“While I have no statistical data to support my theory that Lexus drivers collectively exhibit the worst roadside manners in the U.S.,” The Detroit News‘ Scott Burgess writes, “I have plenty of anecdotal evidence: The Lexus driver on her cell phone in California who nearly ran me off the road in Westwood. The South Florida Lexus driver on his cell phone using the emergency lane to bypass traffic. Other Lexus drivers cutting me off, tailgating me or the never even seeing me. Somehow, Lexus can take a nice guy and transform him into Mad Max.” Whoa! Lexus? Mad Max?
I’ve been writing the truth about cars (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) since the turn of the century. During that time, I’ve heard many a brand-related meme. BMW drivers as arrogant pricks. Volvo drivers as jerks. Buick drivers as zombies. But I’ve never heard anyone say Lexus drivers are aggressive. Lexus builds cars for people who don’t like to drive. They want to waft on the automotive embodiment of their well-fed 401K. Burgess’ slur makes no sense. Or does it?
Would it happen to me, I wondered, as I prepared to test the 2009 GS 450h. This vehicle had the double potential to make me believe the roads come with a “Scott only” lane. First, there was the L on the trunk, and, second, there was blue around the L, meaning this sedan is a hybrid. This would allow me to cut off a Chrysler minivan and then feel contempt for the owner in that he-just-doesn’t-know-any-better way.
Sorry; I’m not feeling this at all. I’ve driven Lexus’ hybrid mothership and not once did I feel like an imperious son of bitch. You want imperious? Drive an S63 AMG. Or a Bentley Arnage. Or, for that matter, a Dodge Challenger SRT8—which floated Burgess’ boat but good. To wit:
I pushed the start button again and everything switched off. Ugh, this is a hybrid, I reminded myself; the engine doesn’t always rumble awake when you hop into it (it can propel itself by silent electric power).
Ugh? I like the aural sex of a snorty V8 more than the other guy. But c’mon, Scott. Lexus introduced the no-idle gas-electric RX 400 four years ago. Not to mention the Prius’ 2001 debut. God forbid.
Needless to say, Mr. B proceeds to take his usual shot at The Sierra Club (not a Euro Ford fan group, BTW), grudgingly admits that the 2009 GS 450h is a superb, not to say Japanese, automobile (handsome, fast, smooth, comfortable, well-equipped, well-built and fun) and closes with more cheap shots for the cheap seats.
Every brand carries a certain attitude. Chevy means one thing while Lamborghini means something different. That’s half the fun of testing these machines.
While I initially thought it was the drivers who were tarnishing the Lexus brand, I realized that it’s Lexus that creates these self-important drivers.
Of course they don’t pay attention to traffic rules—the Lexus makes you oblivious to them—70 mph or 90 mph, it all feels the same. The insanely quiet ride means you don’t hear the rumble strips as the tires roll across.
There’s nothing wrong with a car spoiling the driver. I only wish they’d think about using their turn signals from time to time. They work just fine.
Take the “prick pool” and subtract those who spend the extra couple grand for a BMW because of some appreciation of driving dynamics and Teutonic character. You’re left with the bland bunch who desires only a Toyota with a shiny chromed plastic badge, carefully manufactured Madison Avenue prestige and an automatic transmission.
Don’t judge me.
KnowItAll :
Have you ever driven a Lexus? Seriously. If so, which one or ones, what model year or years and what did you think or not think?
KnowItAll :
Have you ever driven a Lexus? Seriously. If so, which one or ones, what model year or years and what did you think or not think?
Regardless of the answer, that was a beautifully crafted slam. KIA was commenting on the typical Lexus driver, not the cars themselves. Don’t let such sentiments stand between you and that IS-F.
Don’t know about Lexuses (Lexii), ’cause they aren’t so common down here. Here, VW are the worst (interestingly similar to US BMW drivers, is there something about driving Teutonic that makes these guys think they’re better than the rest? Nieztche would love to analyse this..).
Aside form that, the are many “lane police”, people who hug the left lane and go at exactly the speed limit, arrongantly unaware that there’s a 10 to 15% “tolerance” to police radars. Which means you can go over the speed limit at least 10mph and you won’t get busted (pricks!!!!).
