Quote:
Originally Posted by porschelover
I'd like to say I don't care what people think, but on some level we all do. My Porsche gets a certain amount of negative attention because of the 7 letters on the back. Enough to nearly render the horn usless as an opinion giver. (Oh, just another jerk in a Porsche!)
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You hit the nail on the head and made some excellent points. You might be surprised, however, that my own experiences (re. Porsche vs. BMW) differ a bit. To wit...
I had my Boxster seven years, and never encountered any negative feedback at all. First three years were in St. Louis, Missouri
(at a time and place where the Boxster was still something of a novelty). The last four years were in Dallas, Texas, where - for good or ill - Porsches of all types seem to be fairly common fodder (absolutely no disrespect intended).
I grant you, backlash against a Boxster would probably not be as strong as against a 911. On the other hand, I can testify that Boxster drivers don't get as many admiring glances, either. A trade-off, I suppose.
By comparison
- and this is where our experiences differ - I encountered a pronounced
increase in negative feedback from other drivers once I got my 135i (something I never encountered in our X5, or in my wife's Mini Cooper S). It's almost like people expect you to be a jerk, just because you're piloting a Bimmer.
My SA actually warned me about this (!) when I got the car
(yes, I thought he was joking; he wasn't). It weirded me out so much that I found myself being obsessively polite to other drivers above and beyond the call of duty...
which is, I admit, a hell of a thing to call a "problem". But it
IS symptomatic of being worried about other drivers pre-judging you based on the car you drive.
I can't help wondering if reactions to high-end imports differ according to location (e.g., California vs. Texas vs. Missouri - or urban vs suburban).