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Was this study sponsored by Porsche ?
Does a flash motor make a man more desirable?
The long-debated question of whether women find a man more attractive if he drives a flash car (or in other ways spends cash conspicuously) has been further muddied by an alliance of psychologists and biz profs in the States. Carrying out a survey among 1,000 American subjects, the soft-studies profs sought to find out what …
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Saturday 18th June 2011 12:13 GMT Anonymous Coward
It can be
I was sitting in the beer garden enjoying some fine female company. Boxter roars(ish) into the car park with much sound and fury. Heads turn (possibly because said pub was popular with local constabulary).
Out steps tanned, groomed aviator wearing driver who scans his hunting ground before swaggering over to our table. Keys plonked down, presumably as some way to try and mark territory or establish male dominance.
"So, do you like my car?" he says to my rather fine looking friend. She looks at the car, looks at him, smiles and says "How cute, a baby Porsche. Will it grow up?"
Cue much laughter from the rest of us and the tables near by. Cue more when the poor driver stalls trying to make a quick exit.
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Monday 20th June 2011 08:46 GMT Anonymous Coward
Well... Ancient law of nature...
Like dissolves in alike.
Guess your friend was not what he was looking for.
No worries, he will find it a few pubs down the road.
By the way, I would not mind being introduced to your friend. As Animal from Muppet Show used to say "My kind of Woman...": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yvHWyvexZA
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Friday 17th June 2011 16:02 GMT Anonymous Coward
Yes..
because the "dozy" motorist didnt see the tit in black leather with a black helmet, hurtling down a road at mach million at 11.30 pm on a black motorcycle..Until it was too late..
Because, had the organ donor observed the speed limits then he wouldnt have T-boned the car pulling out because they and the "dozy" motorist would both have had time to react.
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Friday 17th June 2011 10:43 GMT Anonymous Coward
Previous experience dictates
Mid 20s I took the plunge and bought a sports car (quarter life crisis?).
Did my notch count no difference whatsoever.
When parked up, it actually got more comments from fellas than it did any ladies.
So sports cars = great way to get chatting to boy racers, but crap for pulling.
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Friday 17th June 2011 11:50 GMT andybird123
sports car?
depends on what your definition of sports car is
ferraris, lambos, top end porkers, are all proven fanny magnets, I think the key is that the car has to cost at least 100K when new and be a household name
I've had various fast Japanese cars and women don't bat an eyelid (until I step out of it obviously, they are only human)
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Friday 17th June 2011 13:48 GMT Anonymous Coward
sports car?
Granted it wasn't 100k when new, but it was from an Italian household name, a revvy engine with a lightweight body, fantastic handling, Paninfarina styling and featured in many late 90s/early 2000s racing games.
Wasn't a supercar by any means. In fact, I'd only thought about it as a coupe, it was only when it was in getting (one of many) repairs that the girl I'd been going out with said "You should really get rid of that sports car. I never really liked it."
She was happier when I bought a big middle-aged looking Peugeot, and then a big lazy Japanese coupe (which is more pipe and slippers than cigar and gucci).
Which either means I'm 'marraige' material (she's still with me) rather than Porsche-driving 'one night' material, or that girls aren't fussed.
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Friday 17th June 2011 14:21 GMT Admiral Grace Hopper
What *is* it with you lot and 'females'?
I think it's due to the component-centric view of your typical IT-enculuured dweeb who categorise the entire world into things that are plugged into other things and things that have things plugged into them. They can't help it, bless 'em. (BTW, if any of you have DIN gender changer kicking around can you pass it on? I've got a keyboard that I re-purpose if I could switch it from a male pin-out to a female one. Thank you).
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Friday 17th June 2011 10:49 GMT Ooo-wait-BUT!
Soft science makes me gag
By making such a strong distinction between men and women; and insofar as it is men making the car purchase and women making subjective pronouncements based solely on that purchase choice these 'academics' have failed at very significant levels:
Firstly - the sexist clause... this survey was doomed from the word go when it approached the research phase already knowing what result it was looking for;
Secondly - the lack of a decent data pool... was there a representative sample of ethnically rare one-legged single parent lesbians in the survey?
Thirdly - the interpretation of subjective observations: there are two distinct types of women (of the subset of women who are interested solely in men); those who value a man for the person he is (the Civic buyer) and those who fuck for money.
But, it's America... so we can let them off. It's not like they know how to do any REAL science.
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Friday 17th June 2011 10:49 GMT Bunker_Monkey
Porsche.... everyones got a porsche except me!
(jingles keys to his brand new, gleaming Lotus Exige - yeah i wish!)
Cause Porsches are overbloated toys in my opinion, I would only buy a british sports car with much better handling and less understeer..
Wheres the IT angle on this? Shame I can't have the same effect with a monster gaming pc!