Also, and please don’t call me a sexist, but I’ve seen that, lately, the most aggressive drivers out there are women. Is it the same in the US? What’s up with that?
Burgess: I had it wrong, Lexus drivers aren’t bad at all. They’re spoiled in a way we all want to be.
I get the impression he actually likes the car. I think the first half of the article was to prevent a mob carrying a rope, tar, and feathers from showing up at the News to lynch him for saying something good about Toyota.
mcs :
You could say that, but I couldn’t possibly comment.
Hummer, BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Corvette, SUVs and many other makes and models have been alleged to be driven by douchebags, pricks, jerks etc. A common slur is that the car compensates for a small penis.
Burgess’ review of the Lexus is at least an attempt to give an old stereotype a new spin.
For me it is, and always will be, the Buick driver that is the most horribly annoying driver on the road.
Half asleep in the left lane, going 15 below the speed limit, oblivious to the growing row of cars behind him.
Or on the city streets, the Buick droves come out just at the tail end of rush hour and blunder along at 20mph, looking for the entrance to their favorite breakfast place that they’ve been to a thousand times before yet can’t quite remember where it is.
How nice is a drive for Buick Driver? You pull into the left lane, hit the cruise at 45mph, and wonder why there’s no traffic in front of you.
You can generalize and say that all BMW and Lexus drivers are pricks, but this is just not true. However, when you’re coming up on a Buick on the road, you know what kind of slow and geriatric driving skills you’re about to witness, every time.
I agree………..nothing says I’m old and inattentive like a Buick owner……..but, I’m well insured. They should name one of their cars the Buick Confusion.
mcs,
The whole, “people in Detroit will vandalize an import branded car” thing is tired and for the most part untrue. Name the import brand and people drive it around here. Are more domestics sold around here? Sure. Employee purchase and lease programs are a factor. Detroit was the biggest market for Jaguar when Ford owned them. You see lot’s of Volvos and Saabs around here. Besides captive brands, the other imports do well in the Detroit area.
Also, nearly every car company that does business in North America has a facility of some kind in southeastern Michigan. Nissan has a couple of research facilities, Toyota has a large r&d center in Ann Arbor as well as a smaller one in Plymouth. Nobody around here expects their employees to drive Fords and Chevys.
There’s a Toyota in my driveway. The first car I bought was a Lotus Elan and I’ve owned and driven many more foreign brand than domestics. I drove a VW, a few Volvos and a Jaguar as my daily drivers to my job at a Tier 1 vendor to the Big 3.
More foreign cars are vandalized in California than in Michigan.
I agree with what everyone says about Buick drivers. I hate to generalize about anything, but it really is true. It’s another reason they need to get rid of the brand. It’s so stigmatized that it would take decades to revive it.
It’s Infiniti I hate.
With the useless damn laser cruise control.
Sets off my laser detector all the time.
If you are too lame to pay attention to the car ahead of you even with cruise control on, then I am very, very scared.
Ronnie:
The threat is to Burgess’ rep with Motown’s mavens and his street cred with the hometown audience– or at least the sixty-something white men who share Burgess’ irrepressible love of rumbling Detroit iron.
Nobody was suggesting there’s a danger to Motown’s “foreign” cars. The days of UAW supporters vandalizing cars wearing non-Detroit nameplates are, thankfully, gone.
You have to be kidding me! Volvo drivers get my vote, based on one criteria: They drive SLOW! Oblivious to anything in their rear view mirror, they plod along with hands gripping the wheel at 10 & 2 and can’t muster anything better than 5 under the speed limit. If Volvo goes the way of the dodo bird, then I imagine Lexus will add to their ranks of unwanted drivers.
Runner-up has to be the teenage girl who thinks she’s Danica Patrick in an Isuzu.
speedlaw :With the useless damn laser cruise control.
Sets off my laser detector all the time.
If you are too lame to pay attention to the car ahead of you even with cruise control on, then I am very, very scared.
I don’t think the point is so that you can be inattentive. The idea is so you can use cruise control on semi-crowded interstates. I rarely use the cruise on my GTI because I always have to turn it off and back on when approaching the car ahead of me and I have someone creeping past me on the left.
