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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Poxy Chelsea Tractor Brigade

271 replies

fuzzynavel · 24/11/2011 14:49

Don't even need to ask if I'm being unreasonable because I know I'm not.

These ridiculous tanklike constructions being driven around London is just damn selfish.

Do these people think that "rough terraine" is just round the corner from Fulham High Street or something.

OP posts:
naturalbaby · 24/11/2011 18:45

the 2 landy's on our drive were made up the road.

ElaineReese · 24/11/2011 18:45

Wow, this thread is really challenging all my preconceptions about drivers of Chelsea tractors....

coraltoes · 24/11/2011 18:47

And all preconceptions of the sanctimonious people who make assumptions about us...

ElaineReese · 24/11/2011 18:49

Quite. Because you've trounced their self-righteousness and concerns about the environment by explaining that: it's your money and you'll do what you want; you don't care; you'll overtake later (you won't); and you like annoying people.

I feel humbled and even ashamed.

Popbiscuit · 24/11/2011 18:49

Check NICEy. Oversight. That was a really good take-home for everyone considering a Prius.

Get a Landrover instead!

NICEyNice · 24/11/2011 18:50

This thread is hilarous.

I actually prefer, the 'cos i like them argument' to most of the others tbh.

NICEyNice · 24/11/2011 19:02

I think its time for some car personality psychology!

According to research in the uk:

Black cars represented an aggressive personality or someone who's a rebel.
Silver cars characterized someone who is cool, calm and slightly aloof.
Green cars were often owned by people with hysterical tendencies.
Yellow cars represented someone idealistic.
Blue cars were chosen by the more introspective, reflective and cautious driver.
And, gray cars represented people who were calm and dedicated to their work.

Oh and heres another little gem:

However, Peter Marsh and Peter Collett, psychologists at Oxford University and authors of the book Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car, argued in an article published in Psychology Today magazine that cars are linked to sex for another reason - namely, that driving itself is a turn-on.

"The passion most clearly linked with the automobile... is purely sexual," they wrote. "As a human body accelerates, nerves and muscles all over the body react. Signals are sent through the spinal cord, which in turn increases muscle tone, particularly in areas such as the neck, that are most affected by acceleration forces. This vastly increases the body's state of arousal.

"The central nervous system translates this arousal into a number of emotions. For some people it is pure fear. Others perceive this basic emotional state as intensely pleasurable. The fear and the state of alertness are still there, but they have been mastered. Acceleration is under one's control, and the result is a flush of emotion that some liken to orgasm."

Of course, modern traffic conditions mean that driving is now more akin to a long evening with a maiden aunt than to a night of sexual passion. But evolutionary psychologists argue, none the less, that one of the most profound remaining differences between the sexes is that while women like to build nests, men possess a restless desire for freedom. Men might make women feel insecure, but women make men feel trapped, hence the iconic status of the motor car in male lives and why they will rewind car chase scenes from films until the fan belt eventually snaps. Men want fast cars because, subconsciously, they are all getaway drivers planning an escape from the scene of their latest crime - be it sexual, relational or professional. But the kind of car with which a driver chooses to escape from mundane reality into his vivid fantasy life is also revealing.

For example, the 4x4 driver would secretly like to be piloting a tank, and so he has the next best thing. It is interesting that 4x4s are traditionally marketed as allowing the freedom to climb over rough terrain, which gives motorists a sense of mastery and derring-do. Psychologically, the 4x4 driver doesn't want to drive past you; he wants to go over you: "Don't get in my way" is the covert message conveyed by these quasi-military vehicles.

While 4x4 man wants to be the only person on the horizon, the sports car owner likes company, as long as it is admiring him from behind. The sports car driver doesn't do friendship, which is why he drives a car too small to offer anyone - other than a single, stranded woman - a lift home.

The convertible driver, on the other hand, doesn't want his car to be admired so much as himself; the top is down not to let the sun in, but to let the exhibitionist out. This is why you see so many chatteringly frozen convertible owners struggling to open their hoods in the midst of a gale.

This look-but-don't-touch approach is not that of the driver whose car is bespattered with stickers explaining that there is a child on board, he supports the RNLI and you are following him to Jesus, via Whipsnade Zoo. This is someone who is falling over himself to be friendly and tell you something about himself, so that if you really wanted one, you now have an opening gambit with which to strike up a conversation. This person needs friends so badly that he doesn't mind being stalked home by someone trying to read a gripping car sticker.

Now sticker man might not agree with his therapist's interpretation, but the fact is that people do make judgments from your car about which lane you are occupying in the great journey of life - the fast, middle or slow lane, or even the hard shoulder.

The conundrum is how often motorists find themselves cruising in the wrong lane, blithely unaware of the impression they are creating. The Aston Martin owner wants to impress you with how sophisticated and James Bond-like he is, but often merely ends up resembling a lumbering Roger Moore rather than the lithe young Sean Connery he is trying to emulate. He would have been better advised to stop trying so hard. If a driver wants his car to change people's minds about him - that is, if he wants them to revise their opinions upwards, not downwards - he must select wisely.

A new car should signal your recent success, but often ends up revealing your insecurity; you think your bucking of the classic company car choice shows how quirky you are, but you come over as just weird.

It is quite clearly and overwhelmingly obvious from this 'evidence' that all Black 4 x 4 Landy drivers are CLEARLY twats. ;)

coraltoes · 24/11/2011 19:05

Elaine, London has roads which do enable overtaking...I do it most days on the A12.

coraltoes · 24/11/2011 19:06

On the way to canary wharf, where I work in... Trading. Hehe. Bet I've gone up in your esteem even further.

gastonscave · 24/11/2011 19:10

Wow say what you really think CurlyHairedAssassin.