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Friday 17th June 2011 10:49 GMT Scott Broukell
Always the flashy tings innit .....
I've always started from the point of seeking to have a relationship with a woman who has a mind of her own - interesting and intelligent and not in the least bit interested in flashy motors. Sure looks are important but there's so much more than mere superficiality. And no, before you ask, I haven't exactly bedded thousands of women - that's not where I'm coming from (pun intended).
I must be a nerdy, grumpy, freak I guess - but I'm happy that way.
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Friday 17th June 2011 10:49 GMT TeeCee
Once upon a time......
......an Elephant was walking through the jungle and fell into quicksand.
"Help", he cried, "help, I can't get out and I'm going to die!"
A nearby mouse heard his calls and came to see what was going on. On seeing the situation, he called out; "Hang on a moment, I'll get my Ferrari!". Off he went and returned a few moments later in his Ferrari. He threw a rope to the Elephant and tied the other end to the Ferrari. "Hang on", he said and floored it. The Ferrari spun its wheels, the traction control cut in and the Elephant was pulled from the quicksand.
"Oh thank you", exclaimed the Elephant, "If ever you need anything, just call!"
As it happened, a couple of weeks later the mouse also fell into quicksand. "Help me, help me", he screamed. The Elephant, who was within earshot, heard him and came running.
"Hold on", said the Elephant, "I have an idea". He sat down, took out a jazz mag and started looking at the pictures. As he did so, his John Thomas got bigger and bigger and bigger until it stretched out all the way across the quicksand to the mouse. The mouse jumped onto it and ran to safety.
Which all goes to prove that if you have a really big dick, you don't need a Ferrari........
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Friday 17th June 2011 10:49 GMT John Tserkezis
It depends on where you go "shopping".
"And, gentlemen, women can see right through it."
Not all of them. The GUYS can see straight through it, but many females either can't, or won't.
It's not all bad though, believe it or not, there ARE some sensible women out there.
Depends on where you "shop".
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Friday 17th June 2011 13:12 GMT Frank Bough
It's all relative...
A Boxster is neither especially inexpensive nor necessarily inferior to a 911. In some ways, it's better - being mid rather than rear engined, and being a proper roadster rather than the hideous nightmare that is the 911 cabriolet.
The 911 has a bigger engine and a bigger price-tag, but that's pretty much it. the epithet 'poor mans' Porsche' says more about the person using it than their target.
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Friday 17th June 2011 17:44 GMT Adam Foxton
Agreed, almost
A Boxster has a Porsche logo on it, so it's assumed to be expensive. A new one starts at about £30k so it's not mind-blowing. A 911 starts at ~£65k.
Still, buying a Boxster just says "I want the badge, I'm too much of a snob to go second hand and I can't afford a 911". It's like going on about having a wardrobe full of Armani when it's off-the-rack Emporio. Yes, you've got a £600 suit. Yes, it says "Armani" on it and yes it was pretty pricey compared with a budget thing from Tesco that serves basically the same purpose. But _it's not the same_ as an £>1k Giorgio Armani. Same manufacturer, not a massive difference but it says something totally different about you.
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Friday 17th June 2011 10:52 GMT Anonymous Coward
I can vouch for this...
... My sex life went through the roof when I replaced my Vitara V6 with an M3 Convertable. So many women seem to approach me now with "I really like your car". The only regret I have now, is buying it before reading this article http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/03/sexy_redness/ and opting for the le-mans blue!
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Friday 17th June 2011 10:52 GMT BristolBachelor
Type of Woman
The type of woman that is interested in fast would be more interested in a guy with a fast motor (be it a porch [sic] or Ariel Atom). It doesn't matter if she is just after a quickie on the bonnet (if it has one) or something long term. She likes fast, so she likes it.
If the woman is only interested in flashy because there is nothing between her ears, then maybe she is only any use for a quickie, god forbid having to live with her long term!
It was almost tempting to go for the girl with nothing between her ears, but only for 5 seconds; thinking about it any longer she already bored me, so went for the cartoonish demon looking car icon instead.
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Friday 17th June 2011 21:36 GMT Sooty
was curious about the USA context
fanny magnet is a British term*, but the survey is of Americans.
One of the things that's very different between the UK and America, besides the language, sense of humour and general attitude towards sex, is the humble car.
There is a massive difference between the culture and attitude towards cars of the UK and America, so the survey results have no real relevance this side of the pond.
*hopefully anyway, as it has slightly different connotations if you use the American meaning of the word
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Friday 17th June 2011 11:03 GMT Anonymous Coward
He should have asked...
If the so called fanny magnet is also a target for those light fingered larry's?
Buy a flash motor and it is a big target for the thieves.
Buy a dull motor and they will ignore it (even if there is a pretty woman inside).
Could this be the subject of his next Phd then?
