I'm Nervous, guyz

[Kitsa]

Michigan drivers are some of the biggest assholes I've ever seen on the road, and I've lived in Chicago.

[Esuohlim]

Originally Posted by The Leader

Where do you live in Michigan? :O

[Kitsa]

Ann Arbor?

[The Leader]

You live northwest of me.

[The Leader]

Originally Posted by Kitsa

Ann Arbor?

That's north of Ann Arbor. It's like, Lansing or something.

[Zomboid]

I just got my learner's license this year. I take public transportation to school and work, and it only takes about 15 minutes in either case. The only time I wish I had a vehicle is when I'd like to go and meet with friends who live on the other side of the city...but even then, drinking is pretty much a guarantee in those cases, so I'd be leaving my car wherever I drove it anyway.

[Esuohlim]

Let's just say that I live as close as I can to Detroit while still being surrounded by waspy Drew and Mike fans, Red Wings fans, and to be inconvenienced every year by the asinine Woodward Dream Cruise.

I got my driver's license two years ago just to have it and get it over with. I don't think I've driven since.

[Zhukov]

It takes me about two hours to get to and from work via bus, but I wouldn't drive a car even if I could.

I didn't get rich paying for petrol, which is about a trillion times more expensive here than in the US. In fact I didn't get rich.

[Sethomas]

I used to be a really paranoid, conscientious driver, going into the license process with the same anxieties as FZ. Blind spots and intersections drove me crazy because I'm very conservative about pulling onto a road if there are any oncoming cars on the horizon, even if there are two lanes. I HAD to learn to drive because I lived out the country and any hope of finding work or a social life required it. What ultimately helped me shake off my habitual anxieties was driving in a convertible with the top down whenever possible. The appeal wasn't so much any vane desires as it was the difference in the experience, like, how much more visibility you have on the road. Being able to hear cars in my blind spots and knowing how to relate that to using mirrors and such ultimately made it much easier to drive in general. I once again drive a convertible (2000 Chrysler Sebring, Jxi) and I feel like a dork driving around town with the top down, but it's still a much more comfortable experience. And they're not all that more expensive if you know how to shop for them. I paid $4500 for mine when it had 67k miles on it, though I had to teach myself how to become a mechanic because I developed a paranoia about its service history.

On that note, a few weeks ago I replaced the timing belt, water pump, and valve gaskets. The labor quotes I got for that job were around $1000.

[Kitsa]

how much did the parts cost you? What, from that experience, do you feel the time was actually worth?

These are non-hostile questions; I'm curious.

[Sethomas]

The parts came to around $120 by buying on Amazon. The trouble was that many garages won't install parts you buy yourself, whether because of their profit model or warranty issues. To go to a place like Meineke and have these jobs done, they'd buy the parts at absurd mark-up and I'd be paying around $1400.

For most people it would have been worth it to just save up and have a mechanic do the job. The problem for me was that my car has an interference engine and I bought it at a point where there was no way of knowing if the previous owner had the timing belt changed at the recommended interval. If a timing belt suddenly breaks on these engines (and there is no imminent warning in most cases), the engine basically cannibalizes itself and the cost of repair is usually more than the cost of replacing the car entirely.

Now, the water pump is driven by the timing belt and my car started making a noise implying a bad water pump. To access the water pump you have to remove the timing belt. If you remove the timing belt, you're already investing so much time to the project you may as well replace everything else you can spend money on at the time. I developed a mental image of the water pump locking up and eating the teeth off the timing belt and ruining my engine within a fraction of a second, so I was worried to drive anywhere before getting this done.

In the past two years I've taken on a tone of DIY projects, including completely refinishing the basement where I live. Although I often launch myself into situations over my head and go insane trying to work my way to a solution, I've steadily lost my tendency to be intimidated by absurd DIYs.

[Shyandquietguy]

I've had my license for almost two years and I can safely say I hate driving. However, the damn buses only run every half hour and like hell I'm going to try to play it safe by taking an earlier bus. Plus, a lot of people around here give me the heebie jeebies.

As per driving, it just takes time and practice to get over the jitters. You'll pretty much worry about everything but such things as a safe following distance and checking the mirrors before looking over the shoulder will come naturally when you stick to it.

PS, watch out for Prius' drivers. It's the car of the future so it can handle anything.

[kahljorn]

my timing belt went out recently but luckily we weren't driving when it happened so it didnt die

[Pentegarn]

Still that's a costly fix (if my parts knowledge is correct changing that on most vehicles requires the engine block to be dropped to get to it)

My transmission just went out. It works from 1st to 3rd, but once it gets to overdrive it can't go back. I unplugged the overdrive plug for now so I can drive off freeway (and on freeway if I don't mind being noisy about it) but I am going to have to look at getting a new car soon it looks like

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Originally Posted by Esuohlim

Count to 6?

FZ: My dad's Alero just died a few days ago.

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

Originally Posted by Sethomas

The appeal wasn't so much any vane desires as it was the difference in the experience, like, how much more visibility you have on the road. Being able to hear cars in my blind spots and knowing how to relate that to using mirrors and such ultimately made it much easier to drive in general.

I can understand what you mean about the blind spots. I learned to drive in a 96 ford windstar. Took me at least 4 tries to pass the road test. I hit a car on one of them.

I currently drive a ford focus hatchback. Its nice but its a 2 door and the posts after the doors end cause huge blindspots so you almost have to have your seat a certain distance from the pedals so to be able to see.

[kahljorn]

right after the car got the timing belt fixed the transmission went out with a kind similar deal. Couldn't get into overdrive/fourth gear without it slipping like crazy

maybe you have a solenoid issue like i did. If you keep driving it might eventually register a check engine thing.

[Colonel Flagg]

The clutch once went out in my vehicle about 3 iterations past, while I was parked at a Chinese restaurant. Fortunately (?) the timing belt went soon afterward, and I had to get rid of it.

I loved that car, too.

[kahljorn]

yea cars are a bitch. i want to live somewhere that i can take public transportation everywhere

but at the same time i dont want to take public transportation

[Zhukov]

I used to live in the 'city', and you could walk from one side to the other in ten minutes, it was great. Now I live in the suburbs and public transport is pretty shitty.

[Kitsa]

We have public transportation for use of the disabled. I had (have? had?) a card for it, but they randomly drop funding and tell us they're not hauling us around anymore. I've never had to use it, I just liked knowing it was around if I needed it.

This city is really crappy toward the disabled. You don't want to hear my post office rant.

[Tadao]

Did you punch someone in the face?

[Kitsa]

Wanted to, anyway.