Go on then, just for a bit of weekend fun. Which cars are "bloke's" cars and which should really mainly be driven by, well, non-blokes...
My bloke starters are -
Merc E Class ( either body style )
BMW 5 series ( either body style )
Mondeo ( any body style )
Citroen C5 ( either body style )
VW Passat (saloon or estate)
Bentley ( any )
Rolls Royce ( any )
Range Rover ( the proper one )
Golf GTi ( as long as it's a petrol one )
BMW 3 series ( but only if it's an M3 )
Jags ( any )
And for the not blokes -
Mini ( anything )
Any MPV
Any SUV ( which isn't a proper Range Rover )
Any convertible with fewer than 6 cylinders
Any convertible with a folding metal roof
BMW 1 series
All Golfs ( except GTI petrol ones )
Scirrocco
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The Merc E class comes in four body styles ;-) Round here the saloon is only ever driven by men (taxi drivers...), but the estate is just as often seen, presumably on the school run, driven by women as men in my experience. The coupe and convertible are driven by men and women of more advanced years... I say women, I mean of course ladies. Ladies who almost definitely lunch :-)
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Apologies Peter, I must have mentally discounted the E Class coupes and cabriolets as beyond reasonable consideration !
;-)
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>> Apologies Peter, I must have mentally discounted the E Class coupes and cabriolets as beyond
>> reasonable consideration !
>>
>> ;-)
>>
Given that (I think) they're actually based on the 'C' class underpinnings perhaps you're right :-)
I'll add Nissan to the list of cars almost exclusively driven by women, along with small/medium sized Peugots
Last edited by: PeterS on Sat 28 Sep 13 at 17:13
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I'm not so sure about Range Rovers, the majority are driven by women around my way!
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I'm clearly a bloke, not having owned any in the other list.
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>> I'm not so sure about Range Rovers, the majority are driven by women around my
>> way!
Yeah, blonde tarts mostly.
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Range Rover Sport and Evoques (sp) are primarily driven by women round here, and the proper RR is more likely to be driven by men.
Landrovers, both the Discovery and the Freelander, are driven by women, as are Volvo soft roaders. The BMW X1/3 are definitely womens cars. The X5 is unisex as far as I can tell!
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Loads of Land Rover products around here - with a huge spread of age, everything from Series 1 Discos to a pretty little Evoque up the lane. Still Landie heartland.
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Audis are are odd one. A3s are unisex, A4s are generally blokes, A6s are almost always blokes but Q5s and Q7s are usually girls cars.
Volvos, well, the V50 and V70 anyway, seem to be unisex but S60/80s are blokes cars.
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>>Any SUV ( which isn't a proper Range Rover )
I guess that makes me a non-bloke then; I have two Landcruisers and a Dodge Ram, but no Range Rover - they're not tough enough.
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Ultimate Bloke's car is a Berlingo!
At least judging by the number of cases I've heard of blokes who say "I'd quite like one, but the wife says 'no'."
I doubt if that is the case with Merc E-Classes, BMW 5-series, or any of the other wimpish cars Humph suggests.
;-)
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"Ultimate Bloke's car is a Berlingo!"
Bloke must have a grey beard before he can have one judging from round here!
Having said that, I had 2 and I have never had a beard but I have been through a time of life where kids were at uni/starting work and changed flats about every 3 months so had to have a car which wasn't a van but could get a fridge, washing machine, bed, wardrobe etc., etc. in the back - Berlingo is a good removals van!
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Ah but you're some sort of ex-pat or colonial or something aren't you Mark? Different there I expect. The heat probably.
;-)
Edit - You are of course right Tyro. I once thought of a Berlingo and even got as far as test driving one but the negative obscenities I could read on my wife's lips in the driver's mirror as she sat in the back were enough for me to realise it was a non-starter !
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 28 Sep 13 at 18:36
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Dodge Ramcharger with black windows, mmmmmm... real Tex-Mex drug gangster's motor, lots of boot space for belt-fed automatic weapons.
Er... is an MG 1300 GT a bloke's car FMR? Didn't seem to feature in either list.
:o}
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Based on drivers of the cars I deliver, I'd say you have the BMW 3-series and 1-series the wrong way round Humph... We see a lot of blokes trading "up" from a Mondeo to a 116d, and a fair few ladies who enjoy their driving so choose a 320d over a C220CDI.
Also New Beetles are exclusively female and all Ferraris & Lamborghinis seem to be driven entirely by males (not Maseratis or Astons though). Boxsters seem to be unisex, other Porsches male.
Thinking about it, I can't recall ever seeing a girl driving a 7.5 tonne lorry. I've seen them at work in big and small vans, and often driving Class 2 and Class 1 LGVs, but never in a 7.5t. Which must make my one as blokey as it gets :)
Last edited by: Dave_TiD on Sat 28 Sep 13 at 18:42
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>>We see a lot of blokes trading "up" from a Mondeo to a 116d...
Someone should have the grace to tell them it's just wrong to do that ! Bit like hair dye, best left to those who can carry it off...
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One of the senior execs where I work, drives a white Citroen DS3. Takes off his jacket and lays it on the parcel shelf and puts the briefcase in the boot. Doesn't look right some how.
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Thinking about it, I can't recall ever seeing a girl driving a 7.5 tonne lorry. I've seen them at work in big and small vans, and often driving Class 2 and Class 1 LGVs, but never in a 7.5t. Which must make my one as blokey as it gets :)
Not looking hard enough, I know a lady with 7.5 tonne lorry, albeit a converted on to carry hers and her mother's steeds. Fairly popular modification and it is quite usual to see them being driven by the stable girl.
