Why some people are too stupid to own a car

[jjeff]

I don't think my Mazda has pistons...

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Cool rc engine. Had a wankel in one of my old Evinrude snowmobiles. Interesting write up on it, despite me drifting like a UP snow drift. It definitely weighed a lot like article says and rode like a bulldozer, stripped out the plug threads on it due to engine design couldn't put a helicoil in it. Unfortunately ended up parting it out and scrapping the rest over 30 yrs ago.

Flashback: The 1973 Evinrude Trailblazer | SnowGoer

An advertisement for the 1973 Evinrude Trailblazer. In June 1964, Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) became the first big name manufacturer to enter the

snowgoer.com

 

[jjeff]

Another thing I observed when cell phones use became prevalent. I've watched a lady get out of her car talking on cell phone at gas station, never put car in park or shut it off the car then rear-ended the car in front of her and sideswiped the pumps. Also, Unfortunately, countless times I've grabbed individuals yapping on phones, on sides of busy interstates talking while ignorantly walking perilously close to 70+ mph oncoming traffic and kindly asked them to get in the wrecker to continue there conversation. I'll leave it there before I get to far down memory lane on strange things and "stupid" car owners I've encountered lol.

 

[Jstpssng]

Cool rc engine. Had a wankel in one of my old Evinrude snowmobiles. Interesting write up on it, despite me drifting like a UP snow drift. It definitely weighed a lot like article says and rode like a bulldozer, stripped out the plug threads on it due to engine design couldn't put a helicoil in it. Unfortunately ended up parting it out and scrapping the rest over 30 yrs ago.

Flashback: The 1973 Evinrude Trailblazer | SnowGoer

An advertisement for the 1973 Evinrude Trailblazer. In June 1964, Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) became the first big name manufacturer to enter the

snowgoer.com

It wasn't just the Wankel which had problems back then though. The plugs were fat with about 3 threads before bottoming out. When changing them in a hot engine- a common occurance with the earlier sleds- it was easy to strip them out.

 

[Jstpssng]

Another thing I observed when cell phones use became prevalent. I've watched a lady get out of her car talking on cell phone at gas station, never put car in park or shut it off the car then rear-ended the car in front of her and sideswiped the pumps. Also, Unfortunately, countless times I've grabbed individuals yapping on phones, on sides of busy interstates talking while ignorantly walking perilously close to 70+ mph oncoming traffic and kindly asked them to get in the wrecker to continue there conversation. I'll leave it there before I get to far down memory lane on strange things and "stupid" car owners I've encountered lol.

I saw equally stupid things before cell phones. My first new truck was a 1983 Ford Ranger. I was going up the interstate one day when I saw a car coming up behind me, fast. She was straddling the lanes so I laid on the horn and hit the breakdown lane. As she went past me at faster mph she was still going through her purse, looking for SOMETHING.

 

[Sigarms]

Guys, please remember I am a gun enthusiast...

Think about this...

You can be an idiot and own a car by passing a state issued driving test and hopefully carry insurance on your automobile, but thankfully driving is a privilege that has to be earned. Thing is, owning a gun is a right, and no testing needed!

I'm betting some of those people who are too stupid to own a car own guns.

This is the dichotomy I struggle with as a gun owner when it comes to people in general with privileges vs rights.

That said, I believe we can all agree that people in general should not be trusted for their common sense.

 

[KennyG]

The only 'extended warranty' worth anything is an OEM one. Aftermarket warranty companies make a ton of jack and really provide marginal coverage anyway.

Even the OEM warranties are a rip off. I recently saw that even warranties that aren't scams have a 50% to 75% profit margin. That means that odds are you will only get back 25% to 50% of your cost.

 

[tradosaurus]

I owned a 2-seat Mercedes 380SL sports car. At 66,000 miles it threw the timing chain. Ruined the engine. No recommendation in the owner's manual about it.

Dealer quoted $7,500. I researched and found the "450" engine used to have a double row timing chain but they changed to single row to save weight when changing it to a 380. After that, lots of reported problems.

It was out of warranty but Mercedes of North America paid half. With urging by me of course.

After repair, I sold it. The other beef was brake jobs. That vehicle recommended a brake job every 10,000 miles. And it was very expensive to do those even if you didn't use the dealer. The brakes were fantastic-- but not "that" fantastic.

You either lease a Mercedes or sell before the warranty expires.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Yep totally agree, if you do the numbers most total aftermarket warranty costs would cover the cost of a fairly extensive repair,
probably with cheaper aftermarket parts provided it's even covered and probably can't do diy pm either anymore.

The dealership we bought my wife's SUV from offers a lifetime powertrain warranty on every car they sell. It's one of their sales gimmicks. Her SUV was 2 1/2 years old when we bought it with about 17k miles.

 

[5030]

You could go back to non overhead valves and they would be non interference . Are you ok with 150 horsepower engine out of a 350 cubic inch engine? I’m not going to say modern engines have to be interference engines but I bet almost all are.

HP don't mean a lot to me, MPG does.

 

[5030]

Even the OEM warranties are a rip off. I recently saw that even warranties that aren't scams have a 50% to 75% profit margin. That means that odds are you will only get back 25% to 50% of your cost.

That applies if you don't have any warrantable issues. Today's vehicles are so complex that any warranty (extended) is better than none. OEM's aren't nearly as bad as the 3rd party ones, by a long shot.