Non Jeep - Driver behaviour

[eksjay]

It's a slow weekend with all the rain, but I have been doing a lot of kilometers in the JKU lately and have often thought about posting on this subject.

I know it sounds like I am generalising, but I can't help feel that of all the makes and models, in my experience, the Hilux driver is the most likely to overtake me at speed on the open road or trail and throttle-up their engines and violently steer as they pass. Moreso than the Ranger drivers. It's as if the Hilux drivers need to prove themselves in some way or completely lose their minds at the sight of a Jeep Wrangler.

Again, it is anecdotal. I haven't counted, but by far it is the Hilux.

What is your experience?

The 70 series owners tend to be laid back and chug along at a reasonable pace as do most other make/model drivers.

When I drive my XJ, everybody wants to go around me. They think because the car is shiny and stock looking that I am probably 80 (I have much respect for elders) and driving a classic car (it is indeed a classic by name and by nature!!) However, when I put the pedal to the metal, they suffer shock as they get left behind like an unwanted speck on my rear vision mirror.

[5oclock]

Must be a bit of a time warp out your way....a few years ago I would have agreed completely about the Hilux drivers. But in Gippsland its more Ranger and Toyota dual cabs, espesially if the are jacked up and have bugger all for a muffler. The dual cab Toyotas are the worst (around here), probably because they are the most gutless 4x4 on the road and they think at last they can prove how good they are intimidating a Jeep.
Its a bit of fun giving them a run for their money from time to time, just to piss them right off.
Just remembered,,( think your out Broken Hill way??),,, A while back heading to Broken Hill from Mildura we did get a couple of smart arse Hilux pilots passing as close as possible , just because they can.

[eksjay]

I should have qualified my initial post by stating that overwhelmingly, the crazed nature of the overtaking is not usually by drivers who live/work in the sticks, but the urban dwellers who become weekend/holiday warriors.

For instance, there are some Hiluxes in the fleets of NGOs and Govt and these drivers have had training (and experience) to slow down on a trail (sometimes to a crawl) when seeing oncoming traffic. This creates an opportunity to have a chat and they ask if everything is going ok when they see a Lone vehicle in a remote trail). On a paved road, they won't exceed the speed limit.

Given that Hilux and Rangers have been the top selling cars for a while, there will be more of these cars on the road and a small percentage of their drivers doing the rough driving. The closer I get to urban centres, the more I see it on the road. Out in the bush, they can easily be spotted overtaking on a blind off road bend, getting bogged in sand, showing off etc.

[5oclock]

In the Great Divide, High Country, Dargo, Licola, Wonnangatta,Omeo, etc..weekends sees this same mob up to all sorts of 4x4 vandalism. Any wonder Parks and DELWP have been putting bollards around campsites and huts, trying to stop hoon driving.
Like you point out they mostly come from the urban areas, and mostly jacked up too high, noisy exhaust. In the past few years there has been a fair number of them roll over, some run off steep drops, etc. Lost count of how many 4x4s I have seen upside down in the divide.
So its more noticeable now days? Not sure, I think it is ,or may be its just me getting old with less tolerance for duck witts.

[eksjay]

I have never seen a Jeep driver driving erratically in all my years of driving on and off road.

We are a relaxed mob that has nothing to prove.

Out in the bush, we think twice about doing something with the car that will end the trip abruptly and cause inconvenience and financial pain.

There are a lot of younger YouTube vloggers that drive Toyotas and have regular thumbnail click bait contrived drama messages about how something broke, like, when they were driving 100 km/h on a heavily corrugated road in the middle of bugger all etc.

I think this kind of stuff creates mimicry in the real world. Yes, there is a Toyota service centre around in every outback town waiting to airfreight parts and fix the problem.

Jeep drivers, don't need to try....

https://youtu.be/7izVHOQh0S0?feature=shared

[eksjay]

5o'clock, you are spot on!

I started this thread before I found out about the tragic accident reported below:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-...e=abc_news_web

[Jeeper6]

Yeah, a 24 year old Tourist in a renter...allegedly speeding down the beach and turned sharply causing the Prado to roll a few times.
It seems most 4wd rental companies will not rent to under 24's due to history of this sort of thing.

I have spent a fair bit of time driving Teewah Beach, where the above occurred, as well as Fraser Island and see moronic behavior all the time. Not unusual to be sitting on the limit of 80kmh driving up the beach on Fraser to be overtaken by loons in Hiluxs's or older Landcruisers and Patrols doing well over 80kmh...with the usual huge lift, fat tyres and loud exhaust...very often with a red or green P plate.

I feel very sorry for the other people in that Prado, one persons stupidity will have changed lives for ever...