[Just1MoreDave]

Most of the body damage on that pickup came from the grandson, as he learned to handle such a large vehicle.

And some of the damage came from two owners before him, his other grandpa.

I have yet to put a single scratch on it.

As for what to do with it after my foot heals, I dunno. I am warming up to the idea that it would make a great beater and work commuter. Sure, it only gets 14 to 16 mpg, but I'm earning enough to absorb the cost. And the traffic going to, and coming home from, the Big Shed is brutal. I call it the Boeing Grand Prix. Those jerks drive like it is a race. There are wrecks every day.

Wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if some dope caused a wreck that damaged it. In fact, since it is a full sized pickup, it would probably win against all those idiots in their econoboxes.

And the parking lot is another place that is rife with hit and run damage. My Subaru has taken a couple of hits there.

Exactly. It would maybe be too much trouble to find one just for those purposes, but now it's there, paid for, you know its condition, and a truck has a lot of uses. My father in law offered me a 1988 full size Chevy a few years ago and I almost talked myself into it. He's 87 and only drives a 2006 Cobalt with 13,000 miles on it. I told him to save it for his grandson.

I just noticed the foot x-ray. I remember showing my wife Rupert's foot x-ray.

The upgraded driver's licenses are part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and only offered by four states at the moment. Lots of states just had to change licenses for even domestic airline travel, but this is something else.

[ChrisPlatt]

The upgraded driver's licenses are part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and only offered by four states at the moment.
Lots of states just had to change licenses for even domestic airline travel, but this is something else.

There's a level in between - New York's "Real ID" license - that allows you to board domestic flights but is not valid for border crossings with Canada and Mexico.
Cost is $30 less, the same as regular driver's license.

Until recently the standard NYS driver's license was valid for all of the above.

Chris

[wtlwdwgn]

Montana's driver's licences are not good for anything except when getting a ticket.

[Racer X 69]

Montana's driver's licences are not good for anything except when getting a ticket.

Yes, but in 5 years of running across Montana in a big truck I never even got a second look from Montana's Finest.

And I was always 5 to 10 over the truck speed limit.

Sometimes more.

[E-man]

My daily driver is a 2011 Chevy Impala LT. For a generic, commodity car (these were darlings of rental and government fleets) it's a reasonably well thought out car, spacious and comfortable with a cavernous trunk. Performance is acceptable but not outstanding and fuel economy is good for its size. It'll do around 30 mpg on the highway and 20 or so in town. It is also absolutely the most dependable car I have ever owned. I bought it from my father five years ago with 15,000 miles on it and now have a little more than 75,000 with no mechanical problems. What few minor issues I've had I've been able to address myself. The main thing I dislike about the car is its terminally bland styling. The only thing that keeps it from looking like a county motor pool vehicle, especially since it's white, is the decorative wing on the trunk lid. The only other thing I really disliked the first couple of years I had the car was the sorry Goodyear tires that came on it from the factory. Handling got really squirrelly at much over 70mph and driving on wet pavement constantly triggered the traction control. Replacing those tires with a set of Michelin Premiers instantly alleviated those problems and in the process, really brought out much more of the car's true potential in terms of ride and handling. Honestly, it was almost felt like a different car.

[edom31]

Like:

[Just1MoreDave]

Mercedes wants you to know for sure where neutral is:



Way too many shiny surfaces in this car for a convertible. On a sunny day, you need welding goggles, not sunglasses.

The well-worn Nissan Frontier with super long throw:



Miata Special Edition wood shift knob, the best looking, best working and best sounding:

[

[lesmore49]

The two top shifting (ease and accuracy in shifting) manual transmissions I've ever used (and I've shifted a lot) in my experience was the 4 speed manual in my '62 Volvo PV 544s and a 4 speed Muncie in a '70 Chevy with a Hurst shifter.

[Canada_Rockies]

The two top shifting (ease and accuracy in shifting) manual transmissions I've ever used (and I've shifted a lot) in my experience was the 4 speed manual in my '62 Volvo PV 544s and a 4 speed Muncie in a '70 Chevy with a Hurst shifter.

The oddball that worked superbly was the 4 on the tree in my Mercedes 220S.

[cooltouch]

The two top shifting (ease and accuracy in shifting) manual transmissions I've ever used (and I've shifted a lot) in my experience was the 4 speed manual in my '62 Volvo PV 544s and a 4 speed Muncie in a '70 Chevy with a Hurst shifter.

My favorite was the 5-speed Getrag found in the 74-1/2 and 75 Jensen Healeys and 76 Jensen GT. This tranny was also found in the BMW 2002ti, from what I've been told. Besides being a crisp-shifting unit, what I liked about it was its spring-loaded "dogleg" 1st gear -- you push the shifter toward the driver and then down for 1st (left hand drive). What's cool about that tranny is it allows for a rapid 1st to 2nd shift. Because 1st is spring-loaded, you just push the shifter straight up into 2nd. The spring pushes the shifter over to line it up in the throw to 2nd. Some people hate it because they're always putting the car in Reverse instead of 1st, but I never had a problem with this. I loved it.

The "dogleg" Getrag's shift pattern:

R 2 4

1 3 5

[timb64]

Maybe it was a case of “first love” but I always loved the gearbox of my first car a mk 1 VW Golf GLS (GTi wannabe) short travel and very positive.

[RobG]

Mazda CX5 AWD.


A splash of colour by RobGeraghty, on Flickr

I like it because it is reasonably efficient around town and especially only the highway, has a decent capacity when moving things, a reasonable amount of knee room in the back seats when I have three passengers, and the AWD means I can relax a bit more when driving on dirt or (if I ever do) snow. It has a reversing camera (pretty much standard these days), a reasonably powered engine, OK ground clearance, and some other nice to have safety features like warnings when changing lanes, automatic braking in traffic etc. What I don't like - not much. It's a bit wide with Australian parking spots which seem to be shrinking as businesses try to maximise their profits by packing more cars into the same space. The auto-dimming rear view mirror doesn't. I've reported it to Mazda and they claim it works, but compared to the Jag I had before, the mirror seems to have no effect at all. The nose of the car is a bit long when going over sharp crests and bumps on dirt roads (I had a "real" 4WD in the past with much better front visibility).

[lesmore49]

The oddball that worked superbly was the 4 on the tree in my Mercedes 220S.

Years ago I recall getting a ride in a 220S and marvelling at the 4 on the tree on the Benz.

[wtlwdwgn]

My Subaru Outback flashed a check engine light and a bunch of others at the same time. It turned out to be the evaporative emissions purge valve. The techs say these fail by using ethanol blended fuels. They recommend using premium fuel which in many brands does not have ethanol. Oh well, there goes 50¢ a gallon.

The slickest 5 speed manual I've ever driven was on a used 1987 BMW 325e. I really wanted to buy it but they wanted too much and it needed a lot of body and interior work.

[ChrisPlatt]

The techs say these fail by using ethanol blended fuels.

To make matters worse I hear us poor folks will be forced to buy the blended fuel year round now...

Chris