When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
It seems every drive I take someone ends up tailgating me. It seems that even corollas want to show me who is faster. Every time I drive to San Antonio from Houston on I10 several pickup trucks are determined to tailgate and pass me. I do get tired of spanking these knuckle draggers. Last time I had the 911 up to 130 mph was to put miles between an old pickup truck who continued to weave in and out of traffic to be on my tail like flies on dung. Does this happen to you?
Last edited by David Berry; 09-08-2023 at 01:16 PM.
The large pickup trucks are the worse offenders. Curse of owning a Porsche.
All trucks, especially the jacked up ones, have their headlights at my eye level. Self dimming mirrors are of no help.
They are nuisances deliberately. 🤬
Top offenders in Los Angeles, Old 1990's Mercedes Benz, Toyota Prius, Volvo SUV's, Tesla SUV, Range Rovers.
I have remarked on many occasions to my wife that I am doing absolutely nothing when someone runs up the back of the car, she thinks I am insane.
Ok I thought that was just me! Yes I get it all the time. Same thing at stop lights, whoever is beside me wants to drag off green - even the guy in a 1979 wood panel-siding chevy station wagon!
Happens all the time, On the highway, stoplights you name it. The funniest are the rice boxes….at a stoplight a row or two over and a couple cars back revving their fart cans. I ignore it most of the time, but if the conditions are right, I give them what they are asking for lol.
My biggest concern and absolute fear is that I may need to suddenly stop due to a pothole, road debris, sudden lane change by another car, etc.
The fear comes from knowing that my brakes, because they are engineered that way, will stop me quickly and safely. However, that guy that's pestering me by tailgating will not have the brakes that I have nor the distance to keep him from climbing inside my engine compartment.
And the situation doesn't stop there. Then comes the ridiculous insurance payouts due to questionable depreciations, haggling over what can be fixed versus replaced and last but not least, the 2+ weeks you'll be without car.
All that because some yahoo wanted to show or prove that his POS was as good and fast as your Porsche.
My biggest concern and absolute fear is that I may need to suddenly stop due to a pothole, road debris, sudden lane change by another car, etc.
The fear comes from knowing that my brakes, because they are engineered that way, will stop me quickly and safely. However, that guy that's pestering me by tailgating will not have the brakes that I have nor the distance to keep him from climbing inside my engine compartment.
And the situation doesn't stop there. Then comes the ridiculous insurance payouts due to questionable depreciations, haggling over what can be fixed versus replaced and last but not least, the 2+ weeks you'll be without car.
All that because some yahoo wanted to show or prove that his POS was as good and fast as your Porsche.
If you're interested, ask me how I know!
And unlike most other cars... all the expensive stuff is in the back.
Years ago a friend told me to be careful of tractor trailer drivers when driving Porsche. He encountered some ugly stuff. Also dip-Sh:ts on motorcycles.
As a habit when taking long drives years ago (before all the road rage shootings these days)I would carry a bag of nuts/bolts in my door pocket. Also have a lead Billy Club my dad gave me.
It's probably 15 years ago when I was driving my 1983 911sc Cabriolet w/top down on I5 heading from Seattle to Los Angeles. During the drive it was starting to get dark and I passed a tractor trailer and the driver threw cigarette butt out and hit my windshield like a nuclear explosion. Totally freaked me out.
Was a nasty thing to do and I could see him laughing when I passed him.
Took me a few minutes to settle down but then I slowed down in front of him and as hard as I could threw a handful of nuts and bolts up high in air and behind me. He started sounding his horn. I'm sure I fvcked up his windshield and front end paint. I took off and exited on some side roads for a while. Took 101 south as diversion when paranoia set in ibcase he radio'd ahead to his big rig buddies.
I don't recommend or suggest anyone do this. Thse days you'd probably be shot.
Last edited by groovzilla; 09-08-2023 at 04:21 PM.
happens a lot, everyone wants to pass the Porsche, I get the Big Ram trucks, the young males in the winged WRXs, I get the Hondas with the red H badge. Sometimes I get them passing me on the right, very bad move, especially in Germany (I'm not in Germany), but I remember being on the Autobahn and my friend told me the rules of the road there. I think my most exciting event was the Honda minivan, brand new, Sport version (I guess there is such a thing?) Chalk with black wheels passing me very quickly, of course on the right. Oh well, I made her day. I do recall one unfortunate Porsche experience though, I was entering on the ramp to the highway in my 987.2 Spyder and right up on me was a Porsche Macan driven by a young male, as I got onto the highway, he gunned it and passed me on the left (no option, the right-hand side was the shoulder) never giving me a chance to fully get in my lane. I guess I made his day. I never engage it's not safe and would make me feel dumb.
I have lived in LA since 2000 and I have had at least a half dozen cars here from an 85 Civic hatch to my 911. Every car I have ever driven in here I get tailgated in ruthlessly. I get tailgated in every lane of the highway, on streets, in school zones, even in parking lots. I have even done experiments out of boredom where I go a week ONLY driving in each lane unless there is an obstacle to see if any lanes are worse/better. It is all the same. I have also driven all my wife's EVs and her previous ICE cars. No change. The one thing I noticed about tailgaters is that they are usually driving like that because they are in a POOP CAR. If I am speeding and driving like that it is either because there is 0 traffic and I am having fun somewhere, or I GOTTA POOP!! lol.
However, I came to say that the lights thing is clearly strategic and has happened in every car I have had because since 92, I lower every car I have had. I also have friends with trucks and etc. that corroborate this by telling me their stratedgy to either blind people more efficiently or NOT blind people. Clear(ish) tint (e.g. 70+) and auto dimming mirrors helps but it is still super annoying. 50% tint and down progressively eradicates this issue. I have noticed my friends with euro-privacy glass levels of tint or just privacy windows do not have the issue but I like my 911 with clear windows unfortunately, so you have to pay the truck nuts tax.
You guys are driving too slow - most of the time no one can keep up if I am zigging/zagging thru moderate traffic. In fact, I will ride up on other 911 Porsches who are driving like gramma (can't stand that, I mean come on, but I am not an a'hole about it) to egg em on some to have some fun if conditions allow.
Only once was I harassed (yelling obscenities at me, swerving into my lane) by some "Deliverence" type hillbillys in a truck from PA traveling in Jersey, but I quickly lost em.
09-08-2023, 12:46 PM
How often are you tailgated?
