I don't love cars

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In honour of the new ILX board, and obviously this question is not going to go there..

I don't love cars. I have a real blind spot regarding makes, models and types in general. Don't get me wrong, I like cars inasmuch as they get me from A to B and play me music while they do this.

But I have no yearning for bigger/better/grander, just working/reliable/comfy.

And yet, 1) I'm a bloke 2) I'm an "advanced driver" passtest (it was a free thing at a past workplace)

― Mark G, Monday, 23 April 2007 10:48 (eighteen years ago)

I know what you mean. I have no interest in any car made after about 1980, but I have to admit that modern cars are kinda classic in their reliability and comfiness - at least German and Japanese ones are. I have done 75K miles in my my current Toyota and I think I have only changed bulbs and tyres in that time. It never so much as misfires.

But.....it's a boring car. I had much more fun when I drove an MGB or a Beetle, or even old Fords. Actually, no.....forget the old Fords, they were shit. I guess the need to move kids about and sometimes carry tons of musical equipment around means that a boring sensible car is needed. Plus...could I go back to driving in the summer without aircon?

But I am thinking of getting something more fun as well at some point soon - something old and full of character.

― Dr.C, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:16 (eighteen years ago)

What, like Jeremy Clarkson?

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:18 (eighteen years ago)

Like you.

― Dr.C, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:18 (eighteen years ago)

I'm an "advanced driver"

you did the IAM test for free? that's one forward-thinking workplace, yo.

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 23 April 2007 11:26 (eighteen years ago)

I never cared that much about makes/models of cars either. Modern cars are all ugly anyway.

― Hurting 2, Monday, 23 April 2007 13:32 (eighteen years ago)

"forward thinking workplace" = "BP"

Funnily enough.

― Mark G, Monday, 23 April 2007 13:34 (eighteen years ago)

I don't like cars and I can't drive cars. If they looked pretty like they did in the olden days I might be more interested.

― chap, Monday, 23 April 2007 13:40 (eighteen years ago)

I'm an ecofascist who would like to make private ownership of cars illegal, turn the interstate highway system into bullet-train tracks, force retail and housing development into the cities to head off suburban sprawl, and in my wildest fantasies I see fleets of bicycle commuters and shoppers.

Of course, if the "peak oil is now" people are right, I may live to see all this yet.

― Oilyrags, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:21 (eighteen years ago)

Oh. I'd better not mention that I really, really love my BMW sport coupé then. :(

― C J, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:24 (eighteen years ago)

I wouldn't consider myself a "car" person, but I can't help but turn my head when there's a lovingly restored muscle car from back in the day driving by. Or, hell, some ultra-expensive sports car cruising by. Though I usually am half admiring and muttering "twat" under my breath, as the drivers more often than not look like twats.

I miss my Toyota Echo. That baby was fuel-efficient, plenty of headroom, and it would zip into any old parking space with ease.

― Gukbe, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:27 (eighteen years ago)

I'm like Oilyrags. Because of environmental (and economic) reasons I've never gotten a driver's license, and have no urge to get one. I might give it some thought though, if someone comes up with a truly ecological car. But so far I'm happy to live a car-free life.

I've never understood how people can spot different car marks and models by just looking at them when they drive by. To me they look all the same, unless they're really old or customized.

― Tuomas, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:33 (eighteen years ago)

― sunny successor, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:34 (eighteen years ago)

...solving global warming at a stroke

― ledge, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:35 (eighteen years ago)

I don't understand how it would increase the homicide rate?

― Ed, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:37 (eighteen years ago)

I've never understood how people can spot different car marks and models by just looking at them when they drive by. To me they look all the same

You think a Lotus Elise looks just like a Skoda Rapide??

― C J, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:37 (eighteen years ago)

i don't love cars but i do love driving

― gabbneb, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:37 (eighteen years ago)

I don't understand how it would increase the homicide rate?

-- Ed, Monday, April 23, 2007 9:37 AM (2 minutes ago)

being forced to be squished up against the rest of humanity day after day is bound to push a lot of people over the edge, no?

― sunny successor, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:45 (eighteen years ago)

yeah fuck a car. the idea of spending that much money on something that loses value instantly makes me ill.

― will, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:45 (eighteen years ago)

or instantly loses value makes me ill

― will, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:46 (eighteen years ago)

Don't buy lunch then.

