Motoring Discussion > Different car, different driving style? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Runfer D'Hills Replies: 22
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 11:19 
 Different car, different driving style? - Runfer D'Hills
Prompted by the drifty bit in the brakes thread, here's a question for you all.

Does your driving style alter much depending on the car you happen to be driving or are you consistent in your techniques?

If I'm driving my wife's car I tend to do so in a more relaxed manner than when I'm in my own for example. Some of that is because it isn't as quick off the mark or so keen on corners of course, but I think it's more down to an "off duty" or "weekend" feeling I get when driving it.

In my own car I tend to press on more I suppose, and treat the journey as more purposeful ( even if it isn't ) while of course at all times maintaining a modicum of serenity ;-)

If I'm in a little Italian hire car I subconsciously become an Italian driver, diving for disappearing gaps in city traffic, revving it's little heart out on the autostrada to keep up with the flow, parking on pavements etc.

We all know the clichés about Audi / BMW drivers and those about large SUV drivers and those about small far eastern hatchback drivers etc etc. But it does make me wonder if there's a grain of truth in it and that we might all, to a greater or lesser extent be influenced at least in our driving styles by the dynamics of various vehicles, their reputations or our perceptions of them?

Essays in by this time next week please, have a nice weekend...

;-)
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Fri 8 Jan 16 at 11:23
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 11:53 
 Different car, different driving style? - Ian (Cape Town)
When I was doing the car testing for the newspapers, I used to get a 'new' car every week.
First day was spent just getting to play with it a bit, learn the idiosyncrasies - like left hand/right hand wiper stalks! -and acceleration/braking capabilities.
After that, it was a case of driving it like the 'potential buyer' would.
No, I'm not going to thrash a 1.2 mummy car to the limit, nor am I going to pooter along in a 3.5 beast/pocket rocket GTI type car.
Horses for courses, and all that.

>>But it does make me wonder if there's a grain of truth in it and that we might all, to a
>> greater or lesser extent be influenced at least in our driving styles by the dynamics of >>various vehicles, their reputations or our perceptions of them?

Definitely. There were certain cars where I deliberately applied the 'constructive criticism' approach, slagged off horribly (and by God they deserved it!) and others where I'd be selective in my reporting, or glossed over the foibles.
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 12:29 
 Different car, different driving style? - WillDeBeest
Certainly is some truth in it, but it's as much about different cars' capabilities as their personalities. 55mph used to feel fast in my dad's 1973 Renault 12 estate (in keeping with it being past the top of the speedometer dial) and I expect I'd have to adopt an entirely different driving method if I were plonked into such a car today.

The two modern cars I drive may speak the same language but their personalities are quite different. The E220 is nobody's sports car and, while it will cruise fast and accelerate if required, asking it to hustle through a series of bends feels almost unseemly; it's simply too big and too soft to respond well to such treatment. So I settle for waftiness, which it does rather well - and the more fully loaded it is, the more wafty it seems to become.

The 325d has about 120 percent of the power with barely 80 percent of the weight and is set up accordingly; it can cruise but it doesn't really want to waft. In fact, attempted wafting just tends to point out how poor the road surface is, something that's far more apparent at low speeds than high. So it's a nice car to drive quickly and to place accurately through corners, and its manual gearbox means it takes a little more concentration to keep things smooth.

What I don't think I apply is any risk compensation. Both these cars have safety features that weren't in the Volvo and Toyota cars we had before, but knowing I'm better protected isn't enough to make me change my style. A lot of this is to do with being British: an accident might not kill me, or even hurt me, but it would be so jolly embarrassing.
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 12:39 
 Different car, different driving style? - Alanovich
>> What I don't think I apply is any risk compensation. Both these cars have safety
>> features that weren't in the Volvo and Toyota cars we had before, but knowing I'm
>> better protected isn't enough to make me change my style.

This is what I was trying to say in the other thread. Very well put. You have a way with words, have you ever considered a career in the church?
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 12:54 
 Different car, different driving style? - Avant
It's lots of factors, isn't it!

