Maybe to you not to me. What does “neo-con” mean to you though. I don’t think you know what that means and just use it as a derogatory label on someone. I don’t think I was ever a 60’s left wing war hawk. At least I don’t remember it. Of course I was in high school for most of it and working too. My votes though have been both right and left over the years depending on the times and the issues and the person. I suspect you have been less flexible, but that’s up to you. I just wouldn’t be so quick to fly off the handle and judge others for using a term you don’t like.
Oh yeah, you can have the last word though to not continue this ridiculous discussion, so I’m done.
The Left is absurdly hypocritical here. May not be here long. But then, maybe I’ll hang just to keep it balanced.
Why not talk about cars and keep the political BS (which I’d have to research to find any fault with what Bing said vs overt stuff from the left…constantly - faux news, etc) to yourself.
Why did you address that response to me, Mr. Scrapyard?
I was not aware that stating my opinion of the “logical” nature of something was political or was evidence of either left-leaning or right-wing thought.
Who knew?
Lefty here would miss you, course I miss my 68 cougar xr7 more, I think we are about cars, and a beer and swapping out an engine we would get along great.
My wife has our commuter car which leaves me with the minivan. It’s perfectly fine, but I was driving it around town 90% of the time, doing errands with 6 empty seats. This offended my sense of efficiency and frugality, and I found it much more economical to get a two seater and have it be the dedicated “errand car”. It does away with most unneccessary stuff, including- in any weather above 50º- the roof. It gets better mileage on the highway than the minivan, and could do better around town, but not the way I drive it.
As it’s a 20 year old German model, I had to improvise a cupholder with an aftermarket thing from the auto parts store- das Germans think that when you’re driving, you should be DRIVING, dammit, not nursing a coffee.
That’s really perpetuating a stereotype, I’d say . . .
Do you suppose that the vast majority of people living in Germany really feel that way? Do you feel that most of them feel that driving should always be an exciting experience?
I’ve lived there . . . and I can tell you those stereotypes are just that
Cars a means to an end . . . go to/from work, pick up the kids, go shopping, go on vacation, etc.
And you might be shocked how small, basic and underpowered many of the the cars are that the average person drives there. Most of europe, for that matter
You won’t see too many lifted pickups, cars slammed on dubs, or monster suvs there, to name a few examples
@Mikedrives. Your idea of having a two passenger car to use for errands around town appeals to me. My driving days go back to the late 1950s when I was single. When I got out of graduate school and got my first “real” job in 1965, I was driving a 1954 Buick. I thought about keeping the Buick and buying an Austin Healy Sprite, but realized that the Buick had 160,000 miles on the odometer and had had no major engine work. I realized.that I might be traveling, so I sold the Buick and bought a 1965 Rambler Classic 550. I then got married and went back to school. Many years later, I am in the position where I could buy a Mazda Miata or something equivalent. Yet, I drive around in a Toyota Sienna minivan. In fact, my ride for the last 29 years has been a minivan. Like you, I argue with myself when I am not transporting musicians with their instruments, I don’t need to be rattling around by myself in minivan. I did have my 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon with the 4-4-2 trim package that I bought new and used it around town and to drive to work. However, the present day minivans do even better on around town gas mileage. .I don’t have garage space for three vehicles. I don’t want to insure three vehicles. Besides, at age 78 and 6’ 2" tall, I am not sure I could get into and out of a Miata.
A Buffalo, NY entrepreneur thought so too, and he had the Playboy automobile designed by a former Pontiac engineer. It came to market in the late '40s, but–unfortunately–it was not successful. It’s a shame that it failed because it was actually a very sound design.
Back in 1960 that was how the Ford Falcon was marketed. Just right for the lady of the house to do her shopping and marketing with. I can see it now with her hat and white gloves on maneuvering into the parking stall at the market. I’ll have to look up some ads back then. I believe this to be correct and a friend’s dad owned the Ford dealership but my memory is a little foggy from that far back.
Too bad you didn’t hang on to the '54 Buick. Would have been at a million miles by now!
Yes, the minivans do better than everything older, and with cleaner emissions, but still get disappointing mileage, IMO. I was disappointed when my family grew and had to cave and get a minivan, and everything got 18/25mpg. I would have gladly traded 2 cylinders for better mileage- I don’t need to go 70 up the steepest interstate grade with the whole family in the car while towing a boat.