― Mark G, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:46 (eighteen years ago)

oh i'm pretty strongly with oilyrags on this one, minus the whole "private ownership" bit.

that being said, i really do like driving cars, fast, and out here life would be pretty much impossible w/o one. moreover, a 4wd pickup would actually be really, really useful. but if i got one i'd feel compelled to do what my buddy did and convert it to biodiesel. which would be a fun project anyway

― river wolf, Monday, 23 April 2007 14:54 (eighteen years ago)

cars are rubbish and for twats

― RJG, Monday, 23 April 2007 15:01 (eighteen years ago)

"a car should be your servant, not your master" -something i heard at a conference a few months ago

― get bent, Monday, 23 April 2007 15:04 (eighteen years ago)

that conference 8080

― river wolf, Monday, 23 April 2007 15:05 (eighteen years ago)

I also struggle to see a car as anything more than a means of conveyance with a radio. I also don’t get why guys seem to think having a fancy car makes them more attractive, especially when all they talk about is bloody cars. I have never dated a man with a car newer than 1985.

I am with oilyrags too, actually. The only thing with that is, if we outlawed private cars and did away with highways, I wouldn't be able to drive across Canada one summer with my kids, when I have kids, which sounds like fun. Selfish, polluting fun.

― franny glass, Monday, 23 April 2007 15:05 (eighteen years ago)

rw otm

― dan m, Monday, 23 April 2007 15:16 (eighteen years ago)

In 1980, geologists said we'd be totally out of oil in 25 years, for certain, if we kept up current consumption rates. 25 years have gone by and our oil consumption has increased by orders of magnitude, and there's still no sign of the oil tap shutting off. Face it, nobody has a fucking clue how much oil we got left. Given that we haven't even started to touch the "dirty" reserves which are more difficult to refine, I'd say that it's gonna be a few more lifetimes before the advent of "pedal-by shootings".

― libcrypt, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:28 (eighteen years ago)

I think the best that the "ecofascists" can hope for is that oil becomes more expensive than biodiesel.

― libcrypt, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:31 (eighteen years ago)

i thought i didn't love cars, but now that i'm car-free in a car-intensive city, i find myself relishing random rides i get from friends around town, being able to see more than the %2 of the city i see on 2-3 bus routes, etc. but then again i've definitely become attached to a few pros of carlessness: drunken bus rides, no traffic stress, more exercise.

what this place really needs is a couple hundred strategic deaths in hancock park or wherever so we can get a west side metro line.

― strgn, Monday, 23 April 2007 22:38 (eighteen years ago)

I also struggle to see a car as anything more than a means of conveyance with a radio.

yeah. I mean, having a car is better than having no car, but good public transit would be better still (although I'm not sure where I would rock the fuck out then)

― bernard snowy, Monday, 23 April 2007 22:50 (eighteen years ago)

I don't love cars, but I kind of love that Top Gear show.

― Drooone, Monday, 23 April 2007 22:53 (eighteen years ago)

Angelenos to thread

― admrl, Monday, 23 April 2007 22:53 (eighteen years ago)

Good things about no longer having a car in Chicago:

1. No more car insurance that goes up every year because people here just love ramming into parked cars.
2. No more parking tickets because I didn't move the car so they can sweep the street.
3. No more buying gas for $3.50 a gallon.
4. No more circling the block for an hour looking for a space.
5. Still having access to a car with iGo.
6. Walking and biking more.
7. Learning to love the bus routes more. They're so much more convienent when you have mastered them.
8. No stupid car repairs, servicing, etc. Expenses that always come about at the wrong time.

NEVER AGAIN.

― Jeff, Monday, 23 April 2007 22:54 (eighteen years ago)

I essentially use my 13 year old car for large shopping excursions and trips to relatives in the country badly served by public transportation. I've put less than a thousand miles on it annually over the course of the last couple of years. My all-time favorite car, as I've said for ages, is an available cab when I want or need it.

― Michael White, Monday, 23 April 2007 22:55 (eighteen years ago)

whats funny is i live in the same state and not terribly far even from chitown & yet every single one of those things are so foreign to me i have trouble just imagining them.

its the god damn 'great' lakes fault i figurr.

xp

― deeznuts, Monday, 23 April 2007 22:58 (eighteen years ago)

I actively hate cars. I like old cars aesthetically, but I hate cars, car people, and car society.

― The Real Dirty Vicar, Monday, 23 April 2007 23:06 (eighteen years ago)

I'm with you DV. I like the look of some old cars, especially the ones that cost a tenner to start, but cars are basically plums.

