Another patron stood and stared at the Outlander as I reversed towards a gas station pump. Hm. Maybe he's awestruck by my parallel parking skills. He walks over as I get out to pay at the pump...
"Do you like your car?" the tattooed, fashionably scruffy-looking man in his late 30s asked in an unexpectedly high voice.
"Oh, I like it." I never know what to say when people ask me this. He was now looking all over the outside of the Mitsu and peering into its windows. "What's the gas mileage like?"
I racked my brain, trying to remember the last time I filled up the Outlander. I took a stab at it. "19, 20-ish?" I guessed.
"Around town?"
"Mixed driving," I replied.
He appeared satisfied with this. A few more seconds of checking out the Outlander and he walked back to his Land Rover LR3 V8 SE, started it up and drove off.
I scanned the logbook and saw entries that confirmed I wasn't a liar.
My fillup? 10.38 gallons for 165.7 miles, or 16 mpg in purely city driving.
Engineering Editor Jason Kavanagh at 6870 miles
stuckinohio says:
03:09 PM, 06/19/07
Its very odd to hear all these auto journals comment about people approaching such and such vehicles. In all my time driving, I don't believe I've ever seen anyone approach another person to comment about the car. In fact, it'd probably be down right dangerous or interpreted badly.
craigm3 says:
02:03 PM, 06/20/07
It really does happen. I have an '07 Outlander too, and I've had at two people approach me to tell me how much they like my car.
Maybe it's just the car you drive ;-)
bimmerjay says:
03:33 PM, 06/21/07
It probably does depend on the car you drive. New/unique vehicles are obviously more likely to elicit responses. When my Mazda6 was new (I had one of the first ones) I got a couple questions and comments, and I would constantly find fingerprints on the driver's window from people peering in.
My 3-series also elicited some questions when it was brand new - I remember one guy with a WRX at a gas station came over to me and asked me about the power folding mirrors.
cbmorton says:
05:44 AM, 06/22/07
Yes, I've had it happen to me a few times while driving various vehicles. Usually it's just in a parking lot, but I once had someone do a U-turn and follow me a few blocks in order to talk about the new-style Mercedes SLK350 I was driving, since at that time it was the first one in this area.