Interesting to see the different approaches by the two Mercedes drivers to their cars above: maybe that's less to do with the difference between an E250 and E220 as that fact that Runfer uses his for business whereas Will drives to work in his BMW and has the Mercedes as the family car.

So it's what you use it for, and the type of driving you do, as well as the sort of driver you are and the type of car you choose. Some of them of course go together: you can guess what old Peggy wants from her Nissan Micra and what young Darren wants from his souped-up Vauxhall Corsa, but many of us probably want the best of all worlds.

One is never going to find perfection - but a major part of the 'holy grail' is an engine and drivetrain that allows you to pootle (which most of us have to do about 90 % of the time) as well as being rewarding when you have the chance to press on and give it some welly. (When I say 'pootle' I suppose I should bracket that with driving at a mostly constant speed on a motorway: not pootling exactly, but driving in a fairly relaxed way and not using the car's dynamics to the full).

The 2.0 TSI petrol engine in my Octavia vRS - or the Golf GTI if you don't need the room - comes pretty close, as does the BMW straight-six. I haven't tried a BMW four, but they may well be fine on this score too.

I suppose my personal answer to this really good question is - I'd like (and am lucky enough to have) a car that lets me adapt my driving style, within the bounds of safety of course, to what sort of road I'm on and what my journey is about.
Last edited by: Avant on Fri 8 Jan 16 at 12:57
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 15:07 
 Different car, different driving style? - WillDeBeest
Nicely put, Avant. I've been thinking along the same lines, because I don't think either of my cars is a perfect allrounder; the Mercedes is too big and soft for solo enjoyment, while the BMW (in M Sport spec anyway - although that has benefits in the interior) is blissful on a smooth road and occasionally hard work on a rough one - which make up too many of my regular routes.

Of the two, I prefer BMW's seats, interior and overall driving experience. So my ideal single car might be an SE-spec BMW with sports seats, ample room for four plus luggage, and an automatic transmission. The 3GT might just offer all that.
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 15:10 
 Different car, different driving style? - Runfer D'Hills
Or a "sport" spec Merc. Mine sticks to the road like something sticky to a blanket but still manages to provide a magic carpet ride.
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 15:32 
 Different car, different driving style? - WillDeBeest
Horrible interior though. MB has comprehensively lost the design plot, outside and in.
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 15:40 
 Different car, different driving style? - Runfer D'Hills
Miss! Miss! ...Will called my car ugly Miss! I hate Will Miss! He smells...and he was rude about David's car too. Miss?...

;-)
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Fri 8 Jan 16 at 15:44
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 15:44 
 Different car, different driving style? - WillDeBeest
}:---P
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 18:16 
 Different car, different driving style? - Avant
In the immortal words of P.G. Wodehouse: "It has never been hard to tell the difference between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine". !!!

Seriously though, I must have a look at the 3 GT. I've been impressed with what I've seen of the 2-series Active Tourer (apart from the silly name): presumably BMW know what they're doing but I get the impression that this, the 3GT and the X1 are all chasing rather similar buyers. If you go for the 4wd, as I think I would, the 2.0 petrols are similarly priced, as this is the top end of the 2-series range and the bottom of the 3GT and X1 ranges.

Another Octavia would in most ways be fine - but SWMBO would prefer something a little higher off the ground to be comfortable getting in and out; and I'm not convinced about VW Group reliability after the warranty runs out. In semi-retirement we'll probably need to keep the next one for some time.
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 18:22 
 Different car, different driving style? - Runfer D'Hills
And Dorset is quite "effluent" isn't it? Perhaps a gentleman of substance should indeed have a BMW? The Skoda might give people the impression of one being a bit of a, well, y'know, socialist really...

;-)
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 21:23 
 Different car, different driving style? - Avant
The 'effluence' is - appropriately enough - near the coast: you pay thousands more for a house within a few miles of the sea. We're very near the Somerset border - villages and small towns surrounded by mainly dairy farms.

The cars round here tend either to be new or very old. The new ones are mostly bought to do a job - not much brand snobbery (this isn't Cheshire.....!) so a Skoda fits in fine. If I were to go for a BMW it would be because it may need to last - so a Volvo and Toyota will probably go on the shortlist too.

