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Negative attention

3K views 22 replies 19 participants last post by  thegit 
#1 ·
I'm almost afraid to ask this. But to those who have gotten their Elises, have you received alot of negative attention (challenge to races, diliberate tailgating to intimidate, cutting off, etc.)?
 
#2 ·
A lot is harder to define.

I am not used to getting any, or very rarely. And I find it happening now often enough that I think for me it is a lot.

To try to quantify that, in probably 20-30 minutes of driving around, I would not be surprised to see someone being very aggressive. Today, older Camaro with some younger people in it. They were behind me, following pretty close on a 40mph road. Zoomed around me going maybe 70. Got in front of me. The people in the back seat actually turned around to look at the Elise.

I ignored them (which maybe contributes to the problem). Next light, they peeled out. :rolleyes:
 
#3 ·
I figured this would happen.
I'm used to tailgating and intimidation by law enforcement and challenges by the rice boys plus getting cut off by the pony car club in the M3.

I get challenged by the muscle car kind and tailgated by the gawkers in the se7en, but it looks like everyone sits on you in the se7en as you are sitting on the rear axle with 2 feet of car left, so you're pretty much paranoid. Ricers don't challenge the se7en for some odd reason.

So I'll be inured to this when the Elise gets in:cool:
m
 
#4 ·
There was a similar thread about this a while back. My personal experience has been about the same as most everyone else. I get challenged to races once in a while and lots of unsafe gawking at high speeds some times. Lots of asking what the car is and costs at lights/gas stations and some aggressive behaviour such as what Randy described but it seems to be getting slightly better but I haven't been driving the car a lot since its been raining and I hate the put the car in the mud.

Regarding tail gating, I developed this theory: The car is so low and the tail is kind of high so when you look back out your rear view mirror you can only look back at the same height as the tail or higher a few feet behind the car ( In contrast on a normal car where you sit higher and the tail is a lot lower than the mirror you can see down from the end of your car quite a bit). The effect of this is two fold: when trucks are behind you it gives you the impression that they are "on top" of you and it is a little disconcerting since all you can see on your mirror is the trucks grille and headlights. When a car is behind you the effect is opposite, the tail is so high that their headlights "disappear" and that gives you the feeling that they are "on your tail" because in a normal car you usually can still see their headlights in the rear view mirror even if they are pretty close to you. Both of these are magnified when the top is up and your visibility is reduced. I hope this this makes any sense to someone out there or else I'm paranoid because everyone is always stopping so close to my tail it bothers me.
 
#5 ·
One thing I don't think many of us considered, including me. In my other vehicles I never really paid attention to how close others got at stoplights, etc. In this car we are ALWAYS watching everything, and I think you're just more aware of what's going on around you because you HAVE TO BE. I'm not sure others are more intimidating or not, frankly. They certainly are WAY more interested, but I don't really think anyone is any more mean-spirited about it.:confused:
 
#6 ·
unwanted attention

Well, I'm a good year away from experiencing this with an Elise, but I've had very similar experiences when I had my Europas, and especially with the Esprit and more recently my Crossfire.

I can remember one time when driving the Esprit a kid in a 5.0 Mustang pulled up next to me at a light, revved the engine, gave me the finger and took off...

Always had guys in Z cars and BMW's flitting around.

Way back when we were going to LOG 12 in Leesburg, Va, my wife drove the Esprit for the two hour drive down while I carried parts for sale in the Blazer. When we got there, she got out and declared that she was never going to drive the car again. She was getting a WHOLE lot of attention that she found intimidating.

The Crossfire's attention was quite unexpected and almost on par with the Esprit. Most of it has been good, the worst being a 350Z dangerously darting through traffic on the beltway to catch up then hover in my blind spot, and some guy in a Firebird with that strange 'extra' set of hood scoops trying to get something going.

For the most part, though it's been mostly thumbs up and smiles.

I'm anticipating much the same when the Elise gets here.

If you're not used to it, and this is the first time you've had a truly unique and seldom seen car, it's going to be a new, most of the time good, but occasionally disconcerting experience.
 
#7 ·
I wouldn't call people wanting to race, negative. The few that have revved it up have also been giving me the thumbs up as well. Someone mentioned getting flashed with some mammories and that can't be negative!

I agree that sitting as low as you do in the Elise makes you more aware of things around you because your view point is so low and different from what a lot of us are used to.
 
#9 ·
babak said:
The negative attention I'm worried about is the key scractch, boot scuff and randome acts of idiotic envy and violence.
I was worried about that at first, but am encouraged by the positive reactions I've gotten from every type of person I've encountered. I'm thinking this car just won't present the same negative overtones that lead people to do those random acts of violence you mention.
 
#10 ·
Regarding the pony club - I was witness to an amusing scenario last night:

A Lambo Gallardo and Ferrari 360 racing down I-95, weaving in and out of traffic @ ~120mph. That in itself was amusing. These guys can obviously afford to take it to the track! Then, the kicker... a 1980's Mustang LT 5.0 in bad need of a new coat of paint behind them trying to keep up. The guy was totally out of control, and obviously pushing his car to its limits. It was scary, but amusing.

My friend, who was driving, revved up his VW GTI like he was gonna downshift and jump into the chase. Luckily, he held back because he's got a turbo leak. A trail of other cars followed at a little slower pace to see the outcome. The mustang really did it for me, though. I was practically in tears. I half-expected to see this fool in the wall a mile up the road.

