PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

ykobayashi · #33 04-10-2021, 09:23 AM

Hats off to the Los Angeles members driving a 240d. I once had a friend helping me navigate getting on the Pasadena freeway with those super short on ramps with the stop signs. She said, “we can take the freeway just pull in here.” I had forgotten all about those silly twenty foot on ramps and got in line with my 240d. Very stressful.

The car worked very well in the Bay Area except with the crazy hills in San Francisco and Berkeley Hills. It would happily climb them but the engine would churn away as the car climbed like a tractor slowly.

After commuting many years I had a road rage incident when a guy in an Acura stopped on the on-ramp in front of me on the 237/101 interchange in Mountain View. The guy chickened out on the cloverleaf and just stopped because he was too scared to merge into traffic. I’d commuted this route ten years and knew I had to maintain momentum around the cloverleaf in my 240d. Once a year I’d get one of these cowards who’d just stop at the last minute because they didn’t know how to merge. It was a situation that could ruin my whole day. I’d installed super loud air horns just for this. I came up on him without braking and I hit my horns. He freaked and accelerated from 0-60 and merged. I followed him.

Then he slowed down to a crawl and got behind me. Giving me the finger. Honking. Flashing his lights. I did something really dumb at that point. I started coaling him. He started buzzing all around me like a hornet in the Acura. In back nearly touching my bumper, in front slowing down to a crawl. I was helpless in the 240 and just had to sit there taking it.

It got serious as we started to drive through the city. The guy wouldn’t quit. I thought about pulling over and just seeing how tough he was outside his car. But then I realized that could be a life changing moment.

By the time we were three blocks from my house I realized I better not let him know where my nest was. I went to the police station. He broke off when he realized where we were going.

The funny thing is since I commuted that route everyday, I saw him again. Pulling out of his driveway going home. I got to see exactly where he lived. It took some serious self control to leave it at that. He wasn’t worth it.

All in my 240d. I took sticking to my commute “strategy” too seriously that day. Having a guy stop on an uphill on-ramp right at the merge put me in an awful situation that just got worse and worse.