[Rant on]
Is it just me or does it seem like SUVs and Big A$$ P-up Trucks like to try to intimidate 8s by tailgating? I love the brakes on my 8, but half the time I’m afraid to really get on them because it seems like those Road Apples are practically sitting on top of me. Those pigs don't stop like an 8 and I don't want to end up like Rear-ended on the freeway. It ain't pretty.

It’s particularly frustrating in traffic when this sort of behavior serves no purpose. Well, it does Pi$$ me off if that's a purpose There’s nowhere to go. It's stop and slow for all of us. Yet, all I see is a Big A$$ bumper and grill in my rear view mirror. BTW, I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

(whew) okay I think I'm better now... :o

[Rant off]

 

I feel your pain man .. I live in the Los Angeles area, and get that quite a bit. Ill look in my rear view and either see a Porsche I just passed :P, or a giant *bling bling* Escalade grill logo right on my ***...

I think the drivers are even more crazy in the Bay area arent they?

 

Pick up trucks in the bay area?... I live in Las Vegas, NV an this city is growing at an alarming rate. There are a lot of construction workers that have SUV/trucks. One time I was driving and this guy in a truck with a trailer turns right in font of me. At this point he had time to make it into the drive way. But he slows down like come on hit me. I had to slam on my brakes. I followed him and pulled up next to him. I said man I just missed your trailer did you hear my tires? he said slow the F*** down as he walked to PT's pub. OK I let out all the air from his tires on the trailer so he can drive home slow and drunk.
I see a lot of new cars on the side of the road with there hazards on. I think people drive there cars too hard and abuse them. That’s why I got a new car. One owner no abuse.

 

I've always wondered if:

a) Only douches buy SUV's to compensate for a physical shortcomming.
or b) There is some chemical in the plastic of a bigass SUV that builds up in the blood and turns someone into an a douche.

Luckily, I live in Montreal and SUV are nowhere near as popular as they are in the Great Republic to the south.

Granted, I'm at work right now and looking out the window at my 8 and I can see an H2 parked next to it. (Stupid Suburban with an ugly box bolted to the frame)!

OK, my rant is over. Please continue with the normal conversation.

 

I live in Texas. You guys have no idea.

 

too true!

 

I am in Texas as well, I will second that you guys have no idea...The best are the huge SUVs, soccer mom on the phone, yelling and looking at kids in the back
seat(s) while driving 5 or ten over the speed limit....

 

Is not owning an 6000 lb SUV a crime in Texas? I know you guys like things big down there!

The market here in Canada, and Quebec in particular is very different than the States. The french Canadians (I'm english BTW) are into smaller cars. Must be a European kind of thing.

The big SUV's really bug me. They take an ancient technology ladder frame, bolt on a big body, add some leather seats and then add hugh profit margins since they can charge an arm and a leg for these pieces of ****. They can't turn or brake and kill everyone in their path when that soccer mom loses control because she's yacking to the hair dresser on the phone.

I have more respect for pick-up trucks though, at least they serve a practical purpose. Don't quite know why the average truck needs a 340hp V8 unless your'e doing some serious towing.

My 8 is my daily driver. My wife has an Audi Allroad and when I need to haul stuff, I rent a cube van.

 

I do own a pickup, an old 87 Nissan compact pickup... but I don't tailgate people in it, even though I'm higher then most cars... 340 HP V8? Now that's a waste... my old pos truck has a 3.0 V6, and I've hauled and towed more last year than most yuppies that own the big trucks done in a lifetime...

 

It's not so much the vehicle as the whole attitude most people that are attempting to drive these things convey, they just pull right out in front of vehicles that going much faster than they are, they ride your ***, it's like they're the bullys of the roadways or something. There have been several occasions where I have been trying to get over, signalling and all that and they will speed up to try and not let me over, so I get over anyway and they get all pissed like I'm the one who's being a jerk. I hope other places don't have it as bad as here in good ol' Texas, because there are some real winners here. I won't even get into how they are always trying to run my 8, doing ricer fly bys with their HUGE "no fear" stickers all over the place....oh the humanity, I think we need a new superhero, he/she could be in the shape of an 8 (obviously) and destroy all the evil plots of HUGE **** truck drivers everywhere!

 

oh and one more thing, WTF is it with these vehicles and Harley Davidson stickers?!?! "get your mtor runnin"...headin' for the highway"..oh wait...gotta stop for gas and a latte

 

No. The worst are the trucks that represent West Coast Choppers and Orange County Choppers. Poseurs .

 

Being married to a criminal psychologist... she has a interesting (if obvious) explaination as to why people buy SUV's and Large Trucks and then tailgate...

"Usually it's connected with their childhood.. and they fall into two catagories.. The first are those that were bullies at school and they want/need to continue to bully so they purchase a SUV or large truck so they can continue to intimidate just as they did so when they were kids.. or they are of the second catagory which is people who were bullied as children and now they want to get their own back and so they buy large SUVs or trucks and use then as 'weapons' to intimidate others... Thats not to say there aren't people who own large trucks and do not fall into either catagory but in my experience, working with traffic accident victims and offenders, the majority seem to fall into one of these groups..."

Just my 2C worth...

