The Car Thread

[machin05]

What gets me is it makes no difference to the space on the road. Whether they are half on the pavement or not, there isn't enough room for two cars to pass, so why bother mounting the pavement?

 

[EpsomWolf]

Maybe it makes more space for larger vehicles to get through and less likely they’d lose a wing mirror.

It’s a dead easy fix though especially with new powers, you’ll just need enough people who don’t have cars united with those who do but are fortunate enough to have driveways to support it and it’s job’s done.

 

[machin05]

Won't somebody please think of their wing mirrors!!!???

 

[lemonjelly]

Apologies for the source (terrible website!) But pavement parking in Birmingham is horrendous. It's like the wild west here. Many have converted garages into spare rooms. Many park in the street leaving their drive empty. Many homes have multiple car owners.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/pavement-parking-ban-birmingham-end-33190094

 

[Alan]

Won't somebody please think of their wing mirrors!!!???

Thoughts and prayers

 

[b3h]

I suppose it almost feels like a dick move to park fully in the road. Even though you are allowed to. Just feels like the norm

 

[PuntsWolf]

Potholes, could have gone in the annoy thread but here will do.

Is this how we have to live now and just accept it, or is there any realistic long term solution? Was it always bad but now worse or is it recency bias? Or has traffic increased and maintenance funding/repairs stayed the same or has that genuinely been cut too exacerbating the issue?

Are they resurfacing the roads badly too? They resurfaced the Penn road for the commonewealth games and I remember by the end of the winter it was already falling apart.

 

[leedswolf]

Potholes, could have gone in the annoy thread but here will do.

Is this how we have to live now and just accept it, or is there any realistic long term solution? Was it always bad but now worse or is it recency bias? Or has traffic increased and maintenance funding/repairs stayed the same or has that genuinely been cut too exacerbating the issue?

Are they resurfacing the roads badly too? They resurfaced the Penn road for the commonewealth games and I remember by the end of the winter it was already falling apart.

Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey - AIA The Asphalt Industry Alliance https://share.google/xNvQjWSGKlrr9CL2V

 

[lemonjelly]

Potholes, could have gone in the annoy thread but here will do.

Is this how we have to live now and just accept it, or is there any realistic long term solution? Was it always bad but now worse or is it recency bias? Or has traffic increased and maintenance funding/repairs stayed the same or has that genuinely been cut too exacerbating the issue?

Are they resurfacing the roads badly too? They resurfaced the Penn road for the commonewealth games and I remember by the end of the winter it was already falling apart.

The vast majority of roads are approaching the latter stages of their serviceable lives by all accounts, so they're more fragile, plus more expensive (resources wise and time wise) to repair.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c23e3d1r17go

 

[leedswolf]

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/british/jensen-back-brit-firm-planning-a-new-v8-gt-inspired-interceptor?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dhfacebook&utm_content=null&fbclid=IwT01FWAPXHBBleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR7dnQpQjNZQkhwfCjuh39GX1OVO-pfUAwMp7ZV4QdQUczzjS3wh_AU96488Eg_aem_TixpyW_HtsH7_hminQsjHw

 

[Alan]

I’d forgotten how crappy shopping for used cars is. Feels like my Honda was a unicorn insofar as it only ever had two owners: my dad and myself. Nothing in the same value bracket (~$3500, which in itself was actually really high for a 21 year old, 215k mile vehicle) even comes close.

Maybe I’ll just say fuck it and get that SAAB Sonett 3 I’ve always dreamed of.

 

[sycophantia]

I’d forgotten how crappy shopping for used cars is. Feels like my Honda was a unicorn insofar as it only ever had two owners: my dad and myself. Nothing in the same value bracket (~$3500, which in itself was actually really high for a 21 year old, 215k mile vehicle) even comes close.

Maybe I’ll just say fuck it and get that SAAB Sonett 3 I’ve always dreamed of.

Any Japanese car in that 1995-2012 sweetspot. Reliable and easy/cheap to service and repair. As long as its got a reasonable service history
Although the Saab does sound interesting.

 

[Alan]

I'd love a Sonett but in reality they're nightmares; not at all for daily driving. There is so much steel in those things (all three generations) that it's almost impossible to find one that hasn't been eaten through with rust in at least one place.

Not sure what I'll actually do, but I'd like a hatchback for certain. Probably end up with something boring like an old VW Golf.

 

[leedswolf]

I'd love a Sonett but in reality they're nightmares; not at all for daily driving. There is so much steel in those things (all three generations) that it's almost impossible to find one that hasn't been eaten through with rust in at least one place.

Not sure what I'll actually do, but I'd like a hatchback for certain. Probably end up with something boring like an old VW Golf.

Steel subframes and fibreglass body?

 

[Alan]

Steel subframes and fibreglass body?

Nail on head. Also some component called “rockers” that I’m not very familiar with, but apparently that’s a very common rust trap, too.

I love that the Sonett line always seemed like someone had described a Ferrari to the engineers at SAAB, just very badly and in broken Swedish. May not have been popular at the time, but it’s a design that I think has aged wonderfully, even if the rest of the car hasn’t.

 

[sycophantia]

Nail on head. Also some component called “rockers” that I’m not very familiar with, but apparently that’s a very common rust trap, too.

I love that the Sonett line always seemed like someone had described a Ferrari to the engineers at SAAB, just very badly and in broken Swedish. May not have been popular at the time, but it’s a design that I think has aged wonderfully, even if the rest of the car hasn’t.

Must admit, I never had you down as a classic car man, thought you'd be EV all the way. Buy what makes you happy and just put up with the maintenance costs.

 

[Alan]

Must admit, I never had you down as a classic car man, thought you'd be EV all the way. Buy what makes you happy and just put up with the maintenance costs.

I am theoretically an EV guy, but unfortunately the infrastructure just doesn’t exist reliably here. That, and even I am weak against a properly tuned combustion engine. You just can’t replicate the feeling of putting your foot to the floor on a “traditional” vehicle.

Oh, and I also know all too well how the sausage is made with regard to software, and, frankly, the less software my vehicle is dependent on, the better.