Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Rover Metro and the Yugo.

Oh. Ooooh. Ooooooooh ...

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suzuki_swift_1.3_gs_convertible_3.jpg

Btw, is this a press picture? If so, I thought my beach picture was bad, but this is just awfully wrong ...
 
Swapped my friends brake discs onto the BRZ and theres not a hint of vibration. That means its my discs or my hats. Im going to get a runout dial gauge and check that next.
 
"I took a pill in a Visa..." :p

As for driver assist features, honestly I was all poo poohing them until my neck injury. Blind Spot Monitor would be something I'd be interested in if I were buying a new car. I do a shoulder check but the added confidence of the sensors to compensate for maybe not holding my head in that twisted back position for a long time would be nice.
Blind spot sensors are for idiots who can't adjust their mirrors properly. Unless you are driving a massive ass truck you should have no problem seeing a car next to you in one of the mirrors. Other option is have little convex mirrors on all cars like my Mustang does from factory.

Automatic Emergency Braking should just be a thing now. While I'm not much of a Toyota fan it's commendable that every carline has it standard, even a base Yaris. Honda deserves similar praise for including Honda Sensing on every CR-V EX and above, and making it a standalone option on every trim of Civic and Accord.
It should be called "I suck at driving and shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel system"

Only two driver aids I'm OK with is ABS and ESP/DSC/WTFOMGBBQ, because both do something that require pro levels of driver training to do consistently.
 
Blind spot sensors are for idiots who can't adjust their mirrors properly. Unless you are driving a massive ass truck you should have no problem seeing a car next to you in one of the mirrors. Other option is have little convex mirrors on all cars like my Mustang does from factory.


It should be called "I suck at driving and shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel system"

Only two driver aids I'm OK with is ABS and ESP/DSC/WTFOMGBBQ, because both do something that require pro levels of driver training to do consistently.

I do adjust my mirrors properly (so you can't see the side of your car in the mirror itself) but it would still be a nice thing to have, IMO. To each their own.

Sure, you may be insulted by it's presence if it prevents some dodo from running into you in the first place (because, lets face it, stricter licencing in the US would go over with constituents like a lead balloon hence a further push toward autonomy instead) it may be well worth it.

Of course, that enters a slippery slope of "sure it's defeatable now but then it won't be at some point then they'll eventually force non self driving cars off public roadways"

The latter is a future I'd rather not think about. But it is one of those "if you give an inch" type of issues I guess. *sighs*
 
Blind spot sensors are for idiots who can't adjust their mirrors properly. Unless you are driving a massive ass truck you should have no problem seeing a car next to you in one of the mirrors. Other option is have little convex mirrors on all cars like my Mustang does from factory.

I would rather have the mirrors, frankly. Just having an orange light that isn't bright enough to catch my attention anyway is only so helpful. Having a mirror that would actually let me SEE what's there would be much more valuable. With one exception: I was driving down a dark highway, and someone was in the lane next to me with their lights off. I just about clipped the other car until I saw the indicator light on my mirror. Yes, the system also has a beeping tone, but that was SO annoying I had turned it off. With a subsequent software update that is much less trigger happy with the tone, so I turned it back on. I still noticed things before it does, but I've only had the car for less than 2 years and it's already saved itself ones.
 
I do adjust my mirrors properly (so you can't see the side of your car in the mirror itself) but it would still be a nice thing to have, IMO. To each their own.

Sure, you may be insulted by it's presence if it prevents some dodo from running into you in the first place (because, lets face it, stricter licencing in the US would go over with constituents like a lead balloon hence a further push toward autonomy instead) it may be well worth it.

Of course, that enters a slippery slope of "sure it's defeatable now but then it won't be at some point then they'll eventually force non self driving cars off public roadways"

The latter is a future I'd rather not think about. But it is one of those "if you give an inch" type of issues I guess. *sighs*

Problem with blind spot warning crap is that it tend to have way too much range, so you will inevitably have a bunch of obliviots with 0 idea on where their car ends fail to merge when there is so much fucking space I could pull a 747 into it.
 
