Excellent point, perhaps that is what i meant as well but i hadn’t seen enough episodes to say so…
Nevermind prioritising autos over one’s family - why install a spoiler on a FWD? Shitbox-mods-people’s minds (where i live) perplex me.
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Agree. I dread the death of my 2004 Honda and having to get one of these dang new-fangled motorcars with the fancy calculator and the TV set and all the intertubes connected and what not.
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That pretty much describes my ride. I take good care of it, but when it comes down to it, it’s a entry-level sports sedan that’s probably now has more aftermarket parts than original. Of course, it’s also still running well past 200k miles and can crush many super cars, whether straight line or not (AWD, coilover suspension, sticky tires), but it’s still a shitbox. It has belt squeak that I just cant get rid of. It’s taken more than it’s fair share of parking lot abuse. I once backed into the giant moving tire of a lifted pickup truck in a parking lot and added “character” to my rear bumper (oops!). Thanks to my state’s lack of regulation of uncovered gravel trucks, the hood looks like a teenager with bad acne.
But damn she’s fast.
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You must drive a Subaru.
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“So this fine lady was lending us the Omni, no strings attached, and paying the insurance as well. We didn’t even know who she was. Normally an Omni is a piece of shit, an econobox with a 1.6-liter engine. But for a higher sticker price you can get an Omni GLH, which has aerodynamic trim and 2.2 liters and, for a few hundred more, an Omni GLH Turbo, which has all of that plus a turbocharger. GLH, by the way, stands for Goes Like Hell. Honest. When the blower is singing, the engine puts out as much power as a small V8. Add big fat racing tires and alloy wheels and you have yourself a poor man’s Porsche, the most lethal weapon ever developed for the Boston traffic wars. Sure, spend three times as much and you could get a car that goes a little faster, but who is seriously going to thrash a vehicle that costs that much? Who’ll risk denting it? But if it’s an Omni, who cares?”
–Neil Stephenson, Zodiac
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Just get a late 80s or early 90s 4 cylinder. That solves both problems (no intrusive tech, affordable)
depends on your point of view i guess. carfax says that’s still more than i make in a year. 36%? of what you make per year is what’s considered affordable. my 3-4 extra jobs was a low ball joke. ( though i guess i could afford used that way. )
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That rule of thumb is a bit offset, because the cars don’t have the depreciation you’d assume with a “normal” car. On the other hand you’d have to calculate 4 digits a year for maintenance. I don’t assume you want one anyway.
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yeah, at 4 digits a year i’m better off buying a new used car every year. not that i would want to, but it’d be cheaper. i’m only on the second car in my life, as mostly ive cycled or used public transport. cars seem like a money sink. especially if you’re lucky enough ( like i’ve been ) to avoid depending on them
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That was my plan when I got a new car last month, but it turns out anything from the 90’s that is affordable, is on it’s last legs, and anything that’s still in good condition and likely to last for more than a few years isn’t affordable. (Everything from the 80’s has either rusted away, or is considered collectable and is unaffordable). It’s possible that in a normal year there might be more choice, but literally half the car I looked at were in parts of the country I couldn’t got to.
You can probably find something that’s 15-20 years old that fits the bill though.
But if you don’t modify it, does it even count as your car?
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Didn’t think of a Covid effect :-s
Indeed, an early Boxster also might be a fine car. But maintenance can be quite expensive on those because the engine is so unaccessible.
Edit adds: Also not as practical as a daily driver.
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Cash For Clunkers really ruined cheap cars for ordinary folks in the states. You can get all the car you’ll ever need for a grand over here, it’d be at least four times that over there.
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Fastest Car sounded like something to put in my list, until your description.
Hmm. Friends of my ex-husband, probably.
I can miss seeing those people again.
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Actually not the case, though it’s very easy to think so. The shifter will be on the left, of course, but it still follows the standard shift pattern (and the clutch pedal is on the left, brake on the right middle, accelerator on the right). The turn signal will also be on the right, though, much to my annoyance when I was visiting the UK back in what both feels like and really was another age of the world. Nothing like signaling a turn only to instead turn on the wipers. 
Almost had it.
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Hobbies tend to be expensive, and racing especially so. If you want to make a small fortune in racing, start with a large fortune.
I have to say, though, I love the whole idea behind the Lemons race series. Granted, you’re going to spend a lot more than $500 before your $500 car is race-ready, but it’s not Formula One.
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Might be something simple like losing a shoe that got caught in the pedals in a very unfortunate way.
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TayDid, all right.
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