I’m losing interest in cars these days

I had a 78 Chevy 4X4 Van and it did acquire a bit of rust in a few places, but the price of body shop was worth it. . .I’d like it back today. 276K on the first engine and over 100K on the second before I sold it. When I had an Audi, Volvo, Mercedes, or BMW; should they not be willing to start, the van cranked up immediately. Whether subzero, or 110, it was dependable.

Suburbans are available, for about 1/4 the cost of a new one.

The reason you’re probably fine with their styling is because the Mustang is basically an update of the original 1964 design and the Miata is an update of the 1962 Lotus Elan. :wink:

While today’s car’s are immensliy superior in almost all respects to those of the past, sadly “styling” isn’t one of them.

And while I’d like to blame “Government Fuel” standards, how would you account for the huge popularity of SUVs who’s “Styling” came from a box factory, and costs significantly more and gets worse fuel economy than a comparable car?

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As stated, financial wherewithal is not conducive to any large purchases at this time. However, this is what I would want.

Like I said, I took my drivers test the first day I could in a snow storm and passed. After the parking part, I had to get out and clear off the back window. I don’t know if I lost points on that or not but if you can’t see, you can’t see. Still got a 94 and never got stuck.

I will see kids in a restaurant all working their
Phones and not talking to each other. No wonder the birth rate is down. I have told the wife a couple times, that I’m paying for the meal so put the phone away. Heh heh. Then I got my own.

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Just for laughs, imagine that your sunroof is open when your subscription runs out and the way the software is written, the sunroof becomes completely inoperable, not that it just will not open, but will not work at all. You are on your way to the dealer to get it manually closed and the rain hits… L o L . . .

I have two of these subscription based features in my 2019 Toyota, the SiriusXM, but the radio still works on AM, FM, Bluetooth, and USB, and the other feature is the Toyota’s Safety Connect, an emergency call SOS button, that will put you in direct contact with a response center if you have a breakdown such as a dead battery, a flat tire, run out of gas, need to be towed, or need for directions to the nearest Burger King…

I never liked the hundreds and hundreds of stations on the SiriusXM radio, too many choices, and the SOS service just seemed too expensive. I know, I would not be writing this if I needed it and it saved my life…

I think I pay about $23 a month for Sirius but yeah highly over rated for the choices. I don’t like listening to music anymore while driving. I did just cancel on star because I would not put it on my phone when they went to the five network. Who needs it.

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This was a little premature.

Oh gee appears it was a guy driving a $300,000 Bentley that crashed the car on the rainbow bridge in Niagara. Sounded like he had been to a casino. Yeah, that can do it.

I have had the XM since the first year they came out you probaly remember when there was only AM and FM after you got so far from a town you ran out f the signal range you would have to play with the dial to find another station to listen to and it posibly would not be what you liked be it music news sports or whatever. With XM you could keep watever station you liked coast to coast north to south witht out changing stations. Also parts of the country there were especialy the nowth western states there was a lot of dead air where you could not pick up any stations. As a retired OTR driver I can say from experiance that truckers made the XM what it is today. Just because XM has hundreds of stations you don’t have to use them all just preset the ones you like and drive on.

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Oh, I’m not saying SiriusXM is bad nor not worth the money, it’s just not for me… I also do not have cable TV… My 18’ Beam Antenna in my attic brings in over 65-Stations and my Roku brings in hundreds more from the Internet… It’s just too much to choose from and when we are driving and we run out of listening stations, I plug in a USB with all the music and other recordings off the internet…

I also have many old TV and Radio shows recorded off the internet and who cannot enjoy an old Dragnet radio show?

Now, it may sound strange but growing up in the Adirondack Mountains in UpState New York with no TV, these old radio shows bring back wonderful memories of siting around the radio with family and friends.

My grandkids will never have these memories; what watching “the View” with Mom or an “ESPN Sports Update” with Dad?

Also, the old “Chesterfield Cigarette” commercials are even memorable as I as a little kid would light my Grandfather’s Chesterfield while listening to the show… :smoking:

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High school teacher had a 72 Chevy K,20 with about 300hp from a 383 4bbl. Upgraded for driving where possible but a stock look. Daily driver and hunting rig. Would take it 800mi round trip without fail.

That’s why I prefer the old V8. Dependable and most issues could be identified by opening the hood. No need to have it plugged into a computer. Simplicity!

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Actually very simple. With the right design they can software control every electronic device on the vehicle.

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Aw c’mon. What’s not to like about the design of Tesla’s Cybertruck? :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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@jtsanders Well it kinda looks like my son’s pinewood derby car in cub scouts.

I don’t want to get flagged again but you asked about the state flag redesign. It is somewhat interesting the the farmer and Native American are removed but what looks like the star of Bethlehem has been included. Someone’s 3rd grade art class will surely get an award.

His had Edelbock goodies under the hood but mostly for budget reasons he hadn’t fitted aftermarket EFI, kept it tuned up and drove it regularly.

There is an old joke that “Beauty is only skin deep, but Ugly goes clean to the bone…” But this truck is an all New Type of Ugly… Elon Musk was bragging about how tough the vehicle was and challenged the podcast host Joe Rogan to shoot the Cybertruck with an arrow… This proves that the Ugly starts at the skin and still goes clean to the bone… :xray:

More specifically, what’s not to like about the Cybertruck? Well just let’s talk about the windshield. Do you realize how long it is? What specialized piece of equipment will you need to reach the bottom of the glass when it’s time to clean the inside of the windshield? Next, do you realize how long the Sunscreen will have to be to block out the sun so that interior does not turn into an oven, probably 4-feet or more… It’s a good thing this is a truck so you have some place to stow it… And you will probably need an assistant to install or remove that sunscreen… Finally, how will the state inspector ever reach all the way down there to install the state safety inspection sticker?

This thought is based my experience with my 2020 Honda Fit and trying to get a Sunscreen for it… I shopped AutoZone, Advance, Napa, O’Reilys, Walmart, Pep Boys, and finally even Honda… The issue is the windshield is long, and the mirror hangs relatively low. The Mirror Notch on every one of the sunscreens I shopped was not cut low enough for the screen to slip under the mirror and still reach high enough for the sun visors to hold the sunscreen up. I ultimately installed magnets on a truck model sunscreen and it droops under the mirror, but rises up high enough for the magnet to attach to the metal arms of the sun visors…

I ran across that arrow demonstration and had no idea why. Now I know. I hadn’t shot an arrow for quite a while so set up the target and tried one. Missed the target, arrow went next door under the winter pool tarp. I quietly hid the bow and never confessed.

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You know I was never quite decided on how I felt about the Tesla truck’s styling …

On one hand it was something different from the current crop of “scaled down Peterbuilt” styles.
On the other hand, pinewood derby, oragami, “phoned in at the last minute” or Mattel Transformer seem right on point.

But considering that more fluid/retro styles like the Chevy SSR and Chrysler Crossfire were complete flops, maybe it’s just what the market demands?

I hope not. Tesla starts delivering them to customers next week. We will see how well received it is in a few months.