Automotive peeves

"PRICE REDUCED FOR QUICK SALE, NEEDS TLC, I KNOW WHAT I HAVE SO NO LOWBALLERS, SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY, DONT WASTE MY TIME. NO PHONE CALLS, PUT(some random word) IN THE SUBJECT OF YOUR EMAIL OR IT WILL BE DELETED"

Gotta agree with that. How about the ones who say "I WONT TAKE A PENNY LESS THAN DOUBLE WHAT SCRAP VALUE IS OR IM SELLING IT TO SCRAP".

People who tailgate motorcyclists

Defensive driving dictates motorcyclist speed up or get the berkeley out of the way. If they get tired of being paranoid they can always drive a car. Actually, i'll just go ahead and add "half the motorcyclists ive ever seen" to my list of peeves. The whole idea that the sentence "people who tailgate" needs the word "motorcyclists" on the end is just more evidence to me that motorcyclists expect their CHOICE to ride a ridiculously unsafe machine somehow REQUIRES everyone else to give them extra deference.

Any car with a previous owner that doesn't clean it regularly/properly(inside and out) or keep up on maintenance. 99% of the problems I've had with cars are from crappy PO's.

Any douchey trend going on.

People that can't use a keyboard properly with anything car related.

That's about it.

93EXCivic wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Toyota Highlanders

This seems random. Story?

Worst automotive mistake of my life. Spousal unit needed a new car. I was pushing for an E46, B6 Audi or C class Wagon. We were close, but she decided she wanted an SUV. I favored a Honda Pilot or Explorer, but she want a Toyota coz you know Toyota are reliable!!! I loathed and hated that POS from the moment we got it until the moment it was gone. Reliability and quality! Ha, non existent. • The headlights melted, yes really. They tried to accuse us of fitting higher output bulbs (no we hadn’t).
• steering intermediate shaft failed
• Brake master cyl leaked
• Rear wheel bearing failed
• Heater control unit in the dash failed (that was going to be $1k for parts and a nightmare to change, managed to trade it with the busted one)
• Drive shaft center bearing failed. Needed to change that, but the whole drive shaft and bearing come as a unit at some astronomical cost, so I thought I’d get a used one. I called numerous junk yards who claimed to have one, but when I asked them to check the center bearing, they were all worn/loose. I finally found a local place that had 3 and claimed they were all good. Drove out there and sure enough, all on their way out so I picked the best and put that on to trade it.
There was also a ton of less serious stuff.
• The floor mats were so thin and E36 M3ty they wore through in less than a year.
• The crappy (sorry quality) soft touch trim started wearing though within a year so you could see the base plastic underneath in a different color.
• The paint!!! The paint was so thin I think it had a negative thickness. I’ve never had a car with paint that scratched and faded so quickly, if you sat down in a chair and watched it you could see it deteriorate in front of your eyes. I’ve never see paint age so quickly or scratch so easily in my life, even when I was a teen and painting cars with lacquer paint.
Now, if the car had had some redeeming characters in its driving dynamics I might have been able to stomach the worst quality and reliability of any car I’ve ever known, but no it was so bland boring dull, dumbed down that I developed a serious caffeine habit trying to stay awake while driving it further than my driveway. I got confused unloading grocery’s sometimes and start putting them back in the car mistaking it for the fridge as a dull appliance.
Only listing the Highlander (or Turdbota Scumlander as I not so affectionately refer to them) is a move in the right direction. I’m trying had to leave my hatred of all things Toyota behind and remind myself of the amazing vehicles they’ve produced in the past, and give them credit for the Toybaru twins now, which really are cool.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

I hate Toyota. With a passion. Had an ST165 AllTrac. Love them on paper, hated owning it.

There's a reason I stick to Honda's and Jeeps.

Infotainment systems on newer cars------ Please just give me a freeking knob for volume and tuning.....also don't make me go through 5 different menus to change a station, or lower the bass because your "focus group" told you every stereo needs to have the bass of a Cervin Vega speaker.

and NO ONE, ever, anywhere needs to check their Facebook while driving. Want to make the roads safer? Take away in-car distractions, don't add to them!