With the radar cruise, your car slows down to the speed of the car in front as you let the car on your left pass. You then signal, change lanes, and your car speeds up to the selected cruise speed. I’ve used it on a Lexus RX330. It would be OK for a long trip once you’ve gotten used to the radar range (which I thought was rather long).
Lexus are woman’s cars.
Now I know two guys who own one, but let’s face it – it is a vehicle for people who cannot even open the hood on their car (which neither of them probably have ever done themselves), are deathly afraid of mechanical problems, and so they like to have their butt kissed when they go to the dealer.
Okay, they are well built cars for women and non-mechanically adept men.
Lexus= bland and non offensive. Boring and well made. And yes, their drivers are generally middle aged women with cell phones surgically attatched to their heads.
It’s not the car, it’s the drivers.
BTW I think worst drivers of the world are Orthodox Jews, far ahead of anybody else, then come Asian drivers especially older Chinese people.
And all this here, among Americans who, according to my empirical experiences, drive a lot worse than Europeans (yes, there, I just said it.)
Why, I don’t know but I guess it has to do something with the fact that literally any idiot can get a license here… and perhaps that you don’t grow up driving cars with sticks…?
Most people around me (NYC) apparently only know full throttle and full brake (even when the light is red, ROFLMAO.)
The whole, “people in Detroit will vandalize an import branded car” thing is tired and for the most part untrue. Name the import brand and people drive it around here.
I realize there are imports around Detroit. My first Ferrari Convention was at the Dearborn Inn right across the street from Ford when I was a kid. There was even a dealership near Michigan and Greenfield in Dearborn that sold Ferraris that I visited once many years ago to look at a 246 Dino. I even have Michigan employees with imports.
When I’m in Michigan, I spend most of my time in Dearborn and Allen Park and don’t venture far from Oakwood Blvd or Enterprise Dr. I usually don’t have a problem, however, I did experience a couple of incidents first-hand.
Once last summer in the parking lot of an Arby’s on Oakwood not far from the Rouge Plant there was an F250 driver and his buddy that pulled up to the import I was driving and pretended to run it over. I wasn’t in it at the time but was watching. Last month on 275 south just north of 94 the passenger of a pickup with one of those “Keep Buying Foreign” bumper stickers threw something out the window and I heard some pinging on the hood. Later I found a shiny brand new flathead screw sitting on top of the intercooler inside the hood scoop.
Having experienced two incidents, I’m a little extra sensitive. There were a couple of Freep articles that didn’t help either. I think for the most part if you stay in the white collar areas – like Farmington Hills, Birmingham etc, you’re probably ok. But, there are a few blue collar areas downriver where you’re more likely to have a problem.
RF:
You could say that, but I couldn’t possibly comment.
Great reference to one of my all-time favorite series.
@ jimmy2x
Are you referring to House Of Cards? I don’t think they ever had it in the USofA. Maybe RF is a secret Englishman.
Take the “prick pool” and subtract those who spend the extra couple grand for a BMW because of some appreciation of driving dynamics and Teutonic character.
In the Bay Area, BMW drivers are notorious — just because the brand happened to be the hip thing for the young and mechanically inclined, at a time when young, mechanically inclined males were having laundry hampers full of money dumped over their heads. The results were fairly predictable, and I say this as someone who was among those young, mechanically inclined BMW drivers.
Ronnie,
Whenever I visited an auto supplier client in Warren next to a UAW site, if Hertz gave me a foreign make, the receptionist would open the gate and have me park in the employee lot instead of the visitor section. I never had a problem there or anywhere else in Detroit but she said there had been too many flat tires over the years.
I think there’s some truth to what Burgess is saying when the entire Lexus lineup is considered.
The Lexus RX3xx is one of the reasons I detest driving in Chicagoland. Head out to the western suburbs on I-88 and you can’t avoid them, and they’re always piloted by some oblivious lacrosse mom on her way from her gated community to Whole Foods or the Coach store at a premium outlet mall. One doesn’t have to look twice to know that of all the things she’s doing (talking on her cell, putting on a DVD to keep the ankle-biters quiet for the 15-minute ride, reapplying lipstick, etc), driving is the last thing on her mind.
