For the better part of the last two decades, if anyone were to ask me what drivers were the worst drivers in the world, my automatic reaction would typically have been “Maryland drivers.” But upon clarification of asking which automotive manufacturer has the biggest assholes that drive their cars, my answer becomes “oh, BMW drivers.”
BMWs have always been at a price point to where even the drivers of the low-end 3 series still felt validated to turn their noses up to everyone not willing to drop $35k (then) on a glorified Jetta. Some of them were legitimately high-performing, and all of them came with a degree of luxuries that when combining all of the above, had a tendency to foster a sense of entitlement and arrogance from those that drove them.
And it was no more indicative than watching the average BMW driver drive amidst the pleebs of the world; they’d cut people off without using signals, aggressively tailgate cars deemed inferior to their marvels of German engineering, and demonstrate all sorts of driving behavior that exuded me-first selfish and dickish attitudes. It really didn’t matter who was driving the car, be it a white man, black woman, Asian teenager or an elderly Hispanic; once behind the wheel of a BMW, it’s like there’s a needle in the seat that goes straight up the driver’s asshole and plugs into a very specific node inside the body that triggers all sorts of degenerate behavior, thus fulfilling the destiny of BMW drivers all have to be assholes.
However, ever since I moved back into the ‘burbs, I’ve often been moderately fascinated at the sheer differences of my surroundings compared to my previous foray in homeownership. Which is a nice way of saying that I now live in a slightly upper-middle class exuding white privilege which is overwhelmingly predominantly white, versus my old community which unfortunately sank into really lower-middle class that was overwhelmingly predominantly black, which in itself is a nice way to say that everyone in the neighborhood was black, and then there was Jen and myself.
Now that I’ve pretty much gotten a routine going and I’ve almost lived here for an entire year now, it’s safe to say that an observant person like me is pretty familiarized with my surroundings. I’m recognizing cars in my subdivision, I wave at my neighbors regardless of if I know them or not, and I see the same cars on my commutes because fewer things say white privilege than tacky vanity plates.
But through routine, I’ve started recognizing patterns, especially with behavior on the roads. And sure, there are plenty of BMW drivers in my area with self-absorbed asshole drivers aggressively putting themselves ahead of everyone they can, but I’ve noticed that I feel like it’s getting to a point where they’re not the biggest dicks on the road anymore.
Lexus drivers, without question have been the bigger douchebags on the road in my observations; which begs the question if Lexus drivers are bigger assholes than BMW drivers now?
I’m not sure if BMW has created a culture of being dicks for so long that it’s almost negligible when they’re being dicks, or if the advent of cheaper, lower-performing Beamers over the last two decades have watered down the air of arrogance that the manufacturer could have as a whole, but in my opinion, BMW drivers don’t seem like the top-of-the-class asshole drivers that they once used to be.
Lexus drivers have been far more dickish, and by virtue of being a manufacturer that seems to have an older demographic than BMW does, it opens the door for older people to be dicks on a longer timeline than they would if they drove a BMW.
Take for example, there’s this black LX I often see on my commute home, and we have a similar route towards the ends of our commutes. There’s a point on one road were two lanes merge into one, and by god almighty, if anyone tries to get in front of this LX, you have personally affronted the driver of that car, and he will absolutely not let them in. I have been tailgated by this individual as he glued himself to my bumper in order to deny entry to someone else, and I have also been the target of his vitriol as I’ve had the misfortune of being adjacent to him near the merge point (I sped ahead and got in front of the car in front of him when he tried to box me out). He also looks like he’s in his late 50’s, but he drives like a 17-year old who thinks the public streets are Gran Turismo, and everyone is an opponent.
And that’s just one example of the myriad of Lexuses in my general zip code that drives like enraged assholes. Aside from him, are all sorts of people in GSes (glorified Avalons), ESes (more expensive Camrys), ISes (rebadged Corollas) and RXes (a RAV-4 with different lights) who clog the nearby roadways with aggressive driving and inconsiderate behavior. It’s almost like there was a demographic shift at some point where people collectively thought before making their next car purchase “I don’t want people to think I’m an asshole, so I won’t get a BMW, but I still want to have a luxury vehicle,” and then all bought Lexuses instead; but then drove them as if they were BMWs anyway.
I will admit that the impetus for this criticism definitely comes from what I’m personally deducing is that LX drivers are the worst of the worst. From 50-year old Gran Turismo, a vapid WASP in my parking garage that has almost hit me multiple times, to a person in my own subdivision who had the spineless gall to report my property to the county instead of knocking on my door to remind me of property lines for landscaping purposes, I have an established conclusion that Lexus LX drivers are all, automatically assholes.
These are all people whom I have zero doubt received their vehicles with giant red bows on them, love P.F. Chang’s Oriental food, and most definitely voted for head cheeto in charge. They also heavily anchor down my perspective that Lexus drivers are the biggest assholes on the road now, and that they’ve ironically done BMW drivers an inadvertent solid.
Ironic that the automotive symbol for white privilege now seems to manufactured by a Japanese company.
