Due to popular request, I thought I would start that topic about Slow Drivers.... one of my daily frustrations. We live on a street which has a wide and varied ethnic community interlinking by vertually every garden. This in itself, I love. But what I am not keen on are the significantly growing amount of Slow Drivers which have taken over our local streets.
Not only are they generally slow whilst manouvering, turning, parking, getting into and out of their vehicles... they also have a habit of stopping for a chat... with a pedestrian... in the middle of the road. Arrrggghhh, could they not possibly find a better place to discuss the weather, for example in the coffee shop just accross the road, or even with a cup of tea at home. It actually took me 10 minutes to drive from the end of my road (about three cars length) to my front door, just because it was national 'let's stop and have a chat' day.
Phew... not I am off to do some work. Forums are just too addictive for me.
Yes, very annoying I have to admit. We actually have the opposite problem down our road...people drive much too fast. It's supposed to be 30mph but because it's nice and straight everyone thinks they can bomb it. We have had two cats killed on the road ...so now we have two house cats! I think people who drive too slowly (especially on the main roads) are more dangerous than people who drive too fast (well maybe *as* dangerous) as it encourages people to overtake rashly.
I was coming home from shopping the other day and whilst waiting at a junction, someone drove by on the wrong side of the road! I sat there with my mouth open...lol Oh, and my pet hate.....people driving whilst on the phone (I don't mean hands free, but holding it to their ear). I was waiting at traffic lights a couple of weeks ago and a girl crossed the road in front of me whilst texting and she had earphones in...she didn't look and a car came round the corner just missing her and he was on his phone!! Every time I go out in the car I seem to see some sort of accident waiting to happen or dodgy driving. And don't get me started on illegal number plates! lol (Just cos a couple of years ago I was stopped in my car for having an illegal number plate (it was in italics)). Had the car for about 4 years and no garage had told me at the MOT that it was illegal, yet I had to go to an MOT approved garage to get it certified as legal once I'd changed it!
I drive BMW's and won't here a word said against them as driving them rather than a lesser car has saved my life more than once.
Got two, a black one that's now a collectors item (old E30, Mtech prepared with stage two head and lowered suspension (all factory pre delivery modification)... Basically pretty much a super car cunningly disguised as a family saloon) and a silver one that's the about town car.
Drove a Rover 75 for a very short while but took a huge hit on the purchase price (17.5k to 2k in 2years!) to go back to a proper car with a Z frame and a real engine and gearbox in it (always handy for escaping drug deals that go wrong Tim, lol).
For myself I justified the price by adding the two together and thinking of the beemer as though I had not made the mistake of buying a Rover but had rather bought the beemer new instead (rather than 2 years old) so I actually came out of the deal with a nice discount on the beemer that I would have bought anyway if I hadn't been stupid and thought that because BMW owned Rover the car would be BMW quality. (stupid, stupid, stupid Shaun)
Bought her in June 2004 and touch wood she's still going strong (sailed through an MOT last month).
I almost agree with your other half in that I don't think that one can restrict it to Peugeot. I would have gone with pick any French car (or Italian for that matter).
But back to subject.
Worst driving that I have ever encountered was following a Fiat Punto down a slip road onto the motorway, Built up speed nicely to join the Motorway but the stupid woman in the Punto stops at the bottom of the slip road to check both ways before turning onto the motorway!!!
Oh yes, BMW's have good brakes too as proven by that as I stopped with about an inch between my bumper and her drivers door.
Imagine how I laughed merrily and waved her on her way!!!
Actually the worst car to drive has to be a pink one... Not for the obvious reason that we're men so wouldn't be seen dead in them, but because the police play snooker and pink cars are so rare that they'll find some excuse to pull them if they pass at the right time in the game.
On those grounds I suppose the people who drive pink cars will have the most points on their licences proving that they must be the worst drivers! Ok, I'm going with pink car drivers.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Any car towing a caravan (sorry Sheila), or any vehicle designed for sleeping in that isn't in the nearside lane of a dual carriageway (A30 heading towards Devon would be good).
Any 4x4s on the school run (who also like to stop for chats in the middle of the road). Quick story. Not long ago there was a village not far from me where the mums complained to the police about the numerous cars speeding on the roads around the primary school. the police agreed to set up a speed trap. The irony, was that 8 out of 10 cars stopped, were the mums taking their kids to the school
i used to own a Rover 75. With the exception of the constant head gaskit failures Rover always seemed to have, I loved it. I would actually have another one tomorrow. The problem was that I wanted a deisel car when the fuel prices started to soar.