Likewise, the ES-series cars seem to attract people who would otherwise buy Buicks, but want something reliable and thought the Acuras were ugly. Look for them going slow in the fast lane, headed off to the beauty parlour or golf course.
The IS-series cars, particularly the previous gen models, seem to be driven by tuner kids enjoying their parents’ deep pockets. Like the RX3xx drivers, they’re inattentive behind the wheel because they’re futzing with the equalizer or pulling a new song up on the iPhone. You can spot them going about 15 over and weaving through traffic, especially in the rain.
GX and LX drivers seem to be cut from the same cloth as Clint Eastwood’s son Mitch in Gran Torino. They’re self-absorbed, self-important dudes who need a big truck to pull their Christmas bonus (and boat) around. They like to merge right in front of you, and view turn signals as a sign of limp-wristedness.
Strangely, the GS and LS are a fairly rare sight, and the SC is practically non-existent. Of all the models in the lineup, they also seem to be the Lexii least likely to be driven by an asshat.
[RF:] “You could say that, but I couldn’t possibly comment.”
Someone has been watching “Yes, Minister”. I am appalled…
What I got from the article was Burgess hates people who use cel phones in cars, who happen to be the kind of people who drive Lexus.
For that slam on cel phone drivers (aka terrorists), I applaud his good taste ;)
I see a few SC430s around upstate SC, mostly rich women who retired and decided to move up from a Camry Solara, which shares not a platform, but lumpy looks.
PeteMoran :
Are you referring to House Of Cards? I don’t think they ever had it in the USofA. Maybe RF is a secret Englishman.
Yes I was. A line said frequently by the completely ruthless Prime Minister Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson). The trilogy originally appeared in the USA on PBS and is available on DVD. A true classic.
People who drive Lexus RX’s seem to fit that mold. Self absorbed, slow to react, and generally blocking everyone’s view of the road ahead without getting out of the way while going below the speed limit. It gets worse when they’re on the phone.
Sajeev…that’s just because most RX drivers are women.
A Lexus is not designed for peopl who want to go lap the Nurburgring, (IS-F, and LF-A, whenever it arrives excluded). They are for people that need to get where they are going, and want to get there comfortably. My father would probably buy a Lexus if his financial situation allowed him to. They are not about driving dynamics. Sure, most of the peope that read TTAC probably would prefer a BMW because of the joy of driving the BMW. The vast majority of people fall into the first category though. You can’t be surprised that Lexus attracts the Buick drivers that were described by highrpm.
There is no asshole on the road like a BMW M3 driver. Whenever I see someone in the rear view rocketing towards me at about 140mph, ten times out of ten its an M3. Same goes for lane hopping and tailgating.
In my experience Buicks are always the ones to pull out right in front of you on regular streets, and then go 15mph under the limit, braking for anything that even looks like it might be a corner, while Pontiacs are usually the cars driving under the speed limit in the left lane.
There’s nothing more annoying though than some old guy driving a dark colored Crown Victoria. I have to slow down and then creep up on it to make sure its not wearing a municipal plate.
There is something completely *feminine* about Lexus, isn’t there? I’ve been trying to figure it out for a long time.
Here’s my take on it: Even in this thoroughly sissified age, it’s still expected that men will be daring/brave/non-risk-averse at times. Lexus is the least daring, therefore the least masculine, automotive brand on the market. The cars don’t look like anything in particular, they are unlikely to break (at least when they’re new – owning an older LS is just as expensive as servicing a Siebener) and they neither impress nor offend anyone while retaining a relatively high percentage of MSRP over time. (GS, LX, GX, SC, IS, and LS excepted, of course; what I mean is that the Camry-platform cars have high resiudals)
Therefore, to drive a Lexus is to announce to society that you’ve simply lost all pretenses of being anything other than a henpecked eunuch. And with all due respect to our Imperial Leader, the IS-F is the worst of the bunch. Driving an IS-F says, “I wanted to go fast but when I thought about paying for a $5000 DCT repair six years from now I peed mah pants.” Luckily in RF’s case, he has a 987 so you know he’s not really afraid of a $12,000 “goodwill engine exchange”; he’s just trying to limit the potential bloodshed.
