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Post by grampa on Mar 5, 2019 17:19:24 GMT
Having had the big Mini for a couple of months now, we've used it for the first few long journeys (one of the reasons for the upgrade in size and getting an 'S'). Like many here I guess, I like to 'press on' and indulge in a bit of TLGP - even if there are no traffic lights - leaving roundabouts, start of motorways, getting through road works etc. All of the mildly fast cars I've had up to now (225 Megane, Astra VXR and the Scirocco) have looked like they will perform like they do so TLGP 'challenges' only ever come from appropriate machinery, but interesting with the Mini how people obviously don't expect it to perform - I get things like mid range rep mobiles, diesel Golfs etc positioning as if they're going to shoot past, then looking so peed off that they eventually pass at 95-100 a couple of miles down the road - then deciding that they're perhaps going too fast only to settle back down and have me pass them anyway! A phenomenon I've not experienced before - anyone else got a car that elicits similar reactions? I might even take the 'S' off the back to make it more fun  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 21:16:48 GMT
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Post by Boxer6 on Mar 5, 2019 21:51:54 GMT
Given that I currently drive the automotive equivalent of rice pudding with blackcurrant jam in it, not really!
I did with the Legacy, especially after I'd debadged it; no-one really seemed to know what it was, even other Subaru (Impreza) drivers, and if I was in the mood, it gave a lot of folk a bit of a shock! In fact, the only time I ever got a comment on it was from a traffic cop in a 5-series when I was waiting for my daughter outside her school (Glasgow Academy, for those who know where that is) It's a bit surreal having a traffic cop asking to to wind your window down to ask what car you're driving, let me tell you!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 22:20:00 GMT
Well there have been a few occasions where I have been legitimately overtaking something on the motorway only to find someone steaming up to my bumper and flashing their lights like morse code. One even beeped his beepin' hooter at me but, I continue the overtake in a timely fashion without making my car vanish under the tarmac which is the only other place I could have gone. Most are fine with quite a lot of smiles and waves which is a nice change of pace.
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Post by Blarno on Mar 6, 2019 8:21:51 GMT
Not since I owned the Legacy really, that was fun. People would hear an Impreza, but see what looked like a Toyota Carina. It was debadged for a while as well, so nobody other than those in the know knew what the hell was going on.
The 405 Mi16x4 was a good sleeper as well, especially before I fitted the aftermarket wheels. It looked like a sensible family saloon car was coming up behind them, but a flame-spitting 4 wheel drift machine would go past them.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2019 8:39:54 GMT
Get an RS4 - it sometimes feels like everyone (van driver, old hatch, diesel repmobile) fancies their chances...
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Mar 6, 2019 8:42:22 GMT
None at all - I drive a Munich Cortina.
Is the TLGP really a thing? I'm doing 2k a month up and down the country and I've never stopped at lights and looked across at an adjacent car and thought; "right, I'll have him". Why would anyone do that? Nor can I remember any car ever taking off as if they were somehow looking to challenge. It's not Grease and we're racing for pink slips surely?
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Post by Big Blue on Mar 6, 2019 10:27:22 GMT
I TLGP a lot if I’m on my own in the Gorilla. It’s fun ripping chunks out of sports bikes in a massive estate car.
Mostly though, as Bob says, I’m just in a 5-er Touring.
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Post by Stuntman on Mar 6, 2019 11:33:02 GMT
The M3 saloon sometimes flies under the radar. To some, it's just a 3 series in a fairly sober colour.
The GT4 is hard to miss, and that tends to elicit the full gamut of reactions from complete fandom to random abuse.
Working at an Automotive company, reaction from my colleagues is near-universally positive.
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Post by PG on Mar 6, 2019 11:44:48 GMT
I don't really indulge in TLGP. But I do boot it away from roundabouts if some small minded person thinks about an under-take on a dual carriageway or is all over my rear bumper. Very childish, but fun.
Pretty much all the reactions to the XFR have been positive. I've even had thumbs up from van drivers when they hear the exhausts. And Mrs PG says that people do a double take when they see a woman driving a very woofly V8.
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Post by michael on Mar 6, 2019 12:01:50 GMT
I don't tend to indulge in racing, because it's infantile and makes the roads a worse place for everyone and nothing to do with the fact I've got a 2+ ton car shaped like a brick.
I remember embarrassing a Porsche driver in my D3 a few years ago as I trounced Bryan away from the lights.
