I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

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TedBelmont
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I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby TedBelmont » Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:35 pm

It is astounding(and frankly, fucking terrifying when you have to experience it firsthand) just how many people whose entire job is DRIVE BIG TRUKK have no idea how to drive in bad weather.

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IGNORE ME
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby IGNORE ME » Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:05 pm

To be fair, trailers are a huge bitch to drive in any condition. Imagine if your whole life revolved around “Here's this giant ungainly piece of shit death machine that you can barely see around, much less control, now take it to the other side of the country, don't be late, and don't kill anybody with it, over and over again for twenty years.“

Every day a trucker doesn't kill a thousand people they should throw him or her a god damn ticker tape parade.

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François
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby François » Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:34 pm

I played a bunch of Euro Truck Simulator 2 a few months back (I really like driving, I don't care much for racing, and I can't afford a motor vehicle, so that game is basically the next best thing), and it gave me a whole new respect for truckers. Or, the good ones at least.

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Joxam
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Joxam » Wed Feb 05, 2014 2:25 am

Lets also not forget that most of the time they're supposed to be there yesterday while also only being able to driver specific speeds and for specific lengths of time on specific roadways, that most of them have to unload their own trucks when they do get their at expense to themselves, and that should they fuck up in any aspect of the job (schedule, merchandise, driving citations, vehicle problems) all fines, fees or otherwise money costing headaches come out of their personal take home pay... and the big problem is that is all only relevant if they own their own truck, which is the preferred method of truck driving. If they don't own the truck they're no better compensated for their shitty job than someone who works in middle management at a Wal-Mart.
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pacobird
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby pacobird » Fri Feb 14, 2014 8:29 pm

I'm a driver, I'm a winner

Things are gonna change; I can feel it
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Thad
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Thad » Thu Sep 08, 2016 12:49 pm

Welp, my car's AC died.

Because I am a computer scientist and not an auto mechanic, I tried to troubleshoot the issue by turning the AC off and then on again. This caused my engine to cut out. Fortunately this was at a red light after I got off the freeway (and also fortunately, the off-then-on-again technique worked fine for restarting my car), but I will not be trying that method of troubleshooting again.

I'll take the car in on Saturday, see if (1) it's just the AC and (2) it's fixable for a reasonable price. If the answers are yes and yes, I'll get it taken care of; if they're yes and no, well, at least it's September; I can make it to March with no AC and not worry too much about it. If it's no and no, well, then the question becomes how much longer I should be driving this car and whether the engine is likely to cut out on me again under more dangerous circumstances.

I don't have any sentimental attachment to my car. I bought it for $4000 a decade ago, I've gotten more than my money's worth, and frankly I'm surprised it lasted this long. And if I've gotta replace it now, well, that's an annoying time sink but now's as good a time as any.

I'd say "at least it happened when I'm working and can afford to go car shopping," but it's not like those two things are coincidental; of course my car's likelier to die when I'm putting 30 miles on it 5 days a week than when it was just sitting in the driveway most of the time.

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Thad
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Thad » Fri Sep 09, 2016 12:28 pm

It turns out that driving with the windows down is hell on my asthma.

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Thad
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Thad » Sat Sep 10, 2016 12:45 pm

Aaaand they quoted me $1329 to replace the compressor. Or roughly 1/3 of what I paid for the car in 2006. So no, if I'm gonna pay that much to replace the compressor, I'm going to go all the way and replace the rest of the car along with it.

So I guess I get to go car-shopping. The good news is they said I was right and the engine only cut out because it overheated trying to run the compressor, and it won't happen again if I don't turn the AC on again. So it's not urgent; I just want to do it before it starts getting hot again.

I mean, hotter. Today's forecast is 103. Fortunately it looks like it's going to be under 100 once the work week starts.

So the AC managed to make it through one last summer. Eleven, all told. (Well, plus four before I bought it; it's an '02.) Not bad.

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Mongrel
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Mongrel » Sat Sep 10, 2016 1:05 pm

It's probably too much trouble, but selling a used car with no AC seems like such a horrible losing proposition in AZ. I wonder if when you sell it off (assuming you don't do a trade-in), that you wouldn't almost be better off trying to sell it out-of-state.
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Mothra
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Mothra » Sat Sep 10, 2016 2:02 pm

Having compressor problems in my Accord as well. AC works, but it rattles the front unit and drags on the engine. Really hoping all I'll need to do is open it up and check the amount gas in there.

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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby IGNORE ME » Sat Sep 10, 2016 2:09 pm

Mongrel wrote:It's probably too much trouble, but selling a used car with no AC seems like such a horrible losing proposition in AZ. I wonder if when you sell it off (assuming you don't do a trade-in), that you wouldn't almost be better off trying to sell it out-of-state.


Give it to charity, write it off.

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nosimpleway
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby nosimpleway » Sat Sep 10, 2016 2:42 pm

I sold The Albatross to CarMax and got $2000 for it.

You know. The van. THAT van. They gave me 2k for a hunk of shit that wouldn't run for more than sox weeks at a time. Financed my move to Colorado.

So, uh, maybe get a quote from CarMax.

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Thad
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Thad » Sat Sep 10, 2016 6:55 pm

Good call; I might look into it.

I'm considering asking my dad if he wants to buy it, too, since he doesn't have a car right now.