Didn't manage to score the parts car I wanted. It went for an ATROCIOUSLY large amount of money I suspect it was WAY more heavily modified than it appeared in the online photos. It looked like a straight rice job (atrociously painted wheels, shitty accent paint everywhere, stupid window stickers), but if it had actual real mods on it, the price was about right. Sad, because I was looking forward to posting teaser pictures of the rice.

I was fully prepared to pay TWICE what the wreck was worth, but it exceeded that before I even got a bid in. It went for "Excellent" KBB money. With a fucking salvage title and both front/rear collision damage.
 
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What Subaru are we talking here?

This was an 90k mile 07 Impreza. 5MT, last year of suspension that will bolt right up to the Legacy. Plan was:

To the 91 Legacy:
- Transmission
- Clutch actuation equipment (pedals etc.)
- Suspension
- Spindles/Hubs/knuckles/etc.
- Brakes
- Axles
- Diff
- Driveshaft
- Comedy wheels (the 14s are unlikely to have cleared the Impreza brakes)

To my friend's 07 Impreza (hers is burning oil):
- Engine
- Catalytic converters


Putting base model Impreza gear on the Legacy may sound off script, but it's just an economical way of making sure the future STI/aftermarket/Mad JDM stuff will/can be made to fit (apparently there are some geometry changes in play, mostly subsequent to changing track width and assorted radiuses) and replace some of the worn out stuff in the mean time.
 
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Not even a turbo? Subarus sure have gotten expensive.

It had a fairly impressive looking air intake tube (it actually ran into the fender!). But no turbo.

This one seems to have been a bit of an aberration. I suspect people who actually looked at it in person saw something that made it valuable.

I have another 5 cars on next week's hitlist. Among them are a few interesting things. WRX's, Impreza RS's, that sort.
 
It had a fairly impressive looking air intake tube (it actually ran into the fender!). But no turbo.

This one seems to have been a bit of an aberration. I suspect people who actually looked at it in person saw something that made it valuable.

I have another 5 cars on next week's hitlist. Among them are a few interesting things. WRX's, Impreza RS's, that sort.

Mmm... Impreza RS.
 
I saw a '91 Country Squire tonight. I am not alone. :)
 
The same people who complain about autocross as paying money to stand around all day and get just a few minutes of seat time are paying to attend (enter?) a car show. Which is standing around all day with zero seat time.

I obviously like autocross and can't really tolerate car shows, but justifications are a silly thing.

On a mostly unrelated note, I drove across 3 states to not buy a Eurovan camper. So maybe I'm just bitter because of the loss of time and money and uncomfortable night sleeping in a Walmart parking lot in the back of a Jeep Liberty.

On a related ramble, Walmart allowing overnight camping for the RV set is clever and helpful. And it was slightly quieter than a rest area packed with semis.
 

1st one is too much money. Hoping for 13k or less. I'd really like to be around 10.

2nd one is sold. Nice guy though, we emailed a couple times. Not sure why he doesn't take the ad down, since that was Monday that he told me it sold.

I've got a line on another one in CO with relatively low miles and a new clutch. There is also a T4 camper (as opposed to weekender) on the east coast, but then I've either got to fly out or get it transported and I'm leery of buy a 20+ year old vehicle sight unseen. And if I were the seller, I would assume scam and blow me off. There is a camper in IL, that might work, but I think it's overpriced considering it needs a transmission.

There seems to be more on the coasts, but for logistical reasons I'm trying to stick to the Mississippi drainage basin. Which means I'll probably be driving back to Denver if one pops up; as they seem to have a high concentration (no pun interviews).
 
The same people who complain about autocross as paying money to stand around all day and get just a few minutes of seat time are paying to attend (enter?) a car show. Which is standing around all day with zero seat time.

I obviously like autocross and can't really tolerate car shows, but justifications are a silly thing.

On a mostly unrelated note, I drove across 3 states to not buy a Eurovan camper. So maybe I'm just bitter because of the loss of time and money and uncomfortable night sleeping in a Walmart parking lot in the back of a Jeep Liberty.

On a related ramble, Walmart allowing overnight camping for the RV set is clever and helpful. And it was slightly quieter than a rest area packed with semis.

You go to a car show to look at cars, you go to auto cross to drive. So standing around during latter sucks.
 
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