By Tom Evans
December 16 2004
The Aston Martin has been chosen as the "most sexy" car for a man to drive, as chosen by women. When asked which car they most associated with sexy men, James Bond's favourite runabout came in at pole position. Full table below
Aston Martin Vanquish - Boys will be beating them off with a stick with one of theseThe survey, for Tesco, questioned 4,500 women, and revealed that Porsche came in at second place, with a surprisingly good performance from Lotus, coming in third, far outpacing Italian rival Ferrari, which sneaks in at no. 10. The rest of the table offered more predictable brands like Mercedes, BMW, and Jaguar.
The survey also revealed the "least sexy" cars - with the venerable Citroen 2CV grabbing the star prize, and the Reliant Robin (as driven by Del Trotter) coming in second. Third was Skoda, which must come as a disappointment to the company as it has spent many years updating its image with a range of good-quality, competitively priced models largely based on those from its present parent company, Volkswagen.
There are predictable appearances from Lada, Trabant and Rover in this list too. Perhaps surprisingly the Lexus comes in at no.7 in this hall of shame which may come as a shock to owner Toyota, which has spent the past 14 years building up the brand from scratch to be a Mercedes and BMW rival.
Lexus IS200: Suffering from Partridge factor?Perhaps the "Partridge" factor came into play. When Steve Coogan's loathsome salesman character Gareth Cheeseman drove a Ford Probe sports-car it brought the unloved car's sales to a halt. Later, his Alan Partridge character drove a Rover 820 Vitesse, not doing much for that car either, but in more recent series he has been driving a Lexus IS200 - "The Japanese Mercedes" as he continually points out to everyone and anyone. Perhaps this has rubbed off.
The "least sexy" list is finished off by Daewoo and Hyundai, makers of dependable but dull small cars.
The survey also revealed that 80% of women think there is a close correlation between the size of a man's car and his ego, and that a similar number do not feel safe being driven by men. However, women do concede that men are better at reversing, and that they are less likely to get lost.
Top 10 Most Sexy Cars
1. Aston Martin
2. Porsche
3. Lotus
4. Mercedes-Benz
5. BMW
6. Jaguar
7. Audi
8. Range Rover
9. Jeep
10. Ferrari
Top 10 Least Sexy Cars
1. Citroen 2CV
2. Reliant Robin
3. Skoda
4. Lada
5. Trabant
6. Rover
7. Lexus
8. Ford Mondeo
9. Daewoo
10. Hyundai
Source: Tesco Personal Finance - survey of 4,500 women by 72 Point, August 2004