Living in a village with only single carraige roads around it, I hate tractors and any other slow moving vehicles.
Shaun, you reminded me of snooker, I've not played that in 7 years, nor have I heard anyone locally talking about it of late. Maybe it's a dying game. Certainly round these parts you'd be safe with a pretty pink car.
On the pink car thing I'd certainly take the bus if I was going to visit Glasgow though Kris, lol.
With the 75 mine blew its head gasket at around 60k.
The straw that broke the camels back with me though was changing the head light bulb.
You had to turn the front wheels and the access panel was in the wheel arch. Fine, no problem there except some idiot in the design team had then put a metal support strut between the access panel and the back of the headlights meaning that I ended up having to call the RAC out to change a light bulb as physically my hand would just not fit through the gap.
I think that they though that I must be some weirdo as when I called the RAC I asked whether they had any female assistants (thinks small hands).
The guy that turned up actually spent almost an hour trying to sort out changing the bulb and said after that until he had been faced with that he had actually been thinking of buying one.
I don't know how good the new 75's are or even if you can get them in the UK.
When in Thialand I will only drive Honda's or Toyota's as it seems that they will just go forever, or more to the point at least to the next town as whilst I love the country I wouldn't want to be stuck in the middle of the countryside in an area that I didn't know in the middle of the night.
The link to Rover 75's is that a chinese company bought the whole 75 production line and now churn them out under a different name for the Asian market... Who mostly have smaller hands so I imagine that they will have never had the problems encountered by myself and the RAC guy.
Also £160 per tyre on the 75 is a bit of an eye waterer. I pay £60 per tyre on the beemers for quality soft compounds (I like to stop in the wet).
When I got rid of mine it seemed you just couldn't give 75's away but at the time all of the main dealers had either closed or were in the process of closing so people were obviously afraid that they would be stuck with a car that one could not get the spares for.
Hope your having a good Sunday. I've set the day aside to brush up on company car and property taxes... Which translates to just spending the day coming back on here every five minutes.
Talk later,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Where do we start with this topic - right outside my window, that's where. There is a Primary School on the road where I live. The parents drop their kids off at 9am, no problem for me - I don't even know what 9am is - I live different hours from most people. But they get out at 3pm. Which means to get a place to park the parents start arriving at 2:25pm. Ten minutes later the whole street is used up - which means I can't turn in the road and take the short route to where I want to go. But worse, getting out I might get halfway along the road and the traffic lights will change and I'm stuck in no man's land.
Slow drivers - in a built up area with cars parked at the side of the street I will tend to do around 25mph. Who knows what or who could run out. In a 60mph zone if the road is reasonably straight cars should not be driving slower than 40mph without good reason. Last Sunday one was doing 35mph. Raining heavily but no lights on. I was worried a car behind me would not stop in time and ram in to the back of me because the traffic was that slow. I'm sure I've wrote this before. An impatient driver did overtake everyone and was flashed at by oncoming traffic. This prompted the person causing the hold up to put their lights on and increase their speed to 70mph.
Third week in a row I've got lost returning from Dad's hospital (Mum's is easier to find and closer). This time it wasn't as big a mistake and I went with the attitude of "I'm going this way - how lost can I get anyway".
I don't like driving.
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
Hey Shaun, it's a good job Beemers have good brakes! Yesterday, one carrying five lads floored the accelerator just as a taxi pulled out in between them and me while I was crossing the road. As soon as the taxi was gone, he floored it again, just missing me. On Wednesday, another one attempted to overtake, using a lane which ceased to exist 50 yards later; thus trying to occupy the same space-time as another hard, metal, moving object - namely me. Last Saturday, a Beemer was trying to climb in my boot, and I seriously considered doing a Bruce Grobbelaar spaghetti legs impression, only using a car. Fortunately, he hadn't noticed the new roundabout and attempted to go round it the wrong way. All in a week. I rest my case :o)
did the same myself when the car had a service and the only loan car they had left was an auto.
Stupid idea sticking the brake where the clutch should be!
When I took it back I'm sure that the tyres had some flat sides on them.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Nobody's mentioned Mercedes drivers.......there's a saying I've heard...."Where there's a Merc, there's a burk" (Absolutely no offence to anyone on here who drives one!)
