Car Chat

[AutobahnSHO]

I've messed up like plenty of times, but not in traffic luckily. 

So I'm fortunate that the other car was so far behind me- they didn't have a ton of time to get through but no one takes corners quick around here so they had plenty of time to stop and not hit us.

I NEVER give it any amount of "iffiness" if there's a chance I can hit someone or something. Except for this curb apparently.

[FoMoJo]

I EMBARRASSED myself today!

Light was green on one of my favorite intersections- and no traffic. I was turning left like the Crosstrek is waiting to here. https://goo.gl/maps/E54HsWsTzvLBx9f6A

It's about a 120deg turn, people cut it too early then swing wide to the right. I took it kinda quick-

BUT IT WAS MISTY AND WET. And I shouldn't have been on the gas- ended up losing the rear which swung all the way around to hit the curb by the van. It's low and rounded, so didn't hurt the car. But at that point there were 2 cars behind who then had to wait- and so I didn't have any way to turn around.

I reversed all the way up the hill till the right lane joins, and did a backwards u-turn into it. Lucky no traffic there. https://www.google.com/maps/place/33%C2%B029'52.8%22N+81%C2%B057'35.8%22W/@33.498001,-81.9604885,220m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d33.4980015!4d-81.95994?hl=en

The people I had held up were then able to pass and one beep-beep-beeeeeeep-beeped me. Not sure if it was an angry beep or making fun. Wife was pretty pissed, didn't say anything for a block or two. Then made me get out and check all the wheels/tires were good when she went into store.

   

Let that be a lesson, never show-off with your wife in the car.

[AutobahnSHO]

Lol wasn't showing off, just having a fun day...

[FoMoJo]

Lol wasn't showing off, just having a fun day...

It's best to have fun in your car when you're alone, not with a passenger and especially not a wife.  You may be thinking..."I'll just zip around this corner real fast and that should impress her."  She will be thinking..."What is that jackass trying to do now, get us all killed?"

It's true.

[AutobahnSHO]

Usually she's good and it's truly not showing off. :)

[cawimmer430]

Awesome sticker on this Passat. AUTOBAHN SYMBOL + NO SPEED LIMIT SYMBOL = HAPPY FACE. So true. Driving slow sucks.

[AutobahnSHO]

Awesome sticker on this Passat. AUTOBAHN SYMBOL + NO SPEED LIMIT SYMBOL = HAPPY FACE. So true. Driving slow sucks.

haha that's awesome!

[cawimmer430]

Merkel Shit Hole Germany... 

An undercover organization of the Greens is proposing an utterly retarded plan that Berliners (you know, the morons who somehow can stand living in a city run by the Socialists-Communists and the eco-retarded extremist Greens) can only use their car 12 times - per year.

Yes, you can only use your car 12 times within a year in the city. 12 trips.

And within a few years they want to reduce this to 6. 6 trips per year in your car within the city.

Germany, the birth nation of the modern automobile... and currently we have so many eco-fucking retards who are hating on the automobile and want to completely eradicate it.

Merkel SHIT HOLE Germany.


https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article226607745/Berliner-Initiative-will-nur-noch-zwoelf-private-Autofahrten-pro-Jahr-erlauben.html

[shp4man]

LOL. Is this where the USA is going? Hope not.

[CaminoRacer]

I might do this trail in Canyonlands NP this spring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li7d-PEb4XU

[FoMoJo]

I might do this trail in Canyonlands NP this spring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li7d-PEb4XU

Shoulda' got a Bronco instead of a Miata then.

[CaminoRacer]

Jeep rentals aren't too expensive.

It's a shame that UTVs aren't allowed in the park, even though they're road-legal in Utah (on non-highway roads)

[AutobahnSHO]

Jeep rentals aren't too expensive.

It's a shame that UTVs aren't allowed in the park, even though they're road-legal in Utah (on non-highway roads)

Dummies would drive them all over the rocks they shouldn't etc...

Makes me angry when I see dummies swinging from arches etc...

[cawimmer430]

LOL. Is this where the USA is going? Hope not.

Under Biden and Harris.... POSSIBLY. Biden and Harris are basically the equivalent of our Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock (the leaders of the German Green Party) with their eco visions of the future. Terrifying stuff.

[FoMoJo]

This is just unusual...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uskdaQ6GQ7I&feature=emb_title

[Laconian]

Consumer Reports-kun says "Mazda ichiban"
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/18/mazda-bmw-subaru-top-consumer-reports-2021-brand-report-card.html

[r0tor]

CR can kiss my flawless Alfa owning ass

[FoMoJo]

Too much of their criteria is subjective.

[MX793]

Consumer Reports-kun says "Mazda ichiban"
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/18/mazda-bmw-subaru-top-consumer-reports-2021-brand-report-card.html

IIRC, infotainment systems are a huge "reliability" factor now.  Glitchy, buggy systems can tank a car's rating.

[r0tor]

For anyone needing tires that also is forced to drive in the snow....

Michelin CrossClimate2 tires.  Get them!  For the love of God, they act like dedicated winter tires in the snow, can be used year round, 60k mileage rating, perfectly quiet, have amazing reflexes with zero tread squirm... and the Giulia just pulled 0.94 lateral gs on a cold dirty road with them.

[cawimmer430]

Shit Hole Germany. 

