@layabout: *snicker*
Depends on how old the Yoda is, could be worth a few pennies. And I approve of this joke.
I'll probably get a lot of crap for this, but hell, this post is three days old and no one will read it...right?
Excellent article, and great commenter discussion.
Like some others, I do not think that bland cars make bad drivers. Contribute, yes, but I doubt they are the deciding factor. Really, the automakers offer what sells, and nowadays, there's a lot of demand for bland and dependable. There are a lot of people out there who do not enjoy driving, and that is NOT a crime.
I think I'd lay the blame on changes in American culture. Maybe I'm way off base, but I remember talking with my Dad and granddad about their first cars. In those days, it was a privilege to drive, not a right. Learning to drive and getting your license was a rite of passage that meant a lot to the entire family.
Let's face it- in days gone by, being handed a car the day you turned 16 was unheard of. It was a time when, YE GADS!, not every family had two cars; some still had none.
I see it everyday in the derogatory term that Jalops use to describe the bland cars - appliances. Yet, what is the real definition of the word appliance? From the usage here, it would seem to be something replaceable, interchangeable, a throw-away. Looking back to my parents day, such a definition would not be used for any household appliance. Those cost an enormous amount of take-home pay, and you RESPECTED and took care of them, because you wouldn't be getting a new one anytime soon.
The throw away mentality is nothing new. In the horse and buggy days, many a horse was destroyed because the owner had no respect for it. He could just get a new one when the current one died from abuse. But in our day and age, it has become the norm.
So I would lay the blame on the changing cultural viewpoint of the automobile. Now if you don't have a car, you can't get a job unless you are one of the lucky few who has access to reliable and clean public transportation. If you state you don't have a car, or a license, people think you must be from Mars. Now the car is a must-have, and as such, it has become taken for granted that everyone should have one.
I have nothing against bland cars, but I DO have something against people who see no reason to take the time to learn how to drive; to learn how their particular car handles. I know quite a few people who cannot drive a stick, but they respect the threat any out-of-control car represents, and they know how to handle their automatics accordingly. One such friend drives a 2010 Prius; he mentioned the brake "issue" to me the first time I drove it in my carpool with him as a quirk to note and compensate for, not as a flaw. When I later mentioned the problem as coming under investigation a month ago, he laughed it off as people who didn't know how to drive.
Bland cars are here to stay as long as reliable transportation and commuting are a rule of corporate America. But bland car drivers are not all dunces, and bland cars did not make people drive badly. We stopped paying attention, and we stopped teaching our kids that a ton of metal on wheels can badly hurt someone in a moment of inattention.
There is something definitely wrong when the 16 year old in front of you at the DMV "passes" her test by crying. This morning I saw someone brushing his teeth on the way in to work while driving. Years ago, when I drove taxi, I used to be barraged by those suspended for DUI railing against the unfairness of the system.
Familiarity has bred contempt. If you don't respect a gun, someone will get killed. If you don't respect your car, it is no different.
What could we do to address this? Lobby your congress people for better public transportation to get those who hate driving off the road. Better publicize private driving school options. Make driving school a requirement to drive, like they do in many European countries. Bring back the fear of death and dismemberment that those awful drivers ed films used to evoke. And take your kid to a field or abandoned parking lot and REALLY teach them how to drive- not just a few parking maneuvers and a turn or two through, but with skid control, losing the brakes scenarios, etc. Someday you might be glad you took the time.
/gets off soapbox
@HammSammich: Trumpet Rider: Damn. Looks like a Woot special. I know a Pastafarian who would love this tee.
@skaycøg: Took a minute to sink in. Bravo.
@M_Richardson: You beat me to it.
@Racin_G73 - dirt track legend (some day ... maybe): Absolutely agree. My husband and I ended up with a Caliber as a rental on vacation. Now I'm not known for liking Chrysler, but we only needed an appliance to get from the airport to our destination, the line was really long, so I figured what the hell, I'd just take it.
Came back to the rental counter line 5 minutes later. Despite the vast difference in our heights, neither of us was physically able to drive the car. He had the seat all the way back, and his knees were in the dashboard. I had the seat all the way forward, and my knees were in the dashboard. I can only conclude that the car is built with the idea that humans have two 90 degree bends in their legs.
@ssurfer321: Yikes! I'm going to pretend I never saw this.
