Other drivers' reactions, or keeping up with the Joneses

[Futuramic]

This is aimed more towards the owners of fast shite. The kind of cars that can reach and sustain 100 mph on a good day. Anyway, when out and about on dual carriageways, and only on dual carriageways oddly, I have noticed that drivers of more modern, often slower, vehicles have a burning desire to be in front of me no matter what speed I am doing. My Mondeo is no rocket ship, but is still a lot faster than much bland, heavy, modern tin. I will often get tailgated by old men in Hyundais and Seats. Being fairly courteous I generally move over; then the car behind gradually eases past at a shaky 2 mph above what I was doing; pulls in front of me and then slows down. I am then forced to overtake them and restart the whole shebang.This is annoying. I wonder if this isn't the result of some kind of inferiority complex; in that drivers who have wasted masses of money on a vehicle slower than mine feel some kind of innate need to prove themselves to me. A sort of "My car cost more, so it's better and therefore faster" attitude. I know they know this too; which is irritatingThe sad thing is my car cost less to buy outright than their dealer upgrade sunroof option. Even sadder is in a block-paved driveway and flatscreen television owning kind of way they are keeping up with the Joneses, ie me. However the Joneses can always fight back with a clapped out Zetec. And win.Has anyone else noticed this?

[r.welfare]

Yes. Always happens in rapid shite. I get the same effect in my non-rapid shite with folk cutting me up a lot too. Some fella in a Saab cut me up the other day. A Saab! I thought only nice folk drove those.Usually I get my own back by holding on to low gears until the XUD orecrusher gets above 3500rpm, then they get blinded by a cloud of diesel soot. Childish, but fun. I only do this in extreme cases 'cos it arses up the fuel economy and I prefer to roll "Hirst style" all the way to 55mpg.

[Timewaster]

Try it in an old Sierra (Cosworth )Every twat wants to overtake you so they can bullshit their mate about how their chavvy clio "Dun a Cossie" Good job I hardly ever drive it really.

[r.welfare]

Surely you never drive it now you have the Best Car In The World* though? * The 405, I mean.

[Owain-328i]

Used to get it in the old XR2's, everyone wanted to race you. Gets very tedious after about 3 times lol

[Timewaster]

Surely you never drive it now you have the Best Car In The World* though? * The 405, I mean.

Of course. My only regret is not spending a little bit more on a less scruffy one.A while ago you offered double points if the front fogs work.....*FAIL!* Not only do they not work, they appear to be missing, or fillered over! Oh and only one window works. A Bugger when I have to "swipe" into the work car park. :xEdit:Sorry for the thread hijack!

[marinast]

The trick here is to own a fast piece of shite, but one so scarce few know of its capabilities until you are looking at them two miles ahead in your rear view mirror.Renault 21 Turbo and is a perfect example, even a standard car would blow the doors off most of the dull dross people seem content on driving about in. The trick is even funnier if they are attempting to undertake you when the right foot is put to the floor.

[M'coli]

That was a favourite pastime of mine in my three-shades-of-brown 1.8GLI Cavalier, I always liked goading BMWs best!!!

[155V6]

I imagine a tatty Rover Metro with a VVC 160 engine would be good for this,standard GTI MPIs have just over 100 bhp and aren't slow so half as much again should be fun

[scrappylad]

My old 'Audi 80 estate' fits into the old fast shite quite well. Its a 2.6 litre & pretty quick, and try as I might to drive economically with a liking to gradually get up to speed & stay there. Not easy when somebody overtakes then slows up a little up the road, so I go into lunatic mode to get past them.My old Audi 90 Quattro 2.2 was fast shite. Great car to drive.My Cavalier 2.0i was reasonably quick I suppose too. Not quick enough though in the end, I do like a fast car. The Cavalier was always a car folk would ovetake on the motorway, then they'd slow down then I'd overtake them again & so forth. I always drove bang on 70mph (@ 2100 rpm) as it was so economical.I miss my Sierra 2.3 D. It was super slow & I didn't have an issue with it. I used to struggle to get past trucks on the motorway but thought it an endearing element of the car - life in the 'slow lane'! Trucks would always flash me in as I crawled past.Edit: Oooh... forgot about my Ballade! That drove like an average slowish car until the second jet of the carb kicked in, then it would fly!! It was rotten as a pear but it always cheered me up no end when I was able to get away from folk trying to pass me on this uphill part of dual carriageway on my way to work many moons ago.