I had a Mercedes right up my boot this afternoon on the way home....I so wanted to brake suddenly, but didn't want to damage (any more) my little red (defo not pink) Nissan Micra.
The Merc might have felt a couple of light bumps as it went over the top of your car.
Don't take it personally that they were right up you tail as they probably didn't even notice you in front as its difficult when your on the phone and bent over trying to find that elusive CD in the glove compartment.... Well, either that or you were in the fast lane of the Motorway and we know that's a reserved lane for German cars.
(wanders off humming "Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz, Ma freinds all drive Porches I must Make Amends").
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
A porche 911 round about the 1980's model in red, is on my hit list once the kids have gone to Uni and left home, mind you I won't have any money left once they've been to Uni!
My dream is just getting Gladys back to factory new condition but it would cost thousands which like yourself I cannot justify as Uni for my boy comes first.
I bought her new. sold her to my neighbour who had been hankering after her for years but then missed her so much that I bought her back and put her in storage (that was in 2005).
She's a factory standard 1990 318is from the days when the "is" bit meant something. MTech prepared straight 4 with a stage two head and lowered suspension. basically when you touch the accelerator she throws you into the back seat.
She's Metallic black with black leather upholstery. When she was new I stayed for a few days with a girl in Catford, South London. Every night old cars all around would be broken into or vandalised but my car was never touched. The woman that I was with had a teenage son and I asked him why my car was never touched. His reply was "Looks like a pimps car. Nobody messes with a pimps car".
The attachment to the car though is because she got me through the huge pile up on the M18 without a scratch on her (or me) whilst cars and lorries were crashing all around. On that basis alone I would never drive an underpowered or unresponsive car.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
The attachment to the car though is because she got me through the huge pile up on the M18 without a scratch on her (or me) whilst cars and lorries were crashing all around. On that basis alone I would never drive an underpowered or unresponsive car.
Oh dear Shaun....when was that? Could have lost you then?
it was all a very long time ago, it was a 52 vehicle pileup back in 1992. It was foggy, idiots were doing silly speeds in the fast lane in thick fog.
First thing I knew about there being a problem was a huge concrete drainpipe heading towards the windscreen. What followed in real life can't have lasted any more than 20 seconds but it seemed much longer when I was in it.
Wove my way out of it but a lot didn't, The car definitely won a million brownie points and a lifetime repreive from ever facing the scrap yard. She's now the equivalent of a retired racehorse on the basis of doing exactly what she was supposed to do when she was supposed to do it. (she even gets garaged where the newer car lives on the drive).
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Any car towing a caravan (sorry Sheila), or any vehicle designed for sleeping in that isn't in the nearside lane of a dual carriageway (A30 heading towards Devon would be good).
I can understand that living where you do. I'm not towing anymore - got rid of the ancient Disco as we now just change sites twice a year so wasn't worth the expense, it's cheaper to pay someone to move it for us.
My pet hate is white van man made all the more so just this morning when I was driving down a village street to a client and a bus was stopped opposite, with passengers alighting and boarding. I could see a line of cars stopped behind it as it is a very narrow road. Then out of nowhere a large white van with three blokes sat across the front spun out of nowhere to pass the bus with wheel on the pavement, coming straight for me and gesticulating that I should reverse the way I had come. I just stopped and waited, the bus was setting off and poor old white van men then had to wait until it and all the cars that were behind it had moved on before they could get back on to their side of the road. Totally mad.
I'm afraid I drive one of Shaun's French cars now but my dream car is a Morgan.
I'm afraid I drive one of Shaun's French cars now but my dream car is a Morgan.
Sheila
At least I can redeem myself by agreeing with you (I have watched them being made). Personally my all time favourite would be any classic two wheeled British iron but I would settle for a new BMW (two wheeled Shaun! Trivia moment, it was the horizontal twn engined bike that gave the car its distinctive grille shape)
AAAArhg M62 and M1 today - for a start M62 is, has been and will be for goodness knows how long 50 mph average speed from M606 junction to M1 junction. Don't know if it doesn't apply to white van man because I had cruise fixed at 50 and I was being overtaken frequently.
Then there's the magic (ie invisible) indicators used by vans and lorries who just pull out seemingly without looking to see if anyone is behind them.
(apart from being thought of as a weirdo).
