First bit of abuse

[NathanE]

Had the car since June and more or less not had any abuse from people.

Today driving to work, I turn into a side road and there is some typical Friday-night type dressed lad walking along the road coming towards me. Not uncommon, there is a meat factory there and I guess it's like a shift change or something. Sometimes you see 3 or 4 people walking together...

So minding my own business, drive past this thug. Gave him plenty of room just as a courtesy. But no, I see him turn just as I drive past and then in my mirror he's giving me about 5 middle fingers, one after the other. Standing in the middle of the road walking backwards. Clearly very enraged about something.

I stopped to make sure he didn't key me or something and then carried on.

Some people :/

[Chris49]

Just ignore him mate.

Its either plain jealousy or it sounds like hes just a prick a probably did it to every car!!!

You have something this looser will never, ever have.

[Boggy]

Scum

Boggy

[DucatiGary]

funny I had the "ohh look at him thinking he's good in his dads car" comment the other day whilst stopped at some lights..

wouldnt mind if it was a aston or ferrari, lambo, or somthing, its a elise ffs.

I do live in one hell of an inbred place though . . . . . . .

other than that I once had a white van intentionally come onto my half of the road as if playing chicken, i flashed thinking wooaahhh whats going on here, the guy gave me the bird then went on his way . . . . . . .

its a shame really but the general public are generally ing idiots.

[LivinLaVidaLotus]

Had nothing but good experiences so far (if you exclude the usuals of people nearly changing lanes in to you, pulling out on roundabouts when you're 5ft away etc.), popped to Motorsave today, all the guys came out the garage to have a look and a chat, lol.

[Ikemi]

I had lots of good experiences, but there have been a couple of times when cars coming in the opposite direction have flipped me the bird for no apparent reason

[cyberface]

Ikemi said:

I had lots of good experiences, but there have been a couple of times when cars coming in the opposite direction have flipped me the bird for no apparent reason

It's paranoia mate.

I've had idiots give me the finger or shout randomly in mundane cars just as frequently as in the VXT. Even the Noble (which was fairly in-yer-face) and the Porsches (which were, well, Porsches ) didn't get noticeably more abuse - just more attention.

I guess if people are angry then anything's a target.

Bemusingly, nobody road-rages me when I'm driving the ZT400. Perhaps it looks like an unmarked copper or something.

The thing about the Elise and its variants is that *you* feel special when you're in the car, because the car makes you feel so damn good. Nobody else thinks you're special, you get the same treatment as anyone else....

[RobM77]

cyberface said:

I guess if people are angry then anything's a target.

That's a good way to look at it. I hate this sort of attention, and purposefully went for a dark blue Elise to try and blend in a bit. Curiously, I get more negative attention when the hard top's on - somehow maybe the car looks a little more expensive, and therefore incites more jealousy? I also get more positive attention with the hard top on - I once had a group of girls blowing me kisses and rubbing themselves on the side of my car at the lights. I didn't complain about that one mind you

[miro]

as long as they didnt have peircings that would leave odd looking scratches

[sramdeen]

Just about to collect my first Elise and this is one of my major concerns. Living in London (hell, I'm sure any town in the UK is just as bad...), I worry mainly about leaving it parked up anywhere in the evening and also attracting negative attention on a Friday/Saturday night if I have to pass through any town centre. Oh well, I can't be too paranoid and let it detract from enjoying the damn car! I'm just a bit sceptical about people.
S

[aelord]

sramdeen said:

Just about to collect my first Elise and this is one of my major concerns. Living in London (hell, I'm sure any town in the UK is just as bad...), I worry mainly about leaving it parked up anywhere in the evening and also attracting negative attention on a Friday/Saturday night if I have to pass through any town centre. Oh well, I can't be too paranoid and let it detract from enjoying the damn car! I'm just a bit sceptical about people.
S

When I lived in the 'hood in south east London until last December I had nothing but "Respec!" to my Exige. Endless big ups from lads in the street, filmed on countless mobiles and no vandalism overnight. So don't worry, you'll be The Don.

[Frik]

DucatiGary said:

ohh look at him thinking he's good in his dads car

Were you flattered?

[ganglandboss]

I had an experience recently with stones being thrown, scrotes spitting - the list goes on a short while back (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=15&t=429545 ).

I've not really had any abuse, but I have had a few jealous comments lately. I was in Halfrauds the other week buying some ramps. As I was at the till, I heard someone say my name. I turned around and it was the Scruffy useless ex deputy manager from a pub round my way. I spoke with him out of politeness and left the shop. Once outside, I was greeted by about four kids and, "Whoa! Is that a Lotus?", "Is it yours?" and "How fast does it go?". "Not as fast as it looks!" Came the reply, "It's not as quick as a 911!", he says, climing into a shagged out people carrier, "Have you got a 911 then?"

The other week I was in BMS (parts suppliers) and one of the apes was laughing because it had a K-Series engine to all the other reprobates and going on about HGF. When I was leaving, I saw him in the boot of his 'modified' Corsa chav-mobile. My response -