hedgehog

What has caused people to start objecting to being overtaken?

I don't ever remember it being a problem in the past, if people wished to drive at 40mph they happily sat there while you passed them. Now they speed up when you pull out in an attempt to stop you getting past. I would say in maybe one in four times I overtake the other car attempts to stop me or flashes the headlights once I get past. The thing is that now I'm driving a very boring VW Golf I still get the same treatment as I did in the STi. It isn't even that i tailgate them before overtaking as I am very careful about the 2 second rule and usually double it at higher speed.

The green nutters are very anti-overtaking just because they see the enforcement of the 40mph limit for HGVs as a way to force us all to drive at 40mph and, in turn, they believe this will force people to abandon their cars for public transport. Of course the green nutters want control over all aspects of our lives but I just can't see how the anti-overtaking agenda has made its way into the head of many ordinary drivers. Recently I gave my father a lift and as we were going along I eased over to let a motorbike past. I was probably doing 50mph, the bike might have made it to 70ish in passing me and my father started ranting about the bike going past. Everything the bike did was perfectly reasonable, sensible and safe. I can't help but think that if he had been driving he might have tried to prevent the bike getting past but for the life of me I can't see why anyone would want to do such a thing.

CyprusScooby

I've never had any trouble in mine.
People move out of my way on the motorway, let me out of junctions, sometimes even wave when I overtake them, or they overtake me (mainly young ladies! ). Guys always wind down the windows to chat at traffic lights and kids alway wave.
Plus at the Petrol Stations I always get nice compliments on the car.

alloy

Have to say that best echos my experiences

The guys down the wash and petrol station usually always make a big fuss, and when crusing down the motorway it's like Moses parting the water but my water is traffic

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Ditto same here it must just be a UK thing!! It never cease to amaze me the new and unusual things Brits dream up to annoy each other or take offence at, why can you not just ignore each other and get on with your lives?? What ever happened to the stiff upper lip where nothing bothered you?

chrisola

I've never had any trouble.

I get let out of junctions, occaisonally waived at by other drivers (in a nice way. not the finger salute!). My dad and his mates like the car, my brother and his mates (all car nuts) like it.

The guy into his bikes on my road (with a couple of young kids) likes it.. especially the Ninja exhaust note!

The petrol station crew love me cos i'm always there

Never had any road rage incidents etc

Hell, in my job i have to park in a residential area outside peoples houses due to lack of space in the works car park and the only people to ever comment is a guy whos owns a silver scoob, and a woman whos husband had one but sold it for something 'less thirsty' :P

Even in chav land parts i never had a problem.

Maybe its just N. Wales is a friendly area.. what with zero tolerance for speeding and all.. people just dont seem to take offence to someone driving a particular style of car!

Maz

iTrader: (34)

[QUOTE=john banks]Get a quieter exhaust? I'm trying to do this as loud exhausts are rather chav and irritating to others.


Excuse the indignation but say if it was a TVR or a Viper or even a Ferrari the exhaust note would have been proclaimed as being glorious and 'spine tingling'. If it is an Impreza it is chav??? The off beat rumble is a major characteristic of this car so one should live and let live.

WRX300MAN

Matie . .I really would not worry . . .The screaming women v.clearly do not get enough sex! . .But, truth where its due - it s does at times attract unwanted attention . .What i also find, is that because the car is loud, it makes it seem/ or appeal faster than it actually is . . .I however, just find it plain sexy . . . . .

Worry not . .The image of the car is very very cool IMHO, especially if the car is blue with gold alloys! . .Screaming mothers , the police and other types of pond life are quite welcome to go and f*ck them selves!

Its nice talking /. . .

Snowy_RA

Not necessarily restricted to loud exhausts either. 10 Years or so ago in my friends RS Turbo Van (standard exhaust) we were doing 25 in a 30 zone.

As we traveled down the road past the houses a lady jumped out of her parked car onto the pavement and screamed hysterically at us "FOR GOD's SAKE SLOW DOWN!!!". We looked at her.. then looked at each other.. then looked at the speedo.. then looked back at each other.. and finally back at her as we crawled past her red veiny face.

We were too stunned to react at all

All she saw was a lowered van with a custom paint job a naturally thought we were doing 50MPH at least.

The sad truth is she is exactly the sort of person who will cause an accident on a motorway being as she is seemingly incapable of judging a vehicles speed. I have observed people like this many times, they look at the distance between cars and are unable to link this to a possible speed difference. One day she will pull into the fast lane of a motorway doing 55Mph 3 car length in front of some poor bugger doing 90Mph.

Martin2005

[quote=Einstein RA]Forgive me for being pernicky, but it's acually pernickety

Maz

iTrader: (34)

[QUOTE=Martin2005]
Pumpernickelty!!

