Haters

[ryoung99]

After being too busy over the past few months to give my Exige the proper attention, I took her for a drive throughout the Sierra foothills on Saturday afternoon.

What I found was more than one "hater" out there and it was pretty sad. My first encounter came on Latrobe Road where I was behind a silver Tahoe/Blazer of some type. This guy was driving all the way to the left making it almost impossible to pass. He only did this when there was a broken yellow line, other than that he was in the center.

After miles of this I got frustrated and gave him the finger (inside my car as my window was up). He slammed on his brakes (thus proving that he was driving out of his mirror trying to keep me behind him). That was actually his mistake as the minute he hit his brakes he gave me the opening to blow by him.

Later in the day, almost the same thing happened to me by a neck in his p/u truck. When I went to pass him, he brake checked me. No good reason, just obviously had a problem with nice cars.

I do look at what I am doing that causes this reaction, but I really was not tailgating any more than needed to make a pass.

Anyways it was still a great drive from my home in Shingle Sprins down to Ione, across to Jackson, through Sutter Creek, to El Dorado and back home. If you ever get a chance to do this drive there are some great roads (Latrobe and Highway 49) that will challenge you.

In all fairness I did come up on about 6 cars that pulled over when they saw me coming as to not hold me up, which was very much appreciated (and what I do when I am not driving the Exige).

Rick

[LARRY]

Some of these jerks just freak out when they see us.

Stay the hell away from them, let them pass.

[Rei]

Hate all they want but I just answer with my right foot. Step back to get a good view around them for a bit then hit the second cam and fly by all the stupid on the back roads. They can't hit what they can't catch. I've even had people try to throw stuff out the window to try and hit the car.

[shay2nak]

HATERS ARE EVERYWHERE
HATERS HATE EVERYTHING
HATERS NEVER SLEEP
HATERS PRIMARY TASK IS TO HATE
HATERS LIFE GOAL IS TO HATE

goes back to the question - are haters born or are they made? Katt Williams says they are made.

Luckily for me the only hater I encountered was the day I drove the car home from the dealer. Some punk bitch in a 06/07 mustang

[Thomasio]

Originally Posted by shay2nak

goes back to the question - are haters born or are they made? Katt Williams says they are made.

I'm of the opinion that they are made. I have yet to see a newborn look jealous or angry...

[Amarao]

Originally Posted by ryoung99

In all fairness I did come up on about 6 cars that pulled over when they saw me coming as to not hold me up, which was very much appreciated (and what I do when I am not driving the Exige).

Rick

I get this more often than not, even on a 3 lane highway.

[turbophil]

Originally Posted by Thomasio

I'm of the opinion that they are made. I have yet to see a newborn look jealous or angry...

Age old question: is it nature or nurture that makes us the way we are... perhaps a bit of both...

[Chris Mackey]

I've never encountered anything like this. But then again, I'm usually the jerk.

[shay2nak]

Originally Posted by Chris Mackey

I've never encountered anything like this. But then again, I'm usually the jerk.

LOL +1

[qu1Z]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who's hated when I drive the lotus. I get "F*** YOU" out the window and I get thumbs down and middle fingers as well. You think California is bad... try owning a Lotus in Montana.

[apk919]

My experience has been totally different... the ratio of positive to negative responses is probably around 20:1...

[sleepe]

Unrelated to haters...
The thing that really turns me off is when civics, integras, and the like drive like crazy teenagers, which most of them are, when they see my Elise. They go from sedate sunday drivers to drunken hooligans within seconds of an Elise sighting in an attempt to prove that their front wheel drive SPORTS CAR is up to snuff. They tailgate, swerve wildly, accelerate, and brake heavily to prove themselves. It's dangerous and totally unappealing.

This happens a few times a week.

[Amarao]

lol He said, "hooligans".

[Wasabi]

The only time I can remember being blocked by a hater like that was a white pickup truck being driven by two guys with coyboy hats who had a sign on his rear windshield that said something like, guns don't kill people, I do... the guy reached out his driver side window and pointed at the sticker... needless to say I never attempted to pass, he'd prolly run me off the road!

Other than that, just a lot of idiots that don't know it's ok to pull over to let someone pass, I'm usually a pretty big jackass when it comes to passing too, but only when safe of course

Two haters in one drive though, what are you bad luck?

[KoenigElise05]

I've only had one hater since I bought my car. A young kid in a beat up honda civic kept break checking me. I don't understand why people bother unless they want us lotus ppl to buy them a new car thinking we'll rear end them...too bad we have amazing brakes!

I can't stand those kids with there cheap ricer cars. I'm 22 and still those cars do not appeal to me. I hate it when i'm crusing down a 4 lane road and they pull up next to me and do the 3 honks and expect me to race them. What's even more stupid is when they do that and only a few car lengths ahead the road is full of cars. So were going to race for a few seconds i'l get my car up to 100mph faster than he will and have to slam on my brakes...totally dumb. No wonder why they are thinking of raising the driving age where I live.

[Notorious L.R.G.]

I had a Mustang-load of kids actually abort their destination, turn around, tailgate, and eventually pass and speed off. I actually kep my speed down, so as not to lead them into danger.

Conversely, more than once, I had had total rednecks in p/u's say "What is that?/I love it!" at traffic lights. At first it feels facetious, but I have decided it is genuine and respond as such.

[Brennon]

I rarely get negative attention, but I did have a guy throw his golf club at me once. Granted I was driving in a spirited manner on a back road near a golf course...it was probably deserved.

[Illumiloti]

I am actually amazed by how positive the general response is. I think people see Lotus' as "cool' as opposed to a Ferrari or Lambo which many see as just ostentatious. In LA, I often drive through low income neighborhoods where I'm a bit nervous (and embarrased) to drive this car and inevitably I get thumbs up from people right and left. The other day a homeless guy standing on the corner gave me the thumbs up and yelled "0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds!"...I thought "damn, he's right!"

[Noah Vail]

I've had only positive reactions during the 10,000 miles I've driven my Ferrari and only only one negative during the 70,000 miles I've put on NSX's (and that was from a kid being transported in a prison bus.) I've had plenty of pickup trucks tailgate me so closely that all I could see in my mirror was a closeup of their grill, but they did it to every car in front of them, which makes me think it's more stupidity than hate.

[ryoung99]

Please do not think that is the only reaction I ever get. I would say it is 100 to 1 positive. But last weekend there was hate to go around.

Some of these stories are great, I am curious how close do you have to get to a golf coarse to get a club thrown at you?

I am not a big golf fan, but do not think I have ever been that close to a green.