+1. I couldn’t care less what other people think about the car I drive. I also have an E46 because it drives wonderfully. The fact that it’s a BMW only really entered into the equation because they made cars that were great to drive. People noticed it back when I first got it because it was current. That was annoying.…

Your 87 Tempo had a check-engine light? Neat! Too bad it was before OBD-II, so getting trouble codes was stupid.

Maybe we need different classifications of messages. Like, “visit mechanic soon,” “this pretty serious,” and “SHITCALLFORATOW!”

I mean, I guess not. It’s worked for nearly two centuries. Or, to be fair, “worked.” Driving is fun for some people, and some people even enjoy it. But, most people hate it and suck at it, enough so that you encounter more than one shitty driver on every trip. Humans are only barely safe in the best of driving…

On one hand, they’ve gotta develop the system somehow. I don’t have a better idea than trying it in the only place they really can: the real world. That said, I’m right there with you with the sentiment that a system that can’t operate without babysitting and actively disincentivizes doing that babysitting, and…

I kind of hope that it results in there just being less in the way of telematics in cars. They don’t use the data for your benefit anyway. They just use it to sell to data miners for making targeted ads.

I don’t think it does. Besides, you park you car in gear, don’t you?

It’s not really a safety system beyond the part where the car can report it was in an accident and the StarLink people can call emergency services if you ask them to or you don’t respond to them calling you car. It’s convenience crap, almost all of which is easily replicated by the smartphone you probably already…

I’ll give you that one, but it’s meant to be vague. Even if it did tell you what was wrong, most people wouldn’t know what to do with it besides take it to a mechanic anyway. No sense in baffling them with info they can’t interpret anyway.

I’m supportive of most of these. I would like to add “know what the lights on your dashboard mean.” Especially that red genie-lamp looking one. That one doesn’t mean “check the oil when you get a minute.” It means “HOLYCRAPTURNITOFFNOW!!!” I’ve run into enough people who roasted engines because of that where I don’t…

They did get a bit better, but not much. My mom’s ‘15 Outback’s radio makes me burn with the rage of a thousand suns. My wife’s ‘18 Forester’s sucks but is tolerable. My MIL’s ‘19 Crosstrek is marginally better, especially when you just don’t use it and go CarPlay. My dad’s ‘21 Impreza I think is the same.

I hate that throttle/transmission calibration. I drive my wife’s ‘18 Forester on a regular basis and have yet to develop a rapport with it. We bought it new; I’ve had plenty of time. The care you have to show when you apply the throttle off the line to get it to move at a reasonable clip without jumping like you…

Very much this. N/A Foresters aren’t slow, but damn are they not fast.

I have an ‘18 Forester. It’s fine when it’s only got your typical 2-adults-and-a-kid everyday load. When you load it up with four adults, a kid, camping gear, and a rooftop carrier, it’s an absolute dog. The shorter final drive ratio probably helps, but woe be to anybody who actually tries to use this thing at the…

Not even! Most of them were bought new or near new, or handed down from parents after a couple years to those kids. Remember how cheap they were. All the ones my friends had were relatively new. A good friend of mine had to have two engines put in it before 100k and various other major work done. I distinctly remember…

How much are they going to charge you if you return it without a full battery?

I’ve seen that happen. I hit a dear in my first Subaru when I was in college. I plugged the first one in a group of three. As I sat waiting for the cops to come, its brother ran in front of a Saturn SL1, jumped straight in the air, and the car passed under it. The third one ran into the side of another Subaru and…

I think that was just GM engines at the time. My friend had a Cavalier that lost an engine because of that. GM paid to replace it for free. And the dealer cracked the block installing it, so they had to do it *twice.*

I’m going to have disagree with the Cavalier sentiment. I had lots of friends with those and Sunfires in high school and college. They broke down all the time. They cost pennies to fix, but that doesn’t make them indestructible. It just makes them cheap to fix.

That LED remote control is exactly the same, minus the color and the branding, as the cheap 25’ outdoor LED light strip I bought to put up while I’m camping. I paid $12 for it. Sounds like I got the better deal.