I am amazed at the lack of respect I have received on the road in the past 4 days in my Fit. I’ve been driving pdx rush hour for the past 20 years. While I don’t have to hit the bumper to bumper crap, I still have to join in with them on I5 for several miles. I have been cut off hard core by cars more in the past 4 days then the past year. There is a complete lack of respect when driving the Fit. I have experienced this before back in 2001 when I had an 88 Civic hatch as my daily car and S2000 in the garage. But it was never this bad. I drive maybe 10 total miles a day and that 10 miles have been dominated by drivers cutting me off so bad that they almost hit me. The kind that’s a quick pull up and then rapid change with no signal. I believe it absolutely true. People just don’t do that to you when you are in a $48K Lexus or a Subby Sti... maybe they think you can “catch” them or something. I was amazed at this when I had my Civic hatch and even more so now. I’ve been trying to take it easy in the new Fit and I’m finding now that I have to start riding the car in front of me for no other reason than to avoid the next crazy car zooming up to jam into the spot. Part of me thinks its also because Im not in the left lane traveling faster then the average traffic. Really grinds into you that you have to drive offensively out there.

 

Let them hit you get some insurance money and mabey go to the hospital and complain of neck pain.



I used to ride people in traffic jams when I had a 94 ford aero star just because if I didn't I had the same problem as you :/

 

lol it is true sometimes. I had to be careful with my vr6 jetta because i could maneuver it places before the average driver would expect it to do so. (But I don't drive like that much anymore.) Yeah, sometimes the Fit gets no respect, people just barge in or refuse to open a spot for a lane change. In the Z4, people expect me to drive like a maniac and give me openings unlike the Fit or Jetta -- and it irks people when I drive normally and then they blast around me maniacally.

I have had so many people try to merge into the side of my Fit, I don't know if it's a visibility issue, coincidence, or force-the-tiny-car-off-the-road attitude...

 

I know what you mean.
in my last car a subaru legacy, i was treated decently by all the douche drivers, never really had trouble keeping up or being left alone.
since i got my fit, all drivers just cut in front or ride my tail ridiculously hardcore. especially those huge freaking trucks that rednecks compensate with, ALWAYS pushing me to go faster when theres 3 other lanes open.
so yeah i drive like a grandma some days of the week, but not enough to warrant the treatment i get.

in short. i know what you mean.

 

i hate how i get no respect... its always the soccer mom types in huge SUVs that own the road! oo well... if they hit me i get $$$$$$$ to play with!

 

when ever someone cut me off i usually cut them off also ( in a good way)... as far respect nowadays your right about that

 

Record them on tape and label it "Insurance Fraud" on youtube.com with their license plate showing clearly. That's the best revenge you can get. If anything happens to them, then who cares, they deserve it for acting that way. LOL

 

Welcome to the 'big squashes little' philosophy. Its worse now that we little ones get so much better gas mpg. We used to be targets now we are hated targets. You think Fits get no respect pilot a motorcycle.
I used to drive I15 north from San twenty years ago and even then it was pretty bad for cvc Hondas.
Protect yourself by taping wrinkled drafting tape stripes of nearly same color on the side of your Fit to simulate side scrapes. Thats what friends in NYC did to protect their Porsche. They said it worked.

 

Hey y2ks2k, when you say you live in PDX, do you mean the Portland airport area? Forgive my ignorance.
If you live in any big city, you will just have to deal with asinine drivers. Here in Birmingham it isn't so bad (most of us Southerners still actually care about being nice), but just a hundred miles away, in Atlanta, it's unbelievable how careless and rude some others can be on the road. Bigger cities = more rudeness.
However, in my experience, it is no worse with the Fit than it was with my Camry. It does suck that you have to tailgate just to keep some moron from stuffing his car into your safety gap.

 

I live out of the way of the city but last night was my first trip to the "bigger city" in months and all I got was people tailgaiting me and people doing everything to cut me off and driving like assholes. I think most people are just pissed that while we putter along getting 35 mpg they're hauling ass getting less than half of that.