A lot of the old cars are Peugeots: there's a rather down-at-heel Peugeot specialist locally which I think used to be a franchise but now trades from a Portakabin (or is it a Portaloo?); but they keep the old ones on the road. Presumably anything that goes wrong with French electrics has already gone wrong.

You're right - this is certainly the sort of area where anyone admitting to being a Labour voter would be called a 'socialist'.
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 Fri 8 Jan 16 23:04 
 Different car, different driving style? - mikeyb
The Lexus has changed my style. Being hybrid it suits a fairly relaxed style.

To get the best from it, it's best to pull away fairly swiftly to cruising speed then back off a little, and slowing down the eco gauge encourage you to use the regenerative braking by being more gentle
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 Sat 9 Jan 16 05:55 
 Different car, different driving style? - Ian (Cape Town)

>> To get the best from it, it's best to pull away fairly swiftly to cruising
>> speed then back off a little, and slowing down the eco gauge encourage you to
>> use the regenerative braking by being more gentle
>>
The automotive tamogotchi?
On one new vehicle launch - Honda, I think? - we did a few hundred kms in the hybrids, and there were prizes afterwards for the duo which had the 'greenest' credentials.
Nobody had told us beforehand though. So there were some pretty spectacular polar-bear killings from the more spirited drivers!
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 Sat 9 Jan 16 11:30 
 Different car, different driving style? - jc2
Drove same car without seat belts and with bench seat(before belts were legal requirement) and later with FULL harness-certainly braked and cornered harder!
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 Sat 9 Jan 16 18:57 
 Different car, different driving style? - R.P.
My driving style has changed since I changed the T5 for the BMW. The T5 would have got me into trouble in the end. The quickest car I've ever owned, that superb engine couldn't half howl - and howl I let it. Not much would keep up with it let alone overtake it. On the superb runs to Bala it showed its mettle. The Beemer is quick enough especially in the Sports Pro Mode with the gear shift over to the left in Sports mode. I ambles along pretty well at 65 to 70 on the A55 returning around 55 mpg - 24 whole miles to the gallon than the Volvo. Sort of focuses the mind that.
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 Sat 9 Jan 16 18:57 
 Different car, different driving style? - R.P.
:-(
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 Sat 9 Jan 16 19:08 
 Different car, different driving style? - Armel Coussine
Recent 3 series BMW seems to me a very nice motor. One of our garage men has one and it's very nice, comfortable, refined, safe feeling and of course seriously rapid when required although a diesel I think. Suspension firm and progressive but not harsh. Great car almost affordable, very high on my dream list.
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 Sun 10 Jan 16 15:03 
 Different car, different driving style? - Armel Coussine
It goes without saying that a proper driver will adapt his/her driving to the car, to make rapid or peaceful but always relaxed progress according to need or mood and subject the vehicle to minimum stress and wear.

Anyone who doesn't do that more or less automatically isn't a driver but a beginner.
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 Sun 10 Jan 16 16:30 
 Different car, different driving style? - R.P.
You're right. The Volvo was a nervy little thing that induced you to drive it quick. The Beemer isn't - of course as AC says the 320 is fast enough. And it is a car that induces steady progress - the Volvo never did that.
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 Sun 31 Jan 16 17:35 
 Different car, different driving style? - Armel Coussine
The Chrysler has been being fettled and we've got it back. It feels incredibly refined after the little Ford diesel van provided by the garage, covered with garish garage logos: the engine always felt and sounded rough until about 55mph in top gear when it smoothed out a bit. I did notice though that it was incredibly frugal with fuel.

I think the garage blokes did some more to the suspension linkages because many of the rattles and clatters have gone. The bill though was eye-watering and I don't even know if the MoT has been done and thrown in cost-wise. Probably not even worth it... but the jalopy still seems OK to me, makes a nice subdued American noise too. Not sporting but not skittish, faithful and more or less predictable.
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 Sun 31 Jan 16 18:03 
 Different car, different driving style? - Runfer D'Hills
Panda AC. It's the answer. Make it happen, you'll not regret it.
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