Thread: You Are What You Drive

maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon but I really resent when people try and shoehorn you into a category because you drive a certain car or wear a certain watch or wear a certain style of clothes and the list goes on.

I can assure you there are more people who break the title and exactly who creates these associations anyway?

Also, you know what they say about guys who use straight razors don't you?
...har,har.

I'll kick your ass in my "old grandma's" T6 any time!

Generally, most Europeans living the US I've met agree that most Americans drive like crap. For Europeans, driving is a sport, a joy, an activity worth focus and attention. For most Americans, it is like sitting mindlessly in front of their TV and sipping coke.

Originally Posted by sparq

I'll kick your ass in my "old grandma's" T6 any time!

Generally, most Europeans living the US I've met agree that most Americans drive like crap. For Europeans, driving is a sport, a joy, an activity worth focus and attention. For most Americans, it is like sitting mindlessly in front of their TV and sipping coke.

YOu mean like the native New Yorker I picked up from the airport & drove to his central London hotel about ten years ago. He had a death grip on the dash all the way. I mean six foot off the car in front's rear fender is plenty of room. Especially at sixty.

Originally Posted by sparq

I'll kick your ass in my "old grandma's" T6 any time!

Generally, most Europeans living the US I've met agree that most Americans drive like crap. For Europeans, driving is a sport, a joy, an activity worth focus and attention. For most Americans, it is like sitting mindlessly in front of their TV and sipping coke.

It doesn't take a European to figure out that most Americans drive like crap It's really amazing how bad most people are here. I think it has to do definitely with the attitude that driving is a right and that everyone has to do it to survive. The driving tests are too easy, and driver's ed is about like motorcycle safety school- you learn how to operate the vehicle at slow speeds, but you don't actually learn how to drive/ride. I definitely blame the entire concept of "defensive driving". Defensive driving is simply waiting for things to happen to you and reacting to it. Instead of waiting for a potential accident, go on the offense and be active in engaging traffic.

You can tell I get heated about driving I just hate to see the ignorant idiots that are out there putting others in danger. I think if we had more stringent regulations on testing procedures and schooling, our roads would be much safer. I am entirely for re-testing of driving skills at certain ages, as well as making it harder for kids to get their licenses. God and money willing, I plan on putting SWMBO through a real driving school, and if I ever have kids, they'll go through it too. As for me, I think I'm headed to Rally school one of these days

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

It doesn't take a European to figure out that most Americans drive like crap

I said that from a standpoint of a "former European" living in the US. Entitlement and a total lack of attention to what's happening around, a formidable combination sooo natural to most of the drivers here, always drive me nuts.

.. and then of course the cops who only seem to care about speeding.

Originally Posted by Spike J

YOu mean like the native New Yorker I picked up from the airport & drove to his central London hotel about ten years ago. He had a death grip on the dash all the way. I mean six foot off the car in front's rear fender is plenty of room. Especially at sixty.

Exactly. I do not even want to go into details about what usually happens at the traffic lights here.

PS: Automatic gearboxes kill brain cells, too. It seems that many drivers (especially those in minivans with soccer ball stickers) feel compelled to always step on of the two available pedals. Who cares about the flow of traffic anyway...

Originally Posted by Spike J

YOu mean like the native New Yorker I picked up from the airport & drove to his central London hotel about ten years ago. He had a death grip on the dash all the way. I mean six foot off the car in front's rear fender is plenty of room. Especially at sixty.

Sounds like your typical American pansy. There's nothing wrong with 6 feet off at 60 or 80.

Originally Posted by sparq

I said that from a standpoint of a "former European" living in the US. Entitlement and a total lack of attention to what's happening around, a formidable combination sooo natural to most of the drivers here, always drive me nuts.

.. and then of course the cops who only seem to care about speeding.

Oh, I read what I quoted which made it seem like you were asking Europeans what they thought.

Originally Posted by sparq

Exactly. I do not even want to go into details about what usually happens at the traffic lights here.

PS: Automatic gearboxes kill brain cells, too. It seems that many drivers (especially those in minivans with soccer ball stickers) feel compelled to always step on of the two available pedals. Who cares about the flow of traffic anyway...

+1000. Funny thing about traffic flow- if everyone wasn't an idiot and went at least the speed limit, there wouldn't be a rush hour. I have to calm down over all this...it's going to give me heart issues some day

Driving in the US & Canada is much more open & sedate. In Europe, the roads are generally much more crowded & thus the drivers have to be much more proactive & aware. If you want to see real driving, go to Italy. It makes a demolition derby look like a Sunday School outing. Traffic lights are merely roadside decorations & right of way is fought at every single junction. Every car has scratches or dents & crossing the road is taking your life in your hands.

The funniest thing I have seen in a car in recent years was my grandmother, who is 90 this year & still one of the best drivers I know, taking my cousin & his wife & kids out for the day. Pete nearly climbed out of the window when they hit traffic. He has lived in Louisiana for twenty some years & forgotten how jammed it gets.

Hmmm. I drive a Pontiac, and I'm broke.

I am on my second Camaro, I bought my first one when i was 16 with my own hard work, and my own money. almost two years ago my rear tire blew out and took me head on into a concrete barrier at 55mph. I bought a dead Camaro and spent the first months of college coming home and making the two Camaros in to one. Now i have a running car again and to me it represents hard work and it the only nice thing iv ever been able to afford.