Rude people

[dtruax]

I have read several posts in the past about this topic, but it still puzzles me. I don't know why the VX creates such anger in people. Yesterday, I was blasted twice within 5 minutes by two seperate rednecks in two seperate trucks.

The first one yelled "how much did you pay for that piece of shi$! About 6 blocks later, a couple of good-ole boys in a white 70's bronco yelled "that car is fuc&%ing ugly!

I've seen posts about pepple leaving rude notes on VXs and outright being blasted. It normally comes from guys in trucks.

Whats the deal, any thoughts?

[Dallas4u]

Yeah, here's my opinion... people in general have bad taste. I'm not saying we have the absolute best looking auto ever made and everyone in the world should like it, but seriously, take a look at people's houses (interior and exterior decor), clothes, cars, makeup, hair styles... etc. On average, my guess that the average person is overweight, dumpy, and doesn't care oneway or another about how they themselves or things they own look. I think most people just live to work, eat, and sleep.

Now, it takes someone with creativity, imagination, and courage to step out of the norm and take pride. Yeah, you can drive around in auto that they produce by the 10's of thousands, drive around, and make fun of anyone that isn't a simple, stupid person like themselves... but most people just stay around their own kind, and sooner or later evolution will take care of them.

[ron]

It's funny how people would result to anger and destructive behavior when they feel threatened.

I, too, have had my share of harrassment over the years of owning a VX everything from verbal abuse to downright tailgating. Best is to ignore them and shrug it off.

However, there may be those "special" times when you DO need to say something back. This is, of course, NOT encouraged or recommended for anyone to do.

My best comeback to a spontaneous insult was when someone shouted at me, from the sidewalk while at a red light, "That car sucks, man!" And I glanced at the fellow and his friends around him and shouted back, "Not as good as your Momma!" Then smiled and drove off on green. I looked back on the side mirror and saw his jaw dropped with his friends laughing at him like he wasn't really expecting ANY comebacks from a person who drives an "ugly car".

[nyc #1 ironman]

Yeah babyyyyy, go boy....

[VXcaver]

What Dallas4u had to say is right on. In my opinion the Vehicross is a truck for people with a creative spirit. I can't think of another vehicle around that's inspired more individuality and creativity among its owners. I was checking out nyc#1ironman's (awesome) pictures yesterday and I got to thinking about this.

Personally, I've never had any of the negative reactions from people, but I get a lot of questions and comments. (About fifteen years ago I drove a Lotus Europa and for me that was the vehicle that generated the negative reactions!!) Anything that expresses individuality will offend some people, but the ones who take it to the next level and make angry comments about someone else's car must live in a pretty small world. That's too bad for them, really, because I think those attitudes must carry over into other areas of life.

[Amack76]

hey dallas just so you know i just printed out 10 copies of what you said and put them in my glove box to hand out to the simpletons you so miticlously discribed

[Joe_Black]

As a Trooper owner I never caught too much flack from anyone, especially while I was towing them out of some bog. LOL! But my "toy" vehicles have gotten the same kind of reaction. My last one, the Merkur XR4Ti, was pretty easy to respond with. Just step on the gas and look in the mirror for the dropping jaws. Fortunately with the VX I haven't encountered anyone brazenly open about their lack of appreciation for things from outside the box.

[Dallas4u]

I'm glad I can be of some inspiration!

[Heraclid]

There are people who truly believe the Vehicross is an unsightly vehicle. Some may be assinine enough to tell you so. But in general I think it is jealousy and not simple dislike that motivates these people.

I think ignoring these folks is the best tactic. Know that they are petty and probably jealous of your ride, and secure in that knowledge, you can let it go in one ear and right out the other. No silly match of insults is necessary that may end up in your Vehicross being vandalized. Smile back and let it go. That will probably eat away at them worse than anything you could possibly say, because then your self-assuredness and your couldn't care less what they think attitude, for them, reaffirms their feelings of inadequacy and makes them feel real small. You don't have to tell these people they're lame - the truth being told, they already know it.

I have experienced some of this at my workplace. People were definitely jealous of my new ride, particularly since a few of them had just gotten new ones and then here comes mine getting more attention and trumping theirs. And then there are just people who earn more or occupy a higher position in the company whom I am convinced are upset that I have something better than they do when they consider me beneath them. It threatens their feelings of superiority. Plus everyone knows my parents just bought the office manager's RV and it was a good sum of money, which compounds the whole haves vs. have-nots thing further.

I was off-roading at the Florida meet a few weeks ago and experienced the alternator (voltage regulator short) problem, and I swear several people took some real pleasure out of that. They could tell themselves my truck was a POS and that made them feel better. To one, it meant his Nissan pick-up could off-road better than mine. His truck has cardboard under it some days because of leaks and often he doesn't drive it to work because it has this or that problem. For another it meant his new SUV was just better because it was at least running. His is nowhere near as capable and he knows he has a lot less power under the hood. Another saw the Porsche license frame (I got it from a dealer who took it as a trade-in towards a Porsche) and said I should have gotten a Porsche (he used to drive an old one that didn't start half the time), like that's so much better than a Vehicross. Hey, not to me - I have never understood what anyone sees in a Porsche, sorry. I happen to think THOSE are truly ugly.

