Remo
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Drive fast - take chances.
Remo:cool
Remo:cool
The Escort (Passport) SR7 Incident
- Thread starter Patrick
- Start date
Gorgon
Well-known member
If you look at Passport's site and read the specs the SR7 has a laser shifting feature, not an active radar jamming feature. Active radar jamming is illegal as Patrick and others have mentioned. However, laser "shifting" has not received the ban as much as radar so it is likely it is free to use in your area, though the web site has a disclaimer that you should check before having it installed.
Now, that being said, this guy is pushing the high priced sale for the commission. Many Corvette owners have radar/laser detectors in their car (myself included). Also, as said before, Ecklers/Mid-America/Corvette Central are all in business for a reason. They sell to the Corvette owner that likes to add personal touches to their car. I talked to a guy that has an NSX about how there's a motor oil "developed" specially for the NSX.
He doesn't buy it but said it's popular on some of the forums.
How did you not think that you were going to be subjected to the typical stereotypes while driving a Corvette? If this type of thing is, indeed, insulting to you and you're that sensitive to it then you might want to think about driving another car.
Leon
Now, that being said, this guy is pushing the high priced sale for the commission. Many Corvette owners have radar/laser detectors in their car (myself included). Also, as said before, Ecklers/Mid-America/Corvette Central are all in business for a reason. They sell to the Corvette owner that likes to add personal touches to their car. I talked to a guy that has an NSX about how there's a motor oil "developed" specially for the NSX.
He doesn't buy it but said it's popular on some of the forums.How did you not think that you were going to be subjected to the typical stereotypes while driving a Corvette? If this type of thing is, indeed, insulting to you and you're that sensitive to it then you might want to think about driving another car.
Leon
Remo
Gone but not forgotten
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Interstate 95 - Current Day.......
"Gorgon this is Voodoo. I have two bogies inbound - are you tracking"? "Negative Remo - they must have engaged their SR7 laser shifters."
Message recieved,
Remo - out:cool
"Gorgon this is Voodoo. I have two bogies inbound - are you tracking"? "Negative Remo - they must have engaged their SR7 laser shifters."
Message recieved,
Remo - out:cool
motorman
Well-known member
nothing works better than a CB radio because you know where the cops are. there is a federal law against radar jammers and the jammers work but don't get caught. also do not believe that radar detectiors are "invisable" to the cops with radar detector detectors as i got nailed in VA. to the tune of $91. i was the only car on the road so knowing which one had the detector was not a problem
Gorgon
Well-known member
I'd be interested to know which detector you were using. None of them are totally invisible to the VG2. There is a range at which the VG2 will sniff them out but it needs to be pretty close to sniff it.
L48
Well-known member
Radar detectors aside, if you own a 300 or 400 HP car I assume you bought it to go fast. Maybe not every day, but when the opportunity presents itself - like schooling some "fast" import, or when a nice curve in the road comes up.
If I see one driving down the road at the speed limit I sometimes wonder what's wrong with the driver. Or I assume it is some old guy who, as many have said, has enough disposable income to have a Corvette and enjoys knowing the power/handling is there, as opposed to actually using it.
I realize these are blatant assumptions on my part, and are probably nowhere close to the real reasons why people own C5/C6 Vettes or drive like they do.
I suppose I should look in the mirror though. Most people who see me driving see me acting responsibly tooling down the highway or the sidestreets. If I do give it the gas I try to do it when there is no traffic. I do this for safety considerations but it also makes it so not many people will see my C3 significantly over the speed limit. Maybe the newer Vettes I see are doing the same thing.
If most people always drove them at the speed limit I bet the insurance rates would be lower.
If I see one driving down the road at the speed limit I sometimes wonder what's wrong with the driver. Or I assume it is some old guy who, as many have said, has enough disposable income to have a Corvette and enjoys knowing the power/handling is there, as opposed to actually using it.
I realize these are blatant assumptions on my part, and are probably nowhere close to the real reasons why people own C5/C6 Vettes or drive like they do.
I suppose I should look in the mirror though. Most people who see me driving see me acting responsibly tooling down the highway or the sidestreets. If I do give it the gas I try to do it when there is no traffic. I do this for safety considerations but it also makes it so not many people will see my C3 significantly over the speed limit. Maybe the newer Vettes I see are doing the same thing.
If most people always drove them at the speed limit I bet the insurance rates would be lower.
motorman
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passport 7500 and he was setting on the berm as i passed
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How did you not think that you were going to be subjected to the typical stereotypes while driving a Corvette? If this type of thing is, indeed, insulting to you and you're that sensitive to it then you might want to think about driving another car.
