Corolla test drive

[RzrAzr]

2 hours ago, ApophisAstros said:

Its not that simple of knowing where cameras are , there could be portable ones , unmarked Police cars et all.

Roger

I don't think it is is budgeted to be honest, at least around my area. And statistically speaking I am below the speed limit 99% of the time anyways:)

1 hour ago, Stopeter44 said:

Good point, it's a while since I drove extensively on Spanish autoroutes, but I seem to recall seeing la Guardia parked on the bridges, once I went under them.

OTOH, I think @RzrAzr comments are firmly based on experience.

Yeah, in the last 4 years I only had one speeding ticket and even that was because the Audi with Italian plates was riding my ***** so close, I felt that we should have gone on a date at least. And since we have not gone on said date I sped up to get out of his way right where the camera was.

 

[Stopeter44]

17 minutes ago, RzrAzr said:

Yeah, in the last 4 years I only had one speeding ticket and even that was because the Audi with Italian plates was riding my ***** so close, I felt that we should have gone on a date at least. And since we have not gone on said date I sped up to get out of his way right where the camera was.

Cross fingers, haven't had a speeding ticket in 10 years +/-, the last ticket I had was a red light camera about 8 years ago. Rats! Lapse of attention, because I knew it was there. These days, I stay out of the overtaking lane on the autoroutes, for the most part.

With ACC now, which I think is great, I can set my usual 110 kph (French autoroute limit is 130 kph) and occasionally when necessary, I have a margin to get me by trucks. One thing I hate is putting myself in a queue waiting for a truck overtaking another truck at a speed difference of 0.1 kph.

OTOH, I was being harassed on a B road the other day, the driver behind me wanted to go faster, so I went slower, so that in exasperation he overtook me. Often I pull over in these cases onto a lay-by or whatever is available to let these UBIKholes by. I'm always worried about this crazier than me drivers and their road rage, though.

[Catlover]

If I getting tailed by a car I just slowly drop the speed a few mph so they wiz past. Rather have them in front then behind, but I won’t speed up for them.

[Roy124]

Cat, one exception, ACC behind a truck at good spacing, Beamer starts riding your bumper, too much traffic to allow overtaking. 

The moment the road is going to clear, indicate and go, 'suck that cnut'. 

Safely back at cruising speed, with a bit of luck he is still behind me 😁

[Cyker]

My driving instructor also drilled the slow-down-when-tailgated approach. I do get some schadenfreude out of it, and as you say forcing them to overtake gets them away from you so when they have an accident they can have it away from you!

Weirdly, I've also found some people back off when you start leaving a progressively larger gap in front, like they're mirroring the gap or something??

I must confess I'm a bit naughty sometimes tho' and will speed up if I know there is a narrow section of road or width restriction up ahead, esp. if the thing tailgating me is a giant land boat (Which they almost inevitably are... it's amazing, even BMW drivers seem to be more polite than SUV drivers down here!)

Generally tho' the Mk4 has made my driving a lot more chilled - I see what you other hybrid drivers mean about it making the driving experience more relaxed! Something about going slowly on the electric motor just takes the annoyance out of traffic jams for me, where I'd start to get annoyed and impatient in my previous cars after a while, and in particularly obnoxious jams I can turn on the radar cruise and let it follow the car in front while I have a stretch  

 

[Roy124]

Cyker, I think the ICE car frets when it is baulked whereas the hybrid just shrugs and rests for a bit.  Simply the engine has to keep increasing and decreasing its rpm. 

Early on I was following another car on a winding B road.  I just sat there behind it, made small steering corrections, no braking or accelerating.  Only towards the end of my short trip I realised I was following a Yaris. It was very relaxing letting someone else read the road; wierd even. 

[Mikw]

3 hours ago, Cyker said:

My driving instructor also drilled the slow-down-when-tailgated approach. I do get some schadenfreude out of it, and as you say forcing them to overtake gets them away from you so when they have an accident they can have it away from you!

Weirdly, I've also found some people back off when you start leaving a progressively larger gap in front, like they're mirroring the gap or something??

I must confess I'm a bit naughty sometimes tho' and will speed up if I know there is a narrow section of road or width restriction up ahead, esp. if the thing tailgating me is a giant land boat (Which they almost inevitably are... it's amazing, even BMW drivers seem to be more polite than SUV drivers down here!)

