Funny story...

[Rockhound]

So my wife and I were a few minutes late heading out to meet our friends for dinner, so I was driving a little faster than normal from light to light. While I must emphatically state that I *do not* endorse road racing, I enjoy a little green-light romp as much as the next guy. So I was sitting at a red light, and I see a car approaching the intersection in the lane beside me in my rear-view mirror. Before the car reaches the intersection, the light turns green and I hear their bumblebee muffler roar as they floor it. Without thinking, I give the Versa a little more throttle than normal and get up to the speed limit faster than this other car.

Then, I see this S13 hatch go by in the other lane - the driver, a teenager with his jaw in his lap - thoroughly checking out the Versa, gives me a nod, and then floors it well beyond the speed limit. I just gave a nod back, and couldn't help but laugh a little, as the look on his face was priceless. Just thought I'd share...

[evoxpisces]

Yay go Versa!

[Demonspawn]

i have noticed the this car has a little surprise every once and awhile.

i dont endorse street but a susuki forenza here in town same color as mine but he had a coffee can. we just happened to be at a light going into a 55 mph zone.

my wife also has a same year forenza but no ways modded cause she thinks it imature to mod but i digress..

needless to say we were in a race lol

no compition i dusted his @#%

[KimberKenobi]

ROFL!

I beat out an Altima once... it was an older one... don't know about engine mods, but it sounded buzzy and had disc brakes on all four wheels... Guy was pretty pissed. I was just able to climb gears more efficiently (since I don't shift) and I don't think he was anticipating that I may actually give him a bit of run for his money.

[xtwoonamatchx]

yeah, around here, all the kids my age have wrx's, mustangs... the kind of cars they shouldnt have... but ill mess around with them... i by no means race, but ill accellerate fast, get some tires squealing (not on main roads, im not dumb)... i remember i was following a dodge viper out of my neighborhood, and he was hardcore burning out, and every time he would start burning out i would pop my clutch get a little chirp. haha

[Rockhound]

While most people tend to obsess over 0-60 times and quarter-mile figures when it comes to performance ratings, it seems to me that 0-40 is probably a better indicator of how a car is gonna feel around town. Not that the Versa's 0-60 is anything to sneeze at for a subcompact, but at lower speeds it feels impressively peppy.

I guess I do this more than I should...but I just remembered another similar incident from a couple weeks back. I was driving along, 45 in a 40 zone, and this "tricked out" 90s GMC Sierra (replete with poorly mounted blue fogs and primered body kit) came out of nowhere and decided to ride my butt, really close. Keep in mind, I'm pretty level-headed, but when folks tailgate, I tend to get pretty heated. So at the next light, he pulled over in the lane next to me to 'get around' me, since I was going so 'slow'.

The correct thing to do would have been to just let it go and let him do his thing (as my wife pointed out), but instead I nearly floor it, and get up to 40 mph in a hurry, leaving the Sierra way behind. He never tailed me again, staying several car lengths away for the next couple miles that we were headed the same direction. It's always nice to take jerks like that down a peg or two.

[xtwoonamatchx]

amen to that, i do the same exact thing... hah... but i will say i love 1st in line at a light...

our main road is a 2 lane each direction road, with a median. Going through town its 40 mph, then a light, then 55 mph... i will say, driving a stick, 1st in line is awesome, cause i bolt off at the green and love going through the gears.

i will say, the versa has a little pep behind it for a small 4 cylnder. but once i hit 60ish i let up.

[Ever Victorious]

Yes, 0-60 and 1/4 mile traps are virually useless in real life. However, I like to point out to certain people that in most places, 1/4 mile is the minimum legal length of an on-ramp. Why?

Because EVERY modern production car can get up over 60 mph in 1/4 mile, which means it's realistic for ANY driver to be doing 60 at the end. So you can merge at speed.

I tolerate a lot of crap on the road, but one thing that makes my blood boil is when someone is doing 30 mph at the END of a ramp that's wide bloody open. Especially if the onramp is 1/2 mile long, as I know of several around here.

[xtwoonamatchx]

that pisses me off too, along with when there is an accelleration lane to merge onto a main road (our main road is like a highway) and they use it as a STOP SIGN! that just irritates me becasue people wait until there are no cars to go, when there is a quarter mile of weave lane

[Rockhound]

I tolerate a lot of crap on the road, but one thing that makes my blood boil is when someone is doing 30 mph at the END of a ramp that's wide bloody open. Especially if the onramp is 1/2 mile long, as I know of several around here.

Just thinking about this gives me road rage. I understand not everyone likes to speed around from light to light, and even I like to drive granny-style sometimes. But as far as on-ramps go, don't these folks know that it isn't especially safe to try to merge on a highway going 30 mph below the speed limit?