I really am amazed at the ability of people to be so narrow minded about a group of people who happen to drive the same type of car. It's like saying all northerners are the same or in my case all southerners, or all women are PMT crazed loonies. I really don't understand what gives someone the right to say you can drive that car, but you, oh no you can't drive that because if you do you'll automatically become an arrogant prick, really, and I was called childish!

It is really worth getting so worked up about. You really aren't going to convince us all to go out tomorrow and sell our cars, even if your arguments are so um mm what's the word. Compelling

CurlyhairedAssassin · 24/11/2011 19:12

NICEyNice: that research piece sounds a load of old bollox to me:

"Acceleration is under one's control, and the result is a flush of emotion that some liken to orgasm." Hilarious!

coraltoes · 24/11/2011 19:16

I used to have a convertible sports car... And now have a 4x4... I also used to have a vintage beetle that had a few stickers (inherited and wouldn't come off).... Your scientific analysis (?!) is flawed.

NICEyNice · 24/11/2011 19:19

Oh that particular stuff is quite obviously bollox. But amusing at the same time.

I do think there is something in the link between personality and car type though. I drive a bright yellow 51 plated skoda felicia. I'm sure lots of you could come up with a stereotype or two about that...

Popbiscuit · 24/11/2011 19:19

No one is being narrow minded. We've all conceded that some people have a genuine "need" for an SUV. Others...not so much. Given that our planet is in such bad shape we should all try to consider our vehicle choices carefully, non? Especially since most of us are parents and our kids will have it far worse off than we do if we don't all make some changes.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 24/11/2011 19:20

Gastonscave, my point was that there is NOT an (i.e. ONE) group of people who happen to drive the same car. Yes, there are the large families, the rural drivers, the disabled drivers (who, as you may notice, don't come under the description "a group"). All of whom anyone with half a brain would concede have a legitimate reason to drive a 4X4.

What people ARE having a moan about are the ones that "just want one"/"because I can/". There are a lot of people who cannot stand the "Because I'm worth it" generation. I think a large proportion of THESE drivers have seen one too many episodes of "Pimp My Ride"/Top Gear: Off-Road Special or read one too many issues of "Take A Break".

And I write it because it's what I think.

naturalbaby · 24/11/2011 19:21

silver car - yup, that's me, i'd rather have a grey car though. i would be better suited to a green car though by that mini pysch profiling.

but i drive a 4x4 and i'm not a man. i would rather be piloting a light aircraft or a jaguar e-type but i don't think i could fit my 3 car seats in there somehow.

4x4's are not the only cars not being driven how the designers intended.

NICEyNice · 24/11/2011 19:22

*correction. Its a fabia. Obviously I'm obsessed by cars THAT much!

lockets · 24/11/2011 19:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 24/11/2011 19:24

NICEYNice: I would look and look at your car. And have no stereotypical view of you whatsoever. I would be intrigued as to the type of person you were. (and also would wonder whether the Felicia was still made in that year?!) (I have much respect for recent Skodas).

CurlyhairedAssassin · 24/11/2011 19:26

cross posts...

Thought Felicias weren't manufactured then......

DH just got a Fabia as a run around - calls it the Beige Bullet! grin I call it "the Rollerskate", but it's said with fondness - it's doing great so far, and was bought with the sole purpose of getting reliably from A to B. So far it's fulfilling its role beautifully!

NICEyNice · 24/11/2011 19:33

Shhh! Don't tell the Landy drivers about the boot space, effiency or the back seat space of a Skoda Octavia CurlyhairedAssassin. ;)

My Dad drove a Pruis for a while for work (his choice). Meanwhile, my Mum drove a 4x4 (also my Dad's choice).

I think I should have disowned them.

I refused to ever get a skoda, ever ever... until DH converted me. Its reliable and efficient. Drove like a dream in the snow in the last couple of years, whilst we laughed at all the BMW and Merc drivers. Only other things on the road were the 4 x 4s. Of course its hideously boring and practical.

So we did a 400mile round trip to deliberately buy a yellow one to make up for that!!! (actually driving a yellow car is an eyeopener - other cars notice you sooooo much more).

bibbitybobbitybloodyaxe · 24/11/2011 19:36

I think that 4x4 drivers in towns are simply missing quite a lot of brain cells. They are not very intelligent or smart people. There is absolutely no reason to drive a 4 x4 in town apart from being flash. Or a snob, as per "I'm too much of a snob to want to drive a Vauxhall Zafira. Is that good enough for you"

gastonscave · 24/11/2011 19:39

But it is narrow-mindedness popbiscuit because you see a souped up 4x4 and you think automatically think, wanker I'm not letting him out, arrogant twat.

But really all said and done you do not have the slightest clue who is driving that car or why and who assesses the 'need' of the driver to drive that particular car? and is it really any of our business at the end of the day

The beloved defender has been redesigned to meet EU specifications regarding safety and environmental concerns. Some 4x4's coming out of the factories today run on LPG, does yours?

Your arguments are met with tongue in cheek snidely comments because the arguments are based on 'I know best' and 'because I said so' your thinly veiled contempt is judgey and nasty, which I am sure we are all capable of, but we are all capable of deciding whether to be morally superior to others or not

retiredgoth2 · 24/11/2011 19:43

I would rather stick a rusty spike up my arse than drive a Toyota Pious.

Just saying.

FleetwoodandFairycakes · 24/11/2011 19:45

My name is FleetwoodandFairycakes, I live in fulham and I drive a black Landy. Ergo I am a twat. Or maybe I got it in black because it was second hand and that was the colour of the car which we wanted and there was nothing we could do about it. Maybe we got a landy because we need to fit my husband's bikes and our skis in it (which may also make me a twat, I suppose, in some people's opinion), and because we regularly go to visit friends/family in the country and it is fairly useful there. I also like it Grin

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