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Nancy Atkinson-Turner

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Baby You Can Drive My Car

Posted: 13/01/2012 23:00

Its taken a long time to place myself in my industry. I love cars, I know about cars but I have never really fallen into either of the current camps.

On one side there are the petrol heads. Mainly guys, Jeremy Clarkson wannabes who get terribly excited and loud about BHP and MPH and lots of other abbreviated man stats. Women in this camp tend to be able to chuck a car into a drift and impress men with their equally boring statistical knowledge. This is not my camp. These are not my people. I can reel off statistic after statistic and tell everyone about my latest drift round St Marys. But I don't want to. I find it dull. Pointless. Showboating.

Then there is the other side. Mainly women. Women that want to bang a drum about how sexist the industry is and how male dominated things are and how hard it is to walk into a dealership without getting ripped off 'because we are women' Urghhh. These women buy cars that are purely practical or worse, they let their husbands choose them practical cars. They have no style, they are patronising and they infuriate me.

After some struggle I have finally embraced my own little island away from these petrol heads and man bashers and its great. I have my knowledge, I don't spray it all over the wall in a HEY YOU LOOK WHAT I KNOW kind of way. I sit on my island and talk about my passion, how I choose cars, why I choose them and you know what? more and more people are listening.

There are so many women like me. Independent, fierce and strong-minded. We are fashion focussed, we read Cosmo, Vogue, Grazia, Stylist. We are beginning to realise that cars are more than a way to get from A to B and back again. They are an accessory, a massive accessory. The car we step out of at meetings says as much about us as the handbag we put on our desk or the watch we wear on our wrists. It should fit with our style, whether we are like Victoria Beckham or Brigitte Bardot. Manufacturers are slowly beginning to realise this and are making cars with women in mind. Take Land Rovers newest Range Rover, The Evoque. This car is a great balance of style and function. A brilliant car for on trend women but with enough gadgetry and driving pleasure to keep a man satisfied.

My blogs on The Huffington Post will mainly be about cars and the motoring industry but with a focus on fashion and style as well as engineering and function I want to get women like me excited about what they drive, I want to expose some of the rubbish women AND men are talked into through the industry. So dealerships and manufactures beware, you now have someone to answer to.

 

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13:54 on 09/02/2012
Fantastic article! Very well written and a pleasure to read as always Nancy! I am afraid I am one of those closet geeky types that will show boat my drifting skills and share boring facts, but hey it wouldn't pay if we were all the same! Well done, looking forward to reading more :-) xx
04:19 on 18/01/2012
Marry me gorgeous?
photo
Rachael Phillips
Writer and Blogger. Loves gin, 90's boy bands & ca
19:07 on 16/01/2012
Great blog!! I'll definitely be subscribing and waiting for more, more, more!!
21:42 on 14/01/2012
Great artIcle, enjoyed it. Perhaps I also resemble some of the comments! Made me thu k at least.
19:53 on 14/01/2012
I think people are being unnecessarily harsh and condescending. As a girl who loves cars and fashion, who would not settle for some convertible pug with a lipstick holder in the dash, I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say about things. I think it's about time we had a car-savvy female that we can relate to.

As for the random and frankly confusing insults, offering another viewpoint hardly constitutes an insult to intelligence.
19:39 on 14/01/2012
I agree. I know of two women of similar thinking. My wife is more purposeful with her choice. Style is secondary. It must have more than 200bhp and take a buggy easily
19:32 on 14/01/2012
well nothing looks as powerful or sexy as a woman in a Porsche 911, or better still a Porsche 911 Turbo.
Yes forget practical, but these cars are smart, sexy, sassy, go forever, have luggage seats and even a small boot.
You go girl!
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17:44 on 14/01/2012
This is so 1980's.
15:08 on 14/01/2012
I am sure that the manufacturers are now quaking in their boots. Bardot and Beckham as style gurus for car development. Lets have Vinnie Jones and Jeremy Clarkson designing handbags now. I have never read so much twaddle. There are cars already aimed at the women's market and we can all point to convertible pugs and Renault's with electric roofs, the Mazda MX5 and all those girlie shopping trolly subcompacts. Mrs Aardvark bless her socks drives a Corsa SRi with Vxr body kit and all she wants is a bit more ooomph and electric rear windows as standard.
15:57 on 14/01/2012
Perhaps you should read it again and this time do try to understand what the article is about.
04:21 on 18/01/2012
seriously?