What is it with people in boring cars?
Discussion
Anyone else noticed that people (always men) in really dull cars just have to overtake a Eunos that has the roof down? So far it's been Golf TDis, Audi TDis and yesterday a 406 diesel. It's always diesels.
As it's finally stopped raining and snowing I've had the roof down to and from work, and even over a fairly short 10 mile journey I regularly get these types who just have to make a mad lunge past at full throttle in a cloud of black soot, while we're all in a queue of cars doing about 40mph. Even been hooted at because I took a nanosecond too long to pull out of a junction.
Been doing the same route for years in a Toyota truck and a Honda tin-top and I've never seen the same behaviour in any other vehicle or when I've got the Mazda's roof up.
As it's finally stopped raining and snowing I've had the roof down to and from work, and even over a fairly short 10 mile journey I regularly get these types who just have to make a mad lunge past at full throttle in a cloud of black soot, while we're all in a queue of cars doing about 40mph. Even been hooted at because I took a nanosecond too long to pull out of a junction.
Been doing the same route for years in a Toyota truck and a Honda tin-top and I've never seen the same behaviour in any other vehicle or when I've got the Mazda's roof up.
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 25th February 18:36
I find its most often the 'boyracer' types in badly modified WRXs who have the greatest need to prove their manliness by passing the MX5.Andy Meads said:
My rule is: if it isn't raining and if the hood is dry, it goes down. Keep the faith!
True - I've just had to repair the roof in the rain after the 2 halves of the rear-window zip parted company in the middle of Halfords car park - slightly worrying drive home with a busted roof as the rain started.The roof is now held together with the best repair device ever invented - cable ties! No way am I going to have a roof that I can't put down, so I'm going to have to fold it down with the plastic rear window still in place, but never mind.
JimSuperSix said:
No way am I going to have a roof that I can't put down, so I'm going to have to fold it down with the plastic rear window still in place, but never mind.
I never zip the window down anymore (as my zip was starting to pull apart), just stick a rolled-up wooly hat or something on the window as the roof goes down so it can't fold/crease. Been doing that for a good few months now and hasn't caused any problems.What he said ^ 
I've been getting it a lot these past 2 weeks as I've had the hood down a lot. You can clearly see how much this annoys other drives - fact it - they are driving round Leeds ring road feeling mad, frustrated, late for work, stressed, and bored by their dag dag A4's.
The Beauty of the Roadster is that even my 8 mile chug round semi-urban North Leeds to work, is a lot of fun.
And yes, roundabouts and B-roads are your friend.
I've been getting it a lot these past 2 weeks as I've had the hood down a lot. You can clearly see how much this annoys other drives - fact it - they are driving round Leeds ring road feeling mad, frustrated, late for work, stressed, and bored by their dag dag A4's.
The Beauty of the Roadster is that even my 8 mile chug round semi-urban North Leeds to work, is a lot of fun.
And yes, roundabouts and B-roads are your friend.
GravelBen said:
JimSuperSix said:
No way am I going to have a roof that I can't put down, so I'm going to have to fold it down with the plastic rear window still in place, but never mind.
I never zip the window down anymore (as my zip was starting to pull apart), just stick a rolled-up wooly hat or something on the window as the roof goes down so it can't fold/crease. Been doing that for a good few months now and hasn't caused any problems.Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 28th February 10:20
Well that's not going to happen!! I live oooop north and it's always cold here.
Anyway, TBH if the screen cracks I'll just cut most of it out and glue a replacement piece of clear flexible plastic in place - I made a complete roof / sidescreens for a Seven-type kit car so I'm quite happy building this sort of stuff, especially as my Eunos is a (very) long way from pristine.
Anyway, TBH if the screen cracks I'll just cut most of it out and glue a replacement piece of clear flexible plastic in place - I made a complete roof / sidescreens for a Seven-type kit car so I'm quite happy building this sort of stuff, especially as my Eunos is a (very) long way from pristine.
