Mr_Asa
MegaDork
5/22/24 7:36 a.m.
Scenario: you're in urban traffic, going a hair slower than you prefer but enough that you can live with it. All three lanes are taken up, all three are going the same speed. There are left and right exits, so no real passing lane etiquette exists or is expected.
In the first lane is a vehicle type you loathe getting behind. Second is a vehicle that is just eh. Third is one you are happy to sit behind and just cruise till you get to a place you can exit or get around everyone.
Loathe: CDL vehicles, RVs, anything with a trailer. Cant see around them, they throw rocks, half the time their brake lights dont work properly. Also, pretty much any Brodozer, but especially BroJeeps. They just irk me.
Eh: anything in size from a late 2000s Tacoma up to the Loathe category. Again, cant see around them, at least I dont get rocks thrown at me.
Happy: most anything Civic sized or smaller. Convertibles are particularly nice.
Love: something that sounds awesome.
Like: something I can see around.
Loath: coal truck, etc.
Agreed to all of your above, plus motorcycles. Of course, the view around them is great, but they are so,so vulnerable and can stop quickly- a slip of attention, brake failure, whatever -you hit them and what would have been a moderate insurance claim if you'd hit a car could be a fatality. (I'll note that I've never rear ended anyone.) I tend to leave a generous following distance from motorcycles which then pisses off the people behind me because they often can't see that there's a bike in front of me.
Anything without functioning cats,the worst offenders seem to be modded Japanese cars, although I was behind a Monte Carlo the other day that was making my eyes water.
Mr_Asa
MegaDork
5/22/24 8:15 a.m.
flat4_5spd said:
Agreed to all of your above, plus motorcycles. Of course, the view around them is great, but they are so,so vulnerable and can stop quickly- a slip of attention, brake failure, whatever -you hit them and what would have been a moderate insurance claim if you'd hit a car could be a fatality. (I'll note that I've never rear ended anyone.) I tend to leave a generous following distance from motorcycles which then pisses off the people behind me because they often can't see that there's a bike in front of me.
Anything without functioning cats,the worst offenders seem to be modded Japanese cars, although I was behind a Monte Carlo the other day that was making my eyes water.
If I can outbrake it, I'm more happy to follow than something I cant. So yeah, definitely motorcycles.
Nothing bothers me that isn't actively driving like a dumbass. I don't care what it is, I can lay back and give myself room.
Duke
MegaDork
5/22/24 8:26 a.m.
Loathe: diesels. No matter how hard they try to engineer it out, they still stink.
Meh: Anybody who drives decently at the same speed as ambient traffic.
Like: Generally cool stuff and people who consistently use their turn signals.
Hate: people going under the speed limit for no reason. erratic drivers. people I have passed repeatedly on the interstate.
Love: In heavy traffic or stop-go: tractor trailers or other large trucks. I know I can always outbrake that guy if I am not paying attention.
A driver who doesn't maintain a consistent speed for no obvious traffic reason. Typically because they are distracted on their phone...
Other than that, no particular vehicle is a red flag to me. Good and bad drivers own all types of vehicles.
I despise being behind any Nissan, as they are so unbelievably ugly.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:
Dave Matthew's tour bus.
What a E36 M3ty thing to follow
ShawnG
MegaDork
5/22/24 8:53 a.m.
Those ride share / rental things.
People who hardly ever drive climb into a vehicle they're not familiar with, then drive like garbage in front of you.
If I see a Nissan sedan, Kia, some Hyundai's, any Charger/Challenger combo, or a Ford Ranger in traffic, I know there's an extremely high probability that there's going to be some E36 M3ty driving that can and/or will cause an accident of some sort.
Kias because their turn signals are in the low bumper but taillights are SUV high.
Elephant Racing. Two tractor trailer hiking up a long hill, side by side on a two lane.
I'm more loath to be in front of some tailgater monster truck that can plainly see there is traffic in front of me keeping me at the speed I am driving but sitting 3 feet off my rear bumper anyway hoping to force me to find an opening in the next lane. I got nowhere to go and the tailgater is road raging like a spoiled malicious two year old. A pox on those people.
I prefer to not be behind those size and larger vehicles. I note my aggravation tolerance changes depending upon if I am in my pickup truck or my Miata.
Trent
PowerDork
5/22/24 10:28 a.m.
Lifted, big tired trucks.
Can't see around them, 99% of them are "deleted" diesels so they have eye watering levels of stink that gets into your clothes and even interior fabrics and takes hours to go away, their giant tires with no shrouding from the wheel wells throw water and dirt in roostertails all over the cars behind and beside them and finally the extremely high probability of driving like a jackass. Every "tuned" diesel drives their truck like a moped. The throttle is either at 0% or 100%, nothing in between.
It could be worse though.... they could be behind me where their headlight beam pattern is over 5 feet above ground level so there is genuinely no escape from being blinded.
Dump trucks and mixers are the worst, along with anything with dirty construction equipment on a flat bed. I always seem to end up with cracked lights, windshield, etc. as they drop dirt and rocks.
I'm fine with driving behind a faster-moving semi. Better gas mileage, and they usually are maintaining their speed pretty well unless it's hilly.
Duke
MegaDork
5/22/24 11:08 a.m.
Trent said:
It could be worse though.... they could be behind me where their headlight beam pattern is over 5 feet above ground level so there is genuinely no escape from being blinded.
Once - ONCE - I had one of those folks pull up behind me at a traffic light and go to parking lights as they came to a stop. I gave a friendly wave of encouragement but that little courtesy doesn't seem to have caught on among the general bro population.
Toyman!
MegaDork
5/22/24 11:25 a.m.
Anything without a cat.
Other than that, what they drive is less important than how they drive.
Anyone who can't manage the speed limit or can't manage to run with the flow of traffic.
Anyone on their phone or obviously not paying attention. Unless I really think you are going to crash. Then I want the dash video and the chance to laugh in your face after I make sure you are still alive.
I will happily follow a dump truck if his head is in the game but berkeley the guy in the Corvette that wants to run 10 under what traffic is running. (I passed him Monday am.)
Mr_Asa said:
Happy: most anything Civic sized or smaller. Convertibles are particularly nice.
Considering that 95% of the vehicles on the road today are SUVs and trucks, that's a rare circumstance.
For me, the only ones I actively avoid are dump trucks. They're supposed to cover their loads but not many actually do it, so they're randomly ejecting rocks out the back.
NickD
MegaDork
5/22/24 11:28 a.m.
Honda CRVs. They always seem to be a rolling roadblock
Anything I can't see around. Depending on what I'm driving, that could be a minivan or it could be an 18 wheeler.
Vehicles that have rear end damage - this indicates that they like to stop quickly and without notice. Especially a problem if they are also a) a vehicle I can't see around.
Vehicles with broken lights, non-functioning lights, or drivers obviously riding the brake pedal, or using hazards.
School buses with that obnoxious blinky white light.
Anything with a sketch-looking load.
preach
UltraDork
5/22/24 4:37 p.m.
Loath: Lincoln drivers
Many, many time driving across country and the only people that pissed me off were in Lincolns.
Like: Anyone not in a Lincoln.
Love: driving behind calssics. They just look and smell so damn good.
Trent
PowerDork
5/22/24 4:50 p.m.
The missus absolutely cannot drive behind a second gen Prius. The consistent 3-10mph under the speed limit they always do drives her crazy.
Her verb for the act of driving under the speed limit or holding up traffic is "Prius-ing"
I know Camrys of the late 90's and early oughts had a funny trait where the odometer was 100% accurate but the speedometer read 7-10 percent high. It has to be a thing with the Priui as well. It is too consistent.