Cars: With that New Thread Smell

[Larry of the Lawn]

I have a 1996 f-150, a 2006 Toyota Tundra, and a 2003 subaru forester.  The trucks are for work, the Tundra being the 'newest' vehicle I've ever owned.  Was only able to get it because it had a fucked up title and lien situation that most people didn't want to deal with.  

Over the years I've had, in autobiographical order:

1976 plymouth valiant

1985 ford tempo

1977 chevy 1500

1989 gmc conversion van

1979 e150 van

1994 ford ranger

1987 f250

2000 f150

1994 f-450 diesel, dually

1993 f150

1996 subaru impreza hatchback

1987 f250 diesel

2000 ford ranger

1998 subaru legacy wagon

There were a few others in there that didn't last long enough to be worth mentioning.  A few of the trucks became donor trucks to other ones as they broke down.  The valiant and the impreza were the most fun to drive.

And of course the obligatory Tom Waits skit/story "

 

 

 

[Fury Resurrected]

7 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

What happened?

 

Hydroplaned going too fast and crashed into a 12ft deep ditch

[BigFatCoward]

I honestly think I would only buy a ford now just because I couldnt be arsed to work out where everything is on another make. I was the same with phones, only ever owned Nokia until they pretty mich vanished, now only buy Samsung's. This laziness is probably why I met my wife in a shared house. 

3 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Ouch.  In Chicago a great two bedroom condo (downtown, stunning lake view, great neighborhood, custom modern decor, beautiful building, good amenities) costs around $850k.  I know because I sold one.  And the price has been declining over the years as more and more new supply has been added (and moreso this year as people fled city living).  A big three bedroom would cost around $1.6m if you want to stretch to it.  They only go above $2m if they have amazing custom decor.

But lots of cities don’t have as much high rise construction as Chicago, so downtown condos can be really expensive compared to the suburbs. 

That sounds so cheap to me. 

There was a burned out shell near me, 3 bed, that someone paid £750 grand for. Only 3 bed and 30 mins out of the city centre by tube. 

For 6 years in london I was a 3 minute cycle-15 min walk to work. It was bliss. I was often in bed off night shift before my shift had technically finished.  Living in london for 18 years might have cost me a fortune in rent/increased mortgage payments, but saved a shit load in car costs. 

[Ran]

Got my license in my senior year of high school in Florida, and did not drive again for about 18 years when I got my license in Sweden (far more difficult, and expensive, than in the US where our PE teacher taught Driver's Ed to the class and we never once drove on actual roads).

Bought my first car in 2014 -- a used 2006 Volvo V70 station wagon. Nice car, but I wrecked it the following year (fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into the center lane barriers, no injuries but car was a write off). After a few months of searching we replaced it with a 2008 Volvo V70. Why station wagons? Two boxers take up a lot of space.

Will never buy a new car, personally. Minimum 5 years, when you get rid of a lot of the new car value. So maybe looking to get a 2016 or 2017 model car in a couple of years. Probably 2016, before Volvo cut the cargo area size in its new wagons when it discontinued the V70.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

My first car was a Mark 1 Fiesta L   the L was important as Brother had a Popular Plus.  this meant I had nicer head rests pointless bit of chair that they stick on the top of your chair and a lid on the glove box.

then I had a 5 year old Mondeo which I kept for 7 years, before I bought a Focus from new.  Sold it after 9 months for 2K more than I bought a replacement New Focus, sold that 9 months later and paid a grand total of £5 to buy a New focus.   Did not sell in 9 months cos they had "upgraded" the model and I could no longer reach the pedals.   there was also not an alternative at the time that fitted me.  (after that the employee discount became shit)

Kept that focus until last year when it died.  Bought a 3 year Leaf and have a 7kwh charger installed for free.

The reason I bought a Nissan and not a Ford was because the Fords where still not comfortable for someone of my stature.

[Inkdaub]

13 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

chicks in lingerie posing with it.

