Or, if youre a pickup driver, do you think people in cars are intimidated by your pickup?
I bring this up because a few weeks ago I saw a bit on tv about that huge garbage truck/pickup thingy that’s available. The owner who was being interviewed mentioned, several times, the “intimidation factor” of such a big vehicle. He wanted to intimidate pickup owners. Maybe so, but I don’t think drivers of cars are actually afraid of pickups. Not really. I mean, what’s the guy gonna do - run over you? 
But, I’ve also heard pickup owners at least hint that this might at least be a factor in their desire to own that F-250 dually.
So, I’d be interested in hearing from both sides.
ps, I drive an A4 (Audi 3.0). You gotta catch me before you can scare me. 
Peace
mangeorge
My impression (right or wrong) is that pickup drivers are more aggressive; they seem more likely to tailgate and more likely to speed. I generally try to give them a wide berth. The higher the pickup is jakced-up, the more likely they are to be aggressive. Or so it seems to me.
All of this, of course, is just my impression, based on limited experience.
For me, in my small car ('90 Civic wagon) the pickup trucks are a bit intimidating. Their headlights are usually at a perfect height to glare into my rear view mirror. Many pickup truck drivers seem to throw their weight around on the road, too. They seem more likely to pull out in front of me or ride my bumper to get me to go faster.
When I’m driving my husband’s full-size pickup truck, these intimidating tactics don’t occur as often. Some of this may be subconscious on the part of the truck driver - if something seems small and insignificant to you, don’t worry about it harming you - drive like you want to.
YMMV.
The thing that really intimidates me about pickups is how safe and secure the drivers behind the wheel feel when driving during certain types of weather. I’m from Michigan originally, so durring the winter months, when the road conditions are at their worst, I’ll be minding my own business on the highway, doing 25 mph during white-out conditions when out of the blue (or should I say white), a pickup truck (extended cab, American made of course) will come flying by me. Scares the crap out of me every single time. Any thoughts as to why truck drivers (both pick up, and even semi) do this? Can you really handle that much better in a truck. My father has a 4-wheel drive capable truck. Yet, I didn’t feel that much more control at high speeds.
I have a 98 Ranger. The day I bought it, I was strutting around a bit because I had a bad-ass pickup truck. ARRR ARRR ARRR!!
I came out of the store and a full size Silverado parked next to me.
My stride then returned to normal. The Ranger’s a Tonka truck compared to, say, an F-150 Diesel.
[nitpick]F250 doesn’t come in dually and F150 doesn’t come in diesel.[/nitpick]
I drive a pickup, so obviously I don’t feel intimidated by others. But I see a couple of different categories of pickup drivers - those that have them for utility and those because they look cool. I’ve noticed that the people in the lifted and tricked out trucks seem to be mainly the aggressive ones, and those of us just using them for work, not so much so. The hot rods seem to get annoyed when the tides don’t part for them, but they can’t do much to me so I just ignore them.
On the rare ocassion that I’m in a car, I feel so small and close to the ground that I am intimidated by headlights in my windows. I suppose car people can get used to that, but I try to keep it in mind when I’m driving my truck.
I upgraded last week from a half-ton 4WD Dodge to a 3/4 4WD Dodge diesel, but that was a matter of practicality. I won’t be making it all fancy and lifted.
Heck, of course not, Tuck in those Detroit Irons you usually run about in. If I still had my old Heavy Chevy they wouldn’t bother me either.
Yeah, that’s the one.
DVD and all. :smack:
Prepare to see them start shrinking, ala the Hummer.
Oh yeah? Wait’ll you meet up with one of those CXT’s, linked above by Tuckerfan :eek:
Now one of those might give me pause. Anyone, uh, sophisticated enough to actually buy one might be predisposed to actually run over me with it.
My reaction to the first CXT I ever saw was that my low-to-the-ground '97 Ranger could haul at least twice as much in a given period of time due to the fact that I could load and unload two boxloads of stuff in the time it would take the CXT owner to locate, rent and learn to use the forklift it takes to load one of those ludicrous things.
Fear the poseur who would own a CXT? More like pity the poor fool.
