# Expensive performance cars and aggressive driving **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899 "2020-02-04T13:58:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/1 "2020-02-04T13:58:29Z")
This looks like a battle in the making > **[Study: Argumentative, self-centered jerks prefer high-status cars](https://www.autoblog.com/2020/02/03/men-who-are-jerks-and-who-break-traffic-laws-prefer-high-status-cars-study-says/)** > > A new study out of the University of Helsinki finds that people who are attracted to high-status luxury automobiles are more likely to be self-centered, argumentative and male. Don’t hold back folks. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/2 "2020-02-04T14:07:41Z")
Well, I have observed–for many years–that the most aggressive, impatient, self-absorbed drivers in my area seem to be driving BMWs or VWs. So, the “German connection” seems to work. However, most of those aggressive German car drivers also appear to be women, so that doesn’t seem to equate with this study’s findings. Quien sabe? Also, there are a LOT of Porsches in my neck of the woods, along with a growing number of Maserati sedans, and none of those cars’ drivers seem to be aggressive on the road. A few days ago, I was walking through a parking lot when a middle-aged couple in a brand-new Aston-Martin DB-11 motored slowly past me. The driver was extremely cautious, and he showed courtesy to the pedestrians around him. When he pulled-out onto the highway, he appeared to drive in a safe, sane manner. So… who knows? ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/3 "2020-02-04T14:11:13Z")
I think pollsters can choose questions that have a good chance of reaching the conclusion that they want. My personal bias would put all drivers of large diesel powered pickups in the aggressive category just because the noise annoys me. ---
**Author:** ![shadowfax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/shadowfax/32/13026_2.png) [@shadowfax](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shadowfax)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/4 "2020-02-04T14:19:24Z")
> [@VDCdriver](#): > > Also, there are a LOT of Porsches in my neck of the woods, along with a growing number of Maserati sedans, and none of those cars’ drivers seem to be aggressive on the road. Porsches tend to attract more driving-focused drivers. BMWs attract people who want other people to be envious. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/5 "2020-02-04T16:20:43Z")
Yes @VOLVO_V70. I too have noticed that the questions on polls seem to beg a conclusion that fits the desire of those sponsoring the polls. And to the extreme Mississippi put out a referendum regarding increasing the state school budget with an obvious tax increase to support it. On the ballot the measure was written with a vague, double negative statement that would tend to result in the uninformed voting against a measure that they actually supported while those supporting it were given clear directions from the state’s aggressive partisan radio network that supporters would never listen to. I must have read that referendum 4 times before I felt certain how I was voting and on my way home I tuned on the talk station and heard the spiel and then understood the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 2:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/7 "2020-03-28T14:59:09Z")
> [@neburex](#): > > current state of our economic system encourages and rewards this boorish behavior as is apparent from the cost of these types of vehicles. How so? What is the reward? ---
**Author:** ![Cavell](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/cavell/32/43396_2.png) [@Cavell](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Cavell)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/8 "2020-03-28T15:13:04Z")
As of today, we have no economic system. ---
**Author:** ![neburex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@neburex](https://community.cartalk.com/u/neburex)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/10 "2020-03-28T16:06:06Z")
It’s there alright. Remember this when someone you may know or just overhear starts orating about how a free market solves all. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/11 "2020-03-28T16:11:51Z")
You made a broad statement with no explanation. Your followup is enlightening, however, as it does not show you in a positive light. Sure these cars are expensive. Sure some of these drivers are “not nice” but broadly generalizing them as “rapacious capitalists” as well as broadly generalizing “nice” people as not being “rapacious capitalists” is prejudice, pure and simple. Not all drivers of expensive cars are jerks nor are all drivers of economy cars nice people. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 4:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/12 "2020-03-28T16:15:16Z")
I don’t buy into any polls due to the quite often biased way the questions are asked. Much like the prosecutor in court who asks “Do you still beat your wife on a regtular basis?”. I generally work on the more mundane car models but have done some service work on the more top end cars such as BMWs and Mercedes. Their owners were just as down to Earth and nice as could be. One was even a college professor who owned an old Toyota pickup and a Ferrari. Worked on both of those and one would never know he even owned a Ferrari without seeing him in it… Always wearing jeans, T-shirts, long hair, Fu Manchu moustache, and so. Can’t say I enjoyed messing with the Ferrari though., The funny part was that the Toyota was a 3/4 ton with a huge overhang camper on it and that was his daily driver. I do agree with the part about not painting everyone with the same brush. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/13 "2020-03-28T16:58:17Z")
