For a gearhead, the thought of sharing a car with someone else can be utterly terrifying. In a study done by Sociologist Pepper Schwartz the results showed, that in most households, men are far more likely to take the keys when couple rides together. Another survey found that when partners drove together, men were four times more likely to take the wheel. This isn’t to say that women don’t drive. They do. There were plenty of women driving on their own to work, chauffeuring the kids around, to the shopping malls but once coupling comes into the equation, this task is relinquished to the man.
Where does this need to chauffeur their women around come from? A recent study uncovered two reasons why men crave their wheel time: the appeal of asserting masculinity through technology and the appeal of being in control of his own “destiny”. The relationship a man has with his car is vastly different when compared to a woman. Not that women don’t love cars. They do but in a different way.
In this affair of the heart, women are monogamous while men are polygamous. How often do you read about a female millionaire who squanders huge amounts of money acquiring a fleet of cars? Not often. But you would read of footballers and other personalities who spend their fortunes on several whips even though they hardly have the time to drive them. A woman may drive her car for years and cry when she has to sell it. It is equally likely that she didn’t keep it very clean and never polished it. It is always full of odds and ends, pillows, spare shoes, stuff for the kids, and junk. Much as he might love his car, no man weeps when he sells it for a better one. The new car will be his passion; he is no more likely to regret the passing of the old one than he would the dumping of it for a newer model.
A man who can never remember the anniversary of his first date will devote litres of water to washing his car. He will hose out the wheel and remove every last speck of dust from the windscreen and the trim, then leather off every inch of the paintwork so that not so much as a water-spot dims its radiance. A man who cannot tell you the colour of his wife’s eyes, will be able to tell you all the specifications of his vehicle. He will know how it measures up against other cars in its price range, year and model.
Remember ladies although men love cars, and on some occasions tend to hog the wheel. There is nothing more they can do with them; apart from driving them around, or taking them for service, they cannot ask the cars to prepare them a delicious meal after a heavy day’s work or have a decent conversation with them. There is no substitute for a good woman, so sit back and enjoy the ride. As the saying goes behind every successful man, there is a woman; not a car.
