BMW and Indicators

custardy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/27/upper-class-people-behave-selfishly

Lum

Slight flaw in that study, at least the parts relating to driving standards, is that they ranked people's social class by the make and age of their vehicle.

As I'm sure Strider would be quite happy to point out, chances are a lot of those "prestigious" BMWs and so-on will be bought on credit by people who can barely afford them and that plenty of rich people who aren't into cars will just drive something more normal, or if they're really rich maybe drive around in an "old banger" Rolls Royce.

Though if the point is just to provide a degree of proof about the BMW driver stereotype, I guess it works. However it's still worth noting that 55% of the "prestige" cars did still stop for the pedestrian, and two thirds of them did not cut people up. So this test scientifically proves that the majority of BMW drivers are courteous and considerate drivers.

People just remember the bad ones, particularly if they conform to their prejudices, whether it be the one BMW they encountered on their morning commute that didn't signal, or the one badly parked car in the works car park that happened to have a woman getting out.

captainawsome

People say the BMW owners only buy them for the social symbol, im better than you type of thing, but have any of you actually owned or driven a BMW for a decent amount of time? If you had you'd notice they drive MUCH nicer than most run of the mill cars and are a far superior drivers car than the competition from Mercedes, jaguar etc. not all of us buy them as a fashion accessory, some of us appreciate them as a car too. To the guy comparing BMW to rover, I know the share an engine but please get real, they are worlds apart.

Lum

I've not owned one, I nearly did gave serious consideration to buying a 330 back in 2004 when I was looking for something to spend my car allowance on, but I found it a little too refined and disconnected a drive for my tastes and ended up getting a Subaru Legacy B4 RSK instead. Sure the interior wasn't as posh but it was more fun to drive and it looked nicer, not to mention being somewhat less common on our roads. Outside of club meets I've probably only seen about 10 or so.

almillar

Sgt Pepper:

So why indicate if there's nothing there?

Good question - in the advanced test you're taught not to indicate if no-one will see it, which some people have been arguing here. But in the L-Test you're taught to indicate at all times.
I think the latter is better GENERAL advice, mostly for non driving geeks that are on this thread. I see too many instances of people NOT indicating when they should, so I would just advise indicting all the time anyway. Others have said this can make people lazy about not looking around them, but I would say those people shouldn't be on the road.
I would also say, in relation to if there's nothing there, that if you're approaching a junction, think no-one is around, and DON'T indicate, THEN someone appears, you'll be flustered and rushing to indicate, which could introduce errors.
I think the whole attitude if not indicating if there's nothing there is a bit smart-arsey TBH.

albionrovers

captainawsome wrote: »

People say the BMW owners only buy them for the social symbol, im better than you type of thing, but have any of you actually owned or driven a BMW for a decent amount of time? If you had you'd notice they drive MUCH nicer than most run of the mill cars and are a far superior drivers car than the competition from Mercedes, jaguar etc. not all of us buy them as a fashion accessory, some of us appreciate them as a car too. To the guy comparing BMW to rover, I know the share an engine but please get real, they are worlds apart.

Yip, more than worlds actually.
I've had 15 years of 5-series for 15K in total (3 diff cars) with no repair bills apart from general wear and tear. Try get the smile off my face and my bank managers?

colino

The nice thing too, on a moneysaving site, that once a BMW/Merc/Jag (though sadly not the XF Diesels yet!) have had their terrifying, off the cliff edge depreciation from brand new to three years old, they level out nicely in the residual curve and are worth something when you want to move on again.