Well, as a man, I never cared much about my vehicle as a chick magnet. When I was a young man though, it was very very important simply to just have a car in order to connect with the girls.
I wanted to choose three of the possibilities. The one that says I notice, and both small penis choices.
I’ve only lived in cities where it’s pretty normal for people to not own cars. I don’t notice men’s cars because they are usually driving past. If it’s a sports car tearing, a muscle car blasting shitty music or any vehicle with horny, horn-honking assholes hanging out of it, I cringe a bit. The few times I do know a man has a car I’m just happy to have a lift, or it’s rented for a trip. Scooters are cute, though, and always turn my head – in part because I have a better idea of the man (or woman) driving. Quite a few women I know who are into bicycles will check out a guy’s bike, too.
What’s it say if I have a loud, supercharged V8 Mustang, a 4x4 truck (that’s dirty), and a fast motorcycle? Also, I’ve got a hardtail MTB and a road bike that I put a lot of miles on.
In Spain. If someone doesn’t have the vest and triangles, or has them in a place where they can’t be reached easily, or has no idea where they are, my opinion of them as a driver goes to about the same level as the one where I keep people who refuse to wear also-legally-required seatbelts on account of “oh, I have good reflexes!” (yeah, so do the Civiles, and the Ertzaintzas, and the Forales(1); on the other hand, I’m not so sure about the guy coming from the other direction).
1: different flavors of traffic cops
Perfectly stated. I really don’t care what someone drives, but a car that could double for a pigpen is a car I’m not getting in.
I put “don’t notice” because when I read the thread title yesterday, I realized that I have only dated one guy with reliable transportation. Everyone else drove beaters and I ended up driving us around most of the time (which doesn’t really bother me, hence not noticing).
The one guy who did have a decent car was a huge douchebag who drove his BMW to work and his Porsche on the weekends. Yawn.
I’ve never dated anyone who drives an Asian car, fwiw. Being a Ford family and all. I was chatting with this one fella not too long ago and he was bragging about his Hyundai and it actually did turn me off. On the flip side, I’ve dated guys who drove the aforementioned Euro cars, plus the world’s oldest Mercedes and the world’s most beat up Saabs.
That’s me. And I watch Top Gear religiously (because it’s funny). But I just don’t notice because I just don’t notice. I have only purchased my own cars for the sake of getting me from point A to point B. I don’t care much about my own car… I can’t see caring much about anyone else’s.
I answered before reading post #4. I notice cars and I may be aware of what kind it is only because I’m married to a bit of a car nut, but I don’t automatically make a judgement about the guy based on the model vehicle he drives. Like tavalla, I’ll notice if the vehicle is well-kept or a trashbin on wheels, and I definitely notice cars that sound like they’re about to fall apart in the parking lot.
Now, if a guy is an ass and he has a flashy sports car, I may make a connection there, or if he’s a bubba in a pickup, that’ll cement a stereotype. But I never made decisions about whether to date a guy or not based on his car or lack of one, and I don’t make assumptions about guys now based only on their vehicle.
Guys with loud, fast boats, on the other hand… 
Guy here, and although I understand anecdotes don’t mean much around here, in my experience women do notice cars. I’ve had the following 3 interactions while behind the wheel of my Porsche in the last year.
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Driving north on a local highway (route 130 for those who know New Jersey) - I began to notice some kind of jeep staying pretty consistently within a car’s length of me; it kept switching lanes so sometimes it was to the left of me, sometimes to the right, and sometimes behind. This went on for a good five minutes. I figured the dude was scoping my car from different angles. At one point we stopped at a light with the jeep in the left lane and me in the right. The driver, surprisingly a woman, leaned over to her passenger side window, and began exclaiming excitedly how beautiful my car was. I waited until the light turned green, thanked her and drove off smiling.
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Driving on the PA turnpike toward Brandywine - I noticed a car pull up behind me, which concerned me because it was a Sunday morning and the roads were pretty deserted. After a few minutes I began to see if I could make out the driver (I don’t know why I felt this was important to do, but there you go). Anyway, I noticed it was a woman. When I exited the turnpike, she did too. Whichever turn I made on the local road, she did too. I even circled once to be sure, and sure enough, she remained with me. After a couple of minutes of this, she began to flash her high beams. At this point I’m thinking I have a flat or something’s wrong on the rear of my car, so I pulled into the parking lot of a WAWA to check out the car. I chose the WAWA because it was open and had customers. She followed me in. We both exited our vehicles around the same time and met at the rear of my car, at which point she began to chat me up. Color me clueless, but that was the last thing I was expecting for some reason. I instantly became agitated, checked out the rear of my car anyway, got back in, backed out probably a little too hastily to make a point, and drove away with her standing there, her mouth hanging open.