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

People always seem to respect the scoob when im driving, move out the way and even get some people pull over and stick their thumbs up
get the odd tit that will do anything to stop you overtaking but you get that in any car.

Martin2005

[quote=Einstein RA]

94impreza

Try being a delivery driver then! I overtake people doing 60 in the middle lane then suddenly find them behind me doing 80 flashing me, obviously in much more of a rush than they were 20 seconds ago but too embarassed to let on they don't like being over-taken by a van.
I don't think the exhaust noise is part of our personality, most people in our block of flats have said to the mrs in a friendly manor they can hear me coming home a mile off, but we choose these exhausts for the extra oomph and delivery of power. If i had my way mine would be as quiet as a mouse, i have no intention of annoying the neighbours. I also have my windows shut if i am listening to music, one because i don't want to upset people walking on the pavement and two if people heard Jimi Hendrix coming from a scoob they may assume i'm not like the chav's with boom boom boom pointless noise coming from a far-too deafening sound system.
Since having the scoob boy racers don't bother, Saxo's, Corsa's, 106 rallye's just look in admiration. I now seem to attract the M3's and Supra's and even worse the Jag XJR drivers. All of these seem hell-bent on "Overtaking a scooby" so they can run to their m8's and tell them, they should be the one's with the bad name. I'm not adverse to a race when i'm on my own and the road/weather/conditions are right but it gives me so much satisfaction when i have my kids and mrs in the car to watch them scream the life out of their motors to get past me when i'm poodling along safely. Its like i've refused to "play".
Look at your scoob and admire its looks (bugeyes not included! ) admire the fact people hate you because you have what they don't and what they'd like to prove a point about. Start it up and listen to the tone you can't get anywhere else. Ignore everyone else, as your opinion of them in their micra's is just as bad as their opinion of you and your car.

Martin2005

Oi, stop dissing Micras

cw42

iTrader: (1)

Observed a nice silver wagon with black wheels the other day, he was 2 cars in front, coming to right feeder lights, 3 lane road. He undertakes the car in front of him, brakes on as lights on red, then with rest of the traffic, turns right and heads to next roundabout. I wondered what was the point of the undertake for him, as it didn't really get him any further on in life.
Now my way of doing things at the same set of lights:
I was undertook by a chaved up fiat uno and me in my 350bhp monster I'm not having that! Now these same lights, while the right filter is red, for a short period, the straight on is green, and you can u-turn just after the lights, guess what I did? Look on his face as I u-turned and left them stewing in the red zone was nice. (bit childish I know, and I'd have been marked down by an IAM instructor, but it was worth it )
I have noticed a marked improvement in relationships with other road users since getting my rally blue scooby though. My old silver with its VERY LOUD BPM EXHAUST would invariably cause some concern, mainly behind me, but the my03 does garner much more respect. People actually move over to the left when I'm coming behind them now, which is commonplace in north wales, but around here, less so.

Playsatan

iTrader: (2)

It's not just Micra drivers who get the hump at being overtaken by a Subaru.

Last year on a Subaru run a few (about 40) of us took a jaunt from Central Scotland up to the Highlands and back. Where possible we stuck to back roads and while the driving was "spirited" it could have in no way been mistaken for reckless or inappropriate. That is, of course, you were one of the TVR owners club who were out on a run as well and we happened to bump into and overtake.

I thought people only shook their fists in the air in black and white 50's films.

They went as far as registering on the SIDC and posting up comments in the Scottish section. Apparently owning a loud sports car is frowned upon by the TVR owners club. I bet if we'd all been in Aston Martins or something they've have pulled over to take pictures and waved us past.

HOWY

Try waving at them when you go past maybe that will help

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

[quote=Einstein RA]It's a good point, well made! I remember going though the Dartford tunnel in mine shortly after having a H&S sports cat system installed (so not as extreme as a full decat) and giving it some beans. Wow, that sound!! Seriously, in terms of the sound, I don't think it would have been disgraced by any supercar you might have cared to have put alongside it. Scoobies with a good exhaust do sound absolutely wonderful!

I can see what John is getting at though, some systems for the Scooby are way OTT in my humble opinion; they don't even sound that nice; it's all volume and no tone...if you see what I mean, and they are a bit anti-social.

Ns04

stew911

we've got plenty of old duffers around our way like that, drive all meek and mild normally but as soon as someone over takes them, thats it they turn into micheal schumaccher, i think thats how you spell it

[Davey]

Have you got a loud exhaust, some people associate a loud exhaust with going fast (who knows why??), you could be going 30 but if your exhaust is roaring some clueless idiots think you're going faster?