And why? What's the point? :confused:
 
#11 ·
About a week after getting my Elise, I left it in a mall parking lot while I met some friends for dinner about a mile away. When we came back to the car, one of my friends thought I was crazy for leaving it in a mall parking lot at night as that mall was known for car thefts. While everyone was checking out my new car, security drove by 5 or 6 times. I think they were using my car as bait but no one bit.
 
#12 ·
MattG said:
I'm thinking this car just won't present the same negative overtones that lead people to do those random acts of violence you mention.
I think they are mostly, as you say, random. My WRX was keyed a while ago, and it wasn't in a bad neighborhood. I'm sure that there were much more expensive cars on that parking lot, and the car got a lot of positive reactions when it first showed up.

I try not to worry too much about these things. When they happen, you deal with them. If being overly protective takes away from enjoying the car, it defeats the purpose of having it in the first place.

Some of the general attention should die down once the cars are more common and people are used to seeing them around. That shouldn't be a problem in a year or two.
 
#13 ·
FWIW: I will confess to being one of those people who pulls alongside exotics to get a better glimpse. I've done it to Ferarris, Lamborghinis, and Esprits. I've never tried to race, and don't tailgate, but I have dome my best to get closer in order to see the car up close.

Never considered it as being aggressive or annoying, but maybe my tune will change when it happens to me? :shrug:
 
#17 ·
JonM3Coupe said:
FWIW: I will confess to being one of those people who pulls alongside exotics to get a better glimpse. I've done it to Ferarris, Lamborghinis, and Esprits. I've never tried to race, and don't tailgate, but I have dome my best to get closer in order to see the car up close.

Never considered it as being aggressive or annoying, but maybe my tune will change when it happens to me? :shrug:
I do this too, but only to Ferraris so that I can hear their exhaust notes. If they'd only rev it up some, then I wouldn't have to drive so close :D
 
#18 ·
JonM3Coupe said:
FWIW: I will confess to being one of those people who pulls alongside exotics to get a better glimpse. I've done it to Ferarris, Lamborghinis, and Esprits. I've never tried to race, and don't tailgate, but I have dome my best to get closer in order to see the car up close.

Never considered it as being aggressive or annoying, but maybe my tune will change when it happens to me? :shrug:
i do it also. In fact I was checkin out a blue diablo the other day. Nice as hell. I don't use aggressive measures, I'm casual about it and it doesn't bother them. If anything it's amusing to them or they just ignore it. I usually try to have my camera with me all the time just in case. :D
 
#19 ·
I really haven't had too many challages in my Seven or my Elise just dumb stuff. This moring at 7:30 I was driving to a gathering point for a drive with some friends. Near my house is a real speed trap it is a wide 4 lane road that is market at 35 mph near a park area. Now the police sit there all the time writing tickets. So I went thorugh the area at 35, with a Suburban 5 feet off my tail with a car in the other lane going real slow also I fugured he knew the area also. After we cleared the area the guy in the Suburban got around me and stated honking and flipping me off??? I have no idea what was going through his feeble mind but he was having a fit. Here is a guy maybe 40 years old having a screaming crap fit for no obvious reason. I don't know if it was the car, it was his lack of medication or what but man this guy looked capable of murder. My advice to everyone , get away for idiots and don't mess with them!
 
#20 ·
Funny attention

Mostly I get a lot of people taking pictures, at first it was a little strange, now I worry if there isn't someone with a camera phone taking pictures in the parking lot. :>

I mostly avoid the big SUV's, in Atlanta it seems the bigger the car the worse the driver.
 
#21 ·
Attention

This car draws lots of attention...I've seen a few u-turns, folks with a left turn signal turn right to follow, been chased down by kids at a strip mall, camera phones...

The only uncomfortable experience was last weekend. A mustang came right up on me -- tailgating and revving. I haven't had the car long enough to judge exactly how close he was but all I could see in the rearview was a big windsheild.

I'm in break-in but wouldn't have engaged anyway. He continued this for a mile so. I maintained *ample* speed. Then we hit a real nice S turn. I hit my gas, he hit his brakes. Coming out of the turn I was a good 10+ cars ahead of him. Fortunately, after coming out of the twisties, he held a respectable distance.
 
#22 ·
My suggestion when someone is tailgating (and there is somewhere for them to pass!) is slowly take your foot off the gas. slow down a little and they will pass. I NEVER trust anyone close behind me as our cars can severely outbrake them. I'd rather have an idiot in fornt of me where I can can an eye on them. I also do this on congested freeways when some dumba$$ thinks the lane will go faster if they drive close. If they are too close, *I* will add their braking distance to mine.
 
#23 ·
adamant said:
My suggestion when someone is tailgating (and there is somewhere for them to pass!) is slowly take your foot off the gas. slow down a little and they will pass. I NEVER trust anyone close behind me as our cars can severely outbrake them. I'd rather have an idiot in fornt of me where I can can an eye on them. I also do this on congested freeways when some dumba$$ thinks the lane will go faster if they drive close. If they are too close, *I* will add their braking distance to mine.
I find this to be terrifying, especially as every vehicle I own is on race capable brake linings.

The other day I was tailgated into a road work zone and had to get out of the lane because the muppet needed more room to stop. (I'd would have been rear ended if I had simply braked)
Meanwhile the guy who almost got rear ended was looking at me as if I was responsible for his elevated vitals and not the pick up truck that came to a smoking halt inches from his bumper.
m
 
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