[Split_Pin]

I get this quite a lot in my daily driver as it does look a bit sporty.As its not actually that fast though I dont usually rise to it. Its normally folk in Avenis D4D's who tailgate me and theyre sadly pretty quick cars.The little chavs in 1.2 Puntos with Lexarse rear lights leave me alone though thankfully.

[Guest]

Never seem to have any problems doing near the top speed of the Galant if I'm late for work, seems no one wants to really tailgate something with a dented rear bumper. It's a look that says "I've got nothing to lose".The Cuore TR-XX on the other hand is a sodding nightmare, tailgating, dangerous overtaking attempts, being pulled out on, etc. It's one of the main reasons I want to get rid of it, I'm sick of having to do battle everywhere, even if it is a pretty slick opponent on anything smaller than a dual carriageway. It's a real ballache having to be on your toes everywhere, especially if you're not in the mood.Though as mentioned by Mr Welfare, Hirst-style driving is the key, just sit behind a lorry at 55mph and slipstream your way to success, with some relaxing MW-band radio blaring out of your mono speaker. It's just so much nicer in the slow lane with all the lorries, almost a community spirit. You nearly always seem to get thanked for flashing a slow lane regular in, no one really tailgates and everyone seems welcome to join the club. Arriving a bit later but utterly stress-free is definitely my style!

[pandamonium]

Hey, Hirst I'll swap ya my 929 for your cuore!?

[Guest greenvanman]

Never seem to have any problems doing near the top speed of the Galant if I'm late for work, seems no one wants to really tailgate something with a dented rear bumper. It's a look that says "I've got nothing to lose".

Quite. I tend to keep the revs down in the Astra in deference to the weary old clutch, but people do seem to give it a wide berth in most situations which I put down to it's many and varied battle scars

[Albert Ross]

I know where most of those came from too! Possibly the best stealth weapon I ever had. Wanna swap it for a Sierra?

[CortinaDave]

i get this a lot in my cortina/capri. People seem to forget that a 2.0 cortina is actually still a pretty rapid beast and is more than capable of upsetting some modern traffic that refuses to sit behind me for no good reasonThe capri 2.8 goes like stink although not having shares in esso prevents me from having too many foot down moments

[Pete-M]

I buy old autoshite mainly because I can pick up something amusingly rapid for less than the price of replacing a Mondeo clutch.Ye olde 325i is still capable of a 100+ mph cruise (in Germany, naturally), and the Rangie can frighten X5 drivers once it is wound up on boost. (The Renault still hasn't been started, must do that) and the cost of buying and running both, together, is less than a years depreciation on a recentish Mondeo / Golf / Passat / Focus.They're also more fun, and easier to fix with basic tools. Which is handy with an old Range Rover..

[Lord Sterling]

[----

[Rocket88]

Top rant, Lord S! Though we don't have the tailgating problem over here, a solution did spring to mind, which was to have a handy button on the dash which would activate the brake light switch, or even, if you're in a paticular pile of shite that's bound shortly for the crusher, just get the tosser to run into to you, automatically his fault! We do have a short bit of dual carriageway over here, and the number of sanctimonious gits who insist in driveing in the outside lane at 39.99999 mph is staggering. God help them if they are ever let loose on a UK motorway...

[andrew e]

Hey its nice to buy a new car - I've done it a few times. I like shitters too mind, your post just smacks of jealousy a little. It depends what you need a car for - I do 130 miles a day and wouldn't trust an 800 to do that.

[Talbot]

your post just smacks of jealousy a little.

I don't think you read it properly then..