In Toronto…BMW drivers hands down. Nothing even comes close.
I don’t buy it. Lexis has had full blue-tooth cell phone integration for several years now. None of those drivers are holding their cell phones.
Years ago I took a course that dealt with politics in which the phrase “glittering generalities” was introduced, so I will be so bold as to use it here.
Sometimes it seems like the average age here is 20. The constant rage at older (read elderly) drivers staggers the imagination. Do you not understand that you too (if your are lucky) will grow old?
Many older people drive Buicks, Panthers, etc. because that is the type of car they grew up with.
These cars are comfortable, easy to get in and out of and are at least perceived to be reasonably safe.
The more well-healed drive Lexi precisely because they do not break down and are one less thing for them to worry about. Many of the elderly already spend a good portion of their time going back and forth to various doctors and have no desire to spend time at their local BMW or VW dealers.
Many of the elderly drive slowly because they do not see very well, cannot afford new glasses, and given the somewhat frail state of their bodies, the last thing they want is to be in an accident. Do you really want an 80 year old banging down the interstate at a high rate of speed?
It is easy to say that many of these people should not be driving at all – and it the best of worlds that is true. Most of these folks live outside urban areas where public transportation is scanty at best and have little choice in the matter.
All that said, although I am closer to their age than yours, I too get irritated but try to temper that with remembering that these folks are my parents generation (and your grandparents). I think we all need to cut them a little slack.
I find Lexus drivers to be very oblivious drivers – they are people who just don’t care about driving (which many people here have pointed out). But what do you expect from people who buy the automotive equivalent of a Sub Zero refrigerator?
OK, in defense of BMW driving.
Class issues do arise. If you drive your Impala fast and cut through traffic, no one really cares. If you drive anything fancy, you will come across some level of class warfare.
The worst offenders are pickup drivers, and not working guys…the pickups with all the mods and doo-dads (raised is a giveaway) will block you every time. I laugh as many of these trucks cost way more than my 3-er.
The BMW is a better car. That is what you pay for. It also attracts a person interested in driving. You don’t get exemption from speed limits, physics or contact patches, but you can often work your way through a clump of CamCords, most of whom are distracted. If you have a better car with 20% larger performance envelope and you are paying attention to the driving, you are now 40% faster than Camry Solara on the cell.
When you pass the guy who is having a conversation on the cell phone, you get that “I’ve just been cut off by a BMW driving NSFW”.
The cure is to work your way through clumps slowly, and don’t pass anyone at more than a 15 mph differential. If you see CamCord wake up and the hand on the wheel flip up, (so he can read his speedo and guess your speed), then you are too aggressive.
Drive gently. Go fast between clumps. Don’t ever, ever, ever do anything to “wake up” CamCord.
TwoTwenty:
I love my Sub-Zero. OK, not love. Respect. OK, not respect but totally take for granted.
Both are fine appliances. And both inspire about the same amount of passion in me. No disrespect.
It used to be Rambler drivers, but I think they all bought Volvos when Rambler went away.
I’ve also noticed that there seems to be a contingent of posters here who very much identify themselves as not “old” by the way they disparage older folks. It’s true, there do seem to be trends; chances are that you pass more cars that have Pearl Harbor Survivor license plates than get passed by them. But at the same time a goodly percentage of the slowpokes and left lane squatters in these parts are younger than I am.
Some of us when we get old are simply more careful where and when we speed. Like the man a few posts above said, you can get through clumps more easily if you don’t first get all of the other drivers po’d at you.
Another “feminine” aspect of this subject is that something that should otherwise be innocuous (in this case the brand Lexus) can somehow end up inciting hysterically over-wrought temper tantrums.
“Honey, was it something I said? I was just trying to buy a car that Consumer Reports recommended. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
And I’m a Volvo driver. Volvo drivers are jerks, eh? Well anyone who would say that must be a pretentious phony who was probably educated a state school. I’m going to piss on that person’s Guccis!
