Driven to Drink: Part 3 -- Rain

I hate driving in the rain -- not just because it means I'm being denied sunshine; or because braking, cornering, acceleration and visibility are adversely affected. It's about my fellow commuters who seem to be more than ill at ease with anything but dry pavement. Is it just me, or does it seem like some drivers commit more random acts of idiocy when the weather is worse? I guess they think it's okay because everyone else is being more careful?

After ten years of driving a truck (no way to sugarcoat it - it was not an SUV), I had a certain amount of anxiety every time I twisted the key in inclimate weather. The 4100 pound Dodge behaved itself well enough on dry roads, but water brought out the worst in it. One wheel on its open differential would spin wildly from a standstill at the slightest application of the throttle, one or both of the front tires would lock up and skid far too easily even with judicious pressure on the brakes, and massive understeer was the rule with cornering.

I hope it doesn't come across as gloating when I say that the Benz with its AWD is infinitely superior in every measurable way. It's sure-footed, stable, and never feels like it's even close to coming unglued from the road regardless of conditions.

So today's water-logged commute actually held a splash of fahrvergnuegen. One of the two-lane back roads a mile or so from the office widens to two lanes on the Eastbound side to provide a passing lane up a long, straight hill (well, not that long -- about a 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile). I had been trapped behind two obviously nervous drivers who were unwilling to risk barely 20mph in the 35mph zone. Painful. I have a life to lead and it doesn't involve wasting the day behind slow moving vehicles.

As soon as the left passing lane opened up, I pulled out and mashed the accellerator to the floor with all the finesse of squashing a cockroach. Despite the wet surface the car down-shifted two gears and leapt forward, launched as if assisted by afterburners -- no wheelspin, no torquesteer, no instability whatsoever, just a seemingly endless supply of power that propelled me past both cars in half the distance I'd anticipated. The performance was so surprising I laughed out loud....really.

I'm not sure I remember the last time I was exhilarated by a vehicle -- not one of mine, anyway. It's probably been twenty years. And that car -- the Nissan 240SX -- was cousin to the Porsche 944 as far as dry road handling goes, but a virtual death trap in the rain. It's nice to have finally graduated to something that's equally at home in any weather that allows me to relax and enjoy the ride to work instead of dread it.