Why isn't there a Driving sub-forum or whatever?
 

I've had my license since late octoberish, and I'm loving it. Managed to bend my rims on a curb and take off a mailbox with my side mirror (strike that, reverse it), and scuff the side on a narrow shoulder barrier.

My favorite drive so far has been taking MA-2 from Williamstown to Boston (via 95 south once you hit city), with a hairpin curve and STEEP GRADE : SHARP CURVE area in the mountains, but I need to find more good driving in upstate new york/north vermont, as I'm moving to Burlington this week. Anyone know far-upstate new york well?



Oh, yeah. It's a silver Subaru Impreza outback 2.5ST (i think), wagon/5-door, handles FANTASTIC. I've named her Mercy until something better comes along... G.L.O.R.I.A. comes to mind, but...

For the same reason there isn't a shoes forum. We old folks take diving for granted.

That said.... If youre ever in my neck of the woods, rte 282 from downingtown to glenmoore is a delicious patch of asphalt. Especially in a 2012 Nissan Maxima.....sport edition.... Fucking vroom.

Sent using magic.

Jim, you do USED cars, right? what sort of... price range? What's the "best" you can hope to get for around $7000? That is to say, can you get your money's worth, get something that would really hold together maintenance-wise but also perform well?

Hi Ibby! You're a new driver? The only advice I can offer is twofold: enjoy the hell out of it, and remember to be careful. Cars can get away from you when you think you're totally in control.

But how awesome. Driving can be so much fun, especially in a car that handles well.

Years ago I heard most private pilot accidents came around the 100 hr mark.
So we used 1,000 miles with our daughters as a time to have a good review of driving skills and habits.

But sure enough, the first (minor) accidents happened to all 3 just after they passed the 1K mark.

Have a great time, but be careful out there
... there will be lots of opportunities for mind-drift .

I'm confused.

I have a Subaru Outback.
2.5 litre station wagon, and yes, with the all-wheel drive that baby grips the road brilliantly. I've tried to hang the back and it just swings back in.

But there is also a Subaru Impreza, which I believe is 1.6 litres and is close cousin to the impreza WRX, subaru's rally car.

Can you post a pic of yours to clarify matters.

I do finance. I also do the used car list because I'm the resident excel expert.

Cars in the $7k range are either undesirable, or beat. Generally.

We traded a gti for 9k last saturday.....thats a good car..but it has 90k miles....

Why do you ask ?

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Gumball

I had a fling with a Subaru Impreza driver.
He was a real petrol head and loved driving.
He also had a high-spec Ducati. He drove fast and aggressive. It was very sexy.

He was also fantastic at foreplay.

That's all I can add to this discussion, as I haven't driven for ?5? years and although competent at it, I can't say I've ever really enjoyed it. Unless being in a state only a few notches down from fear is considered enjoyable. Maybe on rollercoaters.

I'm one of life's natural passengers.

Picked up a low-mileage '08 VW Rabbit two-door early December from a dealer; 14k. Quite the jump forward from the '89 VW Cabriolet; the thing's a fort, everything works, and it's like driving science fiction.

It's a 2004 with 250,000 miles on it (and a lovingly rebuilt engine). Back then, I assume, they put the Impreza engine/brand/etc in Outback station wagons, and called them Impreza Outbacks. The dash says IMPREZA in the bottom-right corner of the rev counter, but the back hatch says Outback. I'll post pics when I go out for a smoke later - it's snowing and coooold.

and jim, i ask just out of curiosity, cause its gonna be a long time (i hope) before I have to shop for another, but I paid $5200 for my Subaru and its a beauty - I would drive it to California tomorrow, I trust this car so. Subarus run forever if you take care of them, and at $5200 with a rebuilt engine VERY affordable. There's a guy here in town who's been doing nothing but fixing up and selling used Subarus for like, 20 years, and he does all the maintenance on them for life for dirt-cheap. I know people who've bought three generations of cars from him - super loyalty, and superb cars.

Holy shit, what? That's over 31,000 miles per year, or 600 miles per week. That's a 60-mile one-way weekday commute, and Vermont is only 90 miles across at its widest point.

It was the dealer's brother-in-law's or something, who was a pastor or something. All I know is it doesn't smell of bodies, and he put in a free kenmore nice stereo for me when I brought it in for it's first checkup. I've already put 3 or 4 thousand on it, to be honest. I've driven up to canada once, to new jersey once, to dover plains NY (train station) once, to boston twice, to brattleboro a few times, to burlington once, to rutland once, to albany a few times, plus work commuting. I love driving.

