The wave

[Xterraforce]

So I heard some Jeep guys talking a while back about how Jeep ownership was like one big family. They wave at each other on the street and trail much like motorcyclist do. I thought I'd give it a try and start giving a friendly wave to Xterra drivers. I've been doing this for about a month now and today on my way to work I got my FIRST return wave. I've also been paying attention to the drivers of those Xterras and here's some observations I've made.

The statistics I'll be using are purely estimated since I haven't been keeping an actual count.

Around my area, easily 85% of Xterra owners are female.

99.9% of the Xterras are completely unmodified other than some stickers having nothing to do with Xterra or vehicles in general.

Not only have all but one not waved back, they seem to be totally oblivious to the fact there's another Xterra on the road. Sometimes I wonder I've they even realize what they're driving.

I get lots of looks from drivers of Nissan pickups, Toyota, Jeeps, even get random waves from them. Then Xterra owners here seem to be in there own little world.

It makes me sad, but then also happy to know so many Xterra owners here who are the exact opposite of what I experience on the street every day. I'll keep waving and hoping maybe some will wake up and realize what they're missing by only staring directly in front of their hood.

 

[lbishop]

Im with you on this one, I wave but nobody gives a second look.... I do seem to get alot of waves from lifted taco's for some reason. Most lifted trucks wave too

Even had a few cherokees lol

Theres gotta be a way to get more people on board for this lol... Not just the people on the boards

 

[Airmapper]

I do the same thing, so I guess I'm not crazy (or at least not alone in my crazyness.)

Pretty much same results, but I wave at any 4x4.

Almost no X's wave back, at least none come to mind right now. Most are driven by soccer mom's or old men. I have had Frontiers wave back. (Including ones not driven by my Uncles.) Actually a few Jeep's have waved back, and to beat all a Hummer, with truck nutz.

So it's sad when I get more friendly gestures from Jeep's and Hummers than X's. I even have beater pickups, and Big Rigs wave at me. Of course some of it is this the South, friendly waves in rual areas is pretty standard behavior.

I'll keep waving.

 

[Xado89]

I'm like x4 on this. However I wheel with a lot of Jeeper's they know my rig and usually wave back to me. Xterra owners however are oblivious and mostly female and elderly people =(.

 

[metzican]

The issue is most Xterra owners don't even know what company makes there vehicle much less anything about them. Vs people who ride bikes or drive wranglers know what they have and know others who own it understand and enjoy there vehicle besides to the grocery store and back for the most part.

 

[NMTerras]

This has been true since the dawn of Xterras. I was one of the first people to buy one, when my lifted 87 4runner got totaled in August of 1999. I saw the commercials "Everything you need, nothing you don't" and I was like, heck yeah, this is the vehicle for me. Couple months later, I was taking my son to soccer practice, and one of the mom's showed up in one just like mine (but not 4wd) and she said "Oh, you got one too?" <facepalm> Pretty soon I was seeing soccer mom's in em everywhere. I still don't get it...

 

[yellowx16]

I'm with you guys on this...I wave at nearly every x i see and I have gotten a total of one wave back from another yellow one. I actually waved at a lifted blue x and got a confused look from him. like you guys I too get waves from jeepers and other lifted rigs.

 

[Prime]

I don't even bother. As stated previously, 99.9% of Xs are completely stock. To pretty much all of those people it's merely a car. A point A to point B conveyance.

Now if I see another lifted X while I'm driving mine, I'll wave. But I think that has happened a total of once.

 

[Clayboy]

i wave at 4 wheeling vehicles. anything lited, even the occasional mall crawler gets the wave, but in harrison, we are all country folk, so i could wave at a moped and they would wave back.

 

[Xterraforce]

...i could wave at a moped and they would wave back.