Shark Man

Must admit, I generally don't get any aggro with the general public

250bhp UK classic with stock twin peashooters, no aftermarket dumpvalve, and stock intake, so barring the bonnet scoop there's no reason for it grab unwanted attention

I get more aggro from schoolkids and having to endure boyracers trying to hump my rear bumper

I've given mothers more aggro about driving too fast on residential roads whilst doing the school run....hypocrits, the lot of them!

Petem95

The women probably just associates that type of car with dangerous driving.

You do see a hell of a lot of tos$ers driving dangerously in "boy'd up" cars with massive exhausts - the women probably just looks at you in the scoob as being one of these.

I expect if you'd been driving an Audi S4 or BMW M5 in exactly the same way, the women wouldnt have done a thing - as they would just assume the drivers to be respectable, even tho it wouldnt always be the case.

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

I think part of the problem is that the Impreza looks and sounds fast, even at low speeds - also because the chav boy racers try to imitate it by adding the big spoiler, loud exhaust and bonnet scoop, people who dont know the difference assume it is just another boy racers car driven by an idiot.

Have to say I havent really had many problems with other drivers, most are OK as long as you are considerate as well.

But as for the comment about the moaning mums - move to a better area, round me you get more smiles and admiring looks from the yummy mummys in their chelsea wagons coming back from the school run.

pete1977

I think the scoop and spoiler have a lot to do with the negative image as its also what a lot of boy racers emulate with there pimped up saxos and what not.The scoob has never been a subtle car either though,has it?
I had an incident where i was on a double carriageway and the lights were red,i was at the front of one queue and there was an old boy in his rover sat at the front of the other lane.About 500mts down from the lights the lanes filter into one lane.I spotted the old guy looking over at me in my car and knew exactly what he was going to do.Lights went green and off he scrreeched,the rover trying to shake itself to death and his missus trying to hold her wig on and wondering WTF was going on.Ive never seen such a pathetic launch in my life .He still had about 200mts ahead of him when i overtook at about 40mph(limit is 60),then i filtered into the single lane.I got the reaction i knew was coming so i just waved and smiled .When i slowed down to the 30 limit that came up next he just sat on my bumper paying no attention to the road and shouting abuse!Old people,who,d have them!?

94impreza

I think we all suffer due to the 17yr old's with Fiesta's with ridiculously loud exhausts with F1 spoilers driving like idiots with 5 mates in the back. They hear another loud exhaust and naturally assume we are of the same type and breed rather than realise we are "Enthusiasts".

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Well, I had some lovely bloke step out into the middle of the road and do a police stop type stance... NOT A CHANCE.. I waved and drove round him..

Speed? 19mph in a 30! Idiots

STi Lou

Where was this Wayne? I go partly the same way as you do now- cockerton into mowden and along to high coniscliffe, nice road.
I might tag along with you(imagine their faces ) and get my kids to wave and scream at them as we fly past (below the speed limit of course)
I know exactly what you mean though some people see the car and automatically stereotype you into some speeding, reckless madman.
See you soon.

MadMark

You get lots of righteous drivers and pedestrians these days - and has already been said - they hear the noise or see the scoop and immediately assume "Maniac" ...

With my 3" APS system with sports cat - it is very "fruity" (as I discovered when the wife booted it after dropping me off at the station) but it's certainly not loud like a Blitz Nur Spec R .....

I save my full boost lunges for destricted roads and am very careful in restricted speed zones - but I've still had flashed lights when overtaking and the odd pedestrian waving at me to slow down. If I'm in a foul mood I do sometimes stop and question their sanity (when I'm doing 40 in a 40 zone) - which usually surprises them somewhat!

My black car with grey wheels does look more discreet than most - but I tend to ignore the boy racers and save the fuel ....

supertouring

Did he have a blue uniform on by any chance?

stilover

Coming out of Heighton village, towards Redworth.

The funny thing is you know, is that where the school is, the parents park up on a very tight blind right hand bend, meaning that you have to drive round the corner on the wrong side of the road, not knowing if something is coming the other way. Have seen a few close misses there many mornings.

I drove past one morning and a local resident (Old man) was having a go at some of the mothers for the way they were parking on the corner, making it dangerous for both car users and the school kids. Now, what did these parent that are soo concerned about me doing 45mph in a 60mph zone (outside of the village) do ??? Screem at this bloke to mind his own business, and they'll park where the hell they like which they do !!!

I'd hate to have an accident there one morning, especialy with one of the mothers dropping their kids off, as no matter who's fault it really was, I'd be accused of screeching round the corner at 120mph. Why? Because of the Scoop, spoiler, gold wheels, and fruity exhaust