Cars

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Stormbringer
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Cars

Post by Stormbringer » Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:13 pm

So, let's talk about cars.

Me, I've never owned a car, mostly because I've never wanted to drive. UNTIL NOW! My recent experience of having a wheel fall off my hire car while driving on the motorway has had this strange effect on me where I feel more enthused about driving and actually want to buy my own car. Never done it before, though, so looking for general hints and tips. Do you all own cars? What cars do you drive?
Between tedium and fright
Such is the song of the nether world
The hissing of rats
And the jarring chants of angels

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Mantis
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Re: Cars

Post by Mantis » Tue Sep 17, 2019 10:18 pm

I have also never owned a car, though I do enjoy driving. The perks of city centre living/working and having frequent access to work cars when they need me to travel. I've had my licence for nearly ten years and still never had to go through the pains of looking after my own vehicle.

I am learning how to ride a motorcycle and intend to buy one of those when I pass my test though.

I don't get the love so many men have for nerding out over cars. I feel like the same enthusiasm they have for it, I tend to put into music and computery gear instead.

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Drarok
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Re: Cars

Post by Drarok » Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:26 am

I own a car. It is a Ford Fiesta 1.6 Ghia in black. It's... fine. Nothing really exciting about it, it gets going reasonably well and doesn't break too often. It's a 2008 plate, so we're getting into its middle-age where various problems pop up occasionally, but nothing so drastic that it's not worth fixing. I got it at an extremely reasonable price with it only having had a single owner from new - my parents.

I would very much like to replace it with a Skoda Octavia VRS Estate for some extra fun, but also considerably more space for lugging kid stuff around. That won't happen until 2020 at the very earliest, and that's a very slim chance at all.

Every other car I've bought second hand has ended up being a lemon in some way. First car was an Escort with electric windows that switched the engine off in the rain. Pull up to a car park, press button for window, engine goes off. Cracking.
Next was another Escort (because the first kept me in one piece when I smashed it into a railway bridge) where the gearbox decided I didn't need 5th gear anymore, so it stopped existing whilst I was halfway to work up the motorway.
After that I got myself a 1.8 Mondeo for gobbling up the motorway miles which kept going for a while until it pissed its oil everywhere and knackered the big end of the crank. Repaired that (or maybe got a replacement engine from the scrappy) only for the differential to break some time later. Ended up scrapping it since it was beyond economical repair. Fuckin' thing.
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Rusty
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Re: Cars

Post by Rusty » Wed Sep 18, 2019 6:22 am

Been owning cars since the mid 80s and can only say from my experience it's not worth getting new. I tend to have a top budget of a few grand and get something that's tidy. I usually buy from a second hand garage type place just in case the arse falls out of it a day or so, so I can take it back and kick off (not had to so far apart from a middle age crisis 4.8l V8 Jeep Grand Cherokee that had a ton of problems and spent weeks at the garage).

Buy cheap so you don't feel bad about dents or scratches you'll pick up from supermarket car parks or on street parking - not from bad driving, just people scratching it accidentally with a coat zip or shopping trolleys etc.

Currently driving a ford focus estate diesel with a trillion miles on the clock that has loads of room for 2 greyhounds to sit/lie in the back.
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Re: Cars

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Sep 18, 2019 6:27 am

Rusty wrote:
Wed Sep 18, 2019 6:22 am
Been owning cars since the mid 80s and can only say from my experience it's not worth getting new. I tend to have a top budget of a few grand and get something that's tidy. I usually buy from a second hand garage type place just in case the arse falls out of it a day or so, so I can take it back and kick off (not had to so far apart from a middle age crisis 4.8l V8 Jeep Grand Cherokee that had a ton of problems and spent weeks at the garage).

Buy cheap so you don't feel bad about dents or scratches you'll pick up from supermarket car parks or on street parking - not from bad driving, just people scratching it accidentally with a coat zip or shopping trolleys etc.

Currently driving a ford focus estate diesel with a trillion miles on the clock that has loads of room for 2 greyhounds to sit/lie in the back.
Either you own two greyhounds or you have a very weird metric you use when purchasing vehicles :lol:

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Tichinde
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Re: Cars

Post by Tichinde » Wed Sep 18, 2019 7:42 am

So back in 1997 my parents bought me my first car. A B reg Renault 5. White, 1.1, hilarious (it weighed next to nothing so the engine would happily zip it about).
My next car, a couple of years later, was an M reg Renault 5, grey, 1.4, also hilarious.
Closely followed by a white, M reg Renault 5 which was given to me, equally hilarious.
Then picked up a Rover 25. It was the showroom car so had next to no miles on it and as Rover had ceased to be they were throwing it cheap.
After I gently ran that into the back of a transit (emergency breaking chain caused by the asshat at the front of the queue and a wet cattle grid) and wrote it off there was the red 52 plate, 1.6 Civic (which I loved).
And now I'm a family man (and because I may have murdered first gear in the Civic) I have a 14 plate Octavia. 1.4 turbo......Hilarious. Faster than anything I've previously owned at 8 seconds to 60, fairly frugal (usually 450 miles before the petrol light comes on) and it's frankly cavernous inside and hugely comfy.
I suspect my next car may be another one, I'm that taken with it.
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Wrathbone
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Re: Cars

Post by Wrathbone » Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:11 am

I used to drive an old Fiesta, but I only used it once a month or so which meant it frequently needed jump-starting. I had a blow out on the motorway which was an intense experience (thankfully right by the entrance to a service station, which I rolled it into), and then not long after that it failed its MOT with a series of comical failures including the steering column having snapped, a hole in the sill (the floor) and a knackered exhaust. I did not pay to get it fixed.

