Today's query is of the decidedly non-scientific variety (unlike yesterday's…). For the second time in as many days, there I was cruising in the fast lane when suddenly I had to brake from around 75 mph down to 63 mph. The freeway curved enough for me to see what the hold-up was. It was a damn Toyota Corolla. I'm not fibbing, either. Twice, in consecutive days, a Corolla was lollygagging in the left lane, wrecking it for everybody else. Yesterday, the horrible irony was that there were two Corollas in the next lane happily trudging along at maybe the speed limit. Meaning I was trapped. Today, there was a Datsun B210. It took a while, but I managed to get free and clear. The day before? Trapped like a rat. A slow rat. I posit that the Corolla, and the mentality that drives a Corolla, causes the most traffic. You?
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A NYC taxicab.
VW microbus, no doubt about it. At least a long time ago when it was around blocking traffic on winding roads in the California hills
Volvo drivers do it for me. They are slow to accelerate, leave larger than necessary gaps in their following distance, lollygag in the left lane as you posited and generally make my commute more tedious than it needs to be.
It boggles the mind how many craptacular Corollas have been sold in North America. My roommate has the exact one pictured from 2004, and we both hate it. Cheap interior, horrible faux wood, pathetic lifeless engine, poor handling, panels coming apart, etc.. If it were the case that the Corolla had zero competition in its price range, then maybe it is an understandable purchase for commuters who do not like cars. However, when you have a Mazda3 out there at a similar price (or even a Ford Focus, geez), it is incomprehensible.
Toyota must be doing something right.
Corolla’s definitely high up there.
Work vans often go at slow speeds (although some others go at more normal speeds).
Also, 80s buicks and caddys are definitely in that category.
Note that I’m only talking about the cars I see on the left lane, I don’t mind when somebody’s driving slowly on the right lane.
SUVs with cellphone-yapping soccer moms (nonwithstanding that NJ now bans them) also have highly inconsistent speeds, ranging from 50 to 90.
I vote for the 1983 Buick LeSabre with the little old lady driving. Always seems to ruin my commute.
Lincoln Towncar… never fails…
My wife and I have noticed a phenomenon that occurs largely with the drivers of minivans. We’ve actually termed this phenomenon, “The Minivan Effect”.
This observation is based on our travels by car in many states of our great Union. Our premise is; at the front of a long line of traffic, you’re more likely to see a minivan than anything other vehicle.
Only recently has this theory come under challenge….by the Prius driver.
For the past two years, I have been plagued by the misfortune of being behind slow late-model Buicks.
Corollas or Pontiac Plasti-cars (Grand Am, Grand Prix, Sunfire, G5,6, whatever.) Next would be farmer-driven pickup trucks. And then backhoes.
How about cop cars when they’re going less than 5 mph over the speed limit? All lanes have to slow to at least 10 under — it’s a veritable sea of brake lights.
Someone towing something.
Tandem dump trucks also play a sinister role in my commute…
210delray: Great answer.
I see the opposite of the minivan effect.
I often see Minivans hutling down the highway at the edge of their controllable speed, driven by some angry father who is just pissed that he never got the corvette he wanted and but won’t let the van ruin his need for speed.
A white/silver/tan Camry with gold trim.
ttac2000, exactly. Insecure drivers are the worst. Weaving through traffic in a top-heavy van/SUV is one of the dumbest things you can do on a highway.
Can we just say it’s not the car that causes traffic? it’s oblivious old people who drive slow and tailgaters who can’t brake in time.
Corollas sometimes but more often on US 101 it’s late 80s Camry’s, Sentras, Civics. Its good to see the longevity but not in the left lanes.
I haven’t noticed a trend in makes or models, but it seems to be (here in NC) that the car hogging the left lane is usually a car with New York plates. For all the crap southern drivers get on the internets, NY drivers in the south have to be the worst.
White Camry, w or w/o gold trim. I dont know why, but a certain type of driver buys a white one. Now that I commute in an old Camry (gold color, no gold trim, thank God), I can tell you that the whole Camry driving experience tends to put one to sleep.
Around here (Twin Cities), it’s any vehicle parked on the shoulder. All Minnesotans must just slow down and take a look. And if there’s flashing lights involved, God help you, you’ll be stuck in traffic for hours in “the gawker slowdown.”