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Mongrel
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Mongrel » Sat Sep 10, 2016 7:24 pm

Oh yeah, I forgot how lots of US state govs have pretty generous tax rebate car buybacks.
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Thad
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Thad » Sat Sep 10, 2016 7:46 pm

I'll probably wait until after I get my next bonus check before I start looking in earnest; that's about a month out. In the meantime I'll start doing some research; Consumer Reports and Kelley and shit, put out some feelers.

Reasonably, I don't expect I'll spend $4000 for a car that lasts me a decade again. I'm willing to go a little higher.

Probably stick with something similar to what I got; small, reliable, good fuel economy. Hybrids are nice but prices start going up pretty fast if they're newer than 10 years old, and if they are 10 years old then you have to start worrying about how much longer the battery's going to last.

I don't need anything high-tech. The fanciest piece of electronics in the old car is the CD player. I don't even have power locks or windows, and don't really see a whole lot of need for them.

I do like some of the safety features they're putting in new cars, collision warning and the camera for when you're backing out and such. But that stuff's usually integrated with a whole bunch of other shit I don't want. I fucking-well do not want my car connecting to the Internet; security for in-car computer systems is an afterthought at best. I'd like to be able to hook my phone up to the car stereo, but I'd much prefer doing it with a wire, not Bluetooth. A mini-stereo jack would be the ideal solution, but I'd settle for a tape deck if there were actually any chance I could find a car manufactured this century that still had one; I'm pretty sure I've still got a mini-stereo-to-casette adapter around here somewhere.

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Grath
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Grath » Sat Sep 10, 2016 8:13 pm

Thad wrote:I'll probably wait until after I get my next bonus check before I start looking in earnest; that's about a month out. In the meantime I'll start doing some research; Consumer Reports and Kelley and shit, put out some feelers.

Reasonably, I don't expect I'll spend $4000 for a car that lasts me a decade again. I'm willing to go a little higher.

Probably stick with something similar to what I got; small, reliable, good fuel economy. Hybrids are nice but prices start going up pretty fast if they're newer than 10 years old, and if they are 10 years old then you have to start worrying about how much longer the battery's going to last.

I don't need anything high-tech. The fanciest piece of electronics in the old car is the CD player. I don't even have power locks or windows, and don't really see a whole lot of need for them.

I do like some of the safety features they're putting in new cars, collision warning and the camera for when you're backing out and such. But that stuff's usually integrated with a whole bunch of other shit I don't want. I fucking-well do not want my car connecting to the Internet; security for in-car computer systems is an afterthought at best. I'd like to be able to hook my phone up to the car stereo, but I'd much prefer doing it with a wire, not Bluetooth. A mini-stereo jack would be the ideal solution, but I'd settle for a tape deck if there were actually any chance I could find a car manufactured this century that still had one; I'm pretty sure I've still got a mini-stereo-to-casette adapter around here somewhere.

I know my 2014 Subaru XV Crosstrek Hybrid has a backup camera but not internet things, nothing too fancy for in-car computer systems, has bluetooth and aux in (assuming you don't buy an iPhone 7 with no headphone jack) - and this was the highest end Crosstrek of 2014. I'm sure that's more than you want to spend (especially since the hybrid doesn't save enough gas to save money) but that does suggest that Subaru with backup camera probably won't be internet-ized. Also, backup cameras are so fucking useful - getting into spots, basically cheating at parallel parking, and even making sure you're nicely lined up in a spot that you pulled into forwards.

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Mazian
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Mazian » Sat Sep 10, 2016 8:27 pm

I had an old tape deck where I skipped the adapter and soldered one end of a mini-stereo cable directly into it. Worked perfectly, though eventually I upgraded to a $50 CD/MP3 player with a front-panel jack.

For work travel, I get to experience a whole variety of generic rental cars that are far newer than my own, and the backup camera is the one feature I wish mine had. Beyond that, there is a lot of truly terrible UI on so many of those gimmicky features. Irksome cars built on the confident assumption that you will have the radio on any time the ignition is on.

As small-sedan rentals go, I'm always happy now to get a Ford Focus or Mazda 3. They're sensible cars that aren't trying too hard to be my personal entertainment center, and some of the minor problems I've had wouldn't come up for you, like the Focus's clunky shifting when cold in subzero weather.

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Thad
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Thad » Sat Sep 10, 2016 9:42 pm

Mazian wrote:I had an old tape deck where I skipped the adapter and soldered one end of a mini-stereo cable directly into it. Worked perfectly, though eventually I upgraded to a $50 CD/MP3 player with a front-panel jack.


Yeah, that's true too; if I buy a car with an easily-swappable audio deck I can put whatever the fuck I want in there.

(I once looked into whether I should try switching out the stereo in my current car. It turns out that my car's got the wiring for the audio system bound up with the wiring of a bunch of other, more important shit, so I decided best not.)

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Büge
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Büge » Sat Sep 10, 2016 10:24 pm

nosimpleway wrote:I sold The Albatross to CarMax and got $2000 for it.


You didn't shoot it with your crossbow first?
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Thad
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Re: I'm Driving! I'm a Driver!

Postby Thad » Thu Sep 15, 2016 12:41 am

Mongrel wrote:It's probably too much trouble, but selling a used car with no AC seems like such a horrible losing proposition in AZ. I wonder if when you sell it off (assuming you don't do a trade-in), that you wouldn't almost be better off trying to sell it out-of-state.


(Belatedly: standard reminder that Arizona is not actually just a giant desert, and I could be in Prescott or Payson in two hours, and Flagstaff in three. I wonder if the heater still works; prospective buyers will want to know that before it starts snowing up there in a month or two.)

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