2/10/10 cars

[fluffy]

I'm thinking of getting a car again. I have reasons.

qotd: Do you have a car? Why or why not?

[Märk]

qotd: Yes. Because my work is 15 miles from my house, and I rather like beig able to go anywhere I want at any time I want to. I did public transit in Calgary for a year, and something as simple as grocery shopping was hell. Also, walking/riding a bike anywhere during the winters up here is kind of out of the question, although I do that a lot in the summer/fall. Aslo, the whole "I don't have a car, can you give me a ride" thing *does* in fact get very annoying to friends (I get that all the time, and it pisses me off)

[Billy's Little Trip]

Personally, I don't understand how a person can live without a car. But that's just me.

Fluffy, get a 2011 GT 500 Mustang! They are bad ass!

[Märk]

Personally, I don't understand how a person can live without a car. But that's just me.

Fluffy, get a 2011 GT 500 Mustang! They are bad ass!

Screw that. Challenger 4TW!

[Billy's Little Trip]

Yeah, the Challenger is pretty bad ass too. It's hard not to love a Hemi, especially one that's putting out 425 hp.

[Caravan Ray]

I'm thinking of getting a car again.

Planet murderer.

[Caravan Ray]

qotd: Do you have a car? Why or why not?

I have a Corolla. It's a chick magnet.
...no, just kidding. It's just a car. I'm the chick magnet.


But I might get rid of it soon. Since I arrived back in Aus - I have been working on a job about 100 km away from home. Building this enormous Motorway. I disgust myself. Every day I drive 200 km to spend 10 hours on a construction site building yet another bloody freeway just so bogans like BLT and Mark can tool around in their penis substitutes. I am a disgrace to myself, a disgrace to my children, a disgrace to my children's children. I am typing this one-handed while I vigorously flagellate myself with the other.

Anyway, I will be leaving this job soon and working near home - so I will be able to walk. My wife gets a car with her job that she can have for personal use - so we probably wont need another car. We always buy houses that are either walking distance to town - or a railway station. I hate driving and will avoid it wherever possible.

[king_arthur]

Yes, actually have three cars for two people - a Suburban for traveling with the dogs, a Honda for the Mrs. so she doesn't have to drive the Suburban everywhere, and a Chrysler Concorde for me 'cause (a) I'm an old geezer who thinks Chryslers are cool, and (b) 'cause in 2000, when I bought it, it was, like, the only good-looking American car being made. The very first time I saw one on the street, I was, like, "that's my car!" Among other things, it has a huge freakin' trunk, big enough for the bass case to fit in either direction (I actually took the bass over to the dealership and checked before I signed the papers).



But maybe more to fluffy's point... where I live the nearest actual bus is two miles away, the busses don't go where I need to go, and while, in my younger days, I might hop on the bus with a guitar and a practice amp and a canvas bag full of cables 'n' stuff... I'm old now. And getting anywhere on the bus in Phoenix does take forever. They just built a light rail system here, but, again, it comes nowhere near where I live...

Charles (KA)

P.S. - this picture was taken when it was brand new. It now has a couple of nasty scrapes down the hood, courtesy of me parking it in the driveway and then deciding to take the Suburban when I went back out and not remembering I'd left the car there until I heard a scraping sound. Cosmetically, it has gone to hell in much the same way I have...partly because mine is the car that sits outside 24/7 and gets baked every summer in the Arizona heat... but I'm the sort of person who drives it 'til there's no more drive left in it. When this one dies, next car will probably be something small, used, and cheap...

[Rabid Garfunkel]

Clown car, yes ('99 Hyundai Accent hatchback, gumdrop purple). For commuting to work, and basic rambling about.

[Billy's Little Trip]

100 km

kangaroo miles?

....and if you want to help the planet, drink more beer. It's a moral obligation.

[fluffy]

I'm thinking of getting a car again.

Planet murderer.

Yeah, and I feel bad about it. Unfortunately, mass transit here is pretty good for commuting, but shitty for everything else, and I don't do much of "everything else" but when I do I'd like it to not suck so much.

I would definitely get something small and economical, and I suspect I'd drive around 200 miles a month.

I'll still take the bus or train or bike to work (I can at least guarantee that much since driving there takes nearly as long and parking is freaking expensive), and for hanging out with friends in-town (for the same reasons, and most of my friends are on direct bus routes from me), and I still live just a couple short blocks from the grocery store so I'm not about to start driving for that either.

At least I live a pretty "green" lifestyle in general. I recycle and compost, I reuse grocery bags, I installed a programmable thermostat on my furnace and use a very aggressive energy-saving program on it, I filter my own water and make my own seltzer and brew my own soda, and I prefer used cars and furniture.

[ken]

Wait until 2012 and buy the Nissan Leaf.