I feel better now...

Brett_Murphy wrote: Oil filters that are in stupid places.

Also spark plugs (mentioned in another post); for that matter any maintenance item that you have to pull the engine to get to.

+1 on the infotainment systems...

How about cars that are designed with huge wheel wells from the factory. This way the base model looks horrible with 15" wheels. (Example, current generation Miata)

Small hardware quality on the Mazda Miata... Gotta be careful, those little bolts love to shear! Freekin Cadnium-plated taffy.

I know, I know.. be more careful torquing stuff, but seriously, its really easy to accidentally shear this stuff and I never had these problems on my Mustang or my E30.

Metal oil return pipes positioned in the most asinine manner blatantly not with replacement in mind.

When people complain about having to run premium gas...

Me (in another thread) said: A shocking number of people will gloss over a car because it takes premium and instead go for something with far worse gas mileage just because it takes regular. Think about that a minute. If a car takes premium and gets 30 MPG vs something that takes regular and gets 20 MPG...YOU'RE NOT SAVING A DIME! facepalm

In reply to Swank Force One:

duct tape, son!

People and Ads that say "empeegees" MPG is already a plural damnit!!

beans wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: duct tape, son!

I've found duct tape doesn't hold up real well when an inch away from a turbocharger.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

93EXCivic wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Toyota Highlanders

This seems random. Story?

Worst automotive mistake of my life. Spousal unit needed a new car. I was pushing for an E46, B6 Audi or C class Wagon. We were close, but she decided she wanted an SUV. I favored a Honda Pilot or Explorer, but she want a Toyota coz you know Toyota are reliable!!! I loathed and hated that POS from the moment we got it until the moment it was gone. Reliability and quality! Ha, non existent. • The headlights melted, yes really. They tried to accuse us of fitting higher output bulbs (no we hadn’t). • steering intermediate shaft failed • Brake master cyl leaked • Rear wheel bearing failed • Heater control unit in the dash failed (that was going to be $1k for parts and a nightmare to change, managed to trade it with the busted one) • Drive shaft center bearing failed. Needed to change that, but the whole drive shaft and bearing come as a unit at some astronomical cost, so I thought I’d get a used one. I called numerous junk yards who claimed to have one, but when I asked them to check the center bearing, they were all worn/loose. I finally found a local place that had 3 and claimed they were all good. Drove out there and sure enough, all on their way out so I picked the best and put that on to trade it. There was also a ton of less serious stuff. • The floor mats were so thin and E36 M3ty they wore through in less than a year. • The crappy (sorry quality) soft touch trim started wearing though within a year so you could see the base plastic underneath in a different color. • The paint!!! The paint was so thin I think it had a negative thickness. I’ve never had a car with paint that scratched and faded so quickly, if you sat down in a chair and watched it you could see it deteriorate in front of your eyes. I’ve never see paint age so quickly or scratch so easily in my life, even when I was a teen and painting cars with lacquer paint. Now, if the car had had some redeeming characters in its driving dynamics I might have been able to stomach the worst quality and reliability of any car I’ve ever known, but no it was so bland boring dull, dumbed down that I developed a serious caffeine habit trying to stay awake while driving it further than my driveway. I got confused unloading grocery’s sometimes and start putting them back in the car mistaking it for the fridge as a dull appliance. Only listing the Highlander (or Turdbota Scumlander as I not so affectionately refer to them) is a move in the right direction. I’m trying had to leave my hatred of all things Toyota behind and remind myself of the amazing vehicles they’ve produced in the past, and give them credit for the Toybaru twins now, which really are cool.

Huh, our '01 Highlander has been a great rig and another family member's 02 has been awesome as well. Other than routine maintenance it has been solid as a rock. Its starting to get a little long in the tooth, so I suspect it will need struts and CV joints soon. Looked at the generations after ours and decided the RAV-4 is the better buy for the same room and less crappy styling (if we're buying another one, she wants an Elise though so berkeley'em). Heard plenty of horror stories about newer 'yotas though so glad we're not headed down that road further.

