Elon Musk

he should mix it up, get an audi

my friend who kept buying interesting yet fatally flawed cars has a bmw in the back yard or large garage the previous homeowner installed. just a guy who can’t help but buy deals and can’t have things fixed. thankfully he doesn’t seem the type to acquire a Tesla that’ll spontaneously combust

the bmw was from a bad lemon year, I think the transmission was what killed it but I think three of the four windows wouldn’t roll down right

New BMWs are pretty uggo IMO, I still long for an E30 325is coupe. Late '80s 3-series and 5-series BMWs were some of the best looking cars ever, sharp lines without being too much of a boring commuter car.

One era-appropriate Blaupunkt upgrade and I'd have to start buying CDs again.

https://media-r2.carsandbids.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=2080,quality=80/da4b9237bacccdf19c0760cab7aec4a8359010b0/photos/9eDejlwd-QrtkFbV452-okm70PfbVf.jpg

everyone with a BMW should resemble James Spader

Everyone with a Tesla, James Woods

yeah older bmws were so much better the tasteful sedan that secretly rips was such sick concept, the new ones look like they rip and arent tasteful, some of the new ones are cool but they really abandoned their whole scheme, they had a good thing going

FWIW, my daughter, who drives a tow truck, says you would have to pay her to drive a European car, any European car. I trust her assessment, she deals with breakdowns and wrecks all day every day.

I've never asked her what she thinks of Tesla, but I assume she'd laugh.

european cars are def not as reliable, but neither are american cars or korean cars, basically japanese cars are just too good, the thing about european cars is that the repairs are more expensive, safety wise i dont think theres a huge difference, unless you take into consideration bmw driver behavior haha

For sure, Japanese cars are her jam, especially Lexus.

yeah lexus is the sweet spot if you want a nice and reliable car, some of them are even a lil fun 2 drive

FWIW, my daughter, who drives a tow truck, says you would have to pay her to drive a European car, any European car. I trust her assessment, she deals with breakdowns and wrecks all day every day.

I've never asked her what she thinks of Tesla, but I assume she'd laugh.

Good question, I'd have to ask.

I have rented a BMW 228i and an Audi A6 on more than one occasion, no question they are fun to drive.

a friend has an s3 that i wish to own and zip around in, amazing lil city car

bmw 2 series is cool too

I used to own a Dodge Challenger RT. That was a thrilling car to drive, but the thrill faded after a while.

sick

i had a audi a6 wagon rental in the UK and it was easily the nicest family car i've ever been in. unbelievably comfortable. i assume ownership is a nightmare.

My 2011 A4 had 120k and never had an issue (other than having to add oil once in a blue moon) until I got rear ended on the LIE by a giant Dodge Ram pickup and it was totaled.

if you got a new or low milage audi et al im sure it would run perfectly for years, cars generally are so good now, its more when you get over 100k that the reliable cars start to separate themselves, tho normal maintenance will always be more in a german car than in a toyota, and obvs all that affects the resale value too, tho if you really just want the nice car with no worries you can always lease too

My 2011 A4 had 120k and never had an issue

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Thursday, December 21, 2023 11:56 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

that four cylinder was known as being particularly reliable, i had a 2012 with no issues that my dad wreck at similar milage

no wait im tripping i had the 2002

FWIW, my daughter, who drives a tow truck, says you would have to pay her to drive a European car, any European car. I trust her assessment, she deals with breakdowns and wrecks all day every day.

what you're looking for when renting is different, but fwiw i always choose anything but an american car when renting. impossible to overstate how unpleasant a jeep or whatever is compared to the worst possible nissan SUV.

if we keep this up for another coupe of weeks maybe we can make elon musk disappear

Pouring one out for my 1975 530i. It already had 150K miles on it when I bought it for a dollar in 1991 and never complained when I added another 100K miles on it over the next 7 years. Replaced it with a used '86 535i which was a better car in all respects but less fun.

Over the year a couple of free level 2 chargers have opened up nearby and without fail, it's always the Teslas who hog them up all night - never moving them even after they've been sitting at 100% for hours.

I might change my mind about the existence of God if Elon got run over by an autonomous Cybertruck.

