I should have mentioned this was on an interstate. I don’t think anyone was backing up. 
Well, I am a VW owner and drive it as if it were a BMW! I view my commute as if it were a Le Mans. If I could afford a BMW you bet that I would have one. My driving style is definitely on the aggressive side, although I tend to remain courteous to people who are more generally following the speed limit and also don’t generally go fast enough to end up in (much) trouble. I don’t pass in a no passing zone unless it is a tractor driving down the road, or someone on a Camry who thinks they are on tractor. I don’t flash my headlights at the car in front of me, telling them to move over. I used to see that a lot in the New England area.
Twotone is a visitor here and owns several BMWs
A diatribe is a verbal attack
The response wasn’t meant for anyone in particular. The tone of the discussion was going downhill IMO, and I wanted to point that out. I can find many more types and brands of cars driven by aggressive drivers. I see no need to beat on BMW drivers as a group. BTW, I don’t drive a BMW.
Sounds like the Ford Fusion driver was driving full speed ahead
I do appreciate a car that handles well. Years ago, we lived in a duplex and our next door neighbor worked for a car agency that sold Datsuns (now Nissan) and MGs. This neighbor was in the National Guard and had to report for training one weekend each month. He would bring me the keys to an MG Midget demonstrator each time he had guard duty. He said that the MG was like a fine horse and should be exercised every day. The MG was fun to exercise. I don’t think I drove it aggressively, but it did handle much better on curves than the 1965 Rambler I owned at the time. .
I don’t begrudge a person owning a BMW who appreciates a good car and owns a BMW for its driving qualities. If I ever get to the point in my life where I don’t need a minivan, I may buy a car based on its handling characteristics, but not for the prestige of the make. I am hoping that the exercises I am doing on an adult physical fitness program will reduce the leg cramps I get when I drive a conventional car any distance.
I know two BMW drivers who drive carefully and responsibly. One is a retired doctor with a 7 Series and the other is a successful retired engineer who had a 12 Cyl. Jag, but now has a 4 year old 7 Series sedan.
Both appreciate fine machinery.
I’ve seldom had a problem with BMW drivers. Sure, they often prefer to go faster than my own “I’ll get there when I get there” driving style, but for the most part they are perfectly happy to just go around on the left if I’m going too slow for them. And I always feel a little safer if a BMW driver is behind me, as I notice those cars brake very well. They stop fast and straight. They must use something extra in their braking systems compared to a Honda Civic say.
I did one time have a BMW driver play a sophomoric trick on me, for some reason – maybe she thought I was driving too slow for her purposes – she got in front of me and stopped 2 car lengths short of the stoplight , apparently on purpose. Since I was going slow, no problem. But I saw here looking at me snidely in her rear view mirror. The next light, she again pulled in front of me and stopped even shorter, 5 car lengths, but I was on to her by that time and just pulled into the next lane and passed her enough she couldn’t get through the traffic and keep up with me at that point.
@Docnick, owners of 7 series beemers are in a very different category than 3-series or SUVs.
I appreciate fine engineering as much as anyone else but until I become rich, I’ll have to settle for my inferior car that shows its total lack of engineering by starting every morning, even on the coldest days, lasting over a quarter million miles with little more than oil changes, brake pads and tires, putting motorcycles to shame with its gas mileage and doing it with 87 octane fuel, and at a price that isn’t so high that by the time I pay for the car, I could have walked around the world.
I have more problems with people on cell phones, vs any make of car. Doing 20 ina 30, yup on a cellphone, blowing a stop sign or red light, yup on a cell phone, granted I have the occasional monte carlo driver that if I leave a comfortable space between me and the car ahead will take it in hopes of getting there a car length sooner I suppose, but 9 times out of 10 we all end up at the same red light together.
owners of 7 series beemers are in a very different category than 3-series or SUVs.
Considering the base price is about 75 grand, yeah, I’d drive carefully, too.
When you start talking 100K price tags, my feeling is that it better be able to fly, literally, and IFR instrumentation would be nice too.
Personally, I think the author of that study is a bigger problem than BMW drivers. He seems to have an axe to grind against anyone with money or anyone trying to get ahead and succeed in what they’re doing, etc.and has no life except to whine about what others have.
He even resorts to stating that rich people are far more likely to steal candy from babies; literally.
Removed from academia, this guy would starve to death inside of 3 days.
Statistically, only 5% of the population are rich, so every time you write something, it is better to side with the 95% and you will get “more” attention.