Squad cars going under the limit, and appliance-mobiles. There was someone once who was going exactly 60 in the left lane pacing an 18 wheeler with a Prius once, covered with the requiste hippy stickers. I think he was trying to be the pace car. I ended up following a 996 Carrera into the break down lane to pass him…
Buicks. Now and forever. And Saturns, which I guess are the new Buicks.
Jonny, you nailed it. After reading the headline my first thought was instantly Corolla.
Here in Connecticut, more often than not it’s damn Toyota Corolla’s.
Generally speaking, Corolla drivers are saying they could care less about cars:
“Look, I’m driving an appliance.” What else do you need to know?
Around here its either A) Old men in their old pickup trucks, B) Blonde girls in their daddy’s sports cars, or C) Old fat women in minivans
I’ll give you a scientific answer (anyway): Corollas are driven by those economy-minded drivers whose next car will be a Prius. Hence, they’re practicing their “hyper-miling” technique.
Here in Central Ohio it’s any vehicle from Ross county. For some unknown reason they never get out of the left lane and can’t quite figure out that they should go faster than the speed limit while in the left lane. Even when nothing is in the right hand lane they continue to poke around in the left lane.
Cars don’t cause traffic. People do.
Supreme Court to weigh in shortly.
Paul,
i took a good, hard look at the folks driving the Corollas.
They weren’t practicing shit.
Buicks. When I see a Buick butt on the horizon, my heart slowly sinks into my shoes as I realize that I’ll soon be hitting the ‘cancel’ button on the cruise control and drifting down to, oh, 50 or so.
I find I’m mostly held up by a Prius driver who actually sneers at me when I finally pass on the right.
Parodoxically, I got passed by a Prius, just this morning, that had to have been going about 90mph and was weaving erratically through traffic. Must have been the news that the worlds oceans have been getting colder since they began to be accurately measured in 2003.
Astro/Safari. Here most of them are driven slowly by immigrant laborers. I assume they are being extra careful so they won’t have to produce any identification.
If it’s not immigrants it’s old farts with beards and trucker hats, who seem to be getting great enjoyment from their traffic “enforcement”.
Bancho :
Volvo drivers do it for me. They are slow to accelerate, leave larger than necessary gaps in their following distance, lollygag in the left lane as you posited and generally make my commute more tedious than it needs to be. Hey! My car only has 96 hp at the wheels!
Whoever said Buick(probably 2/3rds did) I agree wholeheartedly. It’s always the perennial LeSabre holding everyone up.
Older Chrysler minivans, with smoke coming out of the tailpipe (i.e. Trenton four cylinder). With a woman on the cell phone, weaving, going 5 under the limit – in the fast lane. Next to a semi, in the slow lane, going 5 over the truck limit, so they are blocking both lanes.
Buick LeSabres.
Ford ex-cop car LTDs driven by idiots who think that they have a right to try to worry others on the road and get some kind of kick out of it. Of course, both tailpipes are smoking (Ford SOHC V8’s don’t last like the old 302 did).
In SC is was often an old guy in a small pickup truck; usually a 2WD Ranger or S10.
How about the white impala or crown vic coming the other direction (on a two lane road) that looks, from a distance, like a copper. what jackass buys a white impala and then outfits it with steel rims all year long? anyway, good sea of breaklights caused by that guy.
Saturns, Subaru wagons and any driver wearing a hat.
i agree on the corolla and ‘the minivan effect’. both nag me during my rt. 93 north commute (in MA) to near road rage levels.
as others have said, i don’t care if you want to drive slow – JUST DO IT IN THE MIDDLE LANE!
and get out of the way of the silver legacy in your rear view mirror.
You could interpret this question in a few ways, with different resulting responses.
If it’s “Slowest, most clueless driver aboard?” I’d vote for Buick or Olds, then Saturn.
But if it’s “Slows down the most people?” I would say, anything disabled on the shoulder during rush hour. Everybody seems to love a good gape for no reason at all.
A close second is, any police car, either driving or lurking. A magical speed limit zone ensues. What I don’t understand is driving the speed limit past a cop who’s busy writing a ticket. Is he gonna remember all our tag #s and come to get us later?