I would be a believer if Elon was incinerated to death in a burning Cybertruck that auto-locked the doors.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that Elon"

*crispiness intensifies*

raiders_face_melt.gif

One era-appropriate Blaupunkt upgrade and I'd have to start buying CDs again.

https://media-r2.carsandbids.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=2080,quality=80/da4b9237bacccdf19c0760cab7aec4a8359010b0/photos/9eDejlwd-QrtkFbV452-okm70PfbVf.jpg

― papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, December 21, 2023 2:40 AM (seventeen hours ago)

naturally theres a company that specializes in 80s/90s euro car stereos but with modern bells and whistles

https://www.retromanufacturing.com/collections/bmw

says you would have to pay her to drive a European car, any European car

I feel like we only see a fraction of euro models on this side of the pond... they have so many nifty little cars that are never imported to the U.S. (Skoda? Renault?) but are extremely common over there, and the newer models seem to be decent quality. We only get the luxury models (and a few Jettas etc. which are probably built in Tennessee)

Example: Will the new MG electric make it over here? Doubtful

https://carsguide-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,t_cg_hero_large/v1/editorial/story/hero_image/mg-cyberster-uk-reveal-my24-1001x565-%281%29.jpg

How often is it something like conflicting safety standards or whatever that keeps certain cars or brands from US shores? That's what I always figure. Like, in Italy an airbag's minimum inflation is something something PSI, but in America it's a different number, so the cars don't pass muster, something like that.

yup thats basically it

Yeah, it's that but also California's more stringent emissions standards (CARB); if it can't sell in CA, they won't bother importing. Hence the VW dirty diesel scandal

speaking of safety standards, useful piece on why they can only be applied after launch in the US (unlike in e.g. europe), which is why the cybertruck is launching here now, and has no specific plans to ever launch in the US https://slate.com/technology/2023/12/cybertruck-safety-elon-musk-tesla-danger.html

I have a 1983 mercedes sl but I never drive it. theoretically accepting offers tbh

xp There's also the issue of dealer networks.. like Skoda or Holden or Vauxhall might actually be owned by GM, but those names are so weird and exotic that dealers might be afraid to be associated with them. They did relaunch Alfa Romeo in the U.S. a few years ago, but I don't actually see that many on the road

GM sold Vauxhalls in the States for a brief period in the '60s before switching to Opel as their preferred 'captive import'.

The Big Three all imported their European marque compacts over here back then, with Chrysler bringing in both Simcas and Rootes, and Ford trying out both Anglias and Cortinas from the UK.

I have a B&W photo of the Simca my dad owned for a couple of years, parked on the street in front of our house, circa 1968. In the background you can see our neighbor's Cadillac parked in their driveway.

dodge/chrysler are owned by stellantis now fwiw. alfa romeo too. so more like big two

One of the final Pontiac models - the G8 was a rebadged Holden Commodore imported from Australia. A guy I worked with long ago had a G8 GXP which had the V8 from a Corvette paired with a six-speed manual. Hell of a car.

Those 2000s GTOs were also Holdens, and had Pontiac survived, they were on track to become all-Holden. The last Pontiac brochure had a preview spread of upcoming models which included those Holden El Camino-style car/trucks (forget the model name).

Holden Ute. The Pontiac was going to be in the G8 line.

Huge Image of The Pontiac version

My family is from Detroit, they were GM all the way. I remember we had a few Opels back in the 60s. Not good cars.

xp That Pontiac looks even worse than the Aztek.

The Opel GT looked dope but was an underpowered POS IIRC.

My dad had a Sunbeam. He loved that car even as he acknowledged it was terrible.

car-ignorant car tale from yesterday--

i saw a 2022 rs6 c8 at downieville exit on i70, waitin for its master to get coffee. as a know-nothing i was amazed by its cool waves. i complimented the owner when he returned (asked him the year, only way i know it).

i asked my buddy when he got back "did you see that rs6 that was parked next to us"? he said "i missed it-- all 600hp of it." i said "BULLSHIT! NO WAY?" "yeah. hope you didn't ding it." what a world.

You would be amazed how that post reads to someone who is actually car-ignorant