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Post by Tim on Mar 6, 2019 12:02:38 GMT
I've rarely had any 'action' when in the M5, even in the days before seemingly every BMW had an M badge on the back, as Jeff says it's just a 5 series (and an old one nowadays).
Same with the Fiat really, perhaps it looks a lot faster than it really is so I just got left alone when I used it a lot.
Having said that over the last 5 years or so these cars haven't done anything like the miles they used to and that's sort of coincided with the advent of the 300BHP superhatch, often (but not always) driven by men in their 20s who probably might be more likely to have a go.
I don't remember any particular, er, contests in the 370 either.
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Post by johnc on Mar 6, 2019 12:04:24 GMT
I enjoy my 4WD and 0-62 in 4.6 regularly. I think my car is viewed as just another 420D but if I want to keep my road position then I use all its attributes to put me ahead - it never fails and it never fails to put a smile on my face either.
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Post by johnc on Mar 6, 2019 12:09:00 GMT
I was waiting for my daughter outside her school (Glasgow Academy, for those who know where that is) The only school I failed the entrance exam for - their maths paper had loads of questions about fractions and my school at the time had completely given up on fractions and everything was decimal! |
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Post by Martin on Mar 6, 2019 13:13:39 GMT
Despite being a subtle colour, the Golf attracts attention from anything the driver thinks is quick and I’m not exaggerating when I say the majority of M135/140 drivers react to it in some way, even when I’m on cruise control on a dual carriageway.
The BMW doesn’t attract the same sort of attention, it’s one of the things I really like about it. I guess some people see it as big lardy diesel which will be driven by a middle aged bloke who’s not going to be in a hurry, so you do get a bit of ‘racing’ sometim but it’s quite rare. I accept the middle age bloke thing, but it’s not lardy and I’m usually pressing on! I confess to childish fun now and again, which is more fun as it’s so unexpected. Surprised a 2016 RR SVR yesterday which made a lot more noise (noise is the right word) than me for less speed and the driver of the newish MX5 who was undertaking on the A43 and tried to do it to me, then lined up alongside me at the traffic lights to get past me that way. He went backwards so quickly I did actually lol.
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Post by Tim on Mar 6, 2019 13:30:21 GMT
Despite being a subtle colour, the Golf attracts attention from anything the driver thinks is quick and I’m not exaggerating when I say the majority of M135/140 drivers react to it in some way, even when I’m on cruise control on a dual carriageway. The BMW doesn’t attract the same sort of attention, it’s one of the things I really like about it. I guess some people see it as big lardy diesel which will be driven by a middle aged bloke who’s not going to be in a hurry, so you do get a bit of ‘racing’ sometim but it’s quite rare. I accept the middle age bloke thing, but it’s not lardy and I’m usually pressing on! I confess to childish fun now and again, which is more fun as it’s so unexpected. Surprised a 2016 RR SVR yesterday which made a lot more noise (noise is the right word) than me for less speed and the driver of the newish MX5 who was undertaking on the A43 and tried to do it to me, then lined up alongside me at the traffic lights to get past me that way. He went backwards so quickly I did actually lol. I don't think you 'pressing on' will draw any additional attention as these big saloons are usually seen going quite fast in a straight line. The surprise would be you cornering quickly. |
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Post by grampa on Mar 6, 2019 13:42:20 GMT
And to me, that's the appeal of driving something other than the average 1.6 hatch. My grandson as always loved it too - one of his first words was, 'Brrrmmm' if he was in the Scirocco when I gave it a bit of welly, and now (he's 4 now) as soon as we get in the Mini, he says, "can we put the fast button on?" ('Sport' gives it taught suspension and releases all the power). |
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Post by Martin on Mar 6, 2019 15:46:44 GMT
Despite being a subtle colour, the Golf attracts attention from anything the driver thinks is quick and I’m not exaggerating when I say the majority of M135/140 drivers react to it in some way, even when I’m on cruise control on a dual carriageway. The BMW doesn’t attract the same sort of attention, it’s one of the things I really like about it. I guess some people see it as big lardy diesel which will be driven by a middle aged bloke who’s not going to be in a hurry, so you do get a bit of ‘racing’ sometim but it’s quite rare. I accept the middle age bloke thing, but it’s not lardy and I’m usually pressing on! I confess to childish fun now and again, which is more fun as it’s so unexpected. Surprised a 2016 RR SVR yesterday which made a lot more noise (noise is the right word) than me for less speed and the driver of the newish MX5 who was undertaking on the A43 and tried to do it to me, then lined up alongside me at the traffic lights to get past me that way. He went backwards so quickly I did actually lol. I don't think you 'pressing on' will draw any additional attention as these big saloons are usually seen going quite fast in a straight line. The surprise would be you cornering quickly. It does that well too thanks to the voodoo suspension, as that includes active anti roll. |
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Post by PG on Mar 6, 2019 18:41:42 GMT
I remember my father telling me of one Volvo driver who really annoyed him in central London one evening. He tried to cut my dad up on the inside as they both exited Hyde Park Corner, probably thinking that a middle aged bloke in an XJ6 was not going to be much trouble. Dad simply accelerated - in his XJ12 - and as the bloke was so intent on watching dad's car he didn't see the road narrowing and crashed into a raised bollard. Dad left him there and drove off.
