving?

On the flip side, are there any cars that tend to have "better" drivers? The new Beetle, ever seen a jerk behind the wheel?

My experience has made me think many truck drivers (F150 etc) are bullies who tail you every chance they get. Ladies in Mercedes are flat out dangerous as they think they own the road and hardly ever signal when changing lanes and always try to pass you on the right. Heck, if they hit you, you'd be dead and they'd have a chipped fingernail, so what do they care, right? College chicks in Mustangs like to drive fast and dart in and out of traffic, but if you try to race them, they chicken out. Guys in Priuses think they can go 90 just b/c they are in hybrids (Newsflash! You're getting the same MPG as my ST, idiot!). And the worse of the worse, Civic guys revving at stop lights just because they see you (or me) in a modded car. Geeze learn more about cars and stop asking me if I got a turbo, it's an ST not A GT4! Also, we both live in CA, so what do you think?

[Taskbot]

I think it actually goes both ways. The car is a reflection of a person's personality and tastes, as is the condition the car is kept in. Transversely, I also think the car evokes a certain mood or attitude. I'm way more likely to drive in a more spirited manner in my Celica than I ever was in my 4Runner or than I'll ever drive in my g/f's Jetta. Part of that is because my car is familiar to me and the Jetta is way less familiar and takes some adjusting to. But part of that is also because the Celi evokes that "spirited driving" mood more for me than the Jetta does, even though the Jetta probably has more HP. (who am I kidding. A damn scooter practically has more HP than an ST!)

I tried to drive a WV once. The feel of the pedals, and how close they were to each other pissed me off to no end

But yeah I agree. Certain cars lend themselves to certain styles of driving. For handling-tuned cars like the Celica its tough to resist driving like a complete knob sometimes just because you can but it also makes its limits pretty well known and its kind of hard to push it beyond the limits.

The cars I find that have the worst drivers are typically larger faster luxury cars.

Pulling out of my driveway earlier this week I was followed by a Mercedes. I gave myself enough room to pull out and accelerate up to speed but apparently 10km/h over the speed limit wasn't fast enough for this Mercedes so he pulled into the opposite lane of traffic and gunned it to about 110 km/h through a residential area. I didn't manage to copy down his license plate before he was long gone.
Normally 110 km/h is not a problem but I know my road very well, its an old country road with ****ty uneven pavement and I've lost traction on parts of it only going about 80.

My hypothesis for why we drive differently(as sports-compact car enthusiasts) is because our suspensions are tuned harder and our cars are smaller. Luxury cars tend to have suspension systems that suppress every single bump so that you feel like you're driving on air even if the back end of your Mercedes is skipping around. The larger size (especially in the case of SUVs) gives the impression of safety even though its usually not the case. I also think money is a factor. If you can afford a $60,000-$130,000 Mercedes I'm sure you can just as easily get it replaced. I am no replacement value on my car, therefore I have to drive extra safe.

This is just my opinion though.