Does a good car make you over-confident?

I bought a new car recently and I must say... it does make you believe you can take on the world! somehow it comes naturally.
 
:cry: I cannot believe some of these replies. :cry:

I cannot comprehend why someone would be proud of driving up your backside at 140 or passing on the yellow lane - complete and utter tosses! :mad:
 
Firstly his taste is cars is bad, buying a Golf is just so unimaginative, maybe he tries to compensate for that through his driving style.

Seriously though, it could be that the car is significantly better than what he had before and this gives the feeling of being more in control and more protected. I find that personally I drive more "adventurous" in a car when I spent the majority of my time riding a bike. The car then does make me feel more confident.
 
Rouxenator said:
Firstly his taste is cars is bad, buying a Golf is just so unimaginative, maybe he tries to compensate for that through his driving style.

Seriously though, it could be that the car is significantly better than what he had before and this gives the feeling of being more in control and more protected. I find that personally I drive more "adventurous" in a car when I spent the majority of my time riding a bike. The car then does make me feel more confident.
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Taste is a subjective thing. That said, we all know how you feel about VAGs.

He had the new Polo before this - only had the car for two years. So, yes, just bought be a bigger VAG.

I've had my car for less than a year, and it was a huge step up from the Fiesta. But, if anything, I have such huge respect for it because it has so much torque that I just know what it is capable of, but I wouldn't take it there because I don't know whether I can handle all that power. And this has nothing to do with lack of of confidence in myself but rather a sane assessment of my driving abilities.
 
Going from Polo to G7 will most definitely make you feel more in control and therefore more confident. How you use that confidence is up to the personality of the driver. In your case you had the same experience but you treat the extra power with respect, that is a good thing. I remember when I wrote off my Bantam 10 years ago and got the Astra (it was nearly new) I was super cautious with it because it was a lot quicker and more expensive.

Currently my driving style is very different when I have my 18 months old daughter in the car than when it is me alone, regardless of what car I am driving and the fact that she has one of the best child seats made by Recaro.
 
HavocXphere said:
Same. Esp the BMW/Merc/Audi crew...chances are its running brake-assist (or equivalent). If that guy taps the brakes hard even temporarily then then onboard computer will nail the brakes.

Make of car is good for initial impression only though. Driver behavior is more important long term. The ideal for me - esp on long journeys - is finding drivers on the road with a similar temperament (same speed, similar overtaking behaviour etc). Makes life so much easier when its 3+ cars driving as an unofficial convoy almost....after a decent couple k's you know nobody is going to do anything erratic so you can chill a bit.
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This.

But I think the confidence grows as you get to know the car. I drove long distance in a new car this past weekend and curves I was nervous of taking at 120 I was doing comfortably at 160 after a couple of hours.

But some people seem to be confident no matter what car they're in, I was being overtaken by an i10 while I myself was well over the speed limit :erm:
 
The car in front of you going at 120km/hr is also going to take longer to stop vs at 60km/hr.

So you don't have to double your distance from the car if his speed doubles. Maybe 1.5x the distance is a fair amount.
 
SaiyanZ said:
The car in front of you going at 120km/hr is also going to take longer to stop vs at 60km/hr.

So you don't have to double your distance from the car if his speed doubles. Maybe 1.5x the distance is a fair amount.
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Unless there is a concrete barrier pushed into his way on the N1 in midrand due to a truck (from the other direction) hitting it and pushing it into the way. Or maybe its a Range Rover with tinted windows (that's you cant easily see past) and it slams into the back of still standing backup because they guy was checking his whatsapps and thus no brake lights even came on...
 
VernD said:
Funny thing is this : I am not the kind of person that you have to impress. I was the one who advised him to go diesel in the first place. His car is impressive already, without it even moving, because it has some very desirable features. There was absolutely no need for him to show off to me.
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The only justification you need is to "arrive at the location alive".
I wouldn't, as a passenger, allow him to drive like that. That's not cool. :/
 
SaiyanZ said:
The car in front of you going at 120km/hr is also going to take longer to stop vs at 60km/hr.

So you don't have to double your distance from the car if his speed doubles. Maybe 1.5x the distance is a fair amount.
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You have to run on time and not distance, as you cannot visually work out the distance - 3 seconds at 120 km/h is a different distance to 3 seconds at 60, but the 3 seconds remains the same.
 
It doesn't matter what car you're driving, how many airbags, safety systems like ABS/ESP it has or not, above a certain speed, it's all the same in an accident. Which is why when you're in a good car that gives you no sensation of speed and feels like it's invincible you should be just as careful as when you're driving an old/cheap car.
 
Fazda said:
You have to run on time and not distance, as you cannot visually work out the distance - 3 seconds at 120 km/h is a different distance to 3 seconds at 60, but the 3 seconds remains the same.
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The time for the car in front of you to slow down will be longer which in effect gives you more braking distance. Hence you don't need 3 seconds distance like at 60km/hr. 2 seconds distance at 120km/hr will be fine. Most cars drive a lot closer than 2 seconds apart at higher speeds.
 
SaiyanZ said:
The time for the car in front of you to slow down will be longer which in effect gives you more braking distance. Hence you don't need 3 seconds distance like at 60km/hr. 2 seconds distance at 120km/hr will be fine. Most cars drive a lot closer than 2 seconds apart at higher speeds.
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The point is, is that at least 2 or 3 second gap must be kept, no matter what speed you are doing. World wide, it has been accepted that that time will equate to a safe following distance.
 
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