Do other drivers not like Volvos?

[revaido]

I picked up a black 2012 XC90 Exec just after Christmas and it's amazing how different other road users are towards me than in the previous cars I've had (I'd just done 100k in a VW CC which I traded in) and I've covered 500k + in the previous cars I've had (mainly saloons or smaller cars).

Since I've had the XC90 in the first month it's been hit multiple times in car parks, scratched, keyed, and I've never had so many people pull out in front of me and then try to brake check me! I've had to fit running boards just to try and reduce the amount of door dings and I always park at the far end of car parks unless I have the daughter with me in which case I'll try and stick it in the parent spaces.

To give you an idea this was Wednesday at the local hospital - we parked up alone to come back to this guy not leaving enough room for me to get in:
http://rate-driver.co.uk/YD58WRA

Are these all the sorts of things you find or is it just the general standards of driving are going down the toilet these days very quickly?!

My driving style is pretty sedate these days but I can't believe how night and day things seem different from the last car. The wife thought I was kidding until Wednesday.

I paid extra for a car in good nick only so the scratches and dings annoyed the heck out of me.

I'm really liking the XC90 and had some fantastic fun in the snow in the moors around here, I'm just not liking other road users behaviour towards it!

[Moose Test]

Originally Posted by revaido

Are these all the sorts of things you find or is it just the general standards of driving are going down the toilet

Nearly. General standards in society are going to Hell in a hand cart, which is then simply reflected in people's attitudes towards driving, as with everything else they do.

One of my previous cars was in showroom condition, for almost 3 days, before someone ran a trolley into it at Heathrow's T5 car park. But my personal 'favourite' is "Magic Indicator". This I define as the grossly mistaken belief that my >2tonne vehicle traveling at (legal) roadspeeds won't split yours in half from behind if you pull out straight in front of me, just because your indicator happens to be on.

But really, don't get me started...

[Tannaton]

The other issue here to add is that car park spaces are smaller these days. In most supermarket car parks now you have to park off centre (in a big Volvo anyway) so you can open the doors on the drivers side but probably not the passenger side. Obviously when I do this I line my passenger side up with the neighbors passenger side so the I mitigate the inconvenience to them.

The other factor is the difference on the roads and motorways these days of "professional" drivers (i.e. those who drive as part of their jobs) and "weekend" drivers (i.e. those to whom a car is the less inconvenient way of getting from A to B - mostly found in the middle land of a deserted motorway). Don't misinterpret that - I'm not saying the standard of professional drivers is good - just that the weekend drivers are considerably worse in cases.

And on that note I would like to see annual driving tests for taxi drivers, especially the kamikaze t0ss3rs who drive UBER cabs in Leeds. UBER are a typical modern tech company that regard their human resources as a utility in the same way as electricity and gas and hence don't bother to check that they might be a danger to other road users or their passengers (as per their license revocations in York and London).

But back to the OP - I feel your pain, my XC60 is 18 months old and has now three quite significant trolly/door "dings". Unfortunately the bigger the car the more inevitable is seems to be.

[soapytwist]

It may also be a 4x4 thing. I ran Volvo 940/960 estates for ten years (which I regarded as a 'big' car!) and stepping up to the XC90 I've noticed that smaller cars are a lot less 'friendly' in certain situations.
Strangely, my wife thinks I now drive more aggressively because of it (e.g. having to push out at busy junctions where previously someone would have let us out fairly quickly), so in some ways it's a vicious circle. I just try to remember to be polite, and smile & wave when people do me a kindness.
I'm also aware that a large car bearing down on you from behind can be disconcerting, so I don't drive to closely to other cars, but it does mean you end up having people pull out on you when they see the gap.

[Bonefishblues]

I agree. Standards aren't what they used to be.

I read accounts online of people calling others "dickheads" and publishing pictures of simple errors of judgement where, at best, mild inconvenience had occurred - or perhaps the case might have been that another car, since moved, had been badly parked on their other side, and that was as much space as available at the time.

It's a real shame.

[ksmi]

I must agree with the comments about parking,my neighbour, when pi66ed,parks by reversing into the back of my motor,I think it's so that he knows he will be roughly in line with his front path when he falls out of the door.

Has anybody noticed in their 'neck of the woods', how drivers are ruining the verges in the lanes,this is not just lgv's & hgv's,but also the guardians of the country side.the farmers,evident by the tractor tread marks. I have lived here 20 years now and have not noticed it previously, it is something that has occurred in the last few months,even the car drivers seem incapable of rolling on and off the verges,if confronted by another vehicle when the lane is not wide enough for both vehicles to stay on the tarmac. and seem to have to spin the wheels to get back on the road,What happened to unobtrusive?
When the weather warms up and it's time to get the mower out,people who normally cut the verges out side their homes,are going to be confronted by water filled ruts(matching the pot holes?)

