Do you drive your Spyder in traffic?

Aloha,

For those of you who drive your Spyders on a fairly regular basis (maybe as a daily driver?), do you feel "comfortable" in your Spyder in traffic?

I've only looked at a couple manufacturer's webpages, but of those I have researched they all are tube-frame chassis. Would this chassis hold up well in an accident? Does the soccer Mom in her Explorer with the cell-phone glued to her ear scare you when you look in the rear-view mirror?

I know these cars a pretty tiny, too. Do you have problems with people not noticing you are behind them, or turning into traffic, etc?

Just trying to figure out if I might be in the market for one in the near future.

mahalo,
Joel

Joel,
When you drive your Spyder in traffic you must pretend that it is a 4 wheel motorcycle. Everyone is staring at the Spyder, waving and doing "thumbs up" so they are not watching the road. I have had people go thru redlight and all kinds of weird stuff to get a better look at the car. As far as safe, there is no such thing in any Spyder. The Vintage has some extra protection due to frame design, but none are safe in a crash.
The "Bubble headed bleached blonde" in the Lincoln Navigator with the cell phone stuck in her earr is a hazard to anyone on the road and is to be avoided at all costs. Key to the whole thing is "Defensive Driving"
Hans

The comparison to a motorcycle is a good one. My only problem in a spyder is that you are extremely low to the ground, you really have to watch other drivers to see their eyes. Some won't make visual contact with the car and come into your lane because they are not used to looking down to see a car.
-=theron

Hi Joes;

I think your question has been answered, but I'll try and be redundant (not too hard for me, LOL)

The frames on any of the small sports cars, 550 Spyders included will not help you in an accident in anyway, these cars (Sports Cars) are not safe, once you get that and you do all you can do to drive safely and stay out of the way of the SUV with their 40 IQ's driving them, then the Sports Car still is not safe. But they are fun to drive.

There are some inimitable laws of physics in play here and when you truthfully consider and make what allowances you can, then strap yourself in and hold on for a fun drive and if all goes well, you

Joel,
Where in Hawaii are you located? I will be on Oahu next week in the town(?) of Kaaawa on vacation.
Hans

Aloha,

Thanks for all the replies.

Is there any one particular safety feature on these cars that gives you greater peace-of-mind when driving about? For instance, does everyone have a rollbar? How about 4 or 5 point harnesses? Do you upgrade to disc brakes? Fire extinguisher systems?

What would be the one factor that deters you guys from driving these cars on a daily basis? Uncomfortable? Bad weather? (In Hawaii, most days would be driveable, so this wouldn't bother me) Just afraid of some cell phone wielding soccer mom in a mini-van? I would be.

Hans - I live on the other side of O'ahu. In between Waikiki and Manoa. Ka'a'awa is a nice place. I like it a lot. Are you renting a beach house?

aloha,
Joel

Aloha again,

Jim - I was looking at the McRae website and had a question about rollbars. There's a few photos of a Spyder with a rollbar that has two supports that go back through the engine compartment. Can you still fit the soft top on the car with this setup? Can you fit the soft top with any roll bar setup?

mahalo,
Joel

Hi Joel;

Basically you can have a roll bar or a rag top, but not both at the same time unless you are very short!

The reason I say that is for a roll bar to be effective it has to be at least 2 1/2" above your head. If you are strapped in real well a roll bar can keep you from bumping your head on the blacktop, but not too much more.

I had a friend get upside down at about 100 MPH in a Superformance Cobra replica at the Glen and then and only then did he get to see that the roll bar was too short(not high enough), the roll bar kept the car from coming down on his head but his helmet was beat to hell and he was very lucky. The Cobra's roll bar will fit under the rag top, but it's not effective at that height.

I think it's safe to say you will get one or the other in a Spyder too. For me, I'd choose a proper roll bar. Aloha. Jim

Hi Jim,

Well...that sure dictates that Spyders can't be daily driven.

aloha,
Joel

Jim -

Look in the members' files @ Brazilian Gold Spyder. This guy has a double-hoop rollbar like an Audi TT fitted with a soft-top. Is this guy foolin' himself or does this look like a possibility?

mahalo,
Joel

I am taking delivery of my 550 this weekend which has a rollbar and softop. The owner of the car said he had the top stretched 2 inches to accomodate the bar when he built the car. The bar is fully functional and can be seen in pictures and videos on this site under Bruce Ledoux.
Doug

Mahalo Doug

~Joel

Joel and Doug et al;

I want to make it very clear you can put a roll bar under a rag top. What I'm saying is that in order to put a roll bar under a rag top the roll bar will not be high enough to do much good in an actual roll over. Hopefully it would never be needed but...

The TT or Boxter style double roll bars are just too butt ugly for me and none of them are again... tall enough to be totally functional, they offer no forward or rearward support. I have seen roll bars folded over penning the corpse in the cockpit. Not a nice picyure, but true.

Install the functional roll bar and then have the top custom fit to the bar. You can have the top cut and then have another 2-3" sewn in.
Doug

Jim, thanks for the reply. Doug, wouldn't cutting the top and installing extra material then affect the geometry of your side curtains and the sealing of the top onto the body of the car?

I agree that the TT style ones are horrid looking. To make any rollbar functional, would you need a diagonal going down to the passenger side footwell? Or, could you do it up like on the McRae website? That's the one with supports going back into the engine compartment.

I've decided if I buy one of these, I'll just use as a SCCA racer or Sunday driver. I'll take your previous advice, Jim and just focus on making a daily driver out of a speedster replica.

mahalos everyone,
Joel

a couple of things here (from the UK perspective)

one - my car is a bright red - so it is easy to see - I have the 550a type fairing too which makes it just that bit higher

two ....talking to a friend of mine who had a Lotus 7 years ago and was concerned about the same problem, he flew a flag from the car to increase visibility.

three .... again, most of the cars in the UK are smaller than in US so the problem is not quite so acute. but when it is parked next to my brothers Jeep Cherokee .........

Joel, I like the idea of having both :) Doug