We got a new ride.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:37 pm

You all remember my main ride, appropriately captioned for the "my car has more HP than yours" thread:

The wonderful, elegant New Flyer Articulated Diesel bus. This is still my main ride as long as I live in Seattle and am at school at UW, because parking is a bear. But for those trips that weren't right on an express busline, I had my alternate ride:

a beautiful rust-colored '88 Ford Taurus Wagon with 196,000 miles, 3 door handles, 2 hubcaps, one motor mount, and zero functioning temperature controls. Some of you may have seen this at the KC LAN a few years ago (hosted by TDevil) or the Seattle LAN a while later (hosted by STRESSTEST), and you'll remember it was a piece of junk even back then. Others remember the description from the "Whataburger" thread, and just how amazingly sucky of a car this was.

The old Taurus wagon simply wasn't going to work for the road trip we have planned this summer (Seattle, Denver, and Chicago for a LAN.) The lack of AC was going to be a problem for driving through Kansas in August, and the lack of anything but AM/FM was going to be a problem for driving 5000 miles. And then there's the whole "engine and transmission not seeing eye-to-eye all the time and getting ready to kill each other" thing that was becoming a problem for driving to the grocery store, let alone cross-country.

So, I sold it to a guy who can fix it up for his own use, and replaced it with this:

A 2004 Chevy Aveo LS. It's the absolute bottom-of-the-line car, with one set of upgrades (don't laugh, I'm living on a grad-student salary.) I'm very pleased with it (at least now that I know how to drive a stick) and my wife seems pretty happy with it too.

The drivetrain is nice for a car this size. 1.6L 4-cylinder engine (ph34r my 103 hp), gets like 35 mpg on the freeway and not much worse in the city. The 5-speed manual took me a while to learn, but it's kinda fun now that I have the hang of it. It moves and stops very well, even though it doesn't have a lot of power, because it weighs almost nothing.

It has extremely powerful AC, which is great for the upcoming road trip. It also has AM/FM/CD/mp3 player (with decent, but not great, sound) which, again, will be great for the upcoming road trip. Power windows and locks are a nice upgrade... and the trunk is deceptively large (it should hold 2 computers, monitors, and luggage no problem.) So, I'm going to have a pretty good time driving out to Chicago -- definitely a lot better time than I'd have taking the Taurus on the road.

So, I now have a new ride, and I fully expect to be teased just as much as for the other two.

bash · Post by **bash** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:45 pm

Wow, that's so cute. It looks just like a car, only smaller.

jkjkjk. Breath deep that new car smell! Also, let me know, Lothar, when you're in Denver and maybe we can meet up and get trashed at a strip club, then go out later and roll some fags for some gas money before heading off to a KKK rally.

MehYam · Post by **MehYam** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:06 pm

Get a haircut, you hippie

TheCops · Post by **TheCops** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:10 pm

bash wrote:Wow, that's so cute. It looks just like a car, only smaller. jkjkjk. Breath deep that new car smell! Also, let me know, Lothar, when you're in Denver and maybe we can meet up and get trashed at a strip club, then go out later and roll some fags for some gas money before heading off to a KKK rally.

ahahah.
feeling random today?

Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Admiral Thrawn** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:26 pm

Mental note to self. Stay away from Bash. Keep close eye out for any ropes hanging from trees.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:37 pm

lol

bash, what part of town are you in? I should be in Denver about August 7-10.

bash · Post by **bash** » Mon May 24, 2004 10:26 pm

I'm in Littleton, about a rifle shot away from Columbine HS.

Anyway, just kidding, congrats on the new wheels, Lothar, but now you get to play the nervous waiting game of when you get the first door ding. It's a sad but liberating day when it comes.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Mon May 24, 2004 10:41 pm

I'll be in the area of Sheridan and Jewell for the few days I'm out there, not too far from you. We'll definitely have to uh... hit some KKK meetings, buy a bunch of guns, cheat on our tax returns, impose our religious beliefs on others, and rant about Clinton. Cuz you know, that's what we conservatives do for fun.