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Sitting in the parking lot of a Portuguese supermarket in Riverside, NJ - Out of the corner of my eye on the driver’s side, I noticed some movement, which I quickly realized was coming from the car next to mine. Just as I looked over, the driver, staring at me the entire time, scooted over to the passenger side, opened the door, got out and placed her elbows on the sill of my door…as my wife was leaving the supermarket walking toward the car. The woman, who didn’t get one word out before she saw my wife bee-lining it at a quickening pace, promptly stood straight up and quickly walked in the opposite direction. I found the episode humorous. My wife? Not so much.
YMMV and all that, but yes, women definitely notice cars.
Did you ever see/hear two women talking?
Then he gets into a Porsche and Woman #2 will turn to Woman #1 and say: “But he’s got potential.”
Too funny. 
…Hey! :mad:
I notice if it’s clean and safe, that’s about it. I notice driving more. I do not like idiot drivers. Of course I’ve been with a man for seven years now that can’t legally drive at all so it doesn’t really matter much at all apparently.
Yeah, I notice. I’m female and I don’t make a whole lot of money, but I drive a 5 year old Ford sedan which I’m very proud of. My ex’s choice of car reflected badly on him in my eyes (2000 corolla with a zillion miles on it). Not so much because it was old but because it had been around a couple hundred thousand blocks, looked like shit, was too small, filled with trash and obviously not maintained, reeked of weed, and the passenger window leaked water on me every time he drove us somewhere in the rain.
I don’t mind a guy who has an older car, but if it’s a rustbucket there’s a problem. Especially if you insist on driving me places, you’d better fucking make sure I can be comfortable for the whole trip.
She took my answer. Here in Calgary, if I’m thinking about dating a guy who would be age-appropriate for me (mid-forties) and he didn’t have a car, it would be a deal-breaker. It doesn’t have to be a superhot car, but it should be respectable and reliable and preferably not more ride than he needs (i.e. a massive behemothmobile just for him to commute to work would be over the top). I might admire a nice sports car, but it wouldn’t increase a guy’s attractiveness to me - it might even decrease it, if he made himself “car poor” by buying more car than he could afford.
My answer is sometimes. I do notice if a guy is totally obsessed with his car (i.e., freaks out if you touch the finish or something similar) or if he’s excessively sloppy (food wrappers and trash everywhere).
Other things I might notice include guys like my dad who are 65+ and driving an absolutely enormous Hummer for which he has absolutely no use other than driving an absolutely enormous vehicle. If it were anyone other than my dad, my first thought would be, “Hey, there goes a big midlife crisis.” I try hard not to think that way because I know my dad owns that car because a) he’s a very large man and smaller cars are uncomfortable for him, b) he likes it and c) he can afford it.
Huh. Learn something new every day. Reflective vests are not part of the standard kit for drivers in the US. What is the reasoning for requiring them?
One of the last revamps of the Driver’s Code looked closely at “safety improvements”. They were putting in reflective clothing as a recommendation for bicyclists; they were making the triangles (previously recommended) a requirement. What exactly was the reasoning behind the vests I can’t tell, but in general those rules stem from the experience of traffic cops and emergency services: I know there have been cases of someone leaving his stopped car on the side of a highway, walking back to the nearest emergency phone and being hit.
The triangles are supposed to be placed behind the car (the distance varies with road shape and allowed speed) and, if the road is both-ways, also in front. The vest has to be worn when you’re leaving the car. In both cases it’s to assist visibility when you’re exiting it in a strange spot: for example, if you’ve been in an accident or stopped on the shoulder.
In the States, the triangles or other reflectors (used to mark a disabled vehicle) may or may not be required for some or all vehicles, depending on the jurisdiction. Reflective clothing, however, has, as far as I know, never been required.
Your example of people walking to an emergency phone is interesting. Roadside emergency phones were never common here, and are becoming less so as cell phone saturation approaches 100%. Also, cars have become so much more reliable than they were even thirty years ago that roadside breakdowns (other than for accidents) are now rarities.
I picked “no”, but you should have really had “no unless it’s really exceptional in some way” - exceptionally raggedy, exceptionally douchey, etc. I don’t notice your Toyota Corolla, but I do notice your Hummer. And not in a good way. I tend not to remember what kind of car anybody drives, so I don’t really get it when people say “Hey, I saw you on the road yesterday!” Well I didn’t see you, all I saw was a bunch of automotive units. The funny thing is, I do sometimes drive a very noticeable classic car, but I still don’t notice other people’s cars.