(That last part is supposed to be funny. You know, I’m a Volvo driver so I’m a jerk!)
From my experience, Volvo station wagon drivers are the worst. Whenever I spot one I keep my distance. I just know that they’re going to pull some bonehead move before they’re out of sight. And you know what? They always do.
In Toronto…BMW drivers hands down. Nothing even comes close.
Integras do. I used to live in Toronto and no one, but no one, is as much of a twerp as the driver of an Integra*. BMW drivers are close, but they’re also making lease payments; Integra drivers probably paid for the car, and are already paying more than the car’s worth yearly in insurance**, so they have nothing to lose.
Outside of Toronto, but still in Ontario, it’s pickup—usually Rams and S-10s—and Blazer owners. I live in the Kawarthas now, and I’m amazed at how much of a deathwish*** the average Ram-driving country punk has. I’m also amazed at how they can afford to fuel a heavy-duty pickup truck that they drive like a sports car.
* This includes RSX and Civic coupes, by the way.
** Because they’re young, male, and driving an Integra. I’ve seen the insurance tables.
*** It must be hard to drive, light a smoke, knock back a beer, talk on the cellphone, listen to Limp Bizkit, feel up your girlfriend and play with your dog at 140km/h on a snowy road in a snowplow-equipped Ram 2500. I guess natural selection must play a part in it, and all the unskilled punks were killed off before they could breed, though they breed awfully early****
**** Yes, I’m being both theatrical and mean-spirited. Oh well.
On the flipside, the best drivers I’ve seen are almost always driving a minivan, usually a late-model 5, Rondo or Caravan, or a slightly older Sienna or Oddy.
Minivan drivers seem cautious, respectful, attentive but not overly slow or panicky.
BMW/Audi definitely take the cake in SoCal.
But if you happen to wander into the communities more populated by Asians, good luck with Camry drivers or G35/350z guys.
I’ll have to remember this article if I ever take my Lexus into the Midwest.
In my experience, Pontiac drivers are by far the worst. People who buy them wanted a sporty, fast car but could not actually afford one. So they bought a Pontiac. Not the good, most expensive Pontiac (G8 GT) mind you, but any other pontiac. They can’t stand being passed. Its funny when I pass a G6 and I hear their Pontiac start screaming as they slam the pedal…and can’t even keep up.
I won’t even park next to a Pontiac thats more than 3 years old…just asking for a door dent if you do that.
Right now, you haven’t been able read the license plates of Pontiacs in my area for 4 months. Its winter and the owners never seem to wash them.
hey, let’s face it – the worst driver is always the other guy – not me.
the rate of speed i travel at is always appropriate. the maneuvers i engage in are perfectly timed and deftly executed. and the attitude i project just couldn’t be better.
now, get outta my way, i just missed my turn and i’m gonna hafta cut in front of you and slam on my brakes to pull an illegal 180 – whether you like it or not. honk-honk! screachhhh! honnnnnnnnk!!
bjcpdx:
I have a 2005 Volvo XC70. I am a good driver. Ha!
By far, Jeep drivers–more specifically those driving other than Wranglers– are the most discourteous to those of us who drive cautiously in snow and slush. They delight in roaring right up to your rear bumper,flashing their brights at you(this despite your already being in the right lane) then stabbing the gas as they pull around and soak you with their wake. I love seeing them subsequently smashed against the lane divider wall.
We’re getting a lot of African refugees, Somalis and Sudanese, working in the packing plants. They cut it dangerously close when they pass you. Nobody’s given them the lecture that you don’t cut back in until you can see the passed car’s grille. I don’t want to ever have a wreck with one of these people as they have a reputation for running off. The officialdom in their home countries are apparently very brutal with people who have accidents and they think our cops must be as bad.
May I admit something? The worst drivers in the world are people like me;
For the first few days of being there, right-hand drivers from the places like Australia, Japan, UK and others getting use to everything backwards.
I might have escaped the worst drivers list because I blend in with those other crazy Malibu drivers…
frizzlefry – absolutely. If you see a G6, especially a red G6 on the road, chances are there’s a douchebag behind the wheel.