 

Just drive defensively and remember that anything they do to your Fit, you'll get compensation from them.

I could get better MPG, but that would nearly require my being run over in Memphis traffic. I shift at 3000-3500rpm just to keep up with the general flow of traffic. I've caught myself doing 10-15 over just to keep up; not that speeding like that matters much where I am. I've had cops pass me going 5-10+mph over and it's nothing new to me anymore.

Though in Memphis, I have more to fear. I went to court of a traffic violation. The line was a good 150 or so people (minor traffic violations for all) and guess what I heard over and over? (from the judge person) "You do realize that by paying this fine that your license will be suspended. Car insurance is legally required in the state of Tennessee." I was amazed how many people didn't have insurance.

Oh well. I'll just drive around the more affluent neighborhoods if I want to make sure I get compensation for damages.

 

One my little 5 mile trip into work this morning (10 minutes ago), on I5 I was cut off by an Audi A4 1.8T and a new Merc C300. A lady in a beater Pontiac was going for it (saw her coming up fast in the lane next to me even though there wasn’t a damn car behind me) but I blipped it in time and cut the distance between me and the MDX in front of me. That ended up in her changing lanes 1 foot of my rear bumper for which I slowed her arss down 15 mph for it (taking foot of accelerator). She then tried to slot me in the next lane change to get off the free way but I was expecting it.

I am amazed at this stuff. They just don’t do that to you in bigger, faster or more expensive cars.

It is kinda like they got a grudge that you have a brand new high mpg car (I don’t have plates yet).

 

Since I used to drive a big van I actually used to try and take up as much space possible when I saw someone driving like an ass hole and would purposely stop people from switch lanes just because I saw them cut someone else off or saw them being jerks.

 

Ever box a car in? I do that sometimes, too.

 

It's psychological man. Sorry to say, most folks see the Fit, or any other econo car for that matter and assume its a slow car/driver. They will do whatever retarded thing they can to get around you. Happens to me even when I am doing 80. They come up behind, pass, then seem to realize shit they are speeding then slow down. Basically making their passing useless and retarded, but they still do it.

Ignorant people...cant live with em...cant shoot them...

 

I do that too. I hate it when people drive up on my rear bumper.

 

I have the most fun at night with your issue. When people cut me off real close at night I really tend to piss them off. They will be next to me and all a sudden cut in, then while they dance in relief that they are ahead, I flip on my HID highbeams... all i see is the drivers hand go up to his forehead to block the light and the passenger looking back squinting... after a few seconds they realize I did not accidently flip them on and they proceed to flip me off. I personally enjoy it because it is a non-violent way of saying, "thats what you get for HAVING to be in front so bad ^_^"... then i proceed to get next to them, stare em down, and drive my fit into their back fender, spinning them sideways and then attempting to slam into the driver door, all while watching the driver panicking and moving his mouth to say sorry to me through his now broken window... mmmm.... oh sorry, i was daydreaming for a sec

 

I get cut off at least once every day in my 60 mi commute. I drove to D.C. last weekend & got some more of the same... I think that our area gets alot of tourists that don't give a sh!t and they jump right on top of you w/o a turn signal while holding their phone to their ear...oblivious to the rest of the world!!

 

I like that but i dont have HID hi beam...

I just normally cruise at my own pace and if some one is speeding up and comming up close to me then ill be fine moving into the slower lane.
If someone cuts another person off then i feel fine cutting them off in return. If I am in the slow lane and someone is tailing me then i guess they can follow me at the speed limit or slower (60-65mph). what also helps me is thinking about all the money i am saving in our super cool cars while those bigger cars are speeding, wasting more gas, and money.!

 

Just this past week a driver in NY had a gun pointed at him by an overly aggressive motorist, so maybe in todays road-rage climate tit-for-tat isn't the way to go. Then again I do my commute to work on my bicycle, which has ass-hat driver situations of a whole 'nother level. Every day's a challenge just to arrive in one piece.