We men have a strange relationship with cars. Last week I posted a photo of a BMW Z4 Coupe on Facebook and it engendered more comment than a post about Brexit, and those who commented were exclusively men. Suggest to a man that a particular car looks rather nice, and it's almost as if you impugn their masculinity by denigrating the car they drive - we take it very personally. The conversation (or argument) invariably revolves around 0-60 times, not necessarily aesthetics - a tenth of a second means a lot to a man. Is it perhaps because we men see our cars as an extension of themselves and the speed and acceleration of a car makes up for our own lack of speed and acceleration - a sleek and fast body substitute?
The number of men who believe women are attracted to men with fast cars is legendary, but women seem more preoccupied by colour, comfort and practicality, with muscle cars holding little or no particular attraction for them - at least not in my experience. Readers may differ in their opinion.
The following observation is not exclusive to men - the vast majority of drivers will happily sit in a queue to ensure they arrive at a petrol pump with the filler next to the petrol pump. The other day I drew up to my local filling station and there was a queue of 5 cars waiting on one side, with none on the other - I drove into the empty side not having a clue anyway as to which side the filler was on the car I was driving. Modern petrol pump hoses are more than long enough to reach the other side of any car. I suppose it's to do with the prospect of acute embarrassment in the instance of parking a little too far from the pump and having to perform manoeuvres in front of an audience, should the hose not reach.
The following observation is not exclusive to men - the vast majority of drivers will happily sit in a queue to ensure they arrive at a petrol pump with the filler next to the petrol pump. The other day I drew up to my local filling station and there was a queue of 5 cars waiting on one side, with none on the other - I drove into the empty side not having a clue anyway as to which side the filler was on the car I was driving. Modern petrol pump hoses are more than long enough to reach the other side of any car. I suppose it's to do with the prospect of acute embarrassment in the instance of parking a little too far from the pump and having to perform manoeuvres in front of an audience, should the hose not reach.
The other day a friend posted an item on Facebook about diesel technology having progressed to the state where new diesels are less polluting than petrol cars, yet diesel cars are nevertheless scheduled to be banned. This is an example of complex problems being reduced to simple problems and a simple solution being proposed (a bit like Brexit). It would be better to merely specify performance standards that all cars have to adhere to and forcing engineers to tackle the problem with innovation, rather than simply banning diesels.
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