I’ve got to say it depends upon the truck and it’s driver. Just parked or driving like a normal person, I don’t feel intimidated in the least. It’s when they drive like maniacs that I worry a bit. I’d feel that way with just about any vehicle, though. There’s only been once that moving over and slowing down didn’t make the psycho go away. That’s when I’m glad that my car, though small, is fast and nimble.
I drive a little Ranger and I’m not a habitually aggressive driver. I’m conscious of the headlights in the mirrors of cars in front of me and try to mitigate but there isn’t a whole lot I can do. I leave plenty of room at intersections so cars making right turns can see around me and I don’t tailgate. I absolutely love my truck in the winter. I know it doesn’t stop any faster but it handles much better in snow than any car I’ve driven. Perhaps my attitude is due to it being a work truck like Cowgirl Jules said but recently I changed jobs and still drive mellow.
I’ll take the adverse conditions question - I drive an overheight E-350 extended chassis diesel 1-ton van, with custom indestructible steel bumpers front and rear. Tires are 245/75R16 all-terrains, which are excellent performers in the snow.
First off, I tend to have better traction than many smaller vehicles simply due to my weight. I often have the ability to slowly and accurately cruise by other smaller vehicles which are sliding or wheel spinning, which I suspect is due to a combination of the vehicle weight and having good tires.
Second, I have many years of experience driving in a variety of ice, snow and whiteout conditions, and am confident in my ability to estimate safe speed, accelerate and brake effectively, and recover from most skids, provided I am not driving too fast for the conditions. I can’t count the number of times I have been following another vehicle in adverse conditions, the driver of which is obviously intimidated by the road or the weather, and is creeping along at a crawl. Safe for them, perhaps, but overkill for those of us who travel the highways frequently during the winter and are accustomed to both the conditions and the handling characteristics of a particular vehicle in such conditions. I try not to be a safety hazard to anyone, but at the first reasonable passing opportunity I will pass such motorists with due care and be on my way.
Third, the consequences of a loss of traction are less severe in a larger vehicle, provided you are not in a position to put other motorists at risk. If I drive off the road, I’ll probably sustain some damage, but I have a much better chance of not being severely injured or killed than someone in a lighter vehicle with less protection around the occupants. The caveat, of course, is that you are a greater threat to other motorists in the event of collision, so you need to take traffic into account when determining safe speed.
In general, though, I’m a bit of a winter warrior on the road.
Thanx Kuji. I always knew you better truck drivers were out there. What it all boils down to is Know Your Vehicle. Theres’ a spiral ramp here at home which I can take at forty-five mph. I take a lot of pleasure upon leaving some SubHuman monstrosity (which was previously riding my bumper) in the dust 'cause at least I’ve got handling in my tiny car.
It doesnt’ matter how big your d (*scuse me TRUCK) is, it matters how you treat other drivers.
Not intimidated really. Annoyed sometimes. A few more times of me pulling into the right hand lane where I can turn on the red light only to have my view of oncomming traffic blocked by a pickup/suv (I drive a lowly Dodge Neon) and I just may step out of my car and administrate a severe beating, but other than that, no problems. Go ahead and ride my butt if you want, I’ll just drive even slower (in order to increase my reaction time, of course ) and smile as I do it.
I drive a Dodge Dakota, so it’s the mid size range and doesn’t scare many people. The only thing that scares me is accidentally forgetting how long it is and hitting someone with it. So I don’t try to intimidate people with my truck, really I think that I try to be more careful because I know how easy it is for me to hurt other people if I was distracted. I check my mirrors 3 times before merging, keep a pretty good distance from other cars, and look out for cyclists.
-foxy
I think I’m in love.
I can tell you that there’s no intimidation factor when the pickup in question is the Blink family’s Pikachu-yellow 1979 Chevy LUV Mikado.
I mean come on, it says LUV on it. And Mikado.
Ooo…one thing that just came to mind too…
I drive a car. Trucks piss me off when they stop behind me at a stop sign/red light at night. Their headlights always blind me. I don’t find it intimidating, per say, but I hate it.