In this thread: A university student complains about car upkeep!

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Mach1 I agree with your answer completely. I don't like it (especially the laws about weapons) but it is true.
And respect to Spectre for the great answer! But: 5: College students are often newbie drivers and will often have small accidents. Trucks are big and tough enough that they can shrug off minor impacts, and nobody cares if your truck looks beat-up. Not having to repair a dinged bumper = more money for beer.
 What about the guy in the small RX-8 who has been hit by the newbie in the enormous pickup truck?
 
Well, oddly enough, most college student accidents are the low-speed parking kind - backing into poles, driving over a curb, scraping a wall, that sort of thing. Their higher speed accidents are usually single vehicle; they don't hit other people.
 
Spectre said:
Really?

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Somehow I think you'd have problems with that load in your Volvo.

Many people have removable tops or covers for the bed of their trucks.
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I've done something like that with my old Volvo 850 Turbo. The best part was that I needed to grab the mattress through the sun roof while on the freeway due to my awesome tying skills with the roof-rack
You will be amazed at what you can cram into a station wagon, my Dad's Buick Roadmaster alone could fit all my possessions, along with half the west coast.
I can't without hypocrisy complain about someone "wasting" a big pickup. A Ford GT or Rolls Royce is just as wasteful, and I would love to have either of those. Some like speed, some like luxury land barges, and other like driving trucks. To each his own.

And I might add most college students don't repair dings in their cars. A dented or scraped Taurus or Corolla is a common sight at my university.
 
Yes, but even the college students have to repair their cars if they back into a pole and the rear bumper falls off. If they have a truck, backing into the pole is unlikely to do anything more than scratch the paint on the rear bumper. If they have a Civic, it's very likely that the bumper will detach and fall off.
 
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God gave us duct tape for a reason.
 
This is true, but most college students realize that most college girls won't go out with guys whose cars are evidently held together with duct tape.

And you *still* can't move the hot art major's 10' x 8' x 5' sculpture with a wagon.
 
Most of those beat up cars are driven by college girls.

Spectre said:
And you *still* can't move the hot art major's 10' x 8' x 5' sculpture with a wagon.
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Now there you have a point.
 
To answer one of the questions: How do I afford the fuel for it? Easily, once a month... any other time I am walking. Helps cut down on costs. Sadly, it means my car spends a lot of time not being used. The coming hike in fuel costs isn't going to help me much, either.

Funnily, all the problems I've had with my RX-8 (I've had it for just over a year now), can be attributed to the fact that I went on a week's holiday and left the door open like an idiot. Came back, battery was dead... flooded the engine, and it's all gone down hill from there. At least after today its back to the way it was before hand, though I am a bit empty in the pocketbooks. Maybe crawling back to the parents for Christmas and begging for some spare change won't be such a bad idea this year....
 
so how did leaving the door open flood your engine?
 
It didn't. It drained the battery, which in turn made the car not start. Which, with the Rotary, trying that 3 times floods the engine.
 
AAhhhhh! thanks!
 
zenkidori said:
flooding isn't really a big deal, didn't you just clear it?
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I don't know how. I've always considered wanting to learn about the Rotary more in depth. Besides, I was always told if you flood the RX8 they need to take it to the dealership and pump some sort of chemical through the engine... though I never really heard that from any reliable sources.
 
WTF? in the series 5 RX-7 all you need to do is put the throttle to the floor, then crank the engine over, then lift the throttle. so the flood clear process goes:
  • get in car
  • put throttle to the floor
  • crank the engine a couple times
  • lift off throttle
  • start the car
Putting the throttle down before cranking kills the fuel to the engine allowing you to clear the flood. In cars made before this(like my RX-7) you just pull an EGI fuse, crank the engine over, put the fuse back, and start it. I wired in a fuel cut switch since it only takes 2 wires and switch, and all of 5 minutes under the dash.

I don't why mazda would drop the flood clear procedure on cars after the S5 RX-7, so it probably still works.
 
Spectre said:
The short answer: Beer.
Not having to pay a mover = more money for beer.
Which you can then spend on beer.
More money for beer.
More money for beer.
Not having to repair a dinged bumper = more money for beer.
If you have a truck, quite often you get paid AND get to have the beer.
Which means that you can go out and get your beer.
So, the truck is also a way to meet girls, who may pay you in beer (and other things).
If you're the guy hauling your buds out to the deer lease, you may be rewarded with beer.
Which usually involves at least *some* beer.
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Someone say beer? I'm gonna go buy a truck ... :lmao:.
Spectre said:
This is true, but most college students realize that most college girls won't go out with guys whose cars are evidently held together with duct tape.
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https://pic.armedcats.net/2007/11/09/Celica002.JPG
:lol: You'd be surprised ...
 
thedguy said:
IIRC 50% of all vehicle sales are trucks, whether or not that includes fleets is unknown to me.
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It does include fleet sales which are a significant portion of truck sales.

The '89 S-10 Blazer I drove in college was the perfect vehicle for me at the time. It would fit all my stuff when it came time to move between home and school (350 miles), it had a really small footprint and a tight turning radius so manuevering around cramped parking lots was easy, and it was dirt cheap to buy ($500). The downside was it had the 4.3L, so it sucked gas, but gas was cheap at the time (generally <$1/gal), so it didn't matter too much. I kind of miss it now, but after a very hard 197k mi it was only fit for the scrapyard.
 
zenkidori said:
WTF? in the series 5 RX-7 all you need to do is put the throttle to the floor, then crank the engine over, then lift the throttle. so the flood clear process goes:
  • get in car
  • put throttle to the floor
  • crank the engine a couple times
  • lift off throttle
  • start the car
Putting the throttle down before cranking kills the fuel to the engine allowing you to clear the flood. In cars made before this(like my RX-7) you just pull an EGI fuse, crank the engine over, put the fuse back, and start it. I wired in a fuel cut switch since it only takes 2 wires and switch, and all of 5 minutes under the dash.

I don't why mazda would drop the flood clear procedure on cars after the S5 RX-7, so it probably still works.
Click to expand...

I wonder if that works... I'll go ask around on some RX8 boards.
 
Spectre said:
Really?

Somehow I think you'd have problems with that load in your Volvo.

Many people have removable tops or covers for the bed of their trucks.
Click to expand...

No, it's perfectly possible if you try hard enough. I've done it. Four times. ooohh...yes indeed.
 
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