by Izzet Inak

Created on: October 22, 2009

In today's world, the answer is unfortunately yes. Think of yourself in a van, most of the guys will think that you are a family guy or you are the driver of a dollar van. Not to mention that family guys are not very popular nowadays. The people will even question what kind of man you are because you drive a van which is mostly associated with soccer moms. Not to mention that some girls prefer the guys that drives a Mercedes or Ferrari to the guys that drive a Honda or Suzuki.

Few years ago, I was working for an international cargo company and the vehicles that the company have were all Hyundai Starex. I had to go to hotels to make contacts and sometimes pick the cargo up. The security guards always made me wait for many minutes. During those waits, I always witnessed that the people who drive a Mercedes or BMW were taken into hotels without being stopped and asked for an ID. Curiosity killed the cat but one day I asked one of the security guards about this situation. He told me that the managers of the hotel gave direct orders not to stop the people who drive those cars because they were considered as ''elite'' people.

Even I am not one of those ''elite'' people, I love the car that I drive. I bought my car in 2007 and didn't have a single problem. I also believe that the driving skill and the personality of the driver are more important than the brand or the price of the car. ''Elite'' people usually get involved in accidents more than the ''regular'' people. They trust in their car and their money and pass thru red light. They know their car is expensive and it will protect them from the other ''rubbish'' cars. Or they think that they can get away by just paying the fine because they have too much money. But they don't care about the other people's lives. Every time I get on the highway to go to the downtown, I see a luxury sedan or luxury sports car speeding excessively. As I last tested my car on the track, it could reach 205 km/h (127 mph) but what would I gain by speeding that much on a highway? Of course not all of the luxury car drivers are the same and there are few responsible ones out there.

What matters is who is driving the car and feeling comfortable in the car you drive. Nobody should feel degraded because they drive an old or cheap small car. You can read a very interesting story on internet. Seven-time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher needs to go to airport someday but the taxi driver is driving the van very slowly. He asks the cab driver to drive the Opel Vivaro which is a van. Schumacher jumps in the driver seat and drives the van so fast and very well that the cab driver describes this experience as astonishing. Would you prefer to be Schumacher in the van or a Lamborghini driver that cannot drive well?

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