It depends what you need a car for - I do 130 miles a day and wouldn't trust an 800 to do that.

Why not? Longer journeys are better for most vehicles. It's short ones that kill them.If you don't believe that an older car can be as reliable as a new one, and in some cases moreso, then you've not understood the premise of autoshite.

[andrew e]

Nah I stand by what I say, If you want to buy a new Vectra by any means available, why shouldn't you treat yourself?

[Volksy]

Nah I stand by what I say, If you want to buy a new Vectra by any means available, why shouldn't you treat yourself?

A new Vectra!?! What kind of treat is that!

[Volksy]

Tailgating? I simply cannot stand people who do that, and no, I dont move over, I have every right to be in that lane and if I make some toss3r businessman late then tough.Naturally I'm one of those people who, if someone tailgates me, I'll slow right down, then speed up again, quite often they'll get the message, those who dont, I repeat the process only a little more severe until they do get the message.

Although I agree with most of what you say, this, especially on motorways, is especially stupid, and down right dangerous. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KEEP LEFT!

[andrew e]

To an Espero driver a Vectra is the next step

[Justin Case]

For those who don't like being tailgated may I recommend the Daewoo Tacuma. Having recently been passed by one when trundling along the M6 at a steady 70 (ish ) it was obvious why there was no one within a hundred yards of the back of the thing, in spite of quite heavy traffic

[Pete-M]

Tailgating? I simply cannot stand people who do that, and no, I dont move over, I have every right to be in that lane and if I make some toss3r businessman late then tough.Naturally I'm one of those people who, if someone tailgates me, I'll slow right down, then speed up again, quite often they'll get the message, those who dont, I repeat the process only a little more severe until they do get the message.

Although I agree with most of what you say, this, especially on motorways, is especially stupid, and down right dangerous. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KEEP LEFT!

Mustard mitt, after following people who deliberately slow down / block the lane / etc (I don't tailgate) if someone was to do what LS is proposing to me I'd be very tempted to just gently push them out of the way. One of the wonders of driving a sub £2k motor with 330 bhp / 300 lb ft and a bull bar is that people don't tend to take the piss too often on the motorway...

[mk2_craig]

Tailgating? I simply cannot stand people who do that, and no, I dont move over, I have every right to be in that lane and if I make some toss3r businessman late then tough.

In the context of using the outer lane to overtake a truck/coach/Sid & Doris, where I am doing the legal 70mph and some 58-plate Audi/BMW/Vectra etc immediately fills the rearview mirror, I quite agree.

[Mr Lobster]

Tailgating? I simply cannot stand people who do that, and no, I dont move over, I have every right to be in that lane and if I make some toss3r businessman late then tough.Naturally I'm one of those people who, if someone tailgates me, I'll slow right down, then speed up again, quite often they'll get the message, those who dont, I repeat the process only a little more severe until they do get the message.

Although I agree with most of what you say, this, especially on motorways, is especially stupid, and down right dangerous. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KEEP LEFT!

Poor lane discipline is the one thing that really boils my pi$$Fine stick to the limit but move left as soon as you have finished overtaking. Similarly, those people who sit in the middle lane forever Anyway, as far as tailgating goes, I find the worst offenders to be those driving newish BMW / VW / Audi cars and will tailgate irrespective of what you are driving. I'm 'lucky' enough to do almost 160 miles a day to work and back and find that the above suspects will happily tailgate a newer car just as much as a 'shite' car.

[M'coli]

Reps or company Audi/BMW/Merc drivers on single carriageway unrestricted roads when stuck in a slowish moving (~40-45 mph) queue are a pain too. I don't tend to stay behind things if there's an overtaking opportunity, I'll go past it, but come up behind something like this and you've got to make sure that you can do it and the car in front becasuse invariably they're either so close to the car in front of them that you can't pull in safely or they close the gap up to prevent you from pulling in. This happens even more so when I'm in the Metro, where just about anyone will do this. What pisses me off is that they've got more power and acceleration than me, so why didn't they go for the gap when the chance arose? Limp wrists.