― Keith, Monday, 23 April 2007 23:09 (eighteen years ago)

Cars, roads, traffic accidnets, noise, pollution, the smell... outside the obvious pleasures of indulging in nihilistic road fantasies, what's to like about cars? But I am alone in this among my friends. When I sound off about cars, that always seems to precipitate a conversation about how cool this or that car is. I am fed up with being told I need a car. I am nearly 40 and a single parent, and I've never needed a car. And, unless you live in a cattle station or work in the transport industry, nor do you. Especially not to get to work in the morning, with three vacant seats around you, putting on your makeup or blathering away on your mobile phone. Humpf.

― moley, Monday, 23 April 2007 23:12 (eighteen years ago)

i drive a nerdy car & it really doesnt fucking matter moley. roll down a window, light a cigarette, put on some good music, this and this alone (& it is enough) = the appeal of driving cars

ok driving obscenely fast is also fun but mine for whatever reason tops out at 104 & i havent driven over 90 in at least a year & i couldnt care less

― deeznuts, Monday, 23 April 2007 23:17 (eighteen years ago)

cars are rubbish and for twats

What an enlightened, nuanced, humane viewpoint.

― Granny Dainger, Monday, 23 April 2007 23:18 (eighteen years ago)

The new board is also for those who hate cars!

― Spencer Chow, Monday, 23 April 2007 23:28 (eighteen years ago)

I am pleased that recent car design is at least getting somewhat RISKY...it's ugly, but it's broken past the absolutely revolting past 20-25 years of fiberglass homogeneity.

― Abbott, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 04:04 (eighteen years ago)

threadstarter otm absolutely. my wife and i have honda civics, i'm pretty sure during my lifetime my ambition won't move past a honda accord to accomodate my long legs (+ enviro improvements or whatever). I have zero ego wrapped up in automobiles, other than getting them 4 cheap.

― tremendoid, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 04:23 (eighteen years ago)

The irony of the lady at work talking about how disgusting it was when she cut off a bike rider and he spat on her car. Spitting's pretty gross but pumping poison into the atmosphere's worse no?

― badg, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 05:15 (eighteen years ago)

I miss driving cars, but I do not at all miss the hassles of car ownership. The hassles would be multiplied by owning a car in the city (tickets, street cleaning, permits, wear and tear, parking). But I absolutely love getting behind the wheel of a car I don't own. A 6 hour drive to Michigan (and then another returning) passes in no time, and I'm hungry for more even after I arrive.

― Jesse, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 05:59 (eighteen years ago)

The 15 hour drive from New Orleans to Chicago (which I did 3 times last summer) was a little boring at some points, but I would not hesitate to undertake it again.

― Jesse, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 06:00 (eighteen years ago)

The irony of the lady at work talking about how disgusting it was when she cut off a bike rider and he spat on her car.

She actually said she cut him off? She's lucky it was a lone biker, and not a group of vigilante Critical Mass assholes like the ones that woman in SF met.

― Jesse, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 06:12 (eighteen years ago)

yes: spitting might be bad, but so's driving like a twat and endangering a more vulnerable road user.

(unless it's markelby running all those red lights JOKE JOKE JOKE :) :))

― grimly fiendish, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 10:49 (eighteen years ago)

M White, yesterday:

http://www.michaelkurland.com/hansomcab.jpg

― Mark C, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 11:23 (eighteen years ago)

Skipping 61 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I believe Buckminster Fuller was fond of the idea of dense urbanized living spaces.

Having lived as a child (and thus a non-driver) in rural, suburban and urban environments, I have found suburban living the least appetizing.

i can't imagine how shitty driving in l.a. will be in twenty years' time.

The Bay Area isn't L.A., but it regularly figures amongst the American cities with the worst commutes. A mere seven years ago, I was regularly driving for work, and I can say that on those occasions when I do take out my car nowdays, the traffic, the bad manners, and the stress seem worse than they did in the late 90's. That might might be partly subjective but the increase in driving time isn't. Thankfully, there is good public transportation here and many are the nights when I take a train home then a bus out and cab home.

― Michael White, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:37 (eighteen years ago)

xposts

Haha if you made the bulk of the American west carless and urbanized, you would wind up with one miserable metropolis surrounded by untold impenetrable wilderness, getting all material goods via air-drop due to all ground shipments being torn to pieces by ferocious cougars.