 

if someone is tail gating and it bothers me, I will slow down so that they go elsewhere.

No one tail gates me if I'm in the fast lane, so obviously they'd be tail gating in the slow lane

 

Your wife makes an interesting point Mag66. It's either people want to incite fear or backlash because of it. Maybe people are naturally just jerks.

 

If you let the Giant SUVs get to you then the Giant SUVs have already won.

I actually enjoy screwing with them to get them all riled up (slowing down without using the brakes), then I'll speed them up toward a ramp or sharp curve, finally upon exiting said ramp or curve my rear view is clear (I have seen three people nearly run off the road trying to ride my rear down ramps, 2 SUVs and 1 Minivan).

I wouldn't even feel remorse should they wreck their vehicles trying to drive them beyond their limits (the vehicles and the drivers).

So instead of getting pissed off or aggravated (thereby ruining your driving experience) turn the tables and have fun by screwing with these lumbering beasts.

If you are in the fast lane, however, you have no right to complain about people riding your rear. While it is still rude and unsafe you are in the way (obviously) and should remove yourself from that lane. (Had an extended drive this weekend [170+ miles each way] and was forced to pass on the right over a dozen times because of people tooling along in the fast, ultra fast, or warp speed lanes [my personal designation of two, three, and four lane roads left lane]).

 

Nothing annoys me more than someone driving in the fast lane, slowly (even if that is the speed limit). In that case if I was driving something than my RX-8 I'd also be tail gating you.

 

I have fun with that game too MTCD01--is that a car model (hehehe see https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/what-hell-rx-8-a-34912/).

I used to have a pickup ('71 Chevy) and a "normal-sized" SUV ('98 Jeep Cherokee) and only "tailgated" slackers in the left lane. Not that it's right, but the objective of tailgating is to ask or intimidate the slower vehicle out of the way (that's a matter of how the message is received). My '71 Chevy probably did intimidate people, I didn't think about it really--just wanted them to move over and let me at the 1/2 mile of open road in front of them. When I tailgate slackers in my 8, I doubt it intimidates them. However, in gridlock there is no "reason" for anyone to do any tailgating--if there's nowhere to go, riding someone's **** adds to a bad situation.

just my .0165Euros

 

Do what I do: gradually slow down to make space in front of you and then drop the gears and take off so far ahead of them by the time they catch up they realize just how slow and bloated the piece of shiot SUV really is that hey are driving..

Why are most SUV drivers FAT? furreal, they need a fat car to move thier fat asses! hehe

 

We have three trucks, 2 pickups and 1 SUV. They serve a purpose for our family, but I hate driving them. One of the most dangerous things about SUV's in my eyes (other than the performance issues) is the fact that you cant see around or through them when following in traffic.

I have almost been side swipped on my motorcycle on more than one occasion by a soccer mom driving her yukon.

I hate suv's

And, is it me or do people who drive suv's never wave when you let them in or do something else nice. I dont think its me.

This is a fun page for SUV hating
http://poseur.4x4.org/poseurs.html

 

I agree with you on all these points! No one "thanks" you when you let them in anymore. I still do, as it takes 1/2 a second to do it.

I didn't know there was a objective to tailgating other then being annoying and dangerous . What ever happened to flashing the headlights to warn/ask/tell the car ahead to move over so you can pass before you even get near their tail?

 

Be afraid: I saw an elderly woman (80s) go by driving an H2 last winter. She could barely see over the dash. It was truly frightening.

She's gonna do a lot of damage when her "accelerator sticks" or "brakes didn't work."

 

I doubt an H2/Suburban/Excursion could see flashing headlights.

 

I agree with most every post here.

One thing, they are really not fast lanes but passing lanes. If you are on a multi lane freeway and are not passing the car in the lane to your right, then you are traveling too slow for that lane. You should continue moving to your right until you are traveling the same speed as those around you. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir though.

BTW, if you are in the far right lane and are impeding traffic, buy a horse.

Thank you.

 

"I didn't know there was a objective to tailgating other then being annoying and dangerous . What ever happened to flashing the headlights to warn/ask/tell the car ahead to move over so you can pass before you even get near their tail?"

While I agree that this is the safer (driving aspect) and appropriate way to accomplish the communication of "please get out of my way", it seems that no one knows the rules of the road anymore and flashing seems to be understood as "f u" and results in the vehicle slowing or tailing you for several miles, could even result in an altercation. The bottom line is that I shouldn't have to tell a vehicle in the fast lane to yield to me, they should just do it when they see a car approach them at a higher rate of speed. The majority of the time the car I approach has no need to be in the fast lane in the fist place (i.e. they aren't passing anyone they just don't want to be behind anyone). I know that if I'm in the fast lane (passing a car) and I see another car approach me I will vacate the lane as soon as possible (I change lanes allot anyway and I'm usually only in the fast lane to pass a car or two, you aren't meant to travel in the fast lane for extended periods) even if I have to slow down a bit to let the faster driver through. The mere presence of a car behind you in the fast lane means you are in the way and should move to your right. If I come up behind a vehicle passing another in the fast lane I will wait patiently (at a descent distance) for the vehicle to complete the maneuver, should the vehicle remain in the fast lane after passing the other vehicle I will, begrudgingly, pass on the right.