I am going to drive to the recycling center tomorrow . If I drive my 2018 Ford Fiesta in a boorish manner where do I apply for my reward ? ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/14 "2020-03-28T17:19:42Z")
> [@ok4450](#): > > I generally work on the more mundane car models but have done some service work on the more top end cars such as BMWs and Mercedes. Their owners were just as down to Earth and nice as could be. +1 My former City Councilman (who died a few weeks ago) was a kind, totally unassuming person, despite the fact that he was a multi-millionaire. (He inherited two early 20th Century industrial fortunes after all of his grandparents died.) When speaking with him, one would never know that he was an _extremely_ wealthy man. His obituary revealed the full extent of his many and varied charitable endeavors, and he was anything BUT a “rapacious capitalist”. He didn’t need to hold a job, but over the years he was employed as an office clerk, and–more recently–a real estate agent. To bring this back to the topic of cars, my late Councilman drove a _really_ old BMW sedan, painted a truly hideous shade of green. I think that the nickname for that color is “babys\*\*t green”. 😏 The local mechanic made lots of money over the years keeping that old BMW running. I believe that his other car was an almost-as-old Mercedes wagon. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/15 "2020-03-28T19:48:42Z")
Jerks are jerks, regardless of income. ---
**Author:** ![Triedaq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Triedaq](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Triedaq)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/16 "2020-03-28T19:58:59Z")
I am concentrating on being a disagreeable, self-centered jerk so I can buy that expensive performance car that would fit my personality. Mrs. Triedaq thinks I should be driving a late 1970s or early 1980s VW diesel that she thinks fits my personality–makes a big stink, a lot of noise, and doesn’t move very fast. I can understand a person who appreciates fine machinery buying a high end car, and I don’t begrudge a person having such a car. There are days when I would really like to have a Mazda Miata. Back in the early 1970s, the husband of the couple that lived in the duplex where Mrs. Triedaq I also lived, was a salesman for an import car dealer. He was in the National Guard and had to go to camp one weekend out of every month. He would bring me the keys to an MG Midget demonstrator and I would drive it around while he was out of town. Mrs Triedaq and I were planning to build a house at the time, so an MG Midget was out of the question. Then Triedaq junior came along and an MG Midget isn’t exactly a family car. I can understand a person who enjoys driving but needs a closed car buying a sports sedan such as a BMW. I have no problem with a person who liking the interior quality of a Mercedes Benz. Right now, I am searching this board to insult someone and write something nasty so I can be a jerk and buy an expensive performance car to fit my personality. ---
**Author:** ![VOLVO-V70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@VOLVO-V70](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VOLVO-V70)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/18 "2020-03-28T21:28:04Z")
> [@neburex](#): > > Covid - 19 sounds like a piece of cake. You can’t be serious ! ---
**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/20 "2020-03-28T23:57:40Z")
I’ve found Prius drivers to be among the most aggressive ---
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/21 "2020-03-29T00:07:52Z")
And on my last visit to the west coast I drove across the norther route and found Subaru drivers to be the most obnoxious. Maybe those Subaru owners in the commercials are from the New England tribe. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/22 "2020-03-29T00:28:35Z")
Around here the Prius drivers seem to be pretty bad. They take off from every light like they’re lined up at the drag strip or darting in and out in heavy traffic. I visit my sister in TX now and then (Fort Worth) and the worst ones there are the jacked up full size pickups with 4 feet of ground clearance. I don’t denigrate their choice of wheels they choose to own but screaming along at 85 in heavy traffic while darting in and out of traffic in a 3 ton top heavy vehicle seems a bit on the unsafe side. And there’s a bunch of them. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/expensive-performance-cars-and-aggressive-driving/157899/23 "2020-03-29T12:18:29Z")
> [@db4690](#): > > I’ve found Prius drivers to be among the most aggressive > [@ok4450](#): > > Around here the Prius drivers seem to be pretty bad. They take off from every light like they’re lined up at the drag strip +1 to both comments. When fuel-efficient hybrids first began to appear on the roads, I assumed that most of them would be driven at a tortoise-like pace. Boy, was I wrong!