And it already has its first scratch, albeit very minor (it doesn't show up at all since the car is silver.) You're right, it is pretty liberating. Once it's been scratched, there's no more worrying about keeping it pristine...

bash · Post by **bash** » Mon May 24, 2004 10:55 pm

Too bad, but great color choice for hiding stuff. And, yea, let's PM closer to your visit. I'm always down for oppressing.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Tue May 25, 2004 12:16 am

Bash - Lothar, you're both DBB personalities that's for sure. Would like to meet you both before my eyes get too bad to see you...

That car looks small even by NZ standards! Nice one though. New cars rock. Well, the warranty usually rocks - anyway....

Jagger · Post by **Jagger** » Tue May 25, 2004 1:01 am

Lothar wrote: 1.6L 4-cylinder engine (ph34r my 103 hp), gets like 35 mpg on the freeway and not much worse in the city.

I'm so jealous. I get 18 mpg in town and 25 on the freeway(ph34r my 240 hp). And since gas is officially $2.50 a gallon for premium(required), I'm paying SUV sized gas bills...

Enjoy the new car and cheap gas bills!

Tricord · Post by **Tricord** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:16 am

Congrats! Looks like a good ride. I've never seen one of these before, but it looks practical - four doors, trunk, AC, etc..

Sure beats my car

According to this, my good ol 320/6 does 18mpg

It's only a 2.0L with 122hp, too.

35mpg is about 6.6l/100km, which is pretty decent for a petrol car.

Nitrofox125 · Post by **Nitrofox125** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:58 am

That's cool. Is it a hybrid? 35 mpg isn't bad, my jeep gets 16

Wheee vrooooooom little car

Avder · Post by **Avder** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:29 am

Heh...gas bills are the reason I'm thinking about ditching my 25mpg Lumina and trying to pick up my cousins 33mpg corolla.

Testiculese · Post by **Testiculese** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:41 am

Why did you buy new?

If you're on a tight (student) budget, you could have bought a good 2000-2002 car that came off a lease program for less. You'll end up paying (I'm guessing, you didn't mention the price/term) $2000-4000 for nothing. (company profit+loan interest+dealer BS fee's). Some trivia: Ford gets about $10k profit per truck they sell. And that doesn't include all the fee's the dealer lays on it, and the interest rate paid on a loan. I'll never buy new unles I make over $100k a year, and at that point, it would be a cash transaction (just like everything else I buy).

I'm curious to see how that engine handles with A/C running.

[]V[]essenjah · Post by **[]V[]essenjah** » Tue May 25, 2004 1:00 pm

One day, when I get the $, I would love to buy a manual transmission Celica in that same color because they just look awsome.

Put a leather interior in, some rims (no hubs on that car!), maybe an underglow (note the maybe) and a lot better sound system than what I have in my Sentra. Pioneer 7500 don't look too bad although I could buy a deck like my friend has.

No cheapo' accent ilghts or hubs on that!

Hattrick · Post by **Hattrick** » Tue May 25, 2004 1:25 pm

Cute lil car Lothar, Where does the wind up key fit?

Plebeian · Post by **Plebeian** » Tue May 25, 2004 2:23 pm

Nitrofox125 wrote:Is it a hybrid?

No, it's just a tiny car with a tiny engine. Most compacts these days get 30+ on the highway. Heck, my midsize wagon could get around 32mpg before I got an extra 2" of rubber on each corner.

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Tue May 25, 2004 3:39 pm

Mobius wrote:Bash - Lothar, you're both DBB personalities that's for sure. Would like to meet you both before my eyes get too bad to see you...

Does being in Lothar's wedding count as meeting him?

(guess I gotta convince Bash to get married and have me in his wedding- that might be a little more difficult.)

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Tue May 25, 2004 4:11 pm

Stickshift rules!
I feel sorry for people who never get to learn to use it, it's definitely a cool part of driving even though it makes eating/drinking a problem sometimes. Try holding/consuming a cup of coffee and a poptart while rushing through the gears in heavy traffic.

Wait until you get it on a dirt road and play with slipping the clutch to spin the tires a little bit get it sideways...fun!
Stick rules!

