Everyone has heard the saying "you are what you eat" well...what about you are what you drive?? The recent Motortrend had an article about owner satisfaction where the MINI was (of course) included. It wasn't the fact that something like 8.5/10 MINI owners would do it again but the fact that the MINI owners had the most amusing responses to the questionaire and unlike ANY other vehicle survey some MINI owners sent in baby pitures (we all have them from pick-up day!), travel stories and other humerous and amusing facts. This says to me that there is obviously a common personality (or uncommon!) amongst us!

My fiancee (ICEMAN) and I have noticed that there are certain cars on the road that we try not to drive behind because they are either slow drivers or overly cautious. We call them "targeted for passing".... the list

ANY buick
Any car with an old man wearing a hat driving
ANY champagne or beige colored sedan
Toyota Corolla or Camry (any color)
Most Saturn cars (not the redlines)

What makes these cars "targets for passing" is that they are either overly cautious and drive less then the speed limit, slow down in anticipation of a yellow light, etc.

Our theory is that drivers who buy these cars are either only older (buick), or drivers who buy the "safe" choice of going for a boring cookie-cutter car (Corolla/Camry) or in a boring color that is NEVER a special order...right off the lot. IF I think about it...the people I know that drive these cars are nice, sure but b-o-r-i-n-g and I can't say that there are any 30-ish fun friends of mine driving a buick.

Just my observation...does anyone else have cars to add to the "target for passing" list?

 

Hmmm...in my neighborhood the Towncars and the Caddys are still the ones to either go around or really watch out for!!! In addition to the old man/hat thing...I'd say any driver whose head you cannot see over the headrest is probably worth watching out for (just sayin'). I tend to be wary of people who I can tell (whether from front, back, or side) are on a cell phone, too.

As for being a MINI owner...yes, those who know me well know that driving a MINI keys in very, very well w/ my general outlook on things.

(...very funny about those survey responses from MINI owners...hadn't heard that! I am certainly not surprised!)

 

I used to drive a Saturn, I probably was more apt to pass people when driving that b/c if I let off the gas I knew it would be miles before I had the power built back up. I also got some real good looks cause nobody expected a saturn to pass them. I don't have any vehicles (make and model) that I go around reguarly but I find it just better to stay off the roads b/w 3-6, down here in FL that seems to be when the hard of seeing are behind the wheel as well as those rushing home from work, which tends to mean lots of fast cars and lots of slow cars at the same time, never a good mix. As far as cell phones go I've found if I'm out in the middle of nowhere everybody is much more aware of the road around them making driving much nicer.

 

I think you nailed it!

I was late 30s when we (I blame wife) drove this Buick Park Avenue. The V6 was strong enough to surprise drivers...like you. This was after I took off the stupid phoney wire wheel hubcaps. We had some very un-boring experiences with this barge!

 

Targeted for passing:

Any extra large lumbering vehicle.
Any vehicle that is flashing the brakes like morse code.
Any kind of vehicle that literally stinks.
Any vehicle I keep seeing wandering in the lane (side to side sorta thing).
Trucks with scary looking payloads and/or carrying dirt and gravel.
Jacked up trucks (they kick up rocks).
Cars that look like they have been rear ended before (seriously, you know those cars that have dents and after observing them driving for a bit you can see why).

I can't say that there is a brand I avoid being behind all of the time although there are some with really high up bright turn signals and lamps that bug me at night.

Geez, as a side rant I need to vent about people that eat while driving - forget cell phones this seems to be way worse. Over the last few weeks I have witnessed incredibly dangerous driving by people stuffing their cake holes. Just I was nearly hit by a lady eating a banana today - sounds funny now but was not cute when she clearly could not drive while holding it (okay no jokes ) Anyway, I just needed to vent after seeing so much face feeding bad driving in SF of late. Now if I could see if someone was eating they would certainly be targeted for passing, but only if I could get several cars ahead of them

 

Ooooo, eVal...good stuff!!

 

PS: I hope you are not what you drive, cause if so I need to get a McLaren F1

 

OK this is easy, in Los Angeles
all Volvo's
all VW van's
all people with Save the earth, whales,dolphins,ozone...... bumper stickers

 

Every car that doesn't have me in the driver's seat...

 

Dont forget about the Prius.

I think they have some kind of under the speedlimit governor.

 

 

Any car whose windows are festooned with stick-on logos for whatever brand of sneakers/sunglasses/stereo the driver wishes they owned and/or with crap dangling from the rear wiew mirror.

 

Anything short of a modern F1 race car.

 

List of cars to pass:
All of them!
But especially VW vans and Subarus with the full complement of "save the..." stickers.
Oh, and Hondas. Just because.

 

Cars to pass:

Any with idiots trying to drive with a cell phone to their ears.
Any with political bumper stickers proudly proclaiming their idiocy.
Any with idiots driving with wheels so out of balance/round that they are wobbling.
Any driven by idiots who flick their lit cigarette butts out of their windows.
Any driven by idiots who leave their gas caps open.
Any driven by idiots who fill their cars with so much trash they can't see out of their back windows.
Any driven by idiots in general.