I also can state 4 cylinder convertibles should not all be dubbed 'girls' cars. I owned a Morgan 4/4 with a race engine and whole sheet of modifications for the insurance. Bit of a liability on the road as other cars all assumed it was an old car and thus moving slowly. And then it proceeded to blow the doors off them.
But then I can be more than a bit naughty in a car, and have even romped away from a BMW that thought I was holding him/her up in my 1930 Morgan. Just that I was abiding by the speed limit and let rip at the derestriction sign.
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No probs SP. Should have said, Morgans, Caterhams, Westfields etc have special exemption from the 6 cylinder convertible rule. It's fine...
;-)
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Any car can be turned into a blokes car.
Make sure it's filthy dirty, one headlight doesn't work and one of the bargain basement tyres is below the limit whilst another is showing the wires poking through the inside edge while there's at least 5mm of tread over the rest of it.
Led Zep or Black Sabbath blaring from the stereo merely confirms it.
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>> Not looking hard enough, I know a lady with a 7.5 tonne lorry, albeit converted to carry steeds
OK, apart from horseboxes I meant ;) I know ladies who drive full-size Sprinters, a lass who regularly gets behind the wheel of a Shoe Zone 18-tonne Iveco, and there's at least one female Class 1 licence-holder around here somewhere ;) I've never seen a girl working in a 7.5t haulage wagon though, either on the road or backed up to a warehouse.
I suppose a fair few current 7.5t drivers have fallen into the job because their pre-1997 car licence allows it, whereas when a woman chooses to work in a male-dominated industry like road transport she does it properly and works hard to gain all the licences up to C+E... I have to say that all the horseboxes I see driven by women (including Class 2 / LGV cat C 18 tonne Scanias), without exception, are being driven superbly.
/drift
A question for Slidingpillar: How often should lubrication be applied to the front end of a Morgan +8? My dad says his push-button auto oiling system leaves quite a lot of oil around the front, quite close to the brakes too.
Last edited by: Dave_TiD on Sat 28 Sep 13 at 23:04
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A question for Slidingpillar: How often should lubrication be applied to the front end of a Morgan +8? My dad says his push-button auto oiling system leaves quite a lot of oil around the front, quite close to the brakes too.
I grease rather than oil, and applied a little every 300 miles or so.
I'd say thin grease is better, you can get remote greasers to go under the bonnet for those who don't want to grovel by the wheels. And next time he changes the kingpins etc, fit hard chrome pins with the appropriate bushes as these last a very long time, many times longer than plain steel one.
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The ultimate bloke's car is surely one that I personally have never seen a woman driving......the Reliant Robin.
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>> The ultimate bloke's car is surely one that I personally have never seen a woman
>> driving......the Reliant Robin.
>>
Good man.
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Do the girls drive 8 legger demolition tippers ? I can't say I've ever been far enough in front of one to actually see the windscreen...speshly at 50/60 mph on a winding A road !
I spose I must be classed as non-bloke with the Grand Vitara. Maybe a shopping trip to Primark with Mark for new frocks is called for ! Humph will know where the best branch is !
Ted
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>> Do the girls drive 8 legger demolition tippers ?
Not in my experience Ted, but a surprising number of those are piloted these days by chaps exempt from the hard hat rule as it interferes with their turbans.
Last edited by: Dave_TiD on Sat 28 Sep 13 at 23:30
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I think all MB convertibles are women's cars. Two middle ages blokes I know own SLKs and I don't think it looks right! My pal has an SL 350. I drove it briefly whilst he was out of the country, and, lovely piece of kit as it is, it didn't feel right to me. Same goes for Audi TT's.
OTOH two blokes I know have/had a 350Z ragtop and a TT RS ragtop. No complaints there. Blokes can get away with the TT RS. It was a deep metallic blue and given the opportunity would be in my garage now.
Another friend of mine has a 335i folding tin top. Just about acceptable but better in a folding ragtop.
Its not often you see the fairer sex driving 911's, but a girl who works near me drives a new model variant in bright red. Lovely. Sounds wonderful. And they both look gorgeous.
Last edited by: legacylad on Sun 29 Sep 13 at 08:57
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Don't see this as a problem really, surely its only inadequate blokes who must have a car judged by other inadequates a to portray the right image a mans car.
:-)
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Oh dear,
I have a Nissan and an MX-5, no hope for me then according to Runfer.
I'm with GB above.
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Looks like I fit the bill having owned 2 from the blokes list and none from the second, however, I would propose adding smart cars to the girls list
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>> Oh dear,
>>
>> I have a Nissan and an MX-5, no hope for me then according to Runfer.
>>
>> I'm with GB above.
>>
Ha ha, me too. The MX5 might be a tart cart to some but it doesn't bother me.
Actually I don't think there are men's and women's cars - it's getting the one for the job that's more important.
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Yes, but there are those who care about what it does and those who care more about how it looks; not neatly divided along male-female lines either.
Not even neatly divided between individuals: I value function enormously in a car, and test it as thoroughly as I can before I choose one, but I like it to look good and distinctive too. It depresses me a little to look out across the car park at work and see my LEC in an unbroken line of 20 silver, grey and black cars. It's black inside too, which is less gloomy than I'd feared but still disappointingly me-too. The green S60 with its 'oak' interior may be old but it is at least unmistakably mine.
So, bloke or no bloke?
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The car for the job can include being distinctive if that matters to you. I have that inclination too.
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Don't worry, you "Blokes" will grow out of the fashion victim phase. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 30 Sep 13 at 08:51
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Don't agree with Range Rovers being blokes cars. Round our way all Range Rovers (and Land Rovers) are driven by women, mostly blonde, not always genuine.
MPVs can be blokes or womens cars. For example in London you see hundreds of black Galaxys, all driven by blokes, all with funny stickers on the back windows!
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Bloke's cars? - PeterS