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue May 25, 2004 4:46 pm

Actually will, I consider not being able to eat/drink/bursh teeth/put on cosmetics a good thing about people driving a stick. When you are driving a car you should pay attention to the most important part, you know, the driving part...

That and once you get used to the clutch in any given car driving a stick is just plain more fun then an automatic.

-Krom

Drakona · Post by **Drakona** » Tue May 25, 2004 6:10 pm

I totally agree with that. I learned on a stick, and then only had access to an automatic for a few years... as soon as I got in this car, I remembered how much I'd missed it!

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:25 pm

I have a 88' Taurus bought in 87' and accumulated 160,000 miles. With the redone transmission it still runs great, last winter it would start in one strike of the ignition every time after being left out for a week.

On top of that I had barely any serious problems with it. So dont diss the Taurus!

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Tue May 25, 2004 10:01 pm

Hattrick wrote:Cute lil car Lothar, Where does the wind up key fit?

To hell with the wind-up key, I wanna know how big the rubber band is.

Will: I actually did a few donuts doing that when I was in highschool.

Pissed off the construction workers building the middle school not half a mile down the road too.

You should've seen the big ass cloud of dust I stirred up though. If ya didn't know any better, you'd think something blew up.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:26 am

Mobius wrote:Bash - Lothar, you're both DBB personalities that's for sure. Would like to meet you both before my eyes get too bad to see you...

Come to the US, and take a cross-country trek to see all of us :P I'm sure you'd be interesting to hang out with.

That goes for Tricord, too. At the very least, come visit Seattle sometime.

Testicules wrote:Why did you buy new?

Wanted to have a car we could be absolutely sure of the history of, and get the warranty level we wanted. We could have gone with a 2-3 year old car of a similar type for quite a bit less, but without the warranty, and without being able to be sure it had been properly maintained. That's especially important with a stick -- if the previous owner was an idiot, we'll get a clutch that'll die in 6 months. We also would've had to do some work to get a cd/mp3 player and a few of the other features we wanted in a used car.

Also, the salary isn't as tight as I make it sound -- I'm on a fellowship that pays a bit better than the top end of the TA payscale and I do some hourly work, so I'm making a pretty solid amount, and it'll go up when I start teaching Elementary School in August. We also live cheaply enough that my wife could quit work completely and we could still afford the car.

I'm curious to see how that engine handles with A/C running.

Fairly well. We had some pretty solid heat driving across the state a couple weeks ago (we've had the car for about a month, we're just lazy about posting) so we were running with the AC on (at a medium setting) and it still moved very well, even uphill in 5th gear. On some of the nastier hills in central WA (like when you come off of the Columbia and climb back up to 1500+ feet) where most cars drop to 50 or 60, I was leaving it in 5th to accellerate from 70.

that one guy who was in our wedding wrote:Does being in Lothar's wedding count as meeting him?

Speaking of which, we have some wedding pictures we've been meaning to send you for like a year and a half... and we need to get hold of A and Babs and get together sometime.

Top Wop wrote:So dont diss the Taurus!

I loved our Taurus. It was a wonderful car. It was also falling apart, and I don't have the time, energy, expertise, or cash flow to fix it. It was time for us to move on. I sold it to a friend who has time and expertise, and who really needs a car, and I know it will serve him well.

It was actually really great timing -- just after buying the new car, but before getting rid of the Taurus, we had a friend who really needed to get her and her 3 little ones moved out of their apartment. Catherine and the 4 of them rode in the new car (with the trunk completely full) and I drove the Taurus (with *everything* completely full) and we had exactly enough space. The Taurus got its final act of service in, and the Aveo got its very first one, and it wouldn't have worked without both.

kurupt · Post by **kurupt** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:27 am

so wheres the pics of the car? all i saw was pics of a toaster.

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Wed May 26, 2004 3:30 pm

You can count on a free car wash when you're in chicago, Loth.

My wash is about 3 miles from the LAN venue.

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Wed May 26, 2004 10:10 pm

Don't get in a wreck in that car (see: tin can on wheels) I'd trade it out with something a bit safer as soon as you can afford to.

