Road manners

dan_b

dan_b

A2OC Donor
Ok, I've had my A2 for about 3-4 weeks now and I have to say I love driving the car. What I'm not loving though is the seeming invisibility cloak I seem to be shrouded in when I'm driving it. I swear I have never been cut up, baulked, tailgated and generally squeezed so much in my entire 15 years of driving. Maybe it's just me, but I never got this much lack of road space in any of my previous cars.

Does anybody else find this? Today I tried driving with my headlights on dipped all day (daylight running!) and that seemed to make a difference, at least until I nearly got squashed by an oncoming double decker bus, who then proceeded to verbally abuse me leaning out of the window whilst I had my 2-year old in the car. Nice.

Any tips to stave this off, other than moving the heck out of London?!
 
dan_b said:
Any tips to stave this off, other than moving the heck out of London?!
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It's London mate need I say more? ;)

Other than putting a 'Child on Board' sign in back window, little else can you do. I suppose you can plaster it with CCTV RECORDING in BIG letters ... hmmm what else ;)

There used to be a bumper sticker saying 'Keep your distance' used to alert me to do that and in my opinion it worked.


:cool:
 
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Having owned my A2 for about 5 weeks , I too have noticed this. I previously had a an S4 which had enough bulk to be noticed and prior to that a new 911 which had the opposite effect that people would stop at junctions, mini roundabouts even when it was their right of way,,,very odd.

Without attempting to get myself into too much trouble, maybe it is the size thing or an expectation that a woman may be driving the A2?
I find on a busy 2 way road with cars parked either side, the A2 enables me to make progress while staying on my side of the road, it is the larger on coming traffic which has to cross the line to proceed.... of course van drivers are the exception to the rule, I always work on the theory that if they had a double digit IQ they would not be driving a van, so keep out of their way!
I think there is a fine balance here where the advantages of manouvering a small car on Londons roads just about edges through.
 
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I actually don't seem to have this issue where I am (not too far from london), people tend to notice me, maybe it's something to do with the fact I have a bright red car!
 
It is not just the A2, it is the perceived speed and assumed willingness to yield. I'm sure they all see you, just that they think you'll yield.

In London, the more distance you have between your and the car in front, the more likely people will take advantage of it. With a narrower car like the A2, there is more space for rude drivers to nudge in because you occupy less width in your lane. Drive closer to one edge of the lane, closer to the parallel cars in the next lane, they will resist making a move to cut you up. Same effect if you were driving much wider car. This is just London :). However, this is by no means defensive or good driving. It is the little gestures, signal of intent, that you make on the road which will affect how other people think. But yes, driving a smaller car, you're automatically at a disvantage.
 
small is unnoticed

I often had trouble being cut of and tailgated etc because the a2 is a small car. I solved this by .........................:confused:
 
..Had a Smart Car for a year.. now that was a joke at times! The roundabout near my work was like a death trap for me.. :( Not had the same problem with my A2 thankfully :)
 
yeah it's real...but love it!

OK I have a 10 year old Volvo V40 2.0CD and an 03 FSI.
The Audi is MILES faster than the Volvo.

Nobody ever tries to overtake me in the volvo. EVER.

In the A2 I must have an attempted overtake at least one a week.
It's great fun though as the A2 is faster than most cars, so when I see them positioning for an overtake I just floor it in 4th and they soon get the idea.

I honestly think that most rep-mobile driving muppets see the A2 and think "mum driving Vauxhall Meriva, must get past"

Might get an Audi Allroad when the Volvo gets retired, surely no-one overtakes them?

It ain't the speed, its the car.
 
I Have the same problem going down the Reading to Bracknell Rd (A329)theres a big roundabout at the end of the road just as you get into Bracknell and i swear that people have blinkers on or tunnel vision when there going around it as evertime i go to Guildford i swear i reckon it would be safer to actually negotiate the roundabout anticlockwise LOL !!!
 
well FSI gets to 60 in about 9 seconds, but has lots of grunt through the range.
Given that its a 1.6 injection engine in a shell a lot lighter than most 4 door hatchbacks that makes it faster than well over 50% of cars. That equals most in my book.
OF course there are many faster cars, but I said most, not nearly all.
 
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