What percentage of the population is “rich” depends on what your definition of “poor” is. In the U.S., the “poor” drive cars and are frequently obese. Most have refrigerators and a range to cook on as well as a color TV to watch.
In much of the rest of the world, poor means wearing rags, living in a shanty, and cooking your daily gruel over an open fire using dried cow dung as fuel.
@B.L.E. True! When I visit developing countries, the rich there are often fat while the poor are skinny because they work harder physically and eat fewer calories. The US situation is the opposite, and it has the world’s fattest people on average. That does not mean, of course, that all those calories are good calories.
Once on a trip to the South I was in a supermarket and watched a woman using food stamps load up on expensive packaged junk food.
Some nutritional counselling seems in order.
@docnick, does the south mean Toronto? ; )
@Triedaq
I’m going to date both of us. Back in the early 70’s, I would not put BMW owners in the same class as those today. Back then, even on a biginner’s teacher’s salary, I bought a SAAB but only after trying out and considering a BMW 2000. They were definitely more affordable then and the yuppy factor was not in vogue for them around here. Drivers then were " normal" people. ;=) Ah, but then, I worked in a college community too and was perhaps a little snooty. Let me take that back. I just couldn’t afford to be one.
I would put the few BMW motor cylcle owners I have know as among the most practical minded cyclist I have ever known. IMO, all BMW product owners are not the same as todays BMW car owners…that is if our intent is to actually say they are…@BLE , I agree !
@dagosa–my late father was a college professor. His salary wasn’t really good because he hadn’t completed his doctorate and couldn’t advance until he completed the degree. At any rate, there were some vehicles he thought he wanted to own, but didn’t have the money to replace his 1939 Chevrolet. One car was the 1949 Nash Airflyte that had the appearance of an inverted bathtub. I learned years later that these Nash Airflytes were designed in a wind tunnel and had the least wind resistance of any domestic car at the time. Another vehicle he thought would be great was a Jeep station wagon. They had metal bodies and were more practical than most of the other wagons which had wooden bodies. After he completed his degree, he was intrigued by the Saab–the model that had the 2 stroke 3 cylinder engine. My mother thought that it would be an inconvenience to mix oil with the gas and vetoed the idea of the Saab. Much later, my dad thought that the Studebaker Avanti was a great car. He had the resources by this point to buy one, but having lived through the depression of the 1930s, he never seriously considered buying one. One story my dad told me was that his department head bought a five year old Cadillac back in the 1955. The department head was razzed about his purchase by some of the faculty that the department head went to the president of the institution and asked if it was all right if he kept the car. I can’t imagine that happening today.
I became a college professor and I have colleagues that own BMWs. These colleagues come in two types: 1) those who appreciate the car for its precise handling and 2) those who buy one for the prestige. I think I could afford a BMW, but I guess the values of my parents who lived through the depression affects my car choices and puts me in the Ford, Chevy and Toyota market.
@Triedaq
We had two SAABs, one a two stroke and one an early 99. Both were excellent cars except for one thing. The two stroke motor needed replacement under warrenty after just 50k miles and the British Leyland motor of the 99 gave up the ghost at just 70k miles. Had I chosen the BMW, I would definitely gotten better service including better handling. Back then, SAABs were just as snooty. Though the BMW was our backup choice, Toyota was marketing a Cressida ( or Crown, can’t remember which) for the same price in 6 cyl form for less money. It could actually have been the best buy. But, who knew back then ? I would definitely have " killed myself" with the BMW as I was also just out of riding a Norton 750 which i had to give up to get my wife to marry me and expected my cars to drive just as fast. Young and dumb. How did we ever survive ? Inside, I always regretted not getting the BMW. Could have been one of those elitist braggarts you referred to. As it was, I was insufferable about SAABs, till we got tired of repairing them.
Now, like you, we buy cars by “convenience”. The nearest just happens to be a Toyota dealer. Where we lived before, it was Fords and Hondas. Funny, I later would drive hundreds of miles just to try out and buy a new model sailboat but wouldn’t travel more then a couple miles to buy a new car. Priorities ! With only one BMW dealer within 200 miles, we will never buy or consider owning a BMW. I have a close friend with a BMW 3 Awd. He has driven and borrowed it seems every car I have ever owned and I even offered he take one of them back home, 300 miles away for a month while his BMW was being worked on. He has never even let me sit in the driver’s seat of his BMW. BMW car owners are snooty about their cars. They know parts are scarce.