Kaijuu's Blog

There must be something about small cars that drive most people in larger cars nuts. Seriously.
I drive a Renault Twingo; cute little car, great ride and it's speedy when it needs to. Power-to-weight ratio is brilliant; with 960kg empty weight and a 1.2 liter 16v engine, pulling up at traffic lights and getting up the ramp onto the motorway is no problem for this car. But, for some reason, people in V70-like Volvo's, BMW's, Mercedeses and larger Renaults (oh, and don't forget Saabs and Rovers, but more on that later) always seem to fear that I need about a half an hour to get to the desired speed, as they tend to roar past me. Sometimes even on both sides (when I'm driving on the right side of the road even), passing me with a speed some 20kph higher than mine (and I stick mostly to the allowed limit).

What's with you people?

It's even worse when I overtake one of aforementioned brands on the motorway because they are on the slower side of 120kph; I can guarantee you that I get overtaken by that car some 20 seconds later. My best guess is that the owner feels belittled or something, being taken over by something that small, and he (it's always a bloke) needs to find his masculinity again.
Yes, last time I checked, I'm a guy as well.

Don't get me wrong; sometimes I'm just as bad when I encounter some geezer in a Daihatsu Move or something similar, doing 70 where 80 is allowed, but I feel that is a tad different; I try to get where I want to be in a timely manner, and I'd like to get past people who apparently have trouble remembering that 80 is a default speed limit for secundary roads, unless the signs say otherwise. ;) But the fury by which some motorists tend to zip past me is unsurpassed in most cases.

Saab and Rover-drivers are the worst, by the way. I'm not into cars the way some people are; a friend of mine can't get enough of them and sometimes really needs to control himself not to start yapping away about the new improvements on Mazda's latest model.
I'm someone who knows what he likes and dislikes, and I kind of try to keep track on the basics, but don't ask me about the numbers on Ferrari's special limited model or something similar; it's no of any interest to me. I like to watch Top Gear very much, but that's more because I like the style of the program, instead of being a petrol-head.

Anyway, as said: Saab and Rover-people are the worst.
It's like they need to compensate on something, because they know fully well that those two brands aren't really meant to be on the road in the first place. Naturally, they are capable of going fast, are street-legal and some of them aren't that bad-looking. But that's where it ends, as Saabs and Rovers have something over them that says "I missed out on something when I was a kid, and now I'm trying to compensate. And I'm compensating extra by zooming past that little guy in his little car, and I don't care if I'm doing 150 already; let's run it past 180 and endanger my driver's license in the process." Somehow, Saabs and Rovers come with very ugly paint as well (some undistinct tint of green for Rovers and most often something silver-y for Saabs), and with a large touch of chrome in all the wrong places.

The needless speeding ticks me off sometimes. We're all trying to get somewhere; take it easy, leave your house on time, keep your blood pressure in mind and save some fuel in the process.
And for those who don't; I hope you all fail to pay attention to speed cameras, while I have fun driving the little Twingo. ;)

Another plus; I manage to park it almost anywhere I want to, without hitting anything or needing to take a bit of sidewalk.
Thank god for small cars.

Cheers, K.