Could be worse, could be her father's BMW 745li. What a POS! Half the buttons for the power seats don't work, the iDrive is a complete joke to use and its a berkeleying land barge to drive. Finally, what the berkeley is up with the stupid turn signal switch? A momentary button solution? Really? berkeley you BMW. The V8 makes nice noises when you kick it in the nads though and it cruises at 90mph without effort, so I'll give it that.

Being the only "normal" sized car on the road surrounded by soccer moms in their overwrought SUVs that drive like they're on the way to the emergency room while talking on their cell phones and weaving in and out of rush hour traffic.

People who don't understand what a passing lane is or otherwise drive 20 miles under the speed limit in the left lane.

By the same token, people who drive 20 miles under the speed limit when they see a cop up ahead. Dude, just drive the speed limit if you're that concerned.

My overall concern that the auto industry is increasingly making any remotely interesting cars unaffordable for middle income people.

There is a special circle in Hell for people who put HID headlights in non-projector housings. All that does is make your car vomit light all over the road. Light goes everywhere except where it's supposed to go, all while blinding both oncoming drivers and the people in front of them.

That and the "Stance" trend. DUMB. I got stuck behind some wiener this morning driving one of those Lancer Humpbacks. Stupid stickers everywhere and lime green wheels. And of course, stretched tires.

914Driver wrote: Skidding sounds or hot melting rubber peeling our sounds on a dirt road!

Never been rallycrossing then, have you? Hear tire squeal all the time.

ditchdigger wrote: People and Ads that say "empeegees" MPG is already a plural damnit!!

Miles per Gallon is already plural. MPG is not, because MPG is a fictional thing mostly unrelated to Miles per Gallon. Thus why the ads almost always say MPG and not Miles per Gallon.

Vigo wrote:

People who tailgate motorcyclists

Defensive driving dictates motorcyclist speed up or get the berkeley out of the way. If they get tired of being paranoid they can always drive a car. Actually, i'll just go ahead and add "half the motorcyclists ive ever seen" to my list of peeves. The whole idea that the sentence "people who tailgate" needs the word "motorcyclists" on the end is just more evidence to me that motorcyclists expect their CHOICE to ride a ridiculously unsafe machine somehow REQUIRES everyone else to give them extra deference.

Wow! Um...just...wow.

Knurled wrote:

914Driver wrote: Skidding sounds or hot melting rubber peeling our sounds on a dirt road!

Never been rallycrossing then, have you? Hear tire squeal all the time.

Or been to a dirt track.

Here's one, although it's more automotive culture (morons) than anything...

People who make something for themselves and say that they made a "kit". Making my own water injection kit, making my own big brake kit, and so on. (Liberally sprinkle homegrown acronyms from whatever inbred automotive circle where it's found)

No, you are not making a kit. A kit is something that somebody sells that theoretically contains everything you need to do X. (I say theoretically because... well, everyone here's probably dealt with the automotive aftermarket) Piecing together your own parts isn't making a kit, it's just doing it.

Power windows. I can never get the damn thing exactly where I want it without playing with it for five minutes. And when they get old, they break.

penultimeta wrote: Being the only small sized car on the road surrounded by soccer moms in their normal sizeoverwrought SUVs that drive like they're on the way to the emergency room while talking on their cell phones and weaving in and out of rush hour traffic.

Fixed that for you. While I agree with the sentiment (I drive a C30, prior car was a Contour, before that a Focus etc) The new 'normal' is much larger vehicles. Those of us who prefer smaller vehicles are viewed as odd. That's one of the great things about gas prices creeping up (although still stupid cheap compared to most places in the world) Fuel economy is now given a thought in vehicle choice and I think the average size has dropped a bit in the last 5 years.

When driving home from work, I often pass a guy driving in a Ford King Ranch Dually pickup with smoke stacks and triple train horns on the roof.

Every time I see those horns, I want to give him a flying throat punch.