Continental Tyres survey on cars and the dating game

On a first date, guys might like to consider picking up their dates in their car as fully two thirds of girls say they would be either flattered or pleasantly surprised to be picked up from their home by a prospective partner. For the boys, only slightly more than half (52 percent) said they would like to be picked up at the house on a first date.  These are the findings of a survey of Irish motorists carried out by Continental Tyres Ireland.

But if you plan on picking up your date, try to ensure the car is clean and presentable: 57 per cent of respondents said it would not be a great start to a date if the car was messy inside and a further 12 per cent said they would mention the fact that the driver could have made a bit more of an effort.  And as might be expected, the lads were more lax in this regard, only 48 per cent of male respondents would be put out by a dirty car, while for the girls the figure was more than 75 per cent.

However when it comes down to it, the majority of both girls and boys believe that the type of car will have little bearing on first impressions of their date: 80 per cent of respondents said either they could not care less about the type of car or so long as it is presentable, they don’t really mind.  The sexes were singing from the same hymn sheet on this as 85 per cent of boys and 84 per cent of girls said that car type would not matter to them.

But when asked what vehicle they would least like to see their new beau or belle driving – there were some definite opinions. Top of the list of least desirable vehicle was a mini-bus (36 per cent).  Between the sexes, there was a slight disparity of opinion in this regard; 49 per cent of girls cited a mini-bus as the number one turn off while for guys, a “souped-up boy racer” was the vehicle they would least like to see their prospective girlfriend pull up in (25 per cent).  Bringing up the rear for both sexes was a van with branding on it: 21 per cent for the boys and 27 per cent for the girls – so the advice from the survey is leave the work van at home if you are trying to impress.

Conversely, perhaps reflecting the times we are in, the number one vehicle of choice would be a sensible small car, which marginally beat a top-of-the-range sports car as the preferred chariot for the first date (39 per cent versus 38 per cent). Girls were more likely to go for the bling of the sports car (43 per cent) while a similar share of boys (44 per cent) went for the more understated “sensible small car”.

Reflecting the widespread revulsion at drink-driving, 85 per cent of respondents said that if their date and chauffeur proceeded to drink alcohol once they reached the pub / restaurant, it would ring alarm bells and would likely herald the end of the date.  That is another area where boys and girls were in total agreement.

Driver behaviour was also highlighted as being a key indicator as to whether there may be a second date. When asked if their driver proceeded to drive aggressively, honking at other drivers, 79 per cent of respondents said they would either get out of the car there and then or they would demand that their date calm down and alter their behaviour.  Ladies were more inclined to react in this way, with over 85 per cent saying this kind of behaviour would be unacceptable. For the guys, the corresponding figure was 72 per cent.

Commenting on the results, Laura Hardy, spokesperson for Continental Tyre Group Ireland, said: “Our survey is mostly a bit of fun but there are important issues at stake here and it was heartening to hear our respondents’ reaction to both drink-driving and bad driver behaviour as being unacceptable”.