New Finnish study confirms that BMW and Audi owners drive like idiots

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by corn18

Actual or perceived skill? We all know how that works.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

It's the exhaust. If I'm driving the M6, I tend to be a little more aggressive than the other cars. Driving in electric mode in the i8 makes me as docile as a house cat.

On lane changing I always point the nose and signal simultaneously.

Ditto here. I don't drive in heavy traffic very often, and when I do I only change lanes when either necessary or clearly advantageous. Otherwise, you're just adding turbulence and friction.

When I do change lanes, I change into a spot in front of me. I move forward in the flow, or at the very least laterally. This seems to be lost on the vast majority of motoring dolts, who instead look in the rear-view mirror or over their shoulder and pick a gap that's a quarter of a mile back. And then hit the brakes and wait for the gap to come to them, thus making everyone behind them slow down too.



It's a metaphor for life. Some people create and seize upon opportunities, and some people wait for opportunities.

[wdb]

Dodge Ram and Charger (the new ones, not classic) owners win Top Jerk award around my area. Diesel dually drivers are right there with them. When I venture into more moneyed areas the Audi folk come to the fore. Yes I see BMW jerks but they tend to be older cars with questionable mods and younger drivers at the wheel.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by wdb

Dodge Ram and Charger (the new ones, not classic) owners win Top Jerk award around my area. Diesel dually drivers are right there with them. When I venture into more moneyed areas the Audi folk come to the fore. Yes I see BMW jerks but they tend to be older cars with questionable mods and younger drivers at the wheel.

Yeah, same around here. There's a special category of asshole drivers: guys with full-sized pickups who poke along in the left lane at the posted speed limit. It can be any brand of truck, almost always 4WD. Always stock, never modded in any way. They seem to want to cower in the shelter of the left lane, avoiding the turbulence and zig-zagging of the other lanes. It's as though they bought something that they're not very competent or confident at driving. And they're willing to make everyone else suffer for it. Or, they're fantasizing that they're driving an 18-wheeler perhaps. Whatever it is, it's irritating as fuck.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by Salty Dog

So I was listening to a talk show and they were talking about this study and then then host quoted a study out of the University of Michigan that looked at 6.5 million collisions in the USA. 40% of the driving in done by women and they are involved in 68% of the collisions.....

Discuss amongst yourselves.....

If I had been deranged for every fourth week of my 40-year driving career, I would have had crashes too.

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

Ditto here. I don't drive in heavy traffic very often, and when I do I only change lanes when either necessary or clearly advantageous. Otherwise, you're just adding turbulence and friction.

When I do change lanes, I change into a spot in front of me. I move forward in the flow, or at the very least laterally. This seems to be lost on the vast majority of motoring dolts, who instead look in the rear-view mirror or over their shoulder and pick a gap that's a quarter of a mile back. And then hit the brakes and wait for the gap to come to them, thus making everyone behind them slow down too.



It's a metaphor for life. Some people create and seize upon opportunities, and some people wait for opportunities.

This. And it seems most people look behind rather than forward. I'm glad I'm not the only one who made this observation and association.

[wtwo3]

https://autos.yahoo.com/men-jerks-br...zLnQpeD-uVrtlz


I haven't read the full article yet, but figured it sounded interesting.

[F32Fleet]

So basically, not all German car owners are asshats but a lot of asshats drive German cars?

Got it...

[cooolone2]

When and if I ever visit Finland, I might care what they think...

Otherwise, not really... Because it really has nothing to do with the price of corn in Russia!

O.o

[Hornet]

Socialism and envy towards more expensive cars still lies deep in here. Nothing new in this "study".

Everytime someone does stupid things in traffic in a BMW (or Audi) and ends up in the headlines, the press always remembers to tell it was a "BMW driver". If it's a Toyota or VW driver however, the car brand suddenly becomes irrelevant information and it's not worth mentioning.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Salty Dog

New Finnish study confirms that BMW and Audi owners drive like idiots


Lloyd Alter lloydalter
January 29, 2020

Not only that, they are "argumentative, stubborn, disagreeable and unempathetic." And all men.

Whenever I see the most egregious behaviour by drivers, they are often in BMWs, Mercedes or Audis. This isn't a new phenomenon; I wrote about it a few years ago in Study reveals the obvious: The rich are different from you and me, especially behind the wheel, which measured their behaviour at four-way stops and pedestrian crosswalks.

Now a new study (which we can't actually quote the title of in TreeHugger, as it breaks our rules) confirms our prejudices. A Finnish professor of social psychology found that "Audi and BMW drivers seemed much more likely to ignore traffic regulations and drive recklessly." He's quoted in the University of Helsinki's Newsletter:

“I had noticed that the ones most likely to run a red light, not give way to pedestrians and generally drive recklessly and too fast were often the ones driving fast German cars,” says Jan-Erik Lönnqvist of the University of Helsinki’s Swedish School of Social Science.

Unlike the research described in our previous post, done by logging cars in the street, Lönnqvist asked a lot of questions about why people are drawn to these cars and what kind of people they were.