I don't miss driving at all, and I use trains if I have to go anywhere. I especially don't miss the insane costs involved with having a car.

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Stormbringer
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Re: Cars

Post by Stormbringer » Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:27 am

:-k

Now I'm reconsidering my initial enthusiasm, especially since I would likely only use the car once a month too, I suspect, as I'm only a 30-minute walk from my work, and I rely on that journey to keep me (reasonably) healthy.
Between tedium and fright
Such is the song of the nether world
The hissing of rats
And the jarring chants of angels

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Tichinde
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Re: Cars

Post by Tichinde » Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:39 am

Wrathbone wrote:
Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:11 am
I especially don't miss the insane costs involved with having a car.
Call it £1700 on Petrol a year (full tank at £50 will run me roughly a week and a half)
£300 insurance
£30 tax
£30 MOT
£200 servicing (which is pretty much optional)
And then perishables (tyres, brake pads etc).

Would be remarkably lost without my car, gotta be honest.
"Religion, shit it" - Stephen Fry

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Wrathbone
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Re: Cars

Post by Wrathbone » Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:51 am

For me it doesn't make any financial sense - I'd be looking at something like £1500 to £2000 for me to run a modest car over a year for the amount I'd use it. To get trains for the equivalent journeys is about £500, and I can read a book or play some Switch while doing it. And to be fair, as dodgy as trains can be, if you pick the right times on the trains I tend to get then it's a relatively quiet, very picturesque journey.

Cars are a necessity for some people, but I'm fortunate enough to be able to sack them off. I have a friend who drives solely for fun, which isn't something I've ever wanted to do.


EDIT - It's also worth considering the safety factor. Driving is one of the most dangerous common activities you can do - you can be the safest driver in the world and still end up part of someone else's problem (or have a wheel fall off your car!). Train accidents in the UK, on the other hand, are extraordinarily rare.

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Stormbringer
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Re: Cars

Post by Stormbringer » Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:16 am

Wrathbone wrote:
Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:51 am
Train accidents in the UK, on the other hand, are extraordinarily rare.
That is true. I do enjoy travelling by trains. Or at least I used to. Nowadays there always seems to be a "problem person" in my carriage. :?
Between tedium and fright
Such is the song of the nether world
The hissing of rats
And the jarring chants of angels

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Re: Cars

Post by Wrathbone » Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:47 am

I used to get Transpennine Express trains to Leeds via Manchester, but the amount of times there was somebody with a carrier bag full of Special Brew mouthing off meant that I've stopped using them unless there's no other choice (that and the fact that they're usually rammed all hours of the day and regular delays meant I usually missed the connection). If I'm going to Leeds I go direct with Northern Rail now, and while the trains are the same ones that Iran decommissioned for being too old, it's mostly a reliable service, mostly quiet when I get it and mostly free of dickheads.

Of course there was the time when smoke was billowing out of the driver's cabin before departure because his control panel had burst into flames (the conductor nonchalantly strolled up to the window and asked if we'd be able to leave soon, to which came the loud response "It's on fucking fire!" :lol: ). And the time where the rain was so hard that it leaked through closed windows, drenching the entire carriage. But mostly it's fine.

Also you get this sort of view most of the way:

Image

Yeah, I don't miss cars. ;)

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Re: Cars

Post by Hatredsheart » Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:48 am

Got a 2019 plate Ford C-Max Titanium atm (mobility lease).
Got a 5 hour drive to Manchester in it tomorrow, wish they weren't still upgrading to smart motorway between Birmingham and Manchester :(
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Sly Boots
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Re: Cars

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:50 am

Wrathbone wrote:
Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:47 am
I used to get Transpennine Express trains to Leeds via Manchester, but the amount of times there was somebody with a carrier bag full of Special Brew mouthing off meant that I've stopped using them unless there's no other choice (that and the fact that they're usually rammed all hours of the day and regular delays meant I usually missed the connection). If I'm going to Leeds I go direct with Northern Rail now, and while the trains are the same ones that Iran decommissioned for being too old, it's mostly a reliable service, mostly quiet when I get it and mostly free of dickheads.

Of course there was the time when smoke was billowing out of the driver's cabin before departure because his control panel had burst into flames (the conductor nonchalantly strolled up to the window and asked if we'd be able to leave soon, to which came the loud response "It's on fucking fire!" :lol: ). And the time where the rain was so hard that it leaked through closed windows, drenching the entire carriage. But mostly it's fine.

Also you get this sort of view most of the way:

Image

Yeah, I don't miss cars. ;)
I know you posted that to demonstrate the tranquility of your journey, but my literal first thought was 'damn, poor guy's commute being spoiled by having to look at golf wankers' :lol:

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Mantis
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Re: Cars

Post by Mantis » Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:14 pm

Hatredsheart wrote:
Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:48 am
Got a 2019 plate Ford C-Max Titanium atm (mobility lease).
Got a 5 hour drive to Manchester in it tomorrow, wish they weren't still upgrading to smart motorway between Birmingham and Manchester :(
They've been upgrading that stretch of motorway for about four years now I swear. I used to make that trip frequently in 2015-2017 and huge swathes of it was always restricted by works.

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