Tell me about it.  I have a gray 2018 Toyota Camry and I'm constantly having to run off the chicks in lingerie.

Years ago I worked in hotels of varying quality and would sometimes valet park.  This resulted in my having driven a huge amount of cars a typically short distance without much responsibility...as in the mechanical soundness of any vehicle didn't matter as long as it could reach the garage.  Price also didn't matter at all as these vehicles weren't mine to pay for.  So picking favorites was based entirely on aesthetics and general feel driving less than a half mile.  My favorite 'supercar' is easily Aston Martin.  Vanquish is likely the model but I loved every Aston Martin that ever showed up.  My favorite overall model is BMW...once M3 but now I'm older and probably prefer M5.  For electric cars Tesla is the clear winner.  For electric cars that aren't Tesla I always liked the Nissan Leaf.  

All that said...my Camry has satellite radio built in!

[maarsen]

2 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

To be fair, the Hellcat doesn’t on its own just attract scantily clad women. These were rap music videos, so the ladies were being paid.

As was the car  

I think the proper phrase is 'Pimping my Ride.'

[Altherion]

17 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I’ve thought about an EV, with the Tesla 3 as the obvious contender.  But I’m not thrilled about the absence of a tax rebate subsidy on Tesla or the generic looks, plus the extra costs like a home charger, and the build quality still isn’t great — we looked at a Model S when we bought the A7 and my wife didn’t like the cheap plastic interior or how it felt (I was just grinning at the acceleration and handling).  Another EV option would be to wait for the BMW i4 to go on sale — which would have the $7.5k tax rebate subsidy — but that means several months of my wife driving me to and from the office each day in the meantime.  The new Audi etron GT looks like it would incredible fun but that would cost a really stupid amount of money.  I’m not excited by the Polestar or any of the other current EV models.

I also thought about an EV and came basically to the same conclusions. It would be really, really nice because in NY and NJ (and several other states), the EVs get an exemption allowing them to use the high-occupancy vehicle lanes without needing 3 people in the car, but it feels like the most promising electric cars are one to two years out and also the charging is still in the process of standardization. The Model 3 is best of the bunch now, but it's quite expensive for what one gets.

With regard to the thread, I've owned two cars in my life (a Nissan Sentra and an Alfa Romeo 147) and shared two others (a Ford Fiesta and a Nissan Maxima) where I didn't own the car outright, but did a substantial share of the driving. None of these were less than 5 years old at the time that I drove them and the average is probably over 10. Since they were so old, I've never paid more than $4000 dollars for a car at the time of sale, but they did require some maintenance and some risk tolerance (you never know when an old car decides to act up). I'd like to buy a new one now for more peace of mind, but the price for a good one is an order of magnitude more than I've ever paid for a car even with the maintenance included (the latter was annoying, but not actually that expensive).

I've always just bought the first car I could find that was reasonably affordable and not obviously bad in some way, so now I have a bit of choice paralysis. Decisions, decisions...

[Liffguard]

None of my cars were ever bought new, and I doubt I ever will buy new. My first was a hand-me-down from my parents when they upgraded. The other two were second-hand from official dealerships, both only a couple of years old with less than 15k miles on the clock. Practically new for all intents and purposes, but half the price.

[Raja]

I love driving But because I've lived in lots of places where you don't need a car, I've never actually owned my own car and have driven cars owned by my folks.

This all changes though because you one hundred percent need a car in the UK, at least in my line of work, so I'm currently in the process of buying one; I've driven Hyundais/ Hondas mostly, but I kinda want something different this time. A subaru would be nice.

( Also, as someone who knows nothing about cars and has no experience of buying one, getting a car isn't easy )

 

[3CityApache]

I am so definitely going to buy a Tesla Model 3 Long Range. Sooner or later. And Elon Musk is kinda going to finance it for me, in a way. I've been spending all free cash on Tesla shares for about two years now, since they were $180 pre-split (today's $36). I currently own 127 shares (around $585 each at the moment) and I could actually afford a Tesla if I sold them all, but I believe it won't take long for the stock to hit $1000 and more. So I wait.