Rant over? Ruts? I would rather see daffodils!!!!! P.S, Why don't car parks have chevron pattern parking lines?
Regards,Keith.

[luggsey]

I could if I wanted to drive a much newer Volvo, I love new shiny cars with perfect paint and seats.
Trouble is I buy my cars as family cars, brother and dad both drive my cars and both have zero mechanical sympathy and consider the car bodywork a parking aid!
So to avoid that gut wrenching shock of seeing a new dent or a d1ck head has scratched it I simply bought a car with patina already present.
People don't park to close to me!!!!!

[canis]

When I was a child, my father would often rant about Volvo owners. In those days, they were all the traditional 240-style estate, the only saloon models were taxis.

He'd get really passionate about it, explaining in great detail about the attitude of the Volvo drivers. "I think it's because they're built like tanks," he'd say, "they think they own the road!"

I always considered it wholly irrational. After all, it's not the car's fault, right? But today, I find myself experiencing the same loathing, but for BMW. When I'm being tailgated, it's practically always a BMW. When I'm being undertaken, it's a BMW doing it. Stationary on white zig-zags to "just nip in" to a shop, BMW. This is my observation, and I can't deny what I see.

I see that light pattern in my rear view mirror, and I'm immediately filled with dread at what outrageous maneuver they're going to perform. It's like, I have to give them extra attention because they apparently actually do believe the rules aren't applicable to them and will do something dangerous.

I realise this is irrational, but this is my experience.

[luggsey]

Originally Posted by canis

When I was a child, my father would often rant about Volvo owners. In those days, they were all the traditional 240-style estate, the only saloon models were taxis.

He'd get really passionate about it, explaining in great detail about the attitude of the Volvo drivers. "I think it's because they're built like tanks," he'd say, "they think they own the road!"

I always considered it wholly irrational. After all, it's not the car's fault, right? But today, I find myself experiencing the same loathing, but for BMW. When I'm being tailgated, it's practically always a BMW. When I'm being undertaken, it's a BMW doing it. Stationary on white zig-zags to "just nip in" to a shop, BMW. This is my observation, and I can't deny what I see.

I see that light pattern in my rear view mirror, and I'm immediately filled with dread at what outrageous maneuver they're going to perform. It's like, I have to give them extra attention because they apparently actually do believe the rules aren't applicable to them and will do something dangerous.

I realise this is irrational, but this is my experience.

Worst overtake recently was in Exeter, car overtook me as I stopped at already red light, swerved into turn right lane, over junction and swerved back onto the other side. 500m up the road he was stopped behind other cars three cars in front of me.
BMW Z3

[osullivant]

Originally Posted by revaido

I picked up a black 2012 XC90 Exec just after Christmas and it's amazing how different other road users are towards me than in the previous cars I've had (I'd just done 100k in a VW CC which I traded in) and I've covered 500k + in the previous cars I've had (mainly saloons or smaller cars).

Since I've had the XC90 in the first month it's been hit multiple times in car parks, scratched, keyed, and I've never had so many people pull out in front of me and then try to brake check me! I've had to fit running boards just to try and reduce the amount of door dings and I always park at the far end of car parks unless I have the daughter with me in which case I'll try and stick it in the parent spaces.

To give you an idea this was Wednesday at the local hospital - we parked up alone to come back to this guy not leaving enough room for me to get in:
http://rate-driver.co.uk/YD58WRA

Are these all the sorts of things you find or is it just the general standards of driving are going down the toilet these days very quickly?!

My driving style is pretty sedate these days but I can't believe how night and day things seem different from the last car. The wife thought I was kidding until Wednesday.

I paid extra for a car in good nick only so the scratches and dings annoyed the heck out of me.

I'm really liking the XC90 and had some fantastic fun in the snow in the moors around here, I'm just not liking other road users behaviour towards it!

True some people resent xc90 drivers in particular,

I also have a mitsubishi l200 an never have my right of way taken, even when I may have stolen it,

I drive my mothers marivea which is girly pale blue and I always have to wait...

but the xc90 causes a different effect, either people will not give me an inch or become aggressive when they perceive that I steal their Right of way...

By the way... is the volvo in the picture actually in a parking spot, there is no white line on the left... also it is categorically badly parked itself and may have induced the next piece of bad parking if the other driver put himself in between two vehicles parked on the lefthand extremes of their respective spaces...

an xc90 and indeed all cars will get tapped and knocked in modern times... its life... get over it...

why not get some protection...http://www.doorshox.com/