900hp:
Exactly! I will never understand why people slow down when they see a cop who just pulled someone over!
Up here in the Sierras (Truckee) it is the mellow Subaru driver and the “I have a big pickup and will designate our speed” morons. Of course there is always the minivan that is just to stupid to know when to get out of the way. Since I commute from Truckee to the Bay Area I am always going right along and there are the folks that have decided that the rate they speed (+5mph) at should be good enough for me. I use my cruise control and what really sets me off is the moron that has to pass me on the down hills (yes I do pull over) and then slow down in the corners.
Rant over
There is a reason corolla is on the top of the list: they are cars for people who barely know how to drive.
Ever though of why virtually every driver’s ed car in the west coast is corolla? They have under-reacting steering, under-reacting brake, and under-reacting acceleration profile. Body roll when turning is a feature, not a bug; it is a feedback that tells the student driver he/she is driving too fast for the turn. The non-responsive throttle filter out all the panic acceleration and braking that a typical student driver has, and that would let you pass the road test with flying color.
Now, some of these students barely pass the test and they rely on the trusty old corolla to compensate their driving skills (or the lack of). I was one, and didn’t realize how bad my driving was until I get into more “mature” cars – the Integra, the IS250, the Taurus, the Chevy Astro, etc.
Don’t blame the appliance feel of Corolla, without them, many people would have been stuck at home like my mom (who even the corolla couldn’t compensate for the lack of driving skills).
Often it is a Corolla because there are so many of them out there. My personal bug is a Prius. Typically they are trying to maximize gas mileage by minimizing speed, plus they feel holier than thou.
Here in Maryland I’ve seen coppers pulled up behind cars that have been abandoned on the road with the their lights flashing in order to make it look like their already writing a ticket.
Crown Vics with those funny blue lights on top doing 10 miles under the speed limit. You would never believe the amount of people packed behind this guy and in all lanes not just the left one.
Late-80s Chevy Cavaliers.
Didn’t see 210delray‘s comment, oh well.
Seriously today, this oriental girl in a white Kia Azera or whatever its called with a flat right rea tire, cuts me off and then drives slow. And I couldn’t pass her because of the Corolla pacing me on my right.
Usually it’s a Tahoe driving soccer mom on the cell phone.
My best friend has a corolla and I can assure you he’s not blocking the left lane with the thing. Nor is he going particularly slowly. Just enough to avoid tickets.
A lot of people with cell phones hold up traffic, no matter what they’re driving. They drive slowly–which they should if they are gong to talk–but they do’nt pay any attention to who they are blocking, and they do’nt try to get out of the way. One time recently, it was a lady in a BMW 3 series or 5 series, text messaging, oblivious to the fact that the red light had changed.
Interestingly enough on all the Buick responses, my roommate from college’s older brother has a GNX. Hes pushing around 800whp, and walks all over Vipers (which is fun yet oddly scary at the same time).
PandaBear: The car gods are cruel, cruel gods.
I just popped out for some food and on a double-yellow two laner I get stuck behind a Corolla with a driver’s training sticker on it. Groan.
32 mph in a 35 mph.
Poor girl would hit her brakes whenever there was nothing in front of her.
I had 6 miles of this to suffer through…
Oh holy crap!
Jonny you just hit on a massive peeve I have. I HATE following people at night who hit their brakes when they see any oncoming traffic!
Bancho:
This poor 15-year-old was hitting her brakes the entire time.
And, there was NO traffic.
Volvo with the two handed death grip or a… VAN!!
Any van, anywhere! Or, if you are in Arizona, RV. Any size, shape or form. Grrrrrrr
Jonny; While you’re here, when are you going to review the ’08 M3? I refuse to stroke the check until TTAC strokes the beast.
losgatosCa:
Funny you should ask… nothing official, but, check back with us after April 5.
Circa 1970, if you were being held up in traffic in the US, there was an 87% chance the culprit was a Buick driver. Over the last seven or eight years, my wife has heard me refer to road-clogging Toyotas as “The New Buicks,” for the frequency with which drivers of that brand impede road flow. Volvos are a close second, and livery Town Cars take their toll. But truly, it is Toyotas — evenly represented by Corolla and Camry alike — that are closing in on Buick’s old 87% anti-destination league presence on our byways.
