The bad, the worse, and the straight up crazies
 

I always think twice before I park or drive somewhere. Not sure if I'm just paranoid because the FRS is my first major purchase or if I'm just over exaggerating the stories I hear on here in my head. Regardless, it seems like if I park in the furthest spot in parking lot, I always walk out to at least one rusted old mini van parked right on top of me. Cops tailgating me has become a daily routine and mini vans trying to run of the road happen on occasion (for real).

My question for you guys...and ladies is, have you seen people damage other vehicles (FRS) or have road rage towards you?

I don't think it is FR-S specific, it is just that most people are oblivious to their surroundings and have placed themselves and their wants and needs above common sense and courtesy.

I have road rage towards everyone and I park on the closest available spot... no issues here.

Yes.

most people just don't care as much about there cars as some people do

id rather park in the furthest spot possible to avoid door dings and what not.
people don't care for property that isn't there


in my Previous car, i parked in no mans land, there were tons of parking spots around for people to park in, soccer mom van pulled in next to me while i was in the car, and the woman opened her door and banged into my car, i freaked out at her, she told me it was just a minor dent, cant even see it,



i actually parked the FRS the other day in Town on a busy street to go to a concert venue, i was worried the entire time thinking i was going to come outside and find scratches or dents on the car, i dont have faith in humanity at all


i also find the weirdest cars trying to race me or mess around with me on the street,

I don't know and it's a hard subject but do feel your pain. I had to stay in NC for a few months where I received the most damage to my car. I came out of a movie during matinee hours to find a door dig so deep it has to be repaired or l risk the paint flaking. (when I seen it I honestly thought it was intentional or someone was out for me. . . But wait a minute, I didn't know anybody there.)

I suffer from this level of paranoia as well. The FR-S is my DD, so I have to accept the fact that eventually, something will happen. However, I still do my best to park in spots that are less likely to leave me with dings (I think). I'd be lying if I said I haven't said to myself "Fuck this, I'm getting a Prius."

Can it be the more paranoid you are, the more crap just seems to happen to your car? Just relax and park next to whatever (except where you return shopping carts).

It's because these cars get dinged so easily. The metal is so flimsy, that even a light tap from a more solid car can cause a ding. I never had these worries in my last car (BMW E46). That thing felt like a tank compared to the BRZ.

I've had people try to run me off the road and do dumb shit like that. It's always driving through parts of town where this relatively average car becomes a high profile car, and rednecks in 80's mini trucks and mini vans try to ride me, race me, come over into my lane and do that kind of stuff. Other than that I work in Tampa so I don't have to worry about parking, not many reckless thoughtless people swinging their doors open or parking like assholes. I've had zero issues with cops.

I park my beatup pickup next to people like you on purpose.

No damage, just a little fun.

:cheers:

Can't tell you how many dings and scrapes I've gotten after a year and a half and it still manages makes me smile, and I'm smiling most when I can't be bothered to check out the paint.

You'll calm down eventually. I did a after a year and a half now. However you still avoid the really obvious stuff. I'll put all the shopping carts near me away if I have no choice. No wild shopping carts around me!

Honestly I often just take my Carolla if I am uncertain about an area I'm going to, or if I don't know if I'd be able to find parking that is suitable (too much criteria to meet for me to feel that my car is truly 'safe' there, but I at least try to find a spot that meets most of them - I like walking, so that is never the concern to me). I'm lucky that I at least have that option, but even given that, it is often stressful when I take out my FR-S. I also feel like I get stuck in the most BS situation while driving my FR-S - eg some lifted truck with huge wheel poke, or a bunch of garbage thrown in the back of the bed cuts me off and I'm stuck behind them unable to merge, or waiting to take my exit and I can't get away from them. The worst rock chip that I had touched up (but it still shows) happened to me just as I was exiting the freeway intentionally to get off of the freeway and take the back roads even though it was less gas efficient...so I could avoid rock chips. That was devastating (and left a dent that I had to get removed).