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 28th February 20:24
Could it be that they have the power to complete the overtake around the whole queue of traffic whilst you patiently wait for a slightly longer gap to appear(as you either dont feel the urge to overtake or are not confident that it could be completed without affecting another road user?)
I'm all for a bit of top down action but don't hate the cars which overtake you, just let them go and enjoy the countryside!
TBH I've never had an issue blowing away an mx-5 in the twisties, quattro obviously gives me a lot more grip through the bends and a decent amount of bhp and torque see to the straight bits (although I dont do diesel)
HTH
hman said:
TBH I've never had an issue blowing away an mx-5 in the twisties, quattro obviously gives me a lot more grip through the bends and a decent amount of bhp and torque see to the straight bits (although I dont do diesel)
No it doesn't. Quattro gives you more traction, not more grip. The fact you have much more power gives you an advantage on the straights but in real twisties (i.e. no straights) your car would be no quicker than an MX5. I've demonstrated this fact on a very twisty road in Scotland along with another MX5 driving mate where an Scooby driver tried and completely failed to "blow us away" (we let him past but he cut my mate up so we went after him). By the end of the road all we could smell was his brakes 
and that was in stock Mk1 & Mk2 1.8s!!!As my MX5 has nearly 230bhp you wouldn't see me for dust (brake dust in your case).
MX-5 Lazza said:
hman said:
TBH I've never had an issue blowing away an mx-5 in the twisties, quattro obviously gives me a lot more grip through the bends and a decent amount of bhp and torque see to the straight bits (although I dont do diesel)
No it doesn't. Quattro gives you more traction, not more grip. The fact you have much more power gives you an advantage on the straights but in real twisties (i.e. no straights) your car would be no quicker than an MX5. I've demonstrated this fact on a very twisty road in Scotland along with another MX5 driving mate where an Scooby driver tried and completely failed to "blow us away" (we let him past but he cut my mate up so we went after him). By the end of the road all we could smell was his brakes and that was in stock Mk1 & Mk2 1.8s!!!As my MX5 has nearly 230bhp you wouldn't see me for dust (brake dust in your case).
I think it has a lot to do with driver skill, there are a fair few people out there with the machines but not the skills. Perhaps the scooby driver was one of them?, anyways like I say, I dont consider it much of a challenge if I find a (standard) MX-5 who wants to play.
Yours with 230 bhp might make it a little more interesting though!
That's a very fair reply. I can confirm though that I'm neither a hairdresser or a driving god. Keeping up with the scooby wasn't too difficult (that was in my old Mk1 1.8), like I said, there were no straight sections at all and the brakes on a MX5 have far less work to do than those on a scoob.
Think about it for a moment. The MX5 I have now has more power, less weight and uprated suspension for about the same money as a scooby (comparing new for new). Surely that would be a fairer comparison than comparing a £25k 4wd 2.0 turbo to a £17k rwd 1.8 normally aspirated car.
Think about it for a moment. The MX5 I have now has more power, less weight and uprated suspension for about the same money as a scooby (comparing new for new). Surely that would be a fairer comparison than comparing a £25k 4wd 2.0 turbo to a £17k rwd 1.8 normally aspirated car.
Edited by MX-5 Lazza on Sunday 1st March 12:09
hman said:
Could it be that they have the power to complete the overtake around the whole queue of traffic whilst you patiently wait for a slightly longer gap to appear(as you either dont feel the urge to overtake or are not confident that it could be completed without affecting another road user?)
I'm all for a bit of top down action but don't hate the cars which overtake you, just let them go and enjoy the countryside!
TBH I've never had an issue blowing away an mx-5 in the twisties, quattro obviously gives me a lot more grip through the bends and a decent amount of bhp and torque see to the straight bits (although I dont do diesel)
HTH
Given the type of cars that I see acting this way, it is never due to an excess of power - it's always the exact opposite - base model diesels. The people in more powerful cars tend to behave much better, perhaps they've got less need to constantly try and prove how big their manhood is...?I'm all for a bit of top down action but don't hate the cars which overtake you, just let them go and enjoy the countryside!