Umm one thing that's faintly reassuring here is that I feel like the oldest American generations have a vision of this nation as ceaseless and unchanging, whereas younger generations -- thanks in part to ecological issues -- seem way more open to thinking about and planning for change. So I hope that as they age to become more of the voting base, we'll cease to have these situations where government can't begin to respond to any problem that isn't immediately present -- e.g., there's no reason MOST big cities (LA chief among them) shouldn't be more actively planning ahead with their public transport, leaving enough adjustment time for their planning and demographics to wrap around whatever they come up with.

xpost
RJG, you're acting as if people could abandon their car ownership -- like going on strike -- and this would somehow reorganize the landscapes they live in. This is just really not true, for very obvious reasons.

Similarly, your point about not everyone being able to have a large green lawn is well taken in 2007, but no so much as of the point where suburbs came into fashion -- the whole 50s American suburban boom was based around the sense that we all could live like that, the sense that these things were democratizing, and that every American could have a nice slice of his/her own. And the thing that would make this possible would be the car, which ranked right up there with deliberately inhaling smoke on the list of "things you'd have thought people would figure out weren't all good."

Just for the record, another thing to keep in mind here is that the suburbs are currently kinda cheaper. They are less in demand. The price of a one-bedroom apartment in my city would buy you a giant McMansion with land in the back where my parents live, plus enough left over to buy a car and years' worth of gas. In some parts of the US, we have actually switched from the gritty city and the suburban manor to the reverse -- glittery city life versus aesthetically unappealing strip-malled suburban ghettos.

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:38 (eighteen years ago)

without a major shift in nearly all aspects of the culture and a corresponding amount of pain

sounds like when they talk about the gun control in america and the global warming in the world and um lots and lots of other things that we'll never bother trying to make better

haha, keith, tap, yes...but think it must have been more like 2000 or 2001. wish I knew!

the crossposts

― RJG, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:39 (eighteen years ago)

Sorry, that shouldn't be "suburbs" in the last paragraph, but more exurban areas, smallish towns, etc.

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:40 (eighteen years ago)

. In some parts of the US, we have actually switched from the gritty city and the suburban manor to the reverse -- glittery city life versus aesthetically unappealing strip-malled suburban ghettos.

Yes that describes most of TX.

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:42 (eighteen years ago)

"which ranked right up there with deliberately inhaling smoke on the list of "things you'd have thought people would figure out weren't all good."

alrite this is a bit of an exaggeration yeah??

also 'just for the record'!!!???!!!

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:45 (eighteen years ago)

the more you drive, the less intelligent you are

― félix pié, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:45 (eighteen years ago)

Xpost hahaha, dude, RJG, a united government could take away every gun in America, and the only cost would be a whole bunch of deaths, a few minor rebellions, and a possible civil war. A united government could cut the living hell out of US greenhouse emissions, and the only cost would be possible economic collapse and ensuing social disorder. Either of those things would seriously be WAY more plausible than getting rid of every privately-owned car in the country, which would involve knocking 98% of buildings in the country down and rebuilding them in a more convenient position.

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:46 (eighteen years ago)

TRUE TRUTH

― Abbott, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:46 (eighteen years ago)

'The price of a one-bedroom apartment in my city would buy you a giant McMansion with land in the back where my parents live, plus enough left over to buy a car and years' worth of gas'

'just thought id mention that in passing'

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:46 (eighteen years ago)

That's another exaggeration for effect, but possibly you can see why the hypothetical "get rid of cars" stuff isn't even hypothetically helpful to us.

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:47 (eighteen years ago)

I don't think that's a huge exaggeration. Big cities in America are definitely more expensive to live in than less-densely populated areas.

Is rural/suburban living associated more with the upper-class in the UK?

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:49 (eighteen years ago)

I meant I was exaggerating about the gun / greenhouse / cars thing, not the price comparison. The price comparison is an understatement: I'm talking $500k Manhattan apartments versus $300k grand subdivision homes, which is actually describing $200k rather conservatively as getting you "a car and gas!"

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:51 (eighteen years ago)

27 stretch-limousine Hummers
that I leave running even when I am sleeping

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:52 (eighteen years ago)

Is rural/suburban living associated more with the upper-class in the UK?

Rural, yes.

― Keith, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:53 (eighteen years ago)

That's where RJG lives, with his 4x4 for climbing up the front of damns.