The only door ding I have on my car right now is from the single time I ever parked normally in a parking lot (usually I go for street parking, or I hunt down an edge spot and put my car right up near the curb so that there is an extra three or four feet between my car and the white line) was in a vacant lot except for one other car when I ran into a small restaurant to pick up a to-go order that I had called in. I think I was literally there for maybe a minute and a half, and when I came out I saw a teenaged Asian girl walking away from her car that she had parked right next to me (on my passenger side no less - if she at least had parked on the other side she wouldn't have had to open her door into my car). I think I was staring at her with my mouth slightly opened completely befuddled that she had parked next to me (and even on that side of my car) in a completely vacant lot in the time it took me to dash inside and back out. She just glared at me, and I couldn't see the ding at the time in the lighting, but I later noticed it in direct lighting and now it just sticks out like a sore thumb to me :(

I go out of my way to avoid touching, or damaging cars - even really gross ones that park really terribly next to me (in my Carolla) eg over the line and partly in my spot, etc. I don't understand how people can blatantly open their door fully into another car - especially when there is no reason to open the door that wide. It really is amazing to me how completely careless and stupid so much of the population is; it's down-right depressing.

I think it gets a bit easier the longer you've owned the car - you'll relax a bit, and be more rational about parking it (I still am extremely selective about where I park, but when I first got the car I would literally turn around and start walking back to the car (sometimes two or three times) if I saw someone approaching it that was just passing by).

But anyway, to make a long story short - yes, the struggle is real.

Had to spend a day at the Chrysler minivan plant in Windsor this week. Pulled up and asked security where visitors park. He pointed across the street and said "there with the employees". Was 1/2 hour to shift change and there were already cars lining up all over waiting for spaces (the parking lot is about 5 blocks long and 2 wide). After driving around the lot about 20 minutes I spotted a pickup truck backing out of a spot. When I looked down the lane there were about 6 cars floored in reverse trying to get there first (looked all the world like somebody just waved the green flag at a demolition derby). I managed to slip around the truck and pull in before they could get there as they kept cutting each other off. Sooooo... here I am parked in a sea of Ram trucks,300s, Dodge minivans, Challengers, Chargers, Darts and one lonely 1990s Honda and there are at least 6 people that are REALY pissed at this little import that got the spot they wanted. I avoided eye contact and went to my meeting where I sat and sweated for 6 hours.


PARANOID HELL YA!!!!!

I don't think it's road rage exactly, but I've had the same problem with people parking right next to my car when I park away from the crowd, and it only started when I got this car. There will be 30 empty spaces, and yet some idiot will park so close to my car that he's across the line. I have three dings on my passenger side where assholes have parked close enough to bang their doors into the tinfoil body panels.

Usually when someone parks close to me like that, I make sure to fold in both their mirrors before I leave.

As for police, this car is a cop magnet. I have never had the kind of attention from law enforcement that I've had since I bought this car. It doesn't help that mine is red.

It's definitely not your imagination.

I only avoid Walmart. People there give no.. Well you know. Anyways, everywhere else I Park where ever I see other niceish cars.

*sigh*

I've had one door ding and one really mild bumper tap. I had both repaired.

Usually it's trucks that give me problems. They can't seem to see me :(

I'm glad there's singled out spots in my parking garage at work. The only people that get there early enough for those typically are driving nice cars. If I get a ding here there's a problem. There's a pilar you can't see in the second photo that separates a single slanted spot from a row of 4 slanted spots. That single spot is just really wide.

They think I'm just really dedicated to my job to be there at 7:30 when we don't have to be in until 9, really I just don't want to park my car in those tight parking spots. I just drink coffee and go on CarFiend until 9:30/10

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps5655a445.jpg

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...psrulophjd.jpg

:laughabove:

Yes. This is the story of my life in a picture. lol

couldn't picture attached

This may be true, my last car I owned for 3 years I park anywhere did not get a single scratch, my frs however I got a door ding within a week of ownership, needless to say now I be real careful of where I park.

And yes, everybody and theirs grandma try to race me on the road.:clap:

I schedule appointments at the VA around parking availability. Get there early enough to get an isolated spot.

i am everyone. i always try to park open spot that no one parks next to me.

Why do you always back in?

I learned to drive on and have been driving trucks prior to this car. It's easier to back into the spot where nothing is moving then backing out of a spot where people and cars can get behind you. It's just habit now.

Encountered some crazy drivers/cyclists/pedestrians coming into the city today. Just this morning, almost got hit by:

1) Cab driver who didn't check his blind spot
2) Oncoming van driver trying to take a left into oncoming traffic without waiting
3) Cyclist who swerved into the car lane to avoid another cyclist in the bike lane (one of these idiots was going the wrong way in a one-way bike lane)
4) Homeless guy staggering around in the middle of a busy street

I've managed to daily-drive this car into the city for over a year without any dings/dents, but it feels like it's just a matter of time. Doesn't help that our cars are small and low. I'm glad for the Perrin exhaust, which helps make it a bit more conspicuous.