Generally tho' the Mk4 has made my driving a lot more chilled - I see what you other hybrid drivers mean about it making the driving experience more relaxed! Something about going slowly on the electric motor just takes the annoyance out of traffic jams for me, where I'd start to get annoyed and impatient in my previous cars after a while, and in particularly obnoxious jams I can turn on the radar cruise and let it follow the car in front while I have a stretch  

 

I know what you mean, Since getting my Yaris MK4 i don't get so annoyed by tailbacks. The car can sit there for half an hour or more, and you can inch forward without the engine coming on. so i just go with it now rather than thinking of all the wasted fuel. The auto hold helps too with occassionally moving tailbacks

[Catlover]

Ok, so I am retired now so time is not as important (but time is only me way, it never comes back, so it is important), but over more then a few years since retirement in June 2014 I have become more patient when stuck in a traffic jam or swing bridge closure (there is now 6 miles away on a main A road). It doesn’t bother me very much at all now. I have acquired patience and I would say in abundance. I have got “my” music on a usb stick, I have got a very comfy car that I love to be in, and best of all I have the attitude “I am stuck and there is nothing I can do about it, make the best of a situation”.             
What is testing motorists at the moment is this new Highway Code thing that is being interpreted by cyclists that they can hog a road. I live a few miles from a large forest, the roads are very countrified even the main A56 going into Chester. Not only in summer but winter too there can be cyclists by themselves or, very often. In clusters and all in club colours. Sometimes even n the A road you can be stick behind them for a few minutes or so, but if they start doing what I seen on the news, that is ride two abreast filling up a lane, and not concerned what hold up is behind them, turning round and laughing, that will be a testing time of my patience. Especially more so that I have always been considerate to cyclists in the past. I can see some really bad confrontations on the roads sometime soon.

[Yugguy1970]

Driving the hybrid is very relaxing yes.

Most of the issues I see on the roads these days aren't actually to do with speed, they're more to do with impatience that leads to idiotic behaviour.

 

[Catlover]

You are very correct, Guy.

[Roy124]

Catlover, and you can bet your bottom dollar all cyclists will be aware of the change and many motorists won't. 

As someone all soft tissue on the outside and pink on the inside I console myself that the next on in the strength level won't want the bother with washing the blood off. 

I had one no fault accident once.  I was on the centre of a very wide road wanting to turn right.  Traffic was flowing either side of me. A truck was waiting to exit the side road and I was in front of him. 

A motorist behind me slowed down and indicated the truck could join ahead of him.  Before I could move the truck drove straight in to me. 

"it's your fault, I was waved on....." 

[AndrueC]

8 hours ago, Yugguy1970 said:

Driving the hybrid is very relaxing yes.

Most of the issues I see on the roads these days aren't actually to do with speed, they're more to do with impatience that leads to idiotic behaviour.

Yup. I had to go into the office today to pick up a replacement monitor. On the way back as I approached the roundabout over M40 J11 I saw that the lights were changing so I eased off. A white SUV came up my inside at pretty much the speed limit then proceeded to brake for the lights. It sat there as I gradually drew up. The lights changed and the SUV shot off. It changed into my lane, braked a bit to avoid ramming the queue of cars at the next set of lights then shot off up the hill I was taking.

Ten minutes later as I get to a small village with a 30 mph limit there's the white SUV, one car ahead of me. They had been blocked by a couple of cars and a local bus. Nothing at all unusual in that on a rural A road.

What a waste of fuel and pointless wear and tear on the vehicle.

[Roy124]

AndrueC, and blood pressure and fatigue. A fen road I used to travel in Lincolnshire, some 15 miles, was perfect for that. 

[Stopeter44]

10 minutes ago, AndrueC said:

Ten minutes later as I get to a small village with a 30 mph limit there's the white SUV, one car ahead of me. They had been blocked by a couple of cars and a local bus. Nothing at all unusual in that on a rural A road.

What a waste of fuel and pointless wear and tear on the vehicle.

Maybe somebody rushing home to feed the kids, who'd already decided to go to McDonald's ?