To gain answers, researchers carried out a study of Finnish consumers. A total of 1,892 car owners answered not only questions about their car, consumption habits and wealth, but also questions exploring personality traits. The answers were analysed using the Five‐Factor Model, the most widely used framework for assessing personality traits in five key domains (openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness). The answers were unambiguous: self-centred men who are argumentative, stubborn, disagreeable and unempathetic are much more likely to own a high-status car such as an Audi, BMW or Mercedes.

But what is most interesting is that in the previous research, the conclusion was that "many rich people have a sense of entitlement and don't think the rules apply to them," that being rich made them jerks. Lönnqvist comes to a different conclusion: They were jerks first, who got rich.

He points out that money is, of course, necessary to buy high-status products, which is why rich people are more likely to drive high-status cars. “But we also found that those whose personality was deemed more disagreeable were more drawn to high-status cars. These are people who often see themselves as superior and are keen to display this to others.”

This point is confirmed by the fact that another group likes to drive expensive cars: people who are rich, but also "respectable, ambitious, reliable and well-organised." And where the jerks are all men, the conscientious types are belong to both sexes. This is where I believe his methodology breaks down; it doesn't look at how these respectable and conscientious types actually drive. I have been cut off by lots of women in BMWs. Lönnqvist, who is turning into a modern-day Thorstein Veblen, concludes:

It would be great if consumers had other, sustainable ways of showing their status rather than the superficial consumption of luxury goods that often has negative consequences. We are already seeing that driving an electric car is becoming something of a status symbol, whereas SUVs with their high emissions are no longer considered as cool.
Alas, I have seen so many jerks in Teslas; it attracts both the conscientious and the disagreeable. Perhaps we could sell them on really expensive e-bikes.

It's more likely Lonnqvist has seen 'The Ultimate Driving Machine' ad and posters and is incensed at what he is missing out on driving his Fiat 500.
If he had an Abarth,Greta Thunberg would be scolding him

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by Hornet

Socialism and envy towards more expensive cars still lies deep in here. Nothing new in this "study".

Everytime someone does stupid things in traffic in a BMW (or Audi) and ends up in the headlines, the press always remembers to tell it was a "BMW driver". If it's a Toyota or VW driver however, the car brand suddenly becomes irrelevant information and it's not worth mentioning.

I was surprised to find that most of the taxis at Helsinki-Vantaa are Mercedes-Benzes. Old ones, grant you, but still...unexpected.

[jimbobiggens]

I have no idea about Finland, but Bmw and Audi drivers do not have the market cornered on driving like an idiot in West Tennessee. That dubious distinction belongs to the crackheads in their $500 cars. If The Walking Dead TV show producers had decided to let zombies start driving cars, Jackson would have been a good place to film 'cause they're already here.

[Hornet]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

I was surprised to find that most of the taxis at Helsinki-Vantaa are Mercedes-Benzes. Old ones, grant you, but still...unexpected.

Taxis have or at least used to have notable reliefs on taxes when purchasing a car. That's why many often chose german premium cars because it was relatively cheap to do so.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by Hornet

Everytime someone does stupid things in traffic in a BMW (or Audi) and ends up in the headlines, the press always remembers to tell it was a "BMW driver". If it's a Toyota or VW driver however, the car brand suddenly becomes irrelevant information and it's not worth mentioning.

This is not a Finnish, nor is it even a Scandinavian/socialist, thang. It was a Jeremy Clarkson 'bit' on Top Gear in the UK for years.

This is all basic behavioral science, manifested in different ways in different countries that have different social mores, government systems, and economies. Absolutely zilch here is new or new(s). It's been proven in study after study after study after study for many decades -- just using other subjects and variables.

Heck: Even North Korea has a caste system, income inequality, capital-dependent industries, male jerks, and both plebian and imported luxury vehicles roaming its streets.

[Burrcold]

Audi? Really? I've obviously seen/heard about this distinction for BMW drivers but not Audi. One thing I will add coming from Audi and Lexus vehicles to a BMW, is that everyone else on the road drives like a maniac trying to tailgate, cut me off, not let me in while merging, etc. much, much more in the BMW! Seriously night and day difference. Such strange behaviour from other drivers.

[stein_325i]

Reminds me of this top gear moment

[Burrcold]

Originally Posted by joshuastein55

Reminds me of this top gear moment

Lol

[pennsiveguy]

Maybe the Finns saw this. It's Finnish rally legend Markku Alen flogging an F86:

[..Rush..]

Drivers

[Germanauto]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

Audi? Really? I've obviously seen/heard about this distinction for BMW drivers but not Audi. One thing I will add coming from Audi and Lexus vehicles to a BMW, is that everyone else on the road drives like a maniac trying to tailgate, cut me off, not let me in while merging, etc. much, much more in the BMW! Seriously night and day difference. Such strange behaviour from other drivers.

I've seen douchebaggery from Audi S4 and S5 drivers. Rest of them drive like grandpas....makes sense as their cars aren't any fun to drive.

[fastboatster]

Originally Posted by F32Fleet

So basically, not all German car owners are asshats but a lot of asshats drive German cars?

Got it...

reminds me of the same stuff said about Honda drivers a long time ago: "Not all Honda drivers are assholes, but assholes do like to drive Hondas". I think that this was said when Hondas were cheap and peppy fwd cars back in early '00s.