That is why I picked the Hot Lava! Closest thing to safety cone orange I could get.

Haha I just had a mental image of a huge orange safety cone on wheels driving down a city street. With a loud exhaust. That'd definitely get some attention.

Nothing pisses me off more than when I park litterally in the middle of no where of an already empty lot all the way in the back. ONly to come out to find someone parked right next to me.

You know why I parked out here, why do you insist on being an asshole

I've on a few occasions have had someone do that to me while I was still in the car. I then moved up a spot, when I get out they look at me like im some kind of asshole.

Sorry you parked kinda close.. dont trust you after you intentionally did so.

When I owned my FC I drove to the bank with my gf and while I was sitting there waiting for my gf to return some lady in a Monte Carlo pulled in. Without me noticing she was trying to park next to me. There was a large curb on one side and me on the other. All of a sudden I feel a bump and look in my drivers side rear view to see that she had just hit me. Before I could open the door to say WTF she gassed it and scraped all the way down until the front of my door. She jumped when she looked over and saw me in the car. When I got out to confront her her best excuse was "I DIDN'T KNOW ANYONE WAS IN THERE." Like it would have been ok if I wasn't in the car. Dumb-ass told the officer that same excuse too. He laughed.

I park the FRS in the middle of nowhere all the time. If I am unsure of where I am going/parking I drive the daily.

They are just accelerating normally, that's just how slow these cars are.


On topic, I try to park in areas where my cars won't be damaged, but if it happens, it happens. It's just a case.

Yep. Driving up to Michigan for the 4th. My cousin was driving this stretch (we were in my car), and we were going through a construction zone that narrowed the highway down to one lane. We were stuck behind a line of cars and a late 90s Explorer was tailgating us like crazy. Once the work zone ended he flew ahead, tailgating other people, cutting people off, and just driving like a general jackass. So my cousin started to get up behind him and threw the brights on him. The guy slams the brakes super hard, trying to brake check us. My cousin avoids it easily, and he does it again like 3 more times with us easily being able to avoid him. He flies off doing over 100. About 45min later after a pit stop we end up catching up to him on the same highway. We don't do anything, just driving by to pass him, and he swerves into our lane trying to force us off the road, nearly managed to do it too. He then slowed down a bunch, otherwise I was about to get his plate and call the cops on him.

My black Jeep has been hit twice by idiots who somehow didn't see it. I was seriously considering painting it traffic barrel orange with reflective stripes, then nicknaming it Traffic Barrel.

The only thing that changed my mind is that one of the local cab companies uses SUVs painted that color, and I'm afraid some drunk will get in my Jeep thinking it's a taxi.

I selected Lightning Red for my BRZ specifically for visibility. I think it actually does help, although it makes me a lightning rod for cop attention.

I once went to the mall on a weekday. It's a huge lot with practically no one there, and I parked in the back anyway just out of habit. Come out, see this:

http://i.imgur.com/7AEHW8a.jpg

????

Ya TRD exhaust and intake they can hear me too! Now if I could just cover taste, touch and smell I would have all the bases covered.

The bad, the worse, and the straight up crazies
 

Yea I'm always paranoid. Not because of the way this car looks but because what happened in the first 3 months of owning the car. It was parked outside of work and I'm about to go home and I see this on my rear quarter panel. No note, no contact of who did it. Ended up paying $1000 out of pocket to repair it. I was always careful of where I parked however after this accident I'm extremely paranoid and park the furthest. I park like 5 mins away from work where I see no cars at all.

Car is dirty cuz it happened during winter.
Attachment 88166Attachment 88167

Yeah I've got whiteout, which stands out a bit as well. Combined with my exhaust, I thought it'd make me a prime target for cops. Surprisingly, I haven't been pulled over in this car yet. Maybe owning a loud, bright-colored sports car is good for my driving habits :)

Had one cop follow me into and wave me over in a donut shop (cliché I know). Couldn't figure out what I had done. Turns out he wanted to know where I got the car and what I paid for it. Gave him the salesman's card and went on my way. I now know I am at least a little bit covered in that town!

Haha that probably got your heart rate going a bit! I've been asked by random people what kind of car this is and what I paid for it, but never a cop in uniform.

Speed CHECK, Seatbelt CHECK, Turn signal CHECK, Granny shift for exhaust noise CHECK,
WHY IS HE FOLLOWING ME???????????
WHY IS HE STOPPING?????????????
WHY IS HE WAVING AT ME??????????

Actually not only did we chat he bought me a coffee!!!!!!!