At 6’2" you can get in any convertible (with the top down). Dump one vehicle and get a Model 3, and you’ll be getting the equivalent of 134mpg. When I drive our 3, I think my Boxster’s days are numbered, because the 3 is so fun to drive. Then I get in the Boxster again and, away I go…
True, but it’s undeniable that Americans led the way with cupholders. And then to be extra-American, overdid it. Gotta put the Big Gulp™ somewhere. My brother bought one minivan over another because it offered chilled cupholders. Sheesh.
And stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. I think it’s safe to say that German cars always had a better road feel than anything that was coming out of Detroit for decades there in the dark ages, when cupholders were becoming a thing. And yes, at $8-$10/gallon, most cars in Europe are underpowered compared to what we’re used to here, but are appropriately powered.
I remembered when my Dutch cousins came for a visit in the mid-70s (before SUVs) and saw their first full-size station wagons, not Opels. They were amazed at how big they were.
@VDCdriver@bing. Back in.the 1980s, I considered buying a used Citicar. The Citicar was a battery powered car that would have gotten me back and forth to my job at the university and been convenient to run errands. I even had plans to measure the electric power that went into charging the battery. I really wanted to experiment to see what the savings would be driving the Citicar for local use as opposed to our gasoline internal combustion engine vehicles. However, the Citicar was a little too crude even for me. I didn’t relish the idea of a propane heater in the passenger compartment, even though, as a kid, I rode in cars that had a Stewart-Warner gasoline heater.
If the Citicar experiment turned out like my battery powered lawnmower experience, I would have had negative results. I bought a used battery powered mower from a friend. The batteries were shot after one season. I bought new batteries at the beginning of the next season. These batteries got me through two seasons. I again replaced the batteries at the start of the following season. I mowed for five minutes and the mower stopped. The controller had a problem and a new one wasn’t available. I donated the mower to Good Will. I got out my 27 year old gasoline mower that had been burning oil really badly. As an experiment, I tried 10W-30 full synthetic oil which I bought a quart for $2.79 under the house brand label at local Rural King farm store. The synthetic oil was $1 more per quart than the non-synthetic straight 30 weight that I had been using. The mower started using less oil and after a month of mowing, the oil consumption went to none. Now I can buy a lot of gasoline and keep spending that extra $1 a quart for synthetic oil for the $65 I had to spend on batteries for the battery powered mower.
Now I realize that the newer battery powered mowers use a lithium ion battery instead of the lead acid batteries.that powered the mower I bought. Even so, in the Consumer Reports buying guide for 2020, the battery powered mowers didn’t have as good frequency of repair as the top rated gasoline mowers.
For this reason, I am a litlle concerned about the real savings of a battery powered car or a hybrid.over a conventional car with an internal combustion engine, particularly if the main battery has to be replaced. Just as I could buy a lot of gasoline for my mower for the $65 replacement batteries cost every other year, I can buy o lot of gasoline for the $3500 or so a new battery costs for a battery powered car. I think if I.do go for an around town car, I’ll go for the Miata or a Saturn Sky.
There were plenty of very basic and low-performance cars . . . which were never sold here . . . that weren’t better than American cars in any way. Bare bones, under-powered, definitely not sporty in any possible way
Again . . . I’m not in agreement. Cars similar to the Geo Metro were very common in europe. 1 liter displacement or less, no power anything, not even power brakes, no amenities whatsoever. “Sheesh” to use your own terminology
These kind of cars were okay to drive in the inner city, but were definitely not okay in any other setting
Here is another “around town runabout” from the late '40s, and this one seated three or–supposedly–four people in its only seat. Like the Playboy, this one didn’t succeed, but it also wasn’t as practical as the Playboy:
@VDCdriver. The late Tom McCahill spoke highly of that Davis. I would drool over sports cars before I could afford one. It wasn’t only the money. An MG Midget or the equivalent Austin Healy Sprite was affordable, but wasn’t practical as an only car. My career didn’t really give me a lot of time for outside interests if I wanted to advance. My passion for playing horn was, and has always been greater than owning and maintaining a sports car.
I’ll have to look up some ads back then. I believe this to be correct and a friend’s dad owned the Ford dealership but my memory is a little foggy from that far back.