They're probably just happy you're waving at them and not aiming at them. :zomg:

 

[SnickerDoodle]

I get the occasional wave or head nod from them.. But it makes me feel so dirty.. I just hurry home and wash if off. I don't want to catch their "jeep thing" lol. JK

I was however driving home from work on Wednesday and was on the highway in traffic, like usual. I saw a stock blk 1st gen in the right lane (i was in the center lane) and when i got closer the lady screamed out "that thing is f***ing Awesome" and then i hear her daughter say "OMG Mom you said the F word, that's a dollar when we get home!" I laughed so hard!

 

[Prime]

I had woman in a grocery store parking lot tell me that she had to explain what a snorkel was to her daughter. And then she told me that it was most awesome Xterra she's ever seen.

 

[Xterraforce]

I had woman in a grocery store parking lot tell me that she had to explain what a snorkel was to her daughter. And then she told me that it was most awesome Xterra she's ever seen.

Now that's cool. I've had a few people ask what the snorkel is and seem impressed once I explained but to have the experience you did is great.

 

[TN4x4Xterra]

I don't bother as its a waste of time/movement of your hand when nobody around here waves.

 

[Xterraforce]

I saw the one who recently gave me the first returned wave again today. He/she (never got that good of a look) was turning and waved first this time. :happy:

 

[drbandkgb]

I had a jeep guy taking pix of Stan at a red light last week..

I wave sometime ..

I have been nailing every xterra I see with the new XN cards..

 

[Xterraforce]

That reminds me, I need to head over to the XN store and order some more cards.

 

[TKDx00]

Just before I had to put Steena down for gasket replacement, I finally started getting waves from other Xers...maybe because I'd honk at them too...lol. But before that it was soccer moms or older couples in 2 wheel drive models and I STILL put XterraNation decals on the windows!!!.

 

[Xterraforce]

I'm not giving up. Maybe I should try adding a little horn action too.

 

[Jack Stilts]

I'll attempt The Wave, but I have yet to see another modded X in the entire state (although I know Maguyvermedic and Rammers'X are lurking around here somewhere...).

 

[Xterraforce]

That's actually one of my goals when waving. I want to attract the attention of all the stock X drivers and hopefully inspire some to start upgrading theirs. We all know what happens when the mod bugs get even the tiniest little bite.

 

[SnickerDoodle]

So this past weekend I took a road trip up to North Jersey for a wedding. I figured I would make a game of it and see how many "off road modified" vehicles would wave at me. We counted that i waved to 24 vehicles, 8 of them waved back. I mostly just got stared at in shock. I got a lot of head nods from other drivers though, like nodding in approval nods. That's always nice.

I still think the best feeling for me is when a little girl goes nuts over my truck. Gives a good girl power vibe lol

 

[J Everett]

There's a lot of talk about the Jeep "wave," but I drove my friend's TJ around for two weeks while he was off shore and my Ranger was in the body shop, and I waved to every single Jeep I saw on the road and got not a single wave back. There is no shortage of Jeeps on the road here. I reckon I waved to at least 15 people a day. Not one wave back. So it's not just Xterra drivers who aren't waving back. Most drivers are oblivious to everything on the road around them, short of identifying other cars as potential hazards, and then sometimes not even that.


On a side note, I test drove a Mini Cooper S about a year after the new body style came out, back in '03 or '04, and in a half hour drive, all three other Coopers I saw on the road threw up a wave. That culture is alive and well in the Cooper world.

 

[Roadwarrior]

I wave to Land rovers, they tend to wave back

 

[Jack Stilts]

I wave to Land rovers, they tend to wave back

I try to avoid waving to Land Rovers here. They're usually on 22's with enough chrome to blind a moose.

 

[Roadwarrior]

I try to avoid waving to Land Rovers here. They're usually on 22's with enough chrome to blind a moose.

*offroad modded Land Rovers

 

[Xterraforce]

I wave at modded Land Rovers too and they usually wave back. Especially the Defenders. I guess I should say the drivers wave actually. Recently I've been seeing a right hand drive D90 running around on the mountain where I live. He have me a thumbs up the first time I saw him and waves every time.