GR86 "That's a fresh whip bruv"; or the Toyota GR86 collated feedback thread

Not sure if it was the car, but on a long drive home from my parents last night, I seemed to attract all sorts of dickheads. Heading from Thetford back to Kent, the M11 was closed near Stanstead, so I decided to take a slower but more direct route down through Bury, Sudbury, Braintree and Witham to join the A12. Actually quite enjoyed the drive most of the way (lots of empty, fast flowing A-roads most of the way) until I came through Witham and ended up getting tailgated by various mouth breathers (culminating in being pushed along the slip road onto the A12 by a decatted diesel Seat Leon with 4D plates and window tints) who showed me who was boss by making sure he got straight into the outside lane and booted it past me as we joined the carriageway. Mate...I'm just trying to get home. I'm really not interested that your diesel hatchback is faster than me. Go away.

Then on the A12, got harassed by some dickhead in an X5, who, after I overtook him, got right up close to my rear bumper then pulled out alongside me and just sat there - whether goading me to race or just trying to take a look I don't know, but I just ignored it and pulled off toward the M25. Where I immediately ran into an Audi Q7 waiting at the junction, who promptly took offence at me timing my approach so I could efficiently roll past him just as the lights went green, by booting it off the line and then not bothering to stay in the lanes of the roundabout, thus causing me to swerve (because he's in an Audi and absolutely must not let anyone pass him).

To be fair, it might just be because it was a Sunday night in Essex, rather than anything to do with the car, but I couldn't help thinking that I'd have had less trouble in something more mundane. Apart from the Audi driver - he wouldn't of known what I was in, but of course, he was in a massive Audi which always appears to be inversely proportional to the size of the drivers' manhood, and driving like a tool seems to be mandatory anyway.

Rant over :(
 
Conscript said:
Stuff about bellends
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Sounds like you just had one of those days on the road my good man.

I know it's wrong to stereotype (and I am well aware of the risk of said attitudes, having recently done my unconscious bias training!); but my own driving experience has involved encounters with folk driving the cars you cite, over the years. Crucially, much of this has occurred when driving our other car The Modest Japanese Supermini.

Therefore, my hypothesis is that it wasn't you, or the car; you simply encountered some bellends.
 
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On a more positive (and probably more thread-worthy) note, I got some praise from the cashier at a petrol station a couple of weeks ago.
Pay at pump was down, so I had to go in and talk to Real Humans to give them my money. Said Real Human was a young guy who's opening line was "Car looks well slow mate!". I assumed he was being somewhat facetious so I just sort of went "Ehh, yeah, lol!".

Then he asked what it was, and the question I kind of dread "Looks fast actually...how fast is it?"

I mean...how do you answer that? Does he want the exact top speed? Acceleration figures? Power? Quarter-mile times? None of which I really had to hand. And even if I did, it feels somewhat nerdy to stand and reel them off.
Does he just want my subjective analysis? In which case, how do I answer without looking like a bit of a dick?
Do I just say "Yeah its WELL FAST MATE! :)" and look like an egotistical prat, especially if he actually knows that it's not really a fast car?
Or do I launch into a diatribe about how it's not really all that fast, but what is fast? And do you really need a fast car to have fun? All of which I felt might be lost on a young man who only seemed to be interested in how "fast" it was.
Or do I maybe stare him straight in the eye and say "She'll make point-five past lightspeed" and hope he's enough of a Star Wars fan to get the joke?

In the end I think I just muttered "It's fast enough for me, hehe :S", to which he smiled and wished me well and said it looked lovely, so I took that compliment and scuttled back to my vehicle.

I don't talk to people that often :(
 
"0-60 in about 6 seconds, but really fast through the corners cos it's got great handling. Thanks for your interest, what do you drive yourself?"

Simple, accurate, truthful, not boasting, polite, shows appreciation, demonstrates interest in them and their car.

I do talk to people very often (too often)...
 
Silver Fox said:
I do talk to people very often (too often)...
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One small piece of feedback and one road encounter, for your delectation.

1. Picked up a mate last night who hadn't seen the car yet and went out for a (actually very fine) curry. His thoughts: "Wow, that's fantastic"; and then climbing in "bloody hell it's a bit low isn't it".


2. The encounter: Had some ridiculous tailgating (in the manner of that described by comrade @Conscript above); beyond the level of "getting a bit close" and into "I may have to remonstrate here" territory. Thankfully the cretin soon went another way so there were no collisions or other unhappy incidents to report.

The vehicle was one of those somewhat vulgar new big Cupra things: The Tormentor, or Dominator, or Sodomizer (sadly almost what happened), or whatever they are called.

(Note I have nothing against Cupra/SEAT. My first (in my view) properly 'fast' car (above 200hp) was the first Leon Cupra R, 20-odd years ago.)
 
Oddly enough on the subjects of Seats, I had an Ibiza FR park up next to me in a hotel car park the other night and got "Nice car mate"

We can't go tarnishing them all with the same brush!
 
ZN8 said:
Oddly enough on the subjects of Seats, I had an Ibiza FR park up next to me in a hotel car park the other night and got "Nice car mate"

We can't go tarnishing them all with the same brush!
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Absolutely!
 
Watched another van slow down as he drove past the house earlier, driver craning his neck to look at my car as he did so. Hopefully just an admirer, although I admit after hearing of the theft of another car which happened up our road a few months ago, I am highly suspicious of any attention.

¬_¬
 
Silver Fox said:
"0-60 in about 6 seconds, but really fast through the corners cos it's got great handling. Thanks for your interest, what do you drive yourself?"

Simple, accurate, truthful, not boasting, polite, shows appreciation, demonstrates interest in them and their car.

I do talk to people very often (too often)...
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Just say 0-100 in 6.5 secs.

leave them to work out if you mean KPH or MPH
 
Popped out earlier for a spirited drive and was pushing it (legally) on a national speed limit road, wheels spun up in 3rd, resulting in a decent high speed shimmy, and saw someone open mouthed filming me with his phone. 🤣

Not sure if he thought I was a total t**t, knew what the car was, is currently forwarding the clip to the police or mildly feared for his life 🤣
 
First few months I didn't get much feedback. Lately I have.

Was sitting at lunch yesterday, colleague of mine saw me park in the morning and said "I was wondering whose car that was, nice man".
The whole table started to listen and chimed in. One guy asked how much it had cost, I asked "what do you think?" He said "200.000€?"
Clearly he doesn't know * about cars but some people do seem to think it's something reaally exotic :D
 
WpR said:
First few months I didn't get much feedback. Lately I have.

Was sitting at lunch yesterday, colleague of mine saw me park in the morning and said "I was wondering whose car that was, nice man".
The whole table started to listen and chimed in. One guy asked how much it had cost, I asked "what do you think?" He said "200.000€?"
Clearly he doesn't know * about cars but some people do seem to think it's something reaally exotic :D
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And you replied.........?

Yeah actually more like €250,000 with options mate
 
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