Car-free cities? Are these god damn eco terrorists insane? I love riding my bicycle in the city and also use it for a lot of nearby errands and small volume food shopping, but it can never replace the practicality and comfort of a car. A bicycle is also something you can only use during nice weather. I don't even use my bicycle in the winter, even if the cycling lanes have been cleared of snow and ice (they are still slippery).

Is the New York Times a leftist progressive "liberal" paper? How on earth can they praise these insane ideas!? 

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/28/business/heidelberg-cars-environment.html

[r0tor]

Well, when you look out your NYC window and see cars pulled on up of cars with smog flooding in the air and a ton of noise.. It certainly seems like a good idea

[FoMoJo]

Shit Hole Germany. 

Car-free cities? Are these god damn eco terrorists insane? I love riding my bicycle in the city and also use it for a lot of nearby errands and small volume food shopping, but it can never replace the practicality and comfort of a car. A bicycle is also something you can only use during nice weather. I don't even use my bicycle in the winter, even if the cycling lanes have been cleared of snow and ice (they are still slippery).

Is the New York Times a leftist progressive "liberal" paper? How on earth can they praise these insane ideas!? 

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/28/business/heidelberg-cars-environment.html

It begs the question...why are most people on the road?

[MX793]

Shit Hole Germany. 

Car-free cities? Are these god damn eco terrorists insane? I love riding my bicycle in the city and also use it for a lot of nearby errands and small volume food shopping, but it can never replace the practicality and comfort of a car. A bicycle is also something you can only use during nice weather. I don't even use my bicycle in the winter, even if the cycling lanes have been cleared of snow and ice (they are still slippery).

Is the New York Times a leftist progressive "liberal" paper? How on earth can they praise these insane ideas!? 

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/28/business/heidelberg-cars-environment.html

So they just want to keep cars out of downtown in a city designed centuries before cars existed

Also, NYC has the lowest rate of car ownership in the US.  Less than half of households own cars there.

[afty]

So they just want to keep cars out of downtown in a city designed centuries before cars existed

Also, NYC has the lowest rate of car ownership in the US.  Less than half of households own cars there.

When I lived in Boston, it was much quicker to bike places rather than drive, especially since you don't have to look for parking when you arrive.  I would guess this is even more true in NYC.  Driving in these dense cities is horrible.

[shp4man]

Shit Hole Germany. 
Is the New York Times a leftist progressive "liberal" paper? How on earth can they praise these insane ideas!? 

Yes. The New York Slimes and the Washington Compost are both propaganda rags. 

[cawimmer430]

The problem is that these eco-minded politicians think that everyone in the city center uses their cars to drive from their home to a shop around the block. And this is why they want car-free cities. Some people might do that, but the vast majority of people use their cars intelligently and for a reason.

The much-praised German public transportation system is a JOKE. The trains and trams are slow, unreliable (A/C does not work in the summers... hell, if you're lucky to even ride in a train with A/C!) and in recent times unsafe and unhygienic. It also takes longer to get from A to Z in these things because of multiple stops and eventual switching of trains. With a car you can drive directly from A to Z while being in control of your own mobility plus added comfort, safety and hygiene.

I live in the city center and only use my car when I am visiting clients or need to buy food. And I actually combine a visit to a client with a shopping trip on the way home - efficient and intelligent usage of a car. Driving in Munich has become a pain because on a long straightaway road you're basically creeping from red light to red light (the idiotic Green Party and SPD are responsible for that...). Most of the time in the city center I tend to use my bicycle or even walk - it's quick and efficient and I don't need to worry about parking and it's healthy. But there are times where I need to use my car. What these eco terrorists have planned is basically a completely car-free city. They don't seem to care about the people who need a car for work reasons or because they might have a physical disability and are incapable of using a bicycle etc.

All of those assholes mentioned in that article look and sound like Green Party voters - the dumbest people around in this country. 

[cawimmer430]

Yes. The New York Slimes and the Washington Compost are both propaganda rags. 

Good to know. It reeks and sounds like many of the pro-Greta and pro-Green Party crap publications we have here. Totally out of touch with the reality and needs of many people.

[cawimmer430]

Dad's '89 500SL can legally drive on the road on March 1st so today we connected the battery and the car started right up. She was fully fueled but we drove to a nearby gas station to reduce the tire pressure (we always overinflated the tire pressure because we put the car in storage from the end of October to March 1st).

Then, when my dad fired her up to drive home the engine kept stuttering, vibrating hard and the RPMs kept fluctuating. The V8 engine normally idles at 700 RPM, and when the needle went below 500 RPM the engine shut off automatically. Firing up the engine again produced the same results - at high RPM the engine sounded and felt normal, but take your foot off the gas and the engine began to vibrate, stutter and shut itself off once the RPMs went below 500. It felt and sounded really nasty. Ironically, this happened about 500 meters from the local Mercedes-Benz dealership so they sent a tow truck to load up the car.

No idea what the verdict is. My first thought - and this is based purely on how the engine felt and sounded - was that one cylinder bank is either misfiring or not firing at all. Another irony - the car is now 32 years old and my dad had planned to have an R129 specialist check and redo the car's entire electrical system this year.

The car is currently at the local dealer. No diagnosis yet.

[FoMoJo]

Could be fuel, if he/you didn't put a stabilizer in the tank when filling it up in the Fall.