What exactly is it that makes some complete strangers upon seeing a car like the Coop or indeed any car that is unique, rare, looks and sounds good - basically a 'nice car,' to just blurt out a negative comment?

When most strangers see such cars they will usually look at them admiringly/with interest from afar or they will come up to the driver and say something positive about the car and maybe even strike up a conversation with them.

But then you have some strangers who will just say something very negative about the car very loudly - sometimes it may be one aspect of the car or they may just outright say it's a crap car!

I'm wondering are they are jealous or do they genuinely not like the car?

Thing is though, if they are jealous, then it's as if they are making it too obvious that they are jealous, simply because of the type of car they are commenting on! It would be like someone seeing a red Alfa GTV and a couple of other normal, red cars in traffic, and shouting out only to the Alfa owner something like ''What a crap colour!'' If they were to say it to all the other red car owners too then that would atleast make their criticism seem more genuine!

And if they genuinely don't like it, then, why are they even saying it? I mean I've seen people driving cars that I thought (and probably a lot of other people would too) were absolutely crap but I would never even think about saying that to them! If a stranger says to a Nissan 350Z owner that it's a crap car then does that mean they are actually going around and saying to every single Nissan Micra driver they see that they are driving crap cars too? Surely, if you decide to loudly declare that a certain car is crap then you're commiting yourself to doing the same to any other car that is crapper than that! Or in this case do they think the Micra is a better car than the 350Z?!?

Think about all these actual OTT, badly modded Coops we see from time to time. Yeah, highly critical comments are sometimes written about them, but I can't imagine anyone saying anything remotely negative to the owner's face if they didn't know them!

Is it just the nature of nice cars that they manage to elicit different strong emotional responses from people ranging from pleasant compliments to irrational negativity?

I'd love to see a negative stranger see someone else driving a totally totally totally perfect example of their all time favourite number one dream car! So many feelings! Admiration! Hate! Desire! Jealousy! Quick what do they say? What do they do? They would probably react like this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hco0-ZBUgY

By the way it doesn't really bother me, I'm just interested in the possible reasons behind it.

Aye, I'm up late to. I wonder about things as well, but, to be honest & not wanting to burst your bubble, I'm not bothered in the slightest what people think/say about my car, any car for that matter. So there you have it, or not. Don't worry I'm just having one of those life's too short moments & there's other things that concern me more......

Yeah, me too. At the moment it's haemorrhoids.

I started this thread to help take my mind off them.

Or should that be, my backside?

I'm typing standing up.

For me, & at the risk of saying too much personal information, my wife has just been given good news about her health after tests at the hospital. I know that the forum can be a sympathetic place to air things, in the past I've probably shared too much myself. On this occasion I'm so lucky & I'll leave it at that.

The Coop is my toy & I'll also leave it that....

This doesn't have to make sense other than me up late with my thoughts.

jimboy always good to hear good news when it comes to health!

Glad to hear the positive outcome Jim, the taint of anxiety pervades even one's most minor activity.

Back on topic (for once!), comments often say as much about the way the person is feeling at that moment and may not be indicative of a more objective opinion.

Perhaps an answer to a negative "quip" about one's pride and joy can be absorbent and merry enough to take the wind of the disgruntled donor's sails....

I ain't bothered what people think. I've got a multipla and get ripped for it on a daily basis. Who's the one laughing though when I'm at Ikea and it's loaded up like a van. It's the best car I've ever had by far.

I wish everyone the best in health and hope we have some sunshine this year to boost vitamin D levels and well-being.

On the point JKD made it made me ponder my loathing for all things Ford. It my mind and out loud they are all a POS, BOS, BOS. That is Pile of,Bag of and Heap of. You can add your last word!

My theory is related to your map of the world as a developing kid when your beliefs,rules etc are formulated. It always seemed that everyone thought that Escorts, be that 2000, Mexico etc was the dogs d's but I knew different. I went Italian, Lancia to be exact. Far superior engineering wise, why they even had 4 disc brakes and 5 speed boxes. The RS turbo still had drums on the rear. For heavens sake.

So, in my head they are and always will be as stated above.

Now this is the interesting bit. Everything that comes out of your mouth is driven by behaviour and any behaviour can be changed. It's just that we don't like change as it's possibly admitting fault with oneself. Back to your own map of the world, your are not going to want to deviate from that.

But you can change, it's just some people don't want too and feel the need to stand up for what they believe in without saying what that is, but by blindly following their beliefs and lambasting someone else's pride and joy. It makes them feel good and reaffirms their beliefs, no matter who they trample on.