[fluffy]

Electric cars are only good for the planet if you completely ignore the massive environmental impact caused by the manufacture and disposal of batteries. Hybrids are also pretty bad about that. In the future, it might be good, but for now, electric car technology is really more about saving immediate fuel costs for the consumer rather than actually being good for the planet (but of course they're being marketed as good for the planet by only focusing on the "uses less gas" aspect). It's not sustainable.

Personally, I'm betting that in the long term we'll see more diesel/biodiesel, or maybe cellulosic ethanol (if that ever gets out of the lab and into real production). Fuel cell technology is also pretty exciting, but it seems to have many more hurdles to overcome. Power sources that eventually come from plants (and thus the sun) are MUCH more sustainable than things that rely on mining non-renewable resources.

[Billy's Little Trip]

1. I recycle my beer cans
2. I have an energy saver upgrade program for pool owners to save 50% to 80% on their electricity consumption for their swimming pool.
3. I installed low water toilets, water saver faucets and I don't run my air cond or heater anymore.
4. I'm getting ready to replace all my windows with double pane energy savers and new doors.
5. And I drive this instead of a Suburban like that earth murdering King Arthur.

[fluffy]

4. I'm getting ready to replace all my windows with double pane energy savers and new doors.

I need to get around to doing that. It's always on my list of things to do but I keep forgetting to do it. I don't know how much of a difference it would make, though. Sure, I'd use a bit less gas during the month or two that I need to run my heater, but the rest of the year, San Francisco's outdoor weather is perfectly comfortable for indoor temperatures (except for the week or two when it's REALLY HOT, which double-paned glass wouldn't help with at all).

The main reason to go double-pane in San Francisco is noise abatement, but my condo faces a private cul-de-sac so I get very little street noise.

[king_arthur]

Ya wanna talk about murdering the earth... a few months back we had a leak in our watering system for the back yard, and managed to use up 99,000 gallons in one month (it's usually about 10k). At first I thought the pool was leaking, but once we confirmed it wasn't that (it would have had to drain out completely in three days), we got somebody to come work on the water system.

But, Lord, a $400 water bill and all that water... well, at least it went back into the earth in relatively uncontaminated form.

Really, though. Concrete and astroturf. Love the planet.

Charles

[fluffy]

(it's usually about 10k)

That's still a LOT of water. It's just you and your wife, right? That means you're using about 160 gallons per person per day, and you live in the middle of the desert!

[Billy's Little Trip]

Ya wanna talk about murdering the earth... a few months back we had a leak in our watering system for the back yard, and managed to use up 99,000 gallons in one month (it's usually about 10k). At first I thought the pool was leaking, but once we confirmed it wasn't that (it would have had to drain out completely in three days), we got somebody to come work on the water system.

But, Lord, a $400 water bill and all that water... well, at least it went back into the earth in relatively uncontaminated form.

Really, though. Concrete and astroturf. Love the planet.

Charles

When your pool pump starts to go, don't repair it. Replace it with a variable speed pump. It'll save you 80% on electricity. Same with the pool light, switch to LED lights and for the heater, go to a low Nox model. Also, switching your pool to salt means you don't add chlorine anymore, so you cut all of the manufacturing involved with bottling it up and getting it to you. Plus, you get a $200 Edison rebate on the new pump. PM me if you want more info on the best equipment, warranties, prices, etc. I don't go to AZ, but I can give you my cost on things so you can haggle the best deal, lol.

[fluffy]

I like how BLT thinks that a watering system and a swimming pool are the same thing.

[Billy's Little Trip]

4. I'm getting ready to replace all my windows with double pane energy savers and new doors.

I need to get around to doing that. It's always on my list of things to do but I keep forgetting to do it. I don't know how much of a difference it would make, though. Sure, I'd use a bit less gas during the month or two that I need to run my heater, but the rest of the year, San Francisco's outdoor weather is perfectly comfortable for indoor temperatures (except for the week or two when it's REALLY HOT, which double-paned glass wouldn't help with at all).

The main reason to go double-pane in San Francisco is noise abatement, but my condo faces a private cul-de-sac so I get very little street noise.

A friend of mine switched to the energy saver doors and windows last year. His house stays very comfortable all year round without air cond or a heater. I'm hoping for the same results. Unfortunately I have a lot of windows, so it's going to cost me a small fortune, and right now with new construction so slow, I'm trying to keep my spending minimal.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I like how BLT thinks that a watering system and a swimming pool are the same thing.

No, he mentioned he has a pool. I was just offering my help in that regard.

[fluffy]

I like how BLT thinks that a watering system and a swimming pool are the same thing.

No, he mentioned he has a pool. I was just offering my help in that regard.

Oh, oops, in my zeal for a quick burn I overlooked that fact. I'd like to say it will never happen again but let's be honest, here.