Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Jag purchase is on. Flying out tomorrow morning to South Carolina; if I don't check back in later in the day, send help.
 
I visited UK for the first time ever. I didn't get an opportunity to drive there myself, but took a taxi from Birmingham airport to Stafford and back. I really don't understand how can you drive on the shitty highway you call M6? What the hell is the point of those concrete stripes across the road every 10 meters? At least in a Citro?n Van and Mondeo I took they felt awful. Constant bumps mile after mile... Makes Finnish shitty roads feel comfortable :p

Well, look on the bright side - at least you were moving on the M6.

My usual expectation on some parts of the M6 is nose-to-tail queues and rain. It's a horror just for being so busy all the time.

The M6 through Birmingham is all bridge, it's the very loud expansion joints you're commenting on. The rest of the none-elevated motorways in the country don't have that.

The M4 elevated down here, does have expansion joints, but they are not so bad noise wise.
 
I experienced concrete freeways in what used to be East Germany too many years ago. We came off the ferry in Dresden and drove via Berlin down to Prague. BUMP daBUMP daBUMP daBUMP daBUMP daBUMP for hours.

That shit was annoying in a comfortable bus. I'd hate to experience it in a Trabant :lol:

That happens to roads in the Midwest. Any crack in either asphalt or concrete, the frozen ground pushes it up...
 
FTFY. I find it easier to sleep at night with this line of thinking.

The funny thing was three cars back from it (I spotted it taking off from the lights while I was driving) was a white 458. I was still more interested in getting a closer look at the Mustang 2.
Not sure what that says about me, although to be fare one of them was a hell of a lot more rare of a sight on on Perth roads.
 
@Rex Luther

You are drawn to the car wreck of cars, we understand.
 
Yeah but all the money he put in surely has to be worth 9k!

/sarcasm
 
I think I've mentioned this before, but it strikes me every time I travel back to Bulgaria. Even though it is the poorest country in the EU, and the weather in the winter is in the 30-40F range, with maybe 3-4 days of snow, EVERY car on the road had winter tires. Not only that, but people have separate sets of wheels dedicated for winter use.

So now I am back in Minnesota, a state in the country with one of the highest standards of living, and the majority of cars are running on all seasons, when we have snow that doesn't melt basically from November to April.

Obviously, you can't chalk it up to financial situation, since Bulgarians are clearly poorer than Minnesotans, so the only reasonable explanation is...

...stupidity.
 
I think I've mentioned this before, but it strikes me every time I travel back to Bulgaria. Even though it is the poorest country in the EU, and the weather in the winter is in the 30-40F range, with maybe 3-4 days of snow, EVERY car on the road had winter tires. Not only that, but people have separate sets of wheels dedicated for winter use.

So now I am back in Minnesota, a state in the country with one of the highest standards of living, and the majority of cars are running on all seasons, when we have snow that doesn't melt basically from November to April.

Obviously, you can't chalk it up to financial situation, since Bulgarians are clearly poorer than Minnesotans, so the only reasonable explanation is...

...stupidity.
I think it's more along culture, I'm not sure when it happened but at some point US stopped using seasonal tires so multiple generations of people grew up with no understanding of the differences. Hell I got a friend up in Rochester, NY, not exactly MN but plenty of snow and frequent temperatures in the 20s (IMO the point when winter tires start making sense in the dry) and when I suggested she get winters, she said she asked her mechanic who said A/S would be fine.
 
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