Leon
Leon,
It's not so much that I didn't think I would be subjected to people's stereotypes about Corvette owners, or insulted by those stereotypes. What struck me was how blatant the salesman was. Consider- he didn't make this offer to my co-worker, who drives the Subaru. And this co-worker had already spent a few hundred dollars on a new car alarm with him. He keyed in on the guy wearing the Corvette logo shirt, and only after he confirmed that the guy wearing the Corvette shirt had a real Corvette.
Couple that with the sticker shock of the Sr-7, and it just struck me as a little over the top when it happened. Obviously, in the week plus since the original incident, I've had some time to get a bit broader perspective on it. That perspective includes the fact that while I will spend money on my Z06 if I perceive a value in what I'm buying, it's going to be based on a decision I've made, not one foisted upon me by an over-eager twenty-something at an aftermarket car stereo shop.
-Patrick
Gorgon
Well-known member
Crap. Same one I have, 7500S.
That said, I still remove the detector when in an area that they are illegal.
Gorgon
Well-known member
Patrick, there is a stereo type that goes with having a car that costs $50k new. The WRX STi comes in around $35k so an assumption is made that you must have more disposable income. You've obviously spent more on your car.
I always laughed at the people in my neighborhood when I had two Corvettes in my garage. I remember one guy saying he could see where the money in the neighborhood was. I laughed at him since I know he just spent some $43k on a full sized 1-ton pick-up. I was able to purchase to Corvettes and still have $7k left over. Though they are cheaper than Ferrari and Porsche, many still believe that they are expensive cars. The kid saw a car higher priced than the STi and thought he could pull a high dollar commission sale out of it.
I kind of enjoy it when people think I spent a great deal on my car. It's all that much more satisfying when I tell them I spent less on my Vette than they did on their current driver.
Leon
I always laughed at the people in my neighborhood when I had two Corvettes in my garage. I remember one guy saying he could see where the money in the neighborhood was. I laughed at him since I know he just spent some $43k on a full sized 1-ton pick-up. I was able to purchase to Corvettes and still have $7k left over. Though they are cheaper than Ferrari and Porsche, many still believe that they are expensive cars. The kid saw a car higher priced than the STi and thought he could pull a high dollar commission sale out of it.
I kind of enjoy it when people think I spent a great deal on my car. It's all that much more satisfying when I tell them I spent less on my Vette than they did on their current driver.
Leon
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Definately true. Me and my Zee left him seeing images of dollar signs. Oh well- I'm quite sure he'll eventually find someone willing to part with $1500 on an installed radar detector with a feature they can't use in Colorado.
gorgon said:I kind of enjoy it when people think I spent a great deal on my car. It's all that much more satisfying when I tell them I spent less on my Vette than they did on their current driver.
Leon
I enjoy telling them how little I spend on gas. Drives them nuts! :L
-Patrick
Gorgon
Well-known member
Oh, how I love to do that as well.
My uncle was recently bragging about how his V8 sedan got 26-27mpg on the highway. I told him I usually get 30mpg in my Corvette averaging around 80mph. Needless to say he was astonished. Leon
S
Silverman
Guest
Patrick,
I own an older model of the SR7. In 2002 it cost $950 plus install. I've had it in my 300M and then my Seville. Now, with a Lingenfelter Corvette C6, I don't have it installed. It's necessary to punch a hole in the firewall for the install and I object to that for my baby. I bought it originally because of it's stealth factor. It really is pretty trick, and a much better solution than a black box attached to the windshield. I'd like to defend that salesman a bit...of course he's paid on commision. Most salesman are, but the best salesman try and match a customers need with his available products. I've worked in the stereo business and mostly those folks are pretty passionate about their products and care about their customers. Do you think you could cut the guy some slack and consider he was trying to help you?
Just as you assume he was a shifty salesman and judge his motives by his attempt to interest you in the SR7 as only a sales come on, you object to the assumtions people make about you as a Vette driver. I say you may have prejudged this guy, just as you dislike being prejudged.
I hate it when people assume salespeople are untrustworthy just because of their profession. Look around...eveything you see was sold by someone, including that black Z06 you drive.
Question: If you don't drive fast and you don't like the attention a Z06 gets, with the assumptions that go with it, why do you own a Vette?
Silverman
I own an older model of the SR7. In 2002 it cost $950 plus install. I've had it in my 300M and then my Seville. Now, with a Lingenfelter Corvette C6, I don't have it installed. It's necessary to punch a hole in the firewall for the install and I object to that for my baby. I bought it originally because of it's stealth factor. It really is pretty trick, and a much better solution than a black box attached to the windshield. I'd like to defend that salesman a bit...of course he's paid on commision. Most salesman are, but the best salesman try and match a customers need with his available products. I've worked in the stereo business and mostly those folks are pretty passionate about their products and care about their customers. Do you think you could cut the guy some slack and consider he was trying to help you?