Phil
1) Corolla
2) Prius
3) Camry
These are the vast majority of the wooly-footed slow-coaches which are the bane of my impatient existence daily on 680 between San Jose and Pleasanton. I’ve sworn off 80+ MPH for lent, and I’m still getting stuck!
I’d like to convince some of the coders around here to devise a virus that only attacks the combustion control modules for Toyotas and makes them go faster without letting their drivers know.
The answer to this question is anything with a light bar on top of it. We can all move on now.
The person who willingly purchases a new Corolla (not the college kid or poor schmuck with no cash) wants consistency, no mechanical hiccups, nothing with the slightest possibility of breaking the routine.
This is same mentality that will make someone do 63MPH in the left lane, completely oblivious the quarter mile of cars riding her (yes HER) bumper, because accelerating just slightly and moving to the right would be too much change or excitement.
Same person that won’t avoid an accident because it would mean making an aggressive move on the road.
Same person that will never veer from their established daily path : road detours are like Satan’s whiskers for this person.
Same person that has NEVER driven a car for pleasure, it is merely a necessary tool/appliance for getting from point A to point B.
This is the person that willingly purchases and drives a new Corolla.
Back in my old stomping grounds of Arlington (VA), it didn’t matter what kind of car it was…if it had Ohio or Indiana plates and they were located within a mile of any tourist attraction along the GW Parkway or an exit ramp to the bridges into DC, we gave them a few extra feet since (a) chances are they are lost tourists, (b) the driver has never seen traffic like that in their home city, and (c) the signs never gave enough notice to exit. We can only imagine three screaming kids in the back, the Wiggles making their millionth play on the rear DVD player, a mother throwing the crumpled map into the back somewhere and a father taking a total leave of his senses and patience as he promises to dump the van into the river…again. Needless to say, they are going 35mph, weaving and swerving, and an overall riot to watch.
The Toyota Tercel.
Huge motor homes on hilly roads. The feeble-vision, slow-reflex, scenery-enjoying geezers who drive those things never think about pulling over once in a while to let the long line of cars behind them get on down the road at a decent pace.
Hmmm… I can’t really see a commonality in terms of cars.
You won’t see too many slow Corvettes or Boxsters. Cadillac, Buick, Toyota, and Volvo would be among my top pick.
By the way, one of my favorite things to do is coast in neutral for extended periods of time in order to improve my MPG’s. I employ an awful lot of pulsing, coasting, and generally timing everything so that turns don’t require rapid acceleration and stop lights rarely require stopping.
Right now the 1st gen Talon I’m driving has 230 miles driven on only half a tank in mostly town driving. It’s a surprisingly fun car to drive in a non-aggressive manner.
Now make me do the same thing in a late model Suzuki Esteem and I’d be ready to pull the remnants of my hairline out.
It’s not the cars it’s the drivers. Take somebody who comes from a country where city traffic moves at 10 Mph and you don’t dare do more than 40 Mph on the lousy roads between cities and dump him onto a freeway moving at 100+ Mph, he’ll freeze up and drive like back home. Now this isn’t a bad thing because the slower these driver training rejects drive the safer we are. What ever happened to ticketing slow movers in the left lane?
I agree a police car is #1. Beyond that, though, BUICK. Any Buick – the undertaker’s waiting room.
Speaking of, why in the world are people 70 years old and up able to keep their drivers licenses without having to take an annual test?
Pretty much anything with tinted windows. The only safe place to ride a bicycle down a road with a bunch of those parked along the side is smack in the middle, drawing as many honks from behind as possible.
I would add to some previous votes by submitting: Any Buick with a “AAA” sticker on the back bumper.
Used to be chevettes down south and pintos up north. Now there are many cheap cars, but they are not speed limited anymore.
Lieberman, RE: Driver’s Ed
Thats why I have a 3 inch catless turbo back exhaust and my BOV is vented to atmosphere. Baptism by fire I say, scares the sht out of some 15 year old hair twirlling bublegum popping twit who thinks that she’ll get a better grade on her driving test if she goes 10 under. Nothing like an uncorked 20 pounds of boost on a quick spooling K04 to wake your ass up…
losGatos, RE: M3
Hope your willing to shell out a $30k dealer cost adjustment.