You, sir, are some kind of crazy genius.

Next up was a 99 Corvette. Man, the baggage sure weighs heavy on ya in these as well. My purchase motive didn’t change. My image to many sure did. Now, I was a brash, gold chain wearing guy with a “penis extender” (as my wife’s friend put it). Except that I wasn’t (even my wedding band is silver.) But image is everything to some. Can’t shake it. I could say I don’t care, but I do. The baggage does weigh on you to the point that you really have to be an enthusiast and have thick skin to deal with that kind of image.

I couldn’t really drive an H2, especially these days. I did test drive one several years ago just out of curiosity. I mostly remember the horrible visibility out back and the 9 MPG around town during the test drive. Baggage to spare.

As someone who frequents I-95 in 3-4 states daily…

PA, MD, NJ, DE…

There are quite a number of vehicles that should be hauled to the scrap yard.. WITH THE DRIVER CHAINED INSIDE..

The Gwagon.. has got to be the most pompass damn thing has ever been built.

The H2 / H3.. isnt even my worry, I cut them off for the heck of it. I figure if ya got so much room over my head.. USE IT!

Its the variety of other useless pompass rolling accident garbage.. that I have to deal with..

The hordes of Tahoes and Burbans and other vehicles in their size / price class riding around with Betsy Wetsy at the wheel. Talk about compensation. Apparently your chest or brain isnt large enough to operate a vehicle of this size.

The 300.. is techically a nicely designed car. it flies in the face of aerodynmically designed front drive vehicle.. that litter the landscape.

However..
It is a Chrapsler vehicle. They have had that thing on sale for a few years now (If it were Honda, it wouldnt look so bastardly), People who drive them obviously sit so low they have to look up to see the wheel.. and with all of the plastichrome on the body.. portholes, whitewall tires with rims trimmed in gold plate.

The vehicle.. just gives off a awful demeanor that it exudes not just from the driver.. but from Chrapsler as a whole. Just tells all, that the driver should be ganged and bound.

The Prius driver.. just need to stay out of the left lane. I respect the car, but stay out of that lane.

There are various other SUVS including the Lambda, Lambda, Lambdas, Rovers that are just too big, to slow, and faar too combersome for their own damn good.

And oh yeah..
BMW / M-B / Lex drivers are often too busy messing around with their phone talking to their newly rented asian hooker.. than figure out how to drive that 4500lb average monstrosity down the road with any grace or elegance.

I actually appreciate the Ford Truck drivers because are the guys with their trucks all beat up slingin their way through the mess that is the slog through Philadelphia / NJ, DE, MD commute. I wouldnt cut them off or pass judgement on them. I would tail them through traffic.. they got a better idea of what traffic is doing and where to be and when.

As for the Mustang, M3, Evo, WRX STI, Del sol, older RX7, Mitsu Eclispe drivers, its these guys I can also get through with, instead of braking at the wrong times.

Most of the other stuff..
Really doesnt know whats going on. or how this slog works.

But I fully and completely agree, that you are.. what you drive.

Everybody has their own priorities when they buy a car. An H2 is (or was) a symbol(status, wealth, size, whatever…) and some people want that. Working in Scottsdale, I’ve seen more than my share of ‘luxury’ SUVs, such as H2s (& Mercedes G-Class SUVs, another obvious one), that served their purpose: they were Status Utility Vehicles. You are who you are regardless of your car (even if it can enable you to be more you, whether that’s good or bad). So if you’re a prick driving a BMW, you were a prick before you bought it. And if you’re a prick before you bought your Prius, you’re still a prick.

That being said, the drivers who piss me off the most are not aggressive drivers but those who are completely oblivious to everything going on around them. Agressive doesn’t equal unsafe.

Saying that says you’re a crappy person for assuming what someone else is like based on what they drive.

So, in order to drive a Hummer, you’ve got to have a complete disregard for the judgement and opinions of the people you encounter in your daily life, from strangers to acquaintances to coworkers to your neighbor to your mom. You have to get up every morning and get in a car that, when you park it at the grocery store, gets you dirty looks and snide comments.

It takes a certain kind of person to be able to put up with that, day after day, and still feel like they’ve made a good purchasing decision and look good in the car they’re driving: it takes a complete asshole without regard for anyone else.

So, what you are saying is that I need to drive a vehicle that EVERYONE ELSE approves of, not a vehicle I want or one that suits my needs. What about clothes? Should I quit wearing Harley Davidson t-shirts if I get dirty looks and snide comments? What about people who disapprove of me eating meat? What about people who don’t like the music to which I listen?

Sorry, but I’ll make my decisions based on what I want/need and not what anyone else thinks. I think you have to be a complete asshole to let other people dictate your choices based on “dirty looks and snide comments”.

The rudest, most inattentive, and generally bad drivers I encounter on a daily basis are women driving minivans. They speed, cut me off, don’t pay attention (can’t get off the phone), and generally do what they want with no regard for rules or common courtesy. I used to commute 70 miles one way to work, so I have spent some time on the road.

I have to second you on that one. I have two cousins who are cops, and they just smile like assholes when I call them on the way they drive.

I’m talking about, for example, other employees at the state agency where I work (our salaries of course do not compare with said docs and lawyers), some of whom make half what I do, and they’re driving a Sclade, Suburban, big-ass 4WD truck, BMW, or whatever. And they have kids, a house payment, and have to eat.