[AndrueC]

26 minutes ago, Stopeter44 said:

Maybe somebody rushing home to feed the kids, who'd already decided to go to McDonald's ?

Could be but they still only saved themselves a couple of seconds. They turned into my estate. That's the thing about overtaking that so many drivers just don't seem to realise. Unless you are driving for a couple of hours you're unlikely to reduce your journey time by a significant amount.

That particular journey is 11 miles, single carriageway between a large town and a small town with a small village to pass through. A pretty typical rural route. Unless you're willing to go outrageously fast (like 80 mph) and perform dangerous overtakes you will never knock more than a minute off your journey and you can easily lose more than that negotiating the large town.

[TonyHSD]

24 minutes ago, Stopeter44 said:

Maybe somebody rushing home to feed the kids, who'd already decided to go to McDonald's ?

The thing is that people does not use their brains when they drive on top of that they are rude , aggressive, even nasty and does not respect other road users, they only prioritise their own tasks and forget about safety, law, and in general well being. Everyone thinks his and his own business is more important than anyone else and their business and so there is no more travel to work but racing to work🚀, keep up with traffic means a rally drive🏁, and motorways are f1 circuits these days🏎🏎. And therefore for Toyota hybrids are not enough powerful enough for many, even the bigger engine ones like 2.0 or 2.5, because they still promote relaxed driving, no good is it?! 😖 

[Stopeter44]

16 minutes ago, AndrueC said:

Could be but they still only saved themselves a couple of seconds.

Yes, go 10 mph faster, over a short journey and you save next to nothing in time whilst adding stress for yourself and other road users. Many people do not get, at all, how driving along a road is being part of a system and if you destabilise it by going too fast or too slow, then it affects everybody. The knock on effects can be phenomenal - especially if an accident results.

It's a microcosm, some people see themselves as part of a system, others see themselves totally as the centre of the world.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Stopeter44
Echoed Tony's post, we posted at about the same time

[Cyker]

2 hours ago, AndrueC said:

Yup. I had to go into the office today to pick up a replacement monitor. On the way back as I approached the roundabout over M40 J11 I saw that the lights were changing so I eased off. A white SUV came up my inside at pretty much the speed limit then proceeded to brake for the lights. It sat there as I gradually drew up. The lights changed and the SUV shot off. It changed into my lane, braked a bit to avoid ramming the queue of cars at the next set of lights then shot off up the hill I was taking.

Ten minutes later as I get to a small village with a 30 mph limit there's the white SUV, one car ahead of me. They had been blocked by a couple of cars and a local bus. Nothing at all unusual in that on a rural A road.

What a waste of fuel and pointless wear and tear on the vehicle.

Always Vans and SUVs!

I also get that a lot but usually I roll past them at 30-40mph because they stopped for the lights whereas I anticipated them and perfectly timed my arrival to not have to stop! Always feel so smug when I get the timing right  

It works especially well since I'm usually in the left lane, whereas the speed freaks are usually in the right lanes, leaving the left lane clear!

 

13 hours ago, Catlover said:

What is testing motorists at the moment is this new Highway Code thing that is being interpreted by cyclists that they can hog a road.

So, 90% of the changes to the Highway code were things that were unsaid conventions, so I'm hoping things won't change that much for this - It's always been recommended that cyclists take the middle position when overtaking them would put them in real danger, e.g. when going through road works and such, but that they should give space as soon as it becomes safe again.

Good cyclists are good at this, and it's always appreciated, but as you say it might get less good cyclists to decide they can do it everywhere. Alas all you can do is get Dashcam footage of such behaviour.

The pedestrian priority change is the one causing me most problems - As I mentioned fearing in another post, a lot of people have taken it to mean the majority of roads are now de facto zebra crossings and just step out to force me to stop. It's not all gone their way as most drivers just carry on, it being London, but it's scary! They really didn't think that rule-change through. As usual thinking everyone will behave like an mindless rule-following robot.

 

[Roy124]

Well, went to the event today determined to see what was on offer in terms of Corolla Sport or the Cross but quite sure we would not but before October. 

Unless it was cost neutral. 

Walked out having agreed to swap our Corolla Design for a Yaris Cross Excel. We shall pay no difference but actually get some extras thrown in too.