Never mind... BB knows all this already.
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Friday 17th June 2011 11:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
Darwin and Sexy Sons
Its all down to the "Sexy Son" effect in Darwinian psychology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexy_son_hypothesis
Females who go for flashy males are more likely to have flashy male offspring whom subsequent females will fall for.
If that sounds a mite circular, that's how sexual selection works - driven by females' preferences. It'subconscious and instinctive, rather than reasoned; It works more reliably in the long run.
It also suits sexy males whose genes will proliferate without the drag of having to care for descendants.
What good is a peacock's tail /flashy bird trap if not to get a mate ?
(Meanwhile, females are ALSO on the lookout for a steady, non-flashy type who'll stick around and care for the family, perhaps thinking that the flashy son is his. Hence the male obsession with *female* virginity.)
All sounds logical, eh, captain ?
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Friday 17th June 2011 11:09 GMT Cazzo Enorme
Want to snap knicker elastic at fifty paces?
Then drive an old car.
I remember a survey that presented young women with a selection of cars and asked them to rate them on the basis of how interesting the owner was likely to be. I was pleased to see that the least appealing cars were expensive sporty ones. Highest rated car? The Triumph Dolomite, on the basis that a man who chose to drive one (in good nick) wouldn't be a dickhead, but may be genuinely interesting.
As the driver of another dubious British classic car, the MGB, I can confirm that women often found it an interesting talking point - and how many drivers of cars like Porsches can honestly say that women want to actually talk about their cars?
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Friday 17th June 2011 12:17 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Want to snap knicker elastic at fifty paces?
"how many drivers of cars like Porsches can honestly say that women want to actually talk about their cars?"
How many women want to actually talk about cars at all?
With that said, the reason I ended up looking at this article, apart from the laughs, is that it immediately reminded me of this highly successful, intelligent, and good-looking friend of mine who got dumped by his girlfriend for... a construction worker driving a (cheap) BMW. Please note that we're not guessing the reason: she actually told him as much.
[ Per certo, fantastico il handle! ]
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Wednesday 22nd June 2011 23:02 GMT Adam Foxton
A good condition
dark-coloured S2 convertible still looks gorgeous these days. I mean it looks a bit dated, but it's aged better than a lot of other cars it's age!
That said, a knackered S1 in badly-aged white and a dodgy 2.5 engine doesn't look good. And you can kill any date stone dead explaining how its got the gearbox mounted at the back for near-perfect weight distribution, giving you a much nicer drive on those track days you've been on. Or how the 4-cylinder engine is actually half the 928's V8 but with a weighted balance bar thing instead of another set of cylinders.
Anyone still reading this? Ah, well. I'll just get the ol' anorak...
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Friday 17th June 2011 23:29 GMT Nuke
@ Christoph
Those horrible PoS were *not* reliable. I regularly worked on Morris Minors once as a mechanic. The woodwork rotted ("bruised banana"), crap got in the brake hydraulics (because the filler was under the front carpet), the seats sagged (exacerbated by the high dashboard) and the synchromesh wore out (to be fair, perhaps because most were driven by old ladies who regarded the gearlever as a switch).
The worst thing was the tendence of the front suspension to collapse suddenly (the bottom steering swivel bronze thread stripped). Around London in the late 70's I saw a collapsed Morris Minor in the middle of the road about every two weeks. Thank goodness most were used only for knocking about and not on motorways.
The only good thing was its indestructable Series A engine - but you could get one of those those in a Mini or 1100. However, the Minor exhaust was tuned somehow to emit a deafening farting noise on the over-run - I lived on a hill once and always knew when a Minor was descending.
If any young woman were ever attracted by one of those crocks of shite I would hate to imagine what she was like.
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Friday 17th June 2011 13:12 GMT Anonymous Coward
Sample Size
And a sample size of 1,000 is enough is it? Of course not.
Actually no matter what the sample size there is an inherent problem with this sort of study. What it can tell you is the likelyhood the somebody will respond to particular stimuli in a certain way. So while it may well be true to say that women are more likely to go for a man in a flash car than the same man in a mundane car, it does not follow that a particular woman is going to fall for an expensive car. It also does not follow that just because a woman is more likely to accept the offer of a date she is any more likely to go any further with an ugly fat bald guy. Remember a woman who is impressed by a man who spends conspicuously is actually probably a lot more interested in him spending money on her than she is in anything else.
Back in the days when I was on the company car gravy train and on the road I used to do as any single young bloke would and try to hit on every attractive receptionist I met in the course of my work. My car died horribly and spent a couple of weeks in the shop and our fleet company lent me a top end motor that was much more expensive than my usual ride. For that two weeks my success rate was much higher. By which I mean I got to take more receptionists out for lunch (on expenses, natch) not necessarilly anything else.
