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Driver Traits
Does where you’re from and what car you drive influence your driving personality?
If you’ve ever been certain that it’s only New South Wales drivers who cut you off or Ford drivers who follow so close they may as well be in your backseat, you’re not alone. It turns out Aussies make plenty of assumptions about their fellow drivers based on car brands and which state they call home.
But which perceptions come out on top? To find the answer, iSelect surveyed 3,002 Australian drivers, asking them questions like which motorists are the rudest and which need to be more confident on the road.
What does your car say about you?
When it comes time to welcome a new car into your garage, chances are you’re going to give the brand some serious thought. In fact, our recent research found that brand is one of the most important considerations for Australians when purchasing a new vehicle.
And Aussies take notice of the brands other drivers choose, too, making assumptions about drivers based on what they’re behind the wheel of. And it goes beyond the Ford–Holden rivalry.
To get to the heart of these assumptions, we shared a list of 20 car brands (taken from the 20 most commonly registered passenger vehicles in Australia) and a list of traits with our respondents.1Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics – Road Vehicles, Australia, January 2024, p17 Their job was to tell us which trait fit drivers of each car brand best.
The rudest drivers
If you’ve ever suspected that BMW drivers have a certain reputation, you’re not alone. Our survey found that BMW owners took the crown for the rudest drivers on the road, gaining almost a quarter (23.6%) of all votes. BMW drivers may need to a launch a PR campaign because this was a universal perception, with all genders and generations surveyed calling them the rudest drivers.
On a similar note – and one that may have you considering saying goodbye to your BMW – BMW drivers were also a close second for the angriest drivers, with 15.4% of Aussies voting for them.
Back to rude ‘tudes, BMW drivers are in good company. Mercedes-Benz ranks in second place, followed by Audi.
But who do BMW drivers think are rude? Well, they bucked the trend and refused to name their own. Instead, they placed Mercedes-Benz drivers at number one (18.8%), with Holden (15.9%) and Audi (11.6%) drivers following behind.
The politest drivers
If BMW drivers are the ones to send your blood pressure skyrocketing, who are the angels on the road who can somehow sense you need to be let into a lane when you’ve had a bad day? Well, Toyota owners cruised into this enviable top spot with 14.6% of the overall votes naming them the politest drivers.
Joining Toyota drivers in scoring high for perceived politeness were Hyundai (9.6%) and Mazda (9.1%) drivers.
Across the board, Aussies of all ages tended to agree with these assumptions. However, those aged between 18 and 34 were more likely to vote for Hyundai owners ahead of Toyota owners.
And in more good news for Toyota drivers, they were also named the friendliest on the road, with 17.9% of Aussies voting them worthy of this title.
The worst drivers
From seeming to pay more attention to their phones than the road to taking road rules as a suggestion, when it comes to the chosen brand for the worst drivers on the road, BMW narrowly took the top spot with 11.3% of the votes. But perhaps we had lots of Ford lovers in our survey group, because Holden was right behind at 11.2%. Volvo was named third, with 10.4% of respondents believing Volvo drivers deserved the title.
Interestingly, the rankings differed depending on who you asked. Female drivers overwhelmingly pointed to BMW drivers (11.9%) as the worst offenders. Men, however, ranked Holden drivers first (11.7%).
Breaking things down by age, BMW drivers were the clear winners of the worst driver award as judged by younger drivers. But as drivers aged, the blame shifted – Volvo drivers took the lead when we asked those over 45.
The best drivers
There can be only one winner of such a high honour, and Toyota drivers claimed the top spot with 16.3% of the votes. All genders, age groups, and states agreed that they see Toyota drivers as the best around.
Continuing the Asiatic brand trend, Mazda (8.6%) and Hyundai (7.7%) rounded out the top three car brands with the best drivers.
The most dangerous drivers
Better suited for a Mad Max world, dangerous drivers can make getting from A to B a hair-raising experience. And, as our Aussies saw it, Holdens were most likely to have a dangerous driver in the front seat. (15.7%). Holden drivers were in good company, though, with BMW (12.2%) and Ford (11.2%) drivers keeping pace.
In an unsurprising twist, these rankings look a lot like those for the fastest drivers in Australia. BMW ranked first with nearly one in five people (19.4%) voting BMW drivers as the fastest on the road, while Holden drivers came in third place with 12.4% of the votes.
Age played a role in perceptions of dangerous driving. People under 35 saw BMW as the preferred brand for dangerous drivers. But for those over 35, Holden took the lead. Whether this is a case of parents and adult kids viewing each other as the more dangerous driver remains to be seen.
And although neither brand is manufactured in Australia anymore, the Ford–Holden rivalry isn’t forgotten. Holden owners overwhelmingly pointed the finger at Ford drivers as the most dangerous (17.3%), while Ford owners returned the favour, ranking Holden as their second-most dangerous pick (11.1%).