Zen - you were half-right - that is to say, the dealer was wrong about mine. It is just a 2.5TS Impreza wagon - no outback - BUT, i did also snap a photo (to come later) of another car just in my own parking lot that clearly IS an impreza outback.

I'm spamming yer fread:

Attachment 36881

Your price: $12,495!


every once in a while, I get excited about a car we trade. That's a good one right there. I met the guy that traded it. He was ...fastidious. He bought a Juke....after what sounded like some thorough research, comparing it to the Mini Cooper and the new GTi. Back in 06, i was seriously considering buying a GTi just like that one up there. was torn between Red and White. .... but I decided that I'd kill it in 4 years, with the miles I drive (33k/yr) and still owe 10K. So, I kept the demo(s)

6-speed manual transmission? Wow! The most I've ever driven was a 5 speed. That thing must zip!

When I was 17, I inherited my Dad's 57 Chevy Biscayne, fins and all. I loved that car! Back then the Front Range of Colorado wasn't nearly so populated, and I could drive 90mph all the way to Denver on Interstate 25 and hardly see another car.

If you want to have fun with a Suburu - either 4 wheel or all wheel drive - there's nothing like Wolf Creek Pass in mid to late May just before all the tourists start coming. The curves on that pass are so sweet to drive in a little Suburu that will stick as tight as a tick to the road. One time years ago, I was driving over Wolf Creek and encountered first one other Suburu and then a second one. The three of us fell into a little convoy, over taking slower vehicles one at a time and then falling back into formation again and speeding over that Pass faster than most folks would ever dare to drive it. When we hit Pagosa Springs at the bottom of the Pass, we all smiled and waved to one another and went our seperate ways. That was a great day to be alive.

That's a '59, Sam.

Heh! The only other person around here to know the difference between a 57 and 59 Chevy. But are you sure? I could swear the one my dad let me have was a 57. But it definately had fins like the one pictured. Either way, I'll always have fond memories of that thing. Gas was what? 25 cents a gallon? Who cared if you were driving a gas guzzler? My, how times have changed.

No MBA designed that thing.

snort

Yeah, I'm sure. This is my '57.

more like 500. reasoning is this, when pilots are new, they're fresh. when they have around 500 they're complacent. i agree with the latter. seen it too much.

Complacency is exactly the point.

My Grandson has been driving 100 miles round-trip to work
2 days/week and 60 miles round trip 3 days/week for college.
His first ticket (30 in a 20 mph school zone) was about 4 weeks
into the semester,
and he admitted to the cop he was just not paying attention.

His trips had become routine, but his driving habits were not yet set in stone.

The $300 fine did get his attention.

I took a leak in wolf creek..... pass.

Sounds like a country song.

I used to have a picture of that.

... there should be a T shirt


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That looks like a Chevy Bel Air to me, not a Biscayne. Bel Air's were slightly less outrageous in the fins department. Look at the huge fins on my Biscayne pic compared with your Bel Air's more modest ones.

The Biscayne was made from years 1958-1972 , according to Wikipedia. Also, the picture they show of a 1958 model looks more like Bruce's Belair pic. If you scroll down a little there is a picture of a 59, which looks like the one you pictured with the extravagant fins.

Sam, Sam, Sam...
This is Bruce you're dealing with here.

I'd believe him if he said the woman I call Mum wasn't biologically connected to me.
(well, I've hoped it before!)

Cellar rule #7: Do not argue Chevy minutia with Bruce.

OK, OK, OK - I'll concede that my Chevy Biscayne must have been a '59, but I won't back down on the Belair thing. Bruce's pic was of a Belair NOT a Biscayne. :p:

Sam's car: horizontal tail fins = dolphin.
Bruce's car: vertical tail fins = shark.

Simple, really. :D

That's true. it is a Bel Air. But the difference between the Bel Air, 210, and 150, was the amount of trim, as the bodies were all the same.
There was no Biscayne until '58, as Kero said.

Question:

do you (assuming you ever have) say "Imprezza" or "Impretza" ?

Imprezza.

if you're eating a pretzel in it, you could say Impretzel.

I think watching the British Top Gear has got me in some bad habits for here in the states. at least i dont say pry-us instead of pree-us.

Well, so long as you don't start driving on the left you should be mostly ok.

Im-PRET-zah
and
JAG-you-aah

I leave it as an exercise to the viewer to decide which fagmobile is mine.