Cinco de Mayo Bicentennial

[ochotona]

USA defaults on 1.1 quadrillion debt, May 5th, Cinco De Mayo, 2062. Brave Seattle residents resist Chinese Red Army trying to seize Amazon HQ, shotguns loaded with Starbucks coffee beans. Pitched battles near Pike Place Market.

[boglerdude]

They dont need to invade, they already own half my condo complex. And one of em just totaled my car

[ochotona]

They dont need to invade, they already own half my condo complex. And one of em just totaled my car

I am shocked, Chinese drivers are usually very sedate. Did your car get totaled, perhaps, by your running into the back of the other car which was going "too slowly"?

[dualstow]

Brave ... residents resist Chinese Red Army trying to seize Amazon HQ

Get out of my head, AOC!

[boglerdude]

My car was parked If anyone has new car buying tips, share em

[Kriegsspiel]

It depends how much you drive and what your criteria are.

[flyingpylon]

My car was parked If anyone has new car buying tips, share em

You probably value your money, your time, and your sanity. Pick two and don't let the third stop you from making a reasonable deal and moving on with your life.

[Xan]

USAA also has a car-buying service. Wouldn't be surprised if other credit union-type things do too.

[Mountaineer]

I thought I'd negotiated a good deal on my new 2012 Volvo XC60. Almost at the last minute I asked if Costco buying service would give me a better deal. The salesman said, no worries, we will take an additional $500 off without you having to start over with Costco. Guess my negotiating skills were not as good as I thought.

[dualstow]

I've heard that it's hard to get Teslae repaired, even after a minor fender bender. That can't be true. Is it true?
This list does look kind of skimpy.
https://www.tesla.com/support/body-shop-support

[flyingpylon]

Even when I think I got a great deal, I am always second guessing myself afterward. These guys haggle cars for a living. You can't ever win at their game.

You won't ever beat them, but you can have a win/win.

Just like with investing, it's not worth beating yourself up about not buying at the very bottom or not selling at the very top.

I bought a new car about 15 months ago and went into it knowing that I valued my time and sanity more than my money. I got a good to very good deal in financial terms but a great deal overall because the whole process was so quick and easy. Of course I did also know what I wanted and what I was willing to pay before talking to a salesman, and that helped.

[boglerdude]

Prob getting a Fiesta ST. Might rent one for a month: https://drivecanvas.com/

My concern about cars these days is poor visibility around the blind spot. I know you can adjust mirrors, but I dont like it.

Might email a few dealers and say Im buying sometime in the next 6 months. They can send me an offer now, or can contact me at the end of any month if they need to hit a quota. Win-win? Seems like I should be able to get at least 2k under the lowest price online.

[Xan]

I always apply those little round extra mirrors to my side mirrors. No more craning around to check blind spots.

Actually Ford is really good about including that kind of mirror built-in.

[flyingpylon]

My concern about cars these days is poor visibility around the blind spot. I know you can adjust mirrors, but I dont like it.

Get a car with blind spot monitoring. I still look over my shoulder and sometimes you have to ignore the alert in heavy traffic, but it does come in handy. Probably saved my butt a few times.

[Xan]

It's nice to have, but I wouldn't want to rely on it. Do you really change lanes without looking as long as that thing isn't going off?

[dualstow]

It's nice to have, but I wouldn't want to rely on it. Do you really change lanes without looking as long as that thing isn't going off?

I think he said the opposite. He still looks even when it is sounding.

[Xan]

It's nice to have, but I wouldn't want to rely on it. Do you really change lanes without looking as long as that thing isn't going off?

I think he said the opposite. He still looks even when it is sounding.

Oh, you're right. Somehow I missed that. And in fact he still changes lanes even when it's sounding!

[Kriegsspiel]

My car is a stick shift with no radar/cameras, which I've seen argued is the safest type of car to drive.

[flyingpylon]

To clarify... I always look, because I have been driving for over 30 years and it's a habit. And because I don't trust machines. I use the blind spot monitoring as an additional driving aid and I have found it to be valuable.

In case you're not familiar with how it works, the visual indicator in your mirror turns on as a vehicle enters your blind spot (I also get an indicator in the heads-up display in the windshield). If you activate your turn signal when the visual indicator is on, an alarm beeps to warn you.

However, the car monitors a fairly large distance behind you to provide a margin of error. Sometimes when you're in tight traffic (e.g. rush hour) you can look over your shoulder and see that you're clear, but the monitoring system will still beep because a vehicle is within that large margin of error. So you ignore it.

I have found it most valuable when I am about to change lanes and believe I'm clear, but some idiot is approaching in that lane at a significantly faster rate. The car is very good at sensing that condition and it has saved my bacon a few times.

[ochotona]

When are they going to get rid of physical mirrors and just do cameras? The aero improvement would be substantial

[Kriegsspiel]

I actually want to go back in time, to when aerodynamics weren't taken into account. I LOVE the look of the old boxy, straight line vehicles from the 90s. Or even the ones from the 70s and 80s that were a bit curvier.

[Xan]

I actually want to go back in time, to when aerodynamics weren't taken into account. I LOVE the look of the old boxy, straight line vehicles from the 90s. Or even the ones from the 70s and 80s that were a bit curvier.

I'd love to have one of those late 80s/early 90s Suburbans.

[ochotona]

I actually want to go back in time, to when aerodynamics weren't taken into account. I LOVE the look of the old boxy, straight line vehicles from the 90s. Or even the ones from the 70s and 80s that were a bit curvier.

I had a 1981 VW Jetta, I loved it. It wasn't reliable, though. The photo is a 1984 model.