The most cautious drivers
In a result that’s not entirely unexpected from the brand that brought you the modern-day seatbelt, Volvo drivers took the top spot as the most cautious drivers on the road, with 14.9% of the overall votes. The perception was particularly strong among male drivers, with 18.1% labelling Volvo as the most cautious, compared to 11.9% of female respondents.
Volvo drivers were also voted the slowest drivers, which may play a part in that cautious reputation.
But perhaps Volvo needs to start marketing their safety features to younger folks, as less than 5% of 18–34-year-olds voted for Volvo drivers as the most cautious, despite Volvo ranking number one overall. Instead, younger drivers had different picks, with the highest percentage of 18–24-year-olds choosing Kia drivers (11.7%), and 25–34-year-olds going with Toyota drivers (10.6%).
So, what do your fellow Australians think about your driving style based on your car?
What does where you live say about your driving?
Your home state doesn’t just shape how you say graph or whether you call them cossies or togs. It might also influence how the rest of Australia sees you behind the wheel.
Just like we asked our respondents about brands, we asked them to tell us which Australian states were home to which kinds of drivers, from the politest to the most dangerous.
Location
The states with the rudest drivers
Whether it’s Sydney’s notorious traffic or something else, almost four in 10 respondents (39.9%) named New South Wales as the state with the rudest drivers. The east coast also made a fair showing, though, with Victorian drivers in second place (24.7%) and Queenslanders ranked third (16.4%).
And, once again, rudeness appears to come hand in hand with anger. New South Wales also received 43% of the votes for the angriest drivers.
The states with the politest drivers
Tasmania is apparently home to the politest drivers, with one in five Australians (22.7%) giving the island state the thumbs up.
Whether it’s the quieter roads, the tight-knit communities, or just a touch of Tassie charm, the road manners of drivers from the state seem to have made a lasting impression. After all, they were voted the friendliest drivers, too (22.6%).
When it comes to good manners on the road, Queensland took second place, with 15.7% of votes. It seems the Sunshine State’s laid-back attitude extends to its residents’ behaviour on the roads.
The states with the best and worst drivers
New South Wales can’t seem to catch a break. It also takes the crown for being home to the worst drivers in Australia, with 29% of the vote.
But, despite being seen as the angriest, rudest, and overall worst drivers, New South Wales residents also bizarrely topped the rankings for the best drivers. We can only assume that NSW-ers are split between being amazing and terrible on the road, and that whichever type you meet makes a lasting impression.
This strange duality occurs for both Victorian and Queensland drivers, too. The states rank second and third, respectively, for both the worst and best drivers overall. However, more Australians think Victorians are the worst drivers (23%) than the best (19%). For Queensland, whether respondents thought they were the best (16%) or worst drivers (17.9%) is almost even. If you’re hitting the highway these upcoming school holidays, it could be the perfect time to see which perception rings true for you.
While many drivers voted for themselves – or at least their home state – as the best drivers, it seems that Tasmania has been running a strong campaign. While they didn’t quite make the country-wide top three, Tasmanian drivers were frequently seen by other states as the second-best drivers.
The states with the most dangerous drivers
New South Wales was the clear leader when it came to the most dangerous drivers in Australia, with a third of respondents (33%) selecting the state. They were seen as the fastest on the roads, too.
Leaving some of the more populous states in the dust, the Northern Territory landed in fourth place, with 9.8% of the votes. Whether it comes from getting comfortable swerving around kangaroos or needing to add a little excitement to an hours-long stretch of road, the Northern Territory has gained a reputation for unpredictable driving, at least in the eyes of other Australians.
The states with the most cautious drivers
Not content to be just polite, Tasmania drivers are also apparently the most cautious, with nearly a quarter (24.5%) of all votes.
As with picking the best drivers, every state voted for their own drivers as the most cautious, but also regularly placed Taswegians as second. And whether or not it’s just because time seems to pass more slowly (for better or worse) in Tasmania, the island state is apparently also the place the slowest drivers call home, with almost a quarter (24.5%) of the votes.
About the data
We commissioned independent survey company Pureprofile to conduct a survey of 3,002 Australian drivers over the age of 18 to analyse the perceived characteristics of drivers of particular brands and states based on what they’ve witnessed and experienced on our roads.
The survey was conducted in line with the nationally representative percentage targets for age, gender, and location (state). It’s important to note that the numbers of participants from each state and car brand ownership are not equal and may have an impact on results due to bias.
The survey asked respondents, ‘Based on your impressions, which car drivers are most likely to embody the following traits?’ Respondents were given a choice of the top 20 most popular car brands (BITRE, Road Vehicles Australia, 2024) as options for each trait. This was followed similarly with the question, ‘Based on your impressions, in which state have you experienced the most drivers with the following traits?’
Some data has been excluded due to small sample size, such as the Northern Territory for states, non-binary for gender, and select vehicle brands for car ownership.
Percentages have been rounded and do not sum to 100%, as respondents could select multiple options.
This survey was conducted and analysed in February 2025.
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