It is the same as with any expensive sports car or what have you - certain people who refuse to accept any responsibility for their own lives will hate you for it because they don't have it and they think the world has cheated them and life isn't fair and why don't they have that, blah, blah, blah. This vehicle of ours taps into peoples' jealousy that someone may have something better, more unique, more attention-getting than they have. So really, you should consider the envy a compliment. I suspect the vast majority of people don't think our Vehicrosses are that ugly - it's just something they say to try to take you down a peg or two. Meaning they think you're a peg or two higher than they are. So don't let it bother you one little bit. :-)

[AlaskaVX]

I pulled up next to a WRX and everyone in it was looking at it for what must have been a minute, so I rolled down the windows thinking they where going to ask what it was. A guy in the back said that it looked like a shoe, then the other passengers followed, I don't like it, It's ugly, etc. Then the driver finally spoke and said "That thing is cool, 3.5 V6 I bet that has some balls huh" I of course said "hell ya" then asked the others in the back what they drive, they just kept looking at my car and the driver said "they're with me what do ya think" I smiled a big grin and then the light turned green and we drove off.

I believe jellousy has a big part in people clowning a VX. I have also heard a lot of people say that "man, I didn't like these when I first saw them but now that I really look at it it's pretty BAD!"

[hitnrun74]

I get it all the time. I think certain areas of the country are worse than others. I live in a middle to upper-middle class area. All of my neighbors are okay, and I never get any grief around here. God forbid I drive to work though. Every P.O.S. 70's pickup with 2 different colored doors, and rust holes in the bed has to have a redneck with a problem in it. I get no end of crap once I get into the urban areas of northeastern Ohio. The country is fine, the suburbs are fine, but once I drive to any area that's a little lower income, I catch hell. I must hear "Buy American!" a thousand times a week. Nobody says that to a guy in an 84 Honda. I think some people just refuse to accept the fact that they're resposible for where they're at in life. I work hard to be able to afford the things I want. I'm a high-school grad, navy veteran with nothing considered higher education or professional skills, yet I somehow managed to make a good life for myself. I work in the projects constantly and it all comes down to this---Some people just have an f'ed up sense of entitlement.

[Heraclid]

hitnrun74,

Dude, you said it very well indeed! I agree completely. Well done, sir.

Hey, I've been in those parts before. My wife is from the area - she grew up in Navarre, Massillon, Canton, and Carrollton. Used to work for the Canton Chamber/Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I can sympathize a little with the buy American crowd, but I'll buy the better
product and if America makes it I'd love to support it, but if not, well America needs to get with the program, ya know? I am a patriotic sort to be sure, but I am a capitalist participating in a free-market economy, too, and I see no sense in limiting my options at the expense of quality.

I think some people think the VX is too "pretty" or "fancy" and don't think it has the capabilities it does. I mean, it does almost look too slick to be tough. Cool thing is, it's both.

[WyrreJ]

This is probably blasphemy, but from some angles the VX ain't too pretty. Kind of like Sarah Jessica Parker, sometimes she looks as hot as a supermodel, but sometimes she's got that real horseface thing going on. So too the VX, although our problem tends to be less of the horseface and more of an ungainly looking rear-end.

I think some people have got a lot of crap going on in their lives that they can't do a thing about. These people get a glimpse of the VX from one of her more unflattering angles and their gut says, "ah hah, now I can get some of my frustrations out by ripping on somebody for being so stupid as to buy a fugly car." So, they do.

These people need love, and their attacks on the VX are just a cry for help!

[SPAZZ]

I get them all the time...here and there....people constantly making a scene or honking their horn for you to notice them...just so they can give me the thumbs down or some rude comment.
but, they usually are the ones who are trying to keep up and making idiots of themselves trying to pass me and they are doing it way too dangerously just to try and back their remark.
Also, almost everytime when Swordy and I go wheeling...we always wind up being the ones to pull some one else out of their broke situation..;Dp; I love it!!!! Never fails...we always wind up talking some one into wheeling with us......Only found a couple of people who could hang without breaking something.
Who knows why people have a negetive attitude about the VX
insecurity, inpotent, etc.....????

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

My Dad hated my VX when I first got it 'cause he is a steel worker and always encouraged me to buy American. I was able to diffuse the situation buy reminding him about his "Chevota"....A early 70's Toyota Landcruiser with a chevy motor! He said that was a used piece of crud I bought when I couldn't afford nothing else....I then reminded him of how small a percentage of American parts actually compose an American vehicle. I once read where the most American made car was the Honda Accord built in Marysville, Ohio with something like 67% domestic parts.
I then told him how GM owns 50% of Isuzu and showed him the Recaro seats and GM logo on the radiator and Borg Warner FWD system. I also told him how many foreign parts go into the American GE Locomotives I help build for a living. That being said.. I would like to change gears and relive an experience at work I had with a coworker. He just bought a brand new Jeep Wrangler and made the mistake of parking it next to my VX. It was funny 'cause I almost never drive it to work. Usually drive my Fiero. But, as fate would have it, he lead one coworker after another out to see his jeep; only to have them swoon over my VX and ask "who's vehicle is that?" I only found out later when he
was acting jealous by saying stuff like, "I'm glad I spent my money wisely and bought a real 4X4...How much did you spend for that piece of Jap Junk?" I just said, " I bought it for me, not you!" Later, through mutal friends I found out what happened!
I just chalked it up as a little jealousy.

Remember what Patrick Swayze says in "RoadHouse"....Be Nice...Ask them to leave but BE NICE....If they won't leave...Make them Leave....but, be NICE....it's nothing personal! LOL!