Sorry. You guys have it all wrong. At the risk of being sexist, I find the worst drivers in my area to be the sum of: Large body-on-frame SUV + Woman driver + Cell phone at ear = Worst drivers.
I’ve witnessed said formula above perform numerous feats of dismal driving prowess that would lead to death and damage if other drivers are not being defensive to avoid them. One driving stupidity example? Running stop thru stop signs.
Never mind the fact that this same driving contingent believes that the bigger, heavier and higher vehicle is the “safe” choice to drive never mind what the impact is on others sharing the road. Nor the fact that these barges suck gas, can’t stop and are the ones you see rolled over in the ditch. How often do you see the suburban mcmansion wannabe really using these SUV’s to haul a full load of people, cargo or to pull trailers?
Oh the insecurity of it all!
Anecdotal evidence sometimes says a hell of a lot more than statistical proof, which, in this case, can’t be proven. Basically quantitative versus qualitative….I etch a permanent memory into my mind after seeing any kind of asshole driver…..and I remember what he or she was driving as well. However, I don’t know if I can pick ONE brand of vehicle, but I can pick certain aspects.
From MY perspective;
Porsche drivers are the most careful drivers I have ever seen. Yes, even in Detroit I see Porsches daily but it’s mostly in the new money areas of Oakland County and somewhat in old money Grosse Pointes. These drives know quality for the most part, and don’t tend to drive like nimrods. Can’t say I have seen an asshattish Porsche driver.
Raised pickup trucks (any brand) usually are among the worst in the Detroit area. These guys are typical and can usually be lumped into a certain social group. You get these types of dickheads mostly in Macomb County and a little bit downriver. Gratiot and Groesbeck are the two main thoroughfares where you will witness the inbred northern hillbilly and his outrageous F-150 with No Fear stickers, Red Wing logos, and NRA emblems.
For me the worst drivers are the “tuner” Civic or WRX crowd.
Lexus is nothing more than the Asian version of Buick.
You get the same kind of driver in each. The only difference is the amount of money they spent for the vehicle.
Integras do. I used to live in Toronto and no one, but no one, is as much of a twerp as the driver of an Integra psarhjinian, that’s quite funny because I was going to pick them, but it’s been out of production for a while, and they generally had the snot driven out of them, so there are scant few left on the roads. BMWs though? Tons.
amother vote against the jacked up pickup crowd,
I’m going to cast my vote for Cobalt drivers. In the Pittsburgh suburbs, they’re almost always kids in their first car, and they don’t know how to drive, they don’t know where they’re going, and they probably don’t care. At least the old men in Buicks are reasonably competent at going straight.
NYC observations
Lexus RX drivers mesh with the full body on frame set; usually female, always on the phone. They’re harmless unless turning at a light, but here they will kill you.
Toyota (incl. the ESLexus) is a dead even replacement for the Buick/Oldsmobile, sometimes halfway to the grave group. They left lane clog, not out of inattention, but because they are genuinely terrified of merging traffic on the right side. If they aren’t over 70 they are poor drivers who do not try. Literally no one considers them a role model.
BMW, Infinite, Nisaan. hehe, these guys are the weavers. They travel 20-30 over everywhere, lane change w/out signals and leave no margin for error. They do all of the above while smoking a blunt and listening to whatever hip-hop album “best describes their life.” Like it or not, they have their fans.
This stuff is too regional to do more than report on your location…this list does not apply at all where I went to college. Reminds me of those fill-in-the-map map posts a while back actually.
like.a.kite:
Oh sorry, I meant all Volvo station wagon drivers except for drivers of 2005 models.
But seriously, all drivers think they’re a good driver. Heck, I think I am a good driver.
I agree with him.
Lexus drivers are snots who need to take some remedial driving courses.
Update:
Well, no sooner do I diss Volvo station wagon drivers than I am rear-ended by, you guessed it, a Volvo station wagon. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
Of course, the truth is that we can only generalize about drivers of certain cars. I’m sure there are plenty of non-aggressive BMW drivers and plenty of attentive Lexus drivers out there.
But really, this Volvo thing is a pretty weird coincidence.