Ah, driving a slow car fast...I guess I embody that. I know I don't have any hoon skills, so I usually keep to the car's limits. But on a beautiful sunny day, perhaps with spring just starting, you can enjoy a slow car more than a fast one. Sloughing off the cabin fever works so much better when pushing a clunker. Roll the windows down, turn the radio up, and drive the twisty back roads. You don't have to go 100mph to enjoy it, just push the car a little to hear the engine rev, the multitude of rattles and clanks letting you know that you are ALIVE and still kicking. Maybe you get a whiff of burning oil, but it's all about the sensory experience. You feel the road, and you hear the engine strain.
Red Barchetta it ain't, but it is still a rite of spring for me.
All bark and no bite. I'll be glad when trucks go out of fashion and become practical again.
The Secret Service must not have seen the Denali, otherwise they would have ordered a thousand or so.
@Elhigh: I thought the same thing. They look tacked on for some reason.
Interesting. I always love these how to pieces.
I was contemplating pulling the instrument cluster on the hubby's '90 Civic because the tach needle had an annoying habit of bouncing. My only experience with pulling dashes comes from 70s and 80s GM products, which needless to say, gave me quite a bit of trepidation. I never got around to it, but it turns out that the tach was fine anyway.
Apparently, when the coil starts dying in Civics of this era, it causes the tach to bounce. We found this out the hard way when the coil gave up the ghost. Once the coil was replaced, the needle bounce was gone. I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what generation of Civics that "era" encompasses, or even if the problem occurred to more than just the LX trim level.
I'd love to know the how the coil failure-to-be could cause behavior like that, too. Voltage drops? Nothing else in the electrical system showed visible spikes to this hobbyist, although I never tested anything.
This recall is hardly an admission of the full problem. OK, so my spare tire might fall off, and the rear brakes might fail, but no mention of the fact that the frame could be completely compromised by rust?
I've been following the rusty Tundra issue since I spotted our local Toyota dealership buying back first-gen Tundras like they were gold. They did a PR piece in the local paper where they let the high school kids turn a bunch of them into art before they were crushed. The article never came out and said, oh, the frames are rusting to pieces, so we bought them back before someone got killed. Nice.
Did some digging and found some of the owners; they were traded to a second gen Tundra or to a Tacoma. From those I spoke to, it sounded like the whole frame could be suspect.
My first gen is a very early 04, which, knowing my luck, means that it will suffer from the rust problem, but will not be covered by any recall. It's a shame, because it really is an all around good light duty work truck. Sigh.
I hope that someone will be offering real trucks again sometime in the near future- the ones that were all work and no play, and didn't cost you as much as a small luxury sedan. I'm sorry to be whining, but it seems to me that when the SUV craze started, all of a sudden trucks became popular and it ruined the market for the rest of us. I do not need power anything, I don't want leather seats, A/C is an unnecessary power drain, and for goodness sake a manual transmission shouldn't be a special order!
And nothing, not even a gun to my head, would make me move to the monster that is the new Tundra. That excuse for a truck is all hot air. They don't even offer a stick.
@Ash Clutchem, Pokey Master:
Our condolences about your father-in-law. He sounds like a real hoon.
Congrats on an awesome COTD. I never in a million years would connect a Veyron to JLS. My only question is, what would Jonathan Galveston Pelican become by the end of the book? An Uber-Veyron? And where can I steal one? I'd like the glow in the dark feature, although the instant transportation wouldn't get much use. #cotd
@Buster Brew: Woweee! Checkout that mustache! I also like the double-parked car on the sidewalk... #qotd
@wheatieboy: OK, that was awesome. And I don't even like Country music. #lolcars
If Top Gear proved that the Hilux is indestructible, doesn't that mean Apex Vinyl TX Racing is a shoe in for most laps?
That's a team after my own heart. #24hoursoflemonstexas
@Novaload: Er, threaten to blow up the garage? Or take a key to something? #24hoursoflemonstexas
@Deartháir II: Aw, shucks. This place won't be the same without you. I started lurking here because of your great commentary, and others like you. I think you were my first heart-click too. I agree, that Jalopnik is heading in a different direction, what with hidden comments and all, but I was hoping that we'd overcome that.
I respect your decision though. I hope you know that many of the commentariat considered you one of our own.
Good luck in your travels. May your barns always be filled with new discoveries, worthy of PCH.
Siphoning some sort of explosive chemical, or extreme hoola-hooping. Take your pick.