Personally, I would never say something derogatory about someones pride and joy, but I know when at work or in a car with friends Ford gets a good ribbing thrown at it. My, map of the world. It still comes out first without me thinking and altering my behaviour.

Well, wasn't expecting to write that lot today. Although, it may help in part answering the original question.

Have a good day all.

Ps. I do actually like some Fords. You aren't going to ban me for that thought are you?!!!

I'm with Jim on this, I don't give a rats arse, no pun intended, to what people think of my Coupe when it's negative, the badge doesn't represent the car as we all know Pininfarina built the vehicle so the haters need to do their research before offering any opinion.
The same goes for my Mk1 Multipla, most will say it's ugly 'why' did you buy that?
My answer is always because it's serves its purpose as a van with the seats out well, it's different, better then any other people carrier as it was ahead of its design back in the 50's and it's the best colour being Vinci grey

I would like to thank members on here for their kind thoughts. I'm emotionally drained. I've read on here over the years sad stories indeed, & how people have responded. I've honestly had tears in my eyes reading some things. I've not always posted back, mainly due to my selfish emotions. People handle their feelings in different ways. I do reconise the forum members for their positive & sympathetic nature.......Jim.

Sorry for the hi jack JKD.

I was out one night having a few beers when I bumped into someone I vaguely knew. A brief hello followed by his opinions on why my coupe was rubbish. Raging inside and fueled by flat Fosters, I let him have his say making a mental note of his points . When he'd finished I then gave him both barrels with my opinion on why it's so great. I'm not saying I turned him into a coupe lover.

Moral of the story, is it not better to have something that causes a response like that guy did than to have some boring, identikit car that causes no response. This is why I own a coupe.

And bollocks to the haters lol.

I had an Astra as a courtesy car a few days ago. It was utterly rubbish in my opinion in every respect. There are thousands of them everywhere so clearly most people don't share this opinion.

It did make me think that some people just buy cars because they need them to get to places. They don't expect anything else from a car other then to transport them cheaply and reliably. To them a bad car is one that costs too much or is inconvenient in some respect. Inconvenience might be having to be selective about where it's serviced or having to check the oil etc.

Some of these people think that people buy expensive cars purely as status symbols. That makes us lot very difficult to understand for them - we clearly don't buy our old 'cheap' fiats as status symbols, yet we put up with all their costs and inconveniences.

Why they feel the need to tell us we're wrong, I have no idea.

Back in the 50's

1956 to be accurate, and well before my time Mark

Referring back to the Astra comment, I've driven hundreds of Astras. The previous company I used to work for had loads used as fleet cars. All are very bland, dull as dish water. But crap/dull cars sell. Just look at Peugeot!!

Regarding the Coupe the misses hates it, she says its weird looking, uncomfortable and old!! But Im not bothered, I love it and I don't really care what others think. The vast majority of people who own a car don't really have any interest in cars apart from a mode of transport. Hence way cars like the Vauxhall sell in big numbers

I had a look at those original classic multiplas - what a lovely, quirky vehicle. I would love one.

My brother has always driven Vauxhalls. He buys a brand new car, and keeps it for about 15 years. He has no interest in cars at all. His only comment when I bought a Coupe was whether it cost more to insure because it was a "coupe".

People have different thoughts/ideas about all sorts of cars, that's human nature for you. Some need a vehicle simply to go from A to B, no surprises there either. At the risk of sounding obvious & not wanting to sound facetious, no real surprises there then...

When people stare at my Coupe I never know if they are loving it or thinking "yuk!"

I think in respect of the coupe quite a lot of people simply don't recognise it as a fiat and give quizical looks sometimes. Our ugly bug multipla on the other hand was a real marmite car but we loved it for the practical innovative family wagon that it was. The fact is most people seem to say the first thing that comes into their head and don't always consider how the owner may feel about it.
I am with Jim and don't care what people say or think about my cars. I don't get many Skoda jokes these days anyway

A few years ago a mate was taking the piss out of mine and calling it it old. He is a boy racer and had a quite nice souped up vauxhall (I can't remember what) Anyway you should have heard everyone in the pub laugh at him when I pointed out that his car was actually older.

Could not agree more - my cars are for me, not for anyone else's benefit.

Back in the 60's I stayed in a wee Aberdeenshire village, one of my mates lived on a farm a few miles out of the village. His father drove everywhere in old old grey Fergie tractor. Nobody said much either, just oh! there's "name" & that was that. In saying that my poor mate was horrified.