And in the meantime I drive Citroen C4 Cactus (2015).

Before it was Peugeot 5008 (2010), VW Touran (2006), Renault Megane (2002), Hyundai Sonata (1999), Daewoo Lanos (1996) and VW Beetle (1978).

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

19 hours ago, Fury Resurrected said:

Hydroplaned going too fast and crashed into a 12ft deep ditch

No bueno. Hopefully only the car was injured in that accident.

[Inkdaub]

21 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

To be fair, the Hellcat doesn’t on its own just attract scantily clad women. These were rap music videos, so the ladies were being paid.

As was the car  

Sounds like everybody wins.

[A True Kaniggit]

On 11/27/2020 at 4:08 PM, Raja said:

I love driving

Really? I despise driving.

It's just a chore I have to do where I can end up dead any minute because of any random moron on the road.

Especially in heavy rain. That shit is terrifying.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

On 11/27/2020 at 10:08 AM, Chataya de Fleury said:

To be fair, the Hellcat doesn’t on its own just attract scantily clad women. These were rap music videos, so the ladies were being paid.

As was the car  

Okay, I meant to ask this before. First, are people even really making music videos anymore, and second, how much did they pay to use that car? It's a cool car, but it's less than $100k by a long shot absent some upgrades. 

[S John]

4 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

I think it was $100 an hour on the car, and these are ah, “up and coming” rappers. This is probably the best car they can afford to rent   and I’m sure the chicks in lingerie are being paid $20 so they can say they were paid actresses or whatever. 

So, I don’t know what platform these music videos are on, because let’s just say that this is totally not my style of music. 

$100 an hour, not bad. Maybe I can see if I can get our CRV in a Dave Matthews Band video or something.

[Raja]

5 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Really? I despise driving.

It's just a chore I have to do where I can end up dead any minute because of any random moron on the road.

Especially in heavy rain. That shit is terrifying.

Interesting. I don't know, I've always loved driving. A lot of it is that it's the perfect time to listen to music and podcasts, both of which I do a lot of. Going for a drive late at night with the perfect album? Yes, please.

I've also driven a lot in India, so driving anywhere else is completely stress free. ( Though driving in Michigan winters gives me *a little* anxiety)

[S John]

I love driving too. I think everyone who drives regularly probably thinks they are a good driver and I’m no exception to that. Was it George Carlin who said something like -  anyone driving slower than you is an idiot and anyone driving faster is a maniac? It is almost embarrassing how perfectly that sums up my attitude behind the wheel.  Except that like, for real, I’m a great driver and most people around me suck at it. I often know how the shitty driver next to me is going to fuck up before they know it themselves. 

[A True Kaniggit]

1 hour ago, S John said:

I love driving too. I think everyone who drives regularly probably thinks they are a good driver and I’m no exception to that. Was it George Carlin who said something like -  anyone driving slower than you is an idiot and anyone driving faster is a maniac? It is almost embarrassing how perfectly that sums up my attitude behind the wheel.  Except that like, for real, I’m a great driver and most people around me suck at it. I often know how the shitty driver next to me is going to fuck up before they know it themselves. 

Do you start your turn signal while in the middle of changing lanes?

Or do you do the correct thing and put it on a few seconds beforehand?

Drivers that do the first piss me off to no end.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

15 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

I think it was $100 an hour on the car, and these are ah, “up and coming” rappers. This is probably the best car they can afford to rent   and I’m sure the chicks in lingerie are being paid $20 so they can say they were paid actresses or whatever. 

So, I don’t know what platform these music videos are on, because let’s just say that this is totally not my style of music. 

That actually makes a fair bit of sense. I'm guessing there are also some legal issues with renting a car from a chain and using it in a video. Finding a private party to rent from is probably less of a headache. 

And I would think being pro-strip clubs and living in Atlanta would make you at least a casual fan of rap.