Just as you assume he was a shifty salesman and judge his motives by his attempt to interest you in the SR7 as only a sales come on, you object to the assumtions people make about you as a Vette driver. I say you may have prejudged this guy, just as you dislike being prejudged.
I hate it when people assume salespeople are untrustworthy just because of their profession. Look around...eveything you see was sold by someone, including that black Z06 you drive.
Question: If you don't drive fast and you don't like the attention a Z06 gets, with the assumptions that go with it, why do you own a Vette?
Silverman
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Silverman,
Here's a hypothetical we may never know the answer to: let's say on that day a month ago when I walked into that CarToys store with my coworker (and bear in mind that it was my coworker who was the customer there, not me- I wasn't in a "buying mode" at the time,) I had not had a Corvette logo shirt on. Let's say I had nothing on me that identified me as a Corvette owner. Would this salesman have put the hard sell on me to buy a $1500 plus installation radar detector? Like I said, we may never know the answer for sure, but I feel relatively safe in saying that I presume he would not have.
My recounting of this incident was not to slam salesman, as a profession. You make a good point: it was a salesman who sold me my Z06 in January, 2004. And that salesman knew I already owned a Corvette (my old 1991 Coupe.) If I were to draw a distinction between the day I bought my Z06 and the incident last month regarding the SR-7, it would have to be this: I already knew about the Z06 and saw value in it. I didn't know about the Passport SR7, didn't have a perceived value associated with it, and as I said at the start of this thread, I don't philosophically buy into the notion that a radar detector gives you any real protection against getting a speeding ticket.
In your post, you asked this question: If you don't drive fast and you don't like the attention a Z06 gets, with the assumptions that go with it, why do you own a Vette?
I never said I don't drive fast on occasion. There are certain roads around here that are relatively free of traffic and have lots of nice twisties to them. But there's a difference between the occasional Wide Open Throttle moment, and driving fast all the time and thinking that you're immunized from the attention of law enforcement because of an expensive radar detector.
And in the final analysis, my point wasn't so much about the radar detector itself. It was about the fact that I was being offered an expensive radar detector with a feature illegal to use in my state precisely because of the car I drive. Hence, the question I went back to you with: if this particular salesman had no idea I owned a Corvette, would he have even tried to sell me the Passport SR7?
-Patrick
Here's a hypothetical we may never know the answer to: let's say on that day a month ago when I walked into that CarToys store with my coworker (and bear in mind that it was my coworker who was the customer there, not me- I wasn't in a "buying mode" at the time,) I had not had a Corvette logo shirt on. Let's say I had nothing on me that identified me as a Corvette owner. Would this salesman have put the hard sell on me to buy a $1500 plus installation radar detector? Like I said, we may never know the answer for sure, but I feel relatively safe in saying that I presume he would not have.
My recounting of this incident was not to slam salesman, as a profession. You make a good point: it was a salesman who sold me my Z06 in January, 2004. And that salesman knew I already owned a Corvette (my old 1991 Coupe.) If I were to draw a distinction between the day I bought my Z06 and the incident last month regarding the SR-7, it would have to be this: I already knew about the Z06 and saw value in it. I didn't know about the Passport SR7, didn't have a perceived value associated with it, and as I said at the start of this thread, I don't philosophically buy into the notion that a radar detector gives you any real protection against getting a speeding ticket.
In your post, you asked this question: If you don't drive fast and you don't like the attention a Z06 gets, with the assumptions that go with it, why do you own a Vette?
I never said I don't drive fast on occasion. There are certain roads around here that are relatively free of traffic and have lots of nice twisties to them. But there's a difference between the occasional Wide Open Throttle moment, and driving fast all the time and thinking that you're immunized from the attention of law enforcement because of an expensive radar detector.
And in the final analysis, my point wasn't so much about the radar detector itself. It was about the fact that I was being offered an expensive radar detector with a feature illegal to use in my state precisely because of the car I drive. Hence, the question I went back to you with: if this particular salesman had no idea I owned a Corvette, would he have even tried to sell me the Passport SR7?
-Patrick
Gorgon
Well-known member
Patrick, the SR7 does not have a radar jamming feature, it has a laser jamming feature that Passport calls "Shifting". Radar jamming is illegal in every state while laser shifting is only illegal in three states currently: California, Utah and Minnesota. Therefore the feature is legal in your state. While not the one to perpetuate stereotypes it appears the salesman isn't fully knowledgable on the products he sells and the laws that govern them. Not surprising...
Leon
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Leon,
You're absolutely correct.
Part of the sales process is informing your customer of why a particular product or service is so necessary for them, that they need to spend money on it. If a salesman doesn't truly understand the product, and all he sees is the commission on the sale of a $1500 system, he isn't going to be perceived as credible.
This 20-something kid who put the sales bite on me either didn't fully understand his product, or the laws governing certain technologies related to his product. This is why I haven't done business with CarToys.
-Patrick
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