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Post by bryan on Mar 6, 2019 21:36:14 GMT
I don't tend to indulge in racing, because it's infantile and makes the roads a worse place for everyone and nothing to do with the fact I've got a 2+ ton car shaped like a brick. I remember embarrassing a Porsche driver in my D3 a few years ago as I trounced Bryan away from the lights. I remember that 😀 on the way back from Dan's poetry to the hotel. Seem to remember a TVR being fairly infantile too 😀 Memorable drive with roof off at night with Nick catching up. Can't wait till I get the garage fixed and Porsche at home |
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Post by PetrolEd on Mar 7, 2019 11:13:06 GMT
One of my cars is bright yellow and the other is a knuckle dragger Dagenham dustbin. How do you think people react.
To be fair the GT4 gets very little negativity as its so bold people automatically think I'm a knobber so give it a wide berth. The Ford is fine. The one car that people used to get really upset about was my old GTi. No idea why but everyone you overtook seemed very upset about it.
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Post by michael on Mar 7, 2019 11:28:45 GMT
People got quite upset about being overtaken by the XC70 when they realised it wasn't an unmarked car.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2019 12:59:27 GMT
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Post by Tim on Mar 7, 2019 13:20:55 GMT
Crappy old Alfa in 'as fast as an Audi RS' shock......
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2019 13:50:23 GMT
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Post by grampa on Mar 7, 2019 14:09:44 GMT
People got quite upset about being overtaken by the XC70 when they realised it wasn't an unmarked car.  - many years ago I had a white Metro when they were fairly common as Police cars and I would often see people slow up as I drew behind them, then get going again once I was close enough for them to see there was no blue light on the top. |
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Post by Roadrunner on Mar 7, 2019 14:16:42 GMT
People got quite upset about being overtaken by the XC70 when they realised it wasn't an unmarked car. - many years ago I had a white Metro when they were fairly common as Police cars and I would often see people slow up as I drew behind them, then get going again once I was close enough for them to see there was no blue light on the top. My dad had that in the 1970s with his white Rover P6. |
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Post by racingteatray on Mar 7, 2019 17:20:23 GMT
As regards the GC, the reaction from most people who get in it or see us arrive/leave in it, is a genuine "nice car". I think that's because in London a mid-sized BMW isn't considered particularly fancy, coupled with the fact that it's a good-looking car in an elegant grown-up sort of way, and it's a tasteful and discrete colour.
On the road, not being de-badged, you do get the odd prune in a 420d or what-have-you, but most of the time I'm not bothered. In Comfort mode, it's just not the sort of car that eggs you on and it doesn't particularly seem to egg other drivers on. I can't remember my last TLGP - if someone looks like they are planning one, I nearly always just let them go. That's quite different from ensuring you are the first away from the lights - that I frequently am. It's just I don't really feel like engaging in competitive driving habits in a city centre, especially not if Mrs RT is in the car.
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Post by Roadsterstu on Mar 8, 2019 9:00:56 GMT
The big red Volvo estate used to annoy the drivers of certain cars, for some reason. Presumably being overtaken by a Volvo estate was some kind of insult. The white VRS looks rather like an unmarked cop car, so it tends to be left well alone. In fact, I've not had a car that generates so little negative attention before.
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Post by LandieMark on Mar 8, 2019 14:41:55 GMT
People generally feel sorry for me. 😂
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- many years ago I had a white Metro when they were fairly common as Police cars and I would often see people slow up as I drew behind them, then get going again once I was close enough for them to see there was no blue light on the top.