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Friday 17th June 2011 13:16 GMT Anonymous Coward
Sad to say
I drove a Porsche for about eight years. It was a 911 Sport, which I'm pretty sure it was full-fat - the 911 Turbo was the only street-legal Porsche that was fuller and fatter at the time.
I didn't get a single shag as a result. Then again, I am a software developer.
Anon, for obvious reasons.
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Friday 17th June 2011 19:51 GMT Anonymous Coward
Clap your fanny on a horse
Very effective if you can do it well.
Much more skill needed than merely snarfing rolling flash, any shav can do it or they'd all be piled on the roads in a heap. Fanny flash is good I guess for a one night bounce but the disease part might last longer, so it is not recommended.
And I don't want to leak on the nice 38* horse leather wrapping the rippling powerhouse thews-- riding bareback is a most exhilarating fanny mode (but would not try FEI that way... I'm good but not that good yet!).
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Friday 17th June 2011 19:53 GMT Damien Thorn
I got a flash motor
With the peasants it makes me more popular, but there blond linguistic skills are a romance killer.
Can i come drive in your caw?
My car is a prestine condition matchbox model ferarri. (im commenting on the register do you actually believe my income would let me buy a decent motor roflmao)
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Friday 17th June 2011 23:29 GMT Matt Bryant
Yes, but sometimes not always with the desired result!
The girls so attracted often also think that - beacuse you "wasted" money on a flash motor - that you will shower them with expensive treats. They will not understand if you explain to them that you actually enjoy driving said car because, for the majority of them, a car is just something to carry their shopping home in. They also seem to think you will let them drive your precious machine, which can only lead to tears! A Lebanese friend really regrets letting one uninsured girlfriend drive his nearly-new 911, to the tune of £18k in repairs!
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Saturday 18th June 2011 06:09 GMT Sarah Davis
it depends on the woman !!
I see a flash car as a sign that the guy is insecure / has a small dick / wants to be thought of as the kind of guy who wants non-commital sex, but a Bimbo might think it's a garuntee he has money and will buy her bling. A guy with a Porshe is a definate no-no, although a guy with a DB9 may have potential. I prefer to meet a guy first and get to know him before seeing what car he drives (some guys might be perfectly ok but have a bad choice in cars).
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Saturday 18th June 2011 12:11 GMT Nuke
@ Sarah Davies
Quote >>> I see a flash car as a sign that the guy is insecure / has a small dick / wants to be thought of as the kind of guy who wants non-commital sex ... I prefer to meet a guy first and get to know him before seeing what car he drives. <<<
You are jumping to a lot of conclusions there Sarah. Men, more so than women, tend to have hobbies or "enthusiasms" involving valued material objects. In some ways these are substitutes for sex, or for not enough sex. If a man does not have any such enthusiasm he is not likely to be enthusiastic about sex either, or value a woman, when the chance comes.
Cars happen to be highly visible, but how do you know that the guy you meet with an ordinary car, as you seem to prefer, does not have an equivalent enthusiasm such as a model railway at home or a yacht at Cowes?
These days it must be near impossible to "get to know" a guy without ever seeing his car, as you want. And BTW, dick size and car choice are orthogonal characteristics.
Some guys do have a flash car to show off to girls. But I know a guy with 14 Jaguars (mostly > 15 years old), but he meets girls in an Audi in case a classic Jaguar puts them off. What do you make of that?
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Sunday 19th June 2011 12:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
Who needs a flash car
If you want no strings attached casual sex I found nothing worked like a wedding ring.
Other women seemed to assume that :-
a) you'd been house trained
b) you'd sod off home and leave them alone once they'd finished enjoying you.
Hmmm, I wonder if this might be at all related to my divorce?
Anon for obvious reasons.
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Sunday 19th June 2011 12:49 GMT Dazed and Confused
Genetic programming
This would tend to agree with the research that suggests that while men are genetically programmed to try and procreate with as many females as possible, women are similarly programmed to find a good man to father and help them bring up their offspring and a strong/powerful/successful man to sire them.
Signs of wealth would indicate good breeding stock.
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Tuesday 21st June 2011 14:12 GMT Ooo-wait-BUT!
Anonymous Coward posted Friday 17th June 2011 12:00 GMT
"I appreciate the attempt at humour, but please don't give up the day job just yet."
I appreciate that you may have found my words moderately amusing. I do try to maintain a level of acceptable entertainment value within the words I write... they were, however, not intended thus. Porsche driver are you?
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Thursday 23rd June 2011 15:42 GMT Anonymous Coward
men they marry and men they wrestle with
"is doomed to having loads of sex with a string of ladies, and will never know the homely joys of changing a nappy, repeated and questionably-necessary redecorating etc"
The question is whether Mr. Honda Civic is in fact changing the nappy of Mr. Porsche's baby....
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