TBH I've never had an issue blowing away an mx-5 in the twisties, quattro obviously gives me a lot more grip through the bends and a decent amount of bhp and torque see to the straight bits (although I dont do diesel)
HTH
Anyway, I've no problem with people overtaking, in fact I'll normally move over and indicate left to help them out if there's a gap ahead, and I tend to drive my 5 quite slowly normally as I'm one of those people (apparently in the minority these days) that enjoys the journey more than getting there quickly.
It's just these overly-aggressive blokes in poverty-spec diesels who perform lots of tailgating followed by these mad overtakes just because I've got the roof down...I'm not decided if they annoy me so much as just make me pity them slightly.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 1st March 19:36
hman said:
Could it be that they have the power to complete the overtake around the whole queue of traffic whilst you patiently wait for a slightly longer gap to appear(as you either dont feel the urge to overtake or are not confident that it could be completed without affecting another road user?)
I'm all for a bit of top down action but don't hate the cars which overtake you, just let them go and enjoy the countryside!
TBH I've never had an issue blowing away an mx-5 in the twisties, quattro obviously gives me a lot more grip through the bends and a decent amount of bhp and torque see to the straight bits (although I dont do diesel)
HTH
http://www.audi-club.gr/forums/index.php?showtopic=2136I'm all for a bit of top down action but don't hate the cars which overtake you, just let them go and enjoy the countryside!
TBH I've never had an issue blowing away an mx-5 in the twisties, quattro obviously gives me a lot more grip through the bends and a decent amount of bhp and torque see to the straight bits (although I dont do diesel)
HTH
What you need to remember with most of the Audi Quattro stuff is that they are all pretty much based on a compromised front wheel drive layout, and have a lot of weight up front, and if you look at the article the actual lateral 'G' the A6 quoted generates is, er, very poor.
Also the weight, weight distribution and centre of gravity will be disadvantaged on the quattro.
In your defense, a stock MX5 is set up to slide about in a fun, controllable way, with slim tyres and relatively high suspension. And the MX5 driver will have to work harder to drive their car (it's RWD with nothing in the way of driver aids, AWD, or FWD to make it easier), and won't be able to use hp to outdrag the Quattro. Wider rubber and lowering does transform the car.
In the loose or poor conditions, of course AWD will give big benefits.
But, for most of us, it's all about the fun, or we'd have gone and bought something faster if we were that worried about speed, probably sacrificing the bags of character.
franv8 said:
But, for most of us, it's all about the fun, or we'd have gone and bought something faster if we were that worried about speed, probably sacrificing the bags of character.
True, I sold a 2 litre Seven-type kit car and bought my Eunos, and I've had a lot more fun driving the Eunos because it feels so utterly sorted and you don't have to be doing illegal speeds to have fun. Going really fast was all very well but the novelty soon wore off, especially given that you'd spend most the time on the lookout for camera vans etc...I'd much rather have a car that I can enjoy everyday at lower speeds than something that does 150mph but is very uninvolving. I drove my dad's new A4 and it was really quick, but soooooo dull.
I once had to abandon a spirited drive over a twisty, national speed limit road because a guy behind me in a Vectra was doing absolutely everything in his power to keep up - the front end of it started doing some alarming things on corners, and after getting the nagging feeling that no matter how crap a driver this guy might be, he's still probably going home to a wife and kids, I backed off maybe 15-20%; after all, it's an MX-5, it's still fun even if you're not going for it. :-)
I think some of it is that because a lot of MX-5s never get driven positively, indeed that many of them are used as low-speed cruisers, people don't realise they can shift a bit cross-country if the driver's not afraid of a few revs - if you can keep the momentum up round the corners you don't need the power on the straights to make good progress.
I think some of it is that because a lot of MX-5s never get driven positively, indeed that many of them are used as low-speed cruisers, people don't realise they can shift a bit cross-country if the driver's not afraid of a few revs - if you can keep the momentum up round the corners you don't need the power on the straights to make good progress.
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