That being said, It does look nice and the mileage it gets is definately a good thing considering gas prices these days

{Hawk}Liquid · Post by **{Hawk}Liquid** » Thu May 27, 2004 12:13 am

MehYam wrote:Get a haircut, you hippie

Rofl {NICE}

Tricord · Post by **Tricord** » Thu May 27, 2004 3:03 am

Since the AC takes up interest, I wanted to know... is the compressor belt driven off the crank, or electrical? If it's electrical it should be OK, but if it's belt-driven, it eats horsies and drives up your fuel consumption. At least, it does that in our 1987 Audi..

And Lothar, you're right about the clutch thing. Some people just don't know how to properly drive with a clutch. A friend of mine has a driving style that kills a clutch in 15.000km. He drives with his dad's car, who sells it and buys a new one every three years. I wouldn't want to be the one who gets the car after that. Not only his clutch will be shot, but his flywheel will have hairline cracks all over because of the heat generated by slipping the clutch all the time.
However, all things evolve. My old car is very sensitive to bad treatment, but newer cars can take more punishment without flinching (esp. diesels, which have an extra-tough clutch because of the torque that the motor cranks out at low revs, but there aren't many diesels around in the US).

Oh, and... your proposition goes both ways -- if you and Drak feel like visiting Belgium

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Thu May 27, 2004 6:17 am

Actually, there are lots of desiels in the US, I see them all the time. And they're getting more popular now too, since deisel is cheaper than gas, and they can make the engines quieter now

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Thu May 27, 2004 6:47 am

Hey L & D, that car looks to be almost as big as my motorcycle

Jagger · Post by **Jagger** » Thu May 27, 2004 6:42 pm

Capm wrote:...since deisel is cheaper than gas..

Maybe where YOU live.

It's more expensive in Cali.

Tri: If I know GM, they stuck the AC on the crank. They always do! Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a car whose AC WASN'T driven by the crank...

Tricord · Post by **Tricord** » Fri May 28, 2004 4:00 am

Jagger: our VW Sharan has an electric AC compressor. I don't really know about other cars, but our Audi is belt-driven and you can feel the compressor sucking up ponies when you switch it on...

Garak · Post by **Garak** » Fri May 28, 2004 8:04 am

*grumbles* You people and your fancy, schmancy new cars.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Fri May 28, 2004 10:03 pm

Jagger wrote:
Capm wrote:...since deisel is cheaper than gas..
Maybe where YOU live. It's more expensive in Cali.

$1.70 for deisel vs. nearly $2 for regular here in western TN.

Just shows ya what a huge markup it is for you guys in the west.

Battlebot · Post by **Battlebot** » Fri May 28, 2004 10:44 pm

texas has you beat md.....

$1.97 for unleaded and $1.45 diesel at some gas station i saw in dallas

Hattrick · Post by **Hattrick** » Fri May 28, 2004 11:00 pm

just be glad y'all arent here in Oregon.

2.35 a gallon for unleaded!
Scooter sales are boomin here big time! lol

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Fri May 28, 2004 11:16 pm

Gas is hovering around $2 a gallon out here, though I don't pay much attention to that because I drive like 10 miles a week in a car that gets ~30 mpg city, and I ride the bus everywhere else.

I just hope gas prices drop for the first 2 weeks of August. My planned Seattle - Salt Lake - Denver - Chicago road trip is 5000 miles or so, and even at 35 mpg that's a good 150 gallons of gas.

Tricord, if I had to guess I'd say the AC on this thing is electric, simply because I could easily accellerate from 70 mph (~115 kph) in fifth gear on a long (2-3 mile) steep uphill (I-90 crossing the Columbia -- here's a picture someone took coming down the same hill) with the AC running. It doesn't feel like I lose any power with the AC on...

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sat May 29, 2004 6:22 am

Gas here in Atlanta is around $1.95 for regular and $2.15 for supreme. Georgia has some of the lowest gas prices in the nation because or our lack of gas taxes.

We got a new ride.

We got a new ride.

Re: We got a new ride.