A car is a necessary financial evil, a depreciating asset, not an investment like a home. I get that we want to drive something fun and do enjoy nice cars, but I see so many people who are buying waaaay beyond what they can comfortably afford.

So my point is that while it doesn’t indicate a bad person, in at least some cases, it can indicate extreme financial irresponsiblity.

I also see plenty of a-holes in all types of cars, from subcompacts on up to huge.

Cars don’t cause global warming, people cause global warming.”

Hummer owners aren’t bad, they merely own a bad car.”

Oh, wait….

Then again, there is a middle aged guy who lives a few miles from our house who always seems to think he is shooting a scene from the French Connection when he hit the road in his Mini. Maybe I should file a DS 699 on him :).

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/ds/ds699.pdf

since i was a kid, I always heard my parents compalinig that people driving BMW are “naughty” and later on my dad told me that before BMW’s it was little speedy Fiat’s that were the culprit.

Now i live in Lebanon, and over here, BMW and Mercs are abound, second hand ones mostly, and while growing up, my fascination, later passion with cars rejected these biased sayings and stereoptypes. and recently, everyone is bitching about SUV’s.

Now, i do understand that not everyone that drives a beemer, will naturally speed and cause havoc on the streets. (no one drives Fiat’s anymore even over here)

The same is true for SUV’s,n not everyone that
drives one is a pompous pansey that thinks he owns the road just because he can see further ahead than the little lemmings driving cars.

HOWEVER, more than once, even more than ten times, i have heard people complaining about Hummer driver, mostly the H2’s and H3’s. and only 3 days ago, while driving on the highway, i came up to some roadworks. so a 3 lane road funeled to one, and just as i was about to go from the left to the open lane, a yellow H2 comes by me flying half his track off the tarmac racing as if his dady had passed the road ownership down to him.
now if i were in my 83 chevy, i would of risked my front end just to make a point (and i’ve done that before). however i was driving the wife’s Mazda 2, a brand new one. so i gave him no challenge and stayed out of the way.

some of the comments here talk about fuel consumption and the ability to fill the tank, and the right to own any car.

i agree, but when you drive a 3 ton beheamoth, you better think thrice, because you are controlling (or rather not) a rolling projectile, that will effectively kill people and cause severe damage.

i dont consider every one that drives an H2 an A..hole, but i do think they are potential A-Holes, because cars that big, tend to give their drivers an overrated sense of security. that when they feel the need to threaten, they can do it.

i’ve always driven a certain size of cars, and i can relate, but my cars are not likely to easily climb curbs and litle cars like the Hummers can.

so in the end, Johnny, i think your girlfriend has got her head on the right way, and when it comes to H2’s, Tahoes, Suburban’s, i think you should need a license (and extra cost) to own and drive such a car, just the same as in lebanon, you need a commercial/agricultural license to own a pickup.

Wasn’t it a couple years back that VW launched an add campaign to show that if you drive VW everyone will like you and you’ll become a better person?

Put it this way: the only person I’ve met who’s come close to buying a Hummer (a H2) was my ex-brother-in-law. This was also a guy who adjusted the headlights on his pickup as high as possible, and thought the only drawback of this was that other drivers would be jealous (because he could see better). Draw your own conclusions.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffqtJ-eB1qY Clarkson likes it. Ahem.

I’m not sure about that, but certain cars do “talk” to me and change the way I drive. My old Saab was always saying “C’mon, you can take this road faster than THAT”, while the rental Buick the dealer gave me while the Saab was in the for one of its extended visits said “Slow down, ease back, you’re already going almost as fast as the speed limit …”. The rental Impala I had on vacation recently kept screaming “SLOW DOWN – WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!” (or was that my sister-in-law?).

The BMW says “Ve should take zis corner at exactly 47 mph … Ach, zere is an idiot in a Buick going 5 under ze limit!”

Since we’re all “auto enthusiasts,” I think we can all identify with phrases like “the engine just begs to be revved” and “the car just begs to be driven hard into corners.” Some automobiles do/can encourage bad behavior, whether we’re talking about tiny roadsters or behemoth SUVs. So that’s a definite yes for #1 given the “right” combination of driver and vehicle. And enough of #1 could arguably lead to #2.

Of course it’s the person who’s bad, not the truck. In defense of the H2, I’d have to say that I’ve seen much worse behavior from practically any 18-24 year old driving an F-Body, used 3-series, or even a slammed import and racing from every stoplight.

It’s more of the person than the vehicle, though for some personality types the vehicle may bring out more of that personality. I like to think that that doesn’t happen to me though. I drive the same way in pretty much all the cars, though certain of my vehicles (obviously) take the curves better than others!

Yes, i think so.(In other peoples eyes)
I used to drive gti class cars, but now i drive a couple of cars that´s considered cute.
Now i can get away with much more doubtful behavior in traffic without getting honked at :-)

Pretense, snobbism of any variety including the effete pseudo-cleverness of groupthink car selection, and prejudice based on automotive choice pretty much all ensure the bad people are the ones passing judgment. Even a Civic owner sneering at the likes of a Cobalt looks like a bad person to the Chevy driver.

The nicest people today are often in Cadillac DTS, Chevy HHR and Ford Focus. They’re free of pretense completely. Not to mention those of us driving Cadillac XLR-Vs ;).

Uh, the answer to Jonny’s question is “no.”

Phil