Cars least likely to contain advanced drivers

[Foss62]

First post so might as well annoy a few people!

As per the title, here are my candidates:

1. Range Rovers - for some reason people driving these never leave the overtaking lanes even on empty motorways
2. Enormous premium brand SUV’s (excluding 1.). The people driving them seem unable to park sensibly, judge following distances etc. Anyone who buys one of these must be slightly suspect anyway as things like X Trails and Kodiaqs are better vehicles for half the price.
3. Any Volvo. Strange that these have been the vehicle of choice for incompetents for so many years.

[Foss62]

Apologies, but I thought I might get regaled with stories of people who did ROADAR tests in blingy Range Rovers.

[Foss62]

I did occasionally drive a silver Honda Jazz belonging to an elderly relative many years ago. Main vehicles over the last twenty years or so have been mid market 4x4’s as company cars and required for my job.

[Foss62]

Not embarrassed at all (no Volvos). Freelanders, a RAV4, a couple of original 7 seat Qashqais, X Trail and, currently a Kodiaq; all in 4x4 versions because of a bit of off road requirement.

[Foss62]

No, ROADAR.

Incidentally the Volvo thing dated back to my motorcycling days in the 70’s and 80’s when the things to beware of were Volvo drivers or drivers wearing hats. If you came across a Volvo driver who was also wearing a hat you really needed to give them a wide berth.
I had started to assume that Volvos were now just like any other car brand until a recent journey when I saw two classic examples of ‘Volvoism’.

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Efbe said:

Is this referring to people who think they are Advanced Drivers, or people that actually Advanced Drivers.

Huge difference.

I got into hot water once on another forum by hinting that I thought anyone who had a ROSPA or IAM pass could reasonably claim to be an ‘Advanced Driver’.

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vonhosen said:

Foss62 said:

Efbe said:

Is this referring to people who think they are Advanced Drivers, or people that actually Advanced Drivers.

Huge difference.

I got into hot water once on another forum by hinting that I thought anyone who had a ROSPA or IAM pass could reasonably claim to be an ‘Advanced Driver’.

Depends rather what criteria &/or metric you are using to associate with the term 'advanced'. What one might use to define advanced another might not consider advanced at all, or others still might consider absolutely anything at all over the most basic requirement qualifies as advanced.

Yes I agree. I’ve moderated my own criteria to include anyone who actually thinks about their driving, is able to recognise their mistakes and tries to do better in future.

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aaron_2000 said:

Let's go retro and say the Austin Metro.

Not sure? I think in the spirit of the original title,, Austin/Morris 1100s would be a better fit.

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vantara said:

Another Volvo driving ROSPA Advanced Driver here - maybe I need to hand my card back in!

Or maybe you could hand your car back in?

[Foss62]

vantara said:

Foss62 said:

vantara said:

Another Volvo driving ROSPA Advanced Driver here - maybe I need to hand my card back in!

Or maybe you could hand your car back in?

Or maybe you need to admit to talking ste

I seem to remember from the Ogri cartoons (mentioned earlier by Grahamdub) that there was a mild mannered Volvo driver who would get angrier and angrier as the strip progressed. I hope you are not that person.

I would be the first to admit that my prejudices are based on very thin grounds - no real offence intended.

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Foss62 said:

vantara said:

Foss62 said:

vantara said:

Another Volvo driving ROSPA Advanced Driver here - maybe I need to hand my card back in!

Or maybe you could hand your car back in?

Or maybe you need to admit to talking ste

I seem to remember from the Ogri cartoons (mentioned earlier by Grahamdub) that there was a mild mannered Volvo driver who would get angrier and angrier as the strip progressed. I hope you are not that person.

I would be the first to admit that my prejudices are based on very thin grounds - no real offence intended.

I think I should also add that I currently drive a Skoda, so am on slightly dodgy ground as far as past vehicular prejudice goes

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RichB said:

My next door neighbour had a Skoda when I lived at home. It was st, I mean really st, took 10-15 mins to get started and when it did it smoked worse than a clapped out old London taxi. It rusted in front of your eyes and to rub it in it was orange! Admittedly that was over 40 years ago but I assume they are all still total st. I mean, like you say about Volvos, they can't possibly have changed can they?

I don’t think Volvos have changed - they have always been good cars, they just tended to attract dodgy drivers. I had almost forgotten this until I recently encountered an even more than usually intransigent ‘CLOC’ member who happened to be driving a Volvo, and I mentioned all the old Volvo prejudices to my children who were in the car with me. It would have gone no further if later on the same journey we hadn’t approached a roundabout behind a Volvo that mounted the left hand kerb at some speed before nearly stopping on the roundabout and then accelerating away straddling two exit lanes. The case was proven a few days later when yet another Volvo found itself in the right hand lane to turn left onto a Motorway sliproad. The person kind enough to let it in was punished (along with all the following traffic) by being forced to follow the Volvo onto the busy Motorway
at a speed of around 30 mph.

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Grahamdub said:

My current Volvo was previously owned by one of those Volvo drivers. It had a few marks where he had obviously hit things (I saw it before the garage had prepared it) and had never been cleaned properly. The owners manual was incredibly well thumbed for a couple of years old car too, I even checked the numbers in it as I thought I'd been given an old one by mistake. The sides of the pages are covered in pencil notes about all the various features. One particularly odd one next to the description of HID headlights, where it said they rise and fall to the correct height on start up was "I must have these then"

You can almost imagine him driving along with one eye on the manual trying to understand all the strange things that were happening....
This reminds me a bit of the owners manual that came with the Honda 400/4 I had as an 18 year old. It had incredibly detailed instructions on how to actually ride it, along the lines of: ‘depress gear lever (b) with left foot......’ I often wondered about the scenario in which these sort of instructions would be useful and what the outcome would be if someone who had never sat on a bike before tried to follow them word for word.

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Gojira said:

nonsequitur said:

Gojira said:

Troll rating 0/10, must try harder...

Define TROLL in the confines of this thread. Thank you

Well, I thought the OP's first line made it pretty obvious, but then I don't drive a Range Rover, an SUV or a Volvo, so I probably wasn't the target anyway...

I suppose my thinking was to provoke some hopefully light hearted discussion. I think ‘troll’ is maybe a little harsh .

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Peter3442 said:

After a few weeks of limited practice, I fear the answer to the OP's question may be all cars, including mine. For a week or so, we all need to pay extra attention, leave wider margins, think harder and expect everything. And before someone replies that's what we should always do - well do it even more!

I’m amazed this thread is still going, not everyone was amused by my tongue in cheek suggestions. However, you are right, and it’s not only rustiness on the part of the drivers/motorcyclists. Other road users have become accustomed to the cars not being there and lots of new etiquette has appeared. Cyclists give each other a wide berth when overtaking and will move into prime or even out to the white line when passing pedestrians. Runners will use the road to give other pedestrians room as will separate groups of pedestrians. Any driver who refuses to adapt to this new world is not ‘advanced’.