― Keith, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

RJG, you're acting as if people could abandon their car ownership -- like going on strike -- and this would somehow reorganize the landscapes they live in. This is just really not true, for very obvious reasons.

look, nabisco, I'm just UPSET, OK?

haha, yes, of course it is a catch 22 because public transport systems will only respond to public demand or policy and what I am demanding requires people to sit on a pavement until a bus stop appears w/ buses to their destination. it's v unfortunate

based around the sense that we all could live like that

I know that I am fortunate that the 1950s happened in the past and that I can see what happened and why and what has happened since. although most of the plenty of trouble I have w/ suburban areas and all that they require and the effects they have is about today, another good bit of it is...I don't think that sort of "good living", then, was a good idea, socially. even if it was sustainable

― RJG, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:55 (eighteen years ago)

we have actually switched from the gritty city and the suburban manor to the reverse

I'm sorry to bring this up, but I'm curious to read how you think the modern climate wrt racism affects all this, nabisco. Mostly rural blacks moved in great numbers to American cities especially after the 20's and within a generation, white people started leaving, but many cities, including my neighborhood in SF are formerly black areas that are being 'gentrified' by suburbanites coming back to the city.

― Michael White, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:56 (eighteen years ago)

http://student-kmt.hku.nl/~david4/joomla/images/stories/segway.jpg

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:57 (eighteen years ago)

We're already down with that in Austin:

http://www.austintexas.org/stay_and_do/images/display.php?id=141

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:01 (eighteen years ago)

$500k Manhattan apartments

Where?

― Michael White, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:01 (eighteen years ago)

I am in love with my car and with cars in general, but I will happily give up my right to drive (and consider my past fancy a quaint notion) when public transport is a viable alternative (in LA I'm thinking that will be a long time). I will also be happy to vote cars out of existence when it comes time.

― Spencer Chow, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:04 (eighteen years ago)

Well the reason I'm butting my head here isn't that I disagree with you, RJG. I guess I just don't think it helps to look at these things as strictly "good" and "bad." They're giant cultural shifts in the way human beings live, and they're complex, uncontrollable things that move by flux, not firm decisions, etc.

Anyway, re: suburbs, the main selling point was surely the giant growth of the middle class at that point, which was socially good but looks increasingly like it won't be sustained. You're right that suburbs didn't turn out well, socially -- they faked the feel of small towns without any of the interdependence of small towns, and the social rituals they created to deal with that never did make up for it.

Also yeah, I'm beginning to feel the obvious US/UK divide in discussion, which at this particular time of day is going to make UK posters the misunderstood ones?

xpost

Michael -- again, I was being totally generous about the price comparison! Yes, you could spend plenty more than that. As for race stuff, well totally, though I think the mechanics of it early in the 20th century (where cities absorbed a menial-labor class of immigrants and minorities) are maybe different from the past few decades (the late 70s / early 80s as the apex of white flight out of cities, and the 90s/00s as the steep part of the ramp of regentrification -- though I think there's still a ways to go, what with a large demographic cohort of kids coming who've grown up on the idea that young people live in cities).

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:08 (eighteen years ago)

suburbs didn't turn out well, socially

I think that's rather sweeping.

― Spencer Chow, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:10 (eighteen years ago)

the two times ive seen public transport in la depicted onscreen or in reality its ended with an explosion or a man dead (fortunately this man was tom cruise)

hollywood really needs to start showing the POSITIVE aspects of public transport, for the kids

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:10 (eighteen years ago)

Well I'm trying to have a conversation with a broom, so ...

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

This is reminding me of when we hosted a Mexican exchange student my jr year of high school, and how on her first day with us she revealed that she thought there was a bus system in our town and it had never occurred to her that she'd be dependent on my parents for rides to places, just like we were. She must have felt so trapped and un-agencied! I think she actually cried. I was dumbfounded -- WHITEHALL? Have PUBLIC TRANSIT?? What did she think it was, a major urban area?!

― Laurel, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

"I will also be happy to vote cars out of existence when it comes time."

im assuming you mean within well-definied urban areas, cuz if you mean it literally its absolutely preposterous to think this country could sustain itself without cars.

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:13 (eighteen years ago)

Transporters dude, the Star Trek kind.

― Spencer Chow, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:14 (eighteen years ago)

What are their emissions like?

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:17 (eighteen years ago)

I'm thinking about people mortars that lob little pods for miles and miles.

― Spencer Chow, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:19 (eighteen years ago)

Massive quantities of lost skin cells clogging up the atmosphere. That's why everyone had good skin on Star Trek -- those things exfoliate like nuts.

― nabisco, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:19 (eighteen years ago)

I winced as I misread that last phrase, nabisco.

― Michael White, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 21:20 (eighteen years ago)

Spencer OTM . It's also pleasant to see RJG extend beyond the terse and monosyllabic.

― admrl, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 23:22 (eighteen years ago)

God old Lefsetz weighs in:

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2007/05/07/the-price-of-gas/

― moley, Monday, 7 May 2007 23:52 (eighteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

My stupid car is leaking oil and I can't get a garage to look at it before next week, and I have to drive to Portumna tomorrow, which is all the way over on the other side of the country (about 100 miles away). Is this a stupid thing to do?

I do have AA, though.

― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:08 (eighteen years ago)

Do you have triple A as I don't those drunks could help you much. ;)

How much oil is it leaking? Is there not some chain garage that could take a look? How about another city on your way?

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

AA is what it is here.

My guess is: one of those a's is "American" for you.

― Mark G, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:11 (eighteen years ago)

um, just buy a couple of extra quarts to bring with, have it looked at when you get back

― river wolf, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:11 (eighteen years ago)

i had a car that leaked oil for, i don't know, 6 years. quite possibly the least alarming of all possible car problems.

― river wolf, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:12 (eighteen years ago)

Thanks. I feel reassured now.

That looks so sarcastic written down, I know, but it's really not. I will buy extra oil and put it in the boot.

― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:13 (eighteen years ago)

do get it looked at, tho. if it's hemorrhaging, that's a problem; if it's dribbling, you'll be totally fine.

― river wolf, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:15 (eighteen years ago)

I guess this thread is too new for it to be the one where I told the story abotu how I got a ticket because I was walking down a busy street blind-drunk giving the finger to every car that went by, which is hilarious, because that's how I feel about cars all of the time, I just got drunk enough to do it once. Seriously. I am paying taxes on those fucking roads. Fuck that.

― Will M., Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:15 (eighteen years ago)

AA is what it is here.

Duh, why did I think Trish lived over here?

Well, do you have an alcoholics anonymous equivalent over there?

― Ms Misery, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:17 (eighteen years ago)

Confusingly, we have alcoholics anonymous here too. But the automobile association came first, so it's the AA everyone thinks of.

Ms. M and River Wolf, it actually is leaking pretty fast, in that I can see a drip coming out every couple of seconds. The only thing is, though, that if it breaks down I have super-plus coverage and will be towed to a garage and provided with a rental car to continue my journey. I'm just annoyed that I can't get anyone to look at it before I go. This is partly because there aren't enough decent mechanics in Ireland, and partly because it is now summer, and it will be impossible to get anything done anywhere in the country before September.

I am getting it looked at next week.

― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:18 (eighteen years ago)

Trish, you can keep an eye on the oil level via the dipstick -- are you familiar with it? Just to give it a check before you take off on yr trip. Oil leak is, yes, thoroughly unalarming most of the time, but you have to keep tabs on it.

― Laurel, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:20 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I know about the dipstick, but have never found it to be a reliable guide to my car's oil level. It seems to always say there's plenty of oil in it, even when there isn't. Something similar to this happened me before, in my old car, and I checked the oil level every day, but the car still ground to a halt in a plume of black smoke more than once, even when the dipstick said everything was fine. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:24 (eighteen years ago)

First of all, check the oil when it's cold -- running the engine will, by design, splash the oil all over the place so it can do its job, but that won't help you figure out how much is in there. So if it's just been running, give it, I dunno, an hour or so? to cool and resettle. Then: pull out dipstick, wipe it clean on a rag, reinsert it all the way, then remove again and check level.

If that measures up fine and yet you STILL seize up the engine, something else is very wrong -- beyond my diagnosis.

― Laurel, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:31 (eighteen years ago)

Come to think of it, oil has nothing to do with engine cooling, so if you had a coolant leak or a radiator problem you could still end up with clouds of smoke and a ruined engine, unrelated to when you last checked the oil level. That could explain your last auto's sudden demise...?

― Laurel, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:38 (eighteen years ago)

Oh no, it was definitely oil, because it would do that and then I would put oil in again and it would go fine.

I loved that car. It was nothing special, but it was my car, and then some bastards set it on fire for no reason and now I have this stupid Ford Focus which I have hated from the day I bought it.

But now I am buying an Opel Astra estate. Oh yes.

― accentmonkey, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 14:50 (eighteen years ago)

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