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Actually that's why such a tiny car had good passenger and cargo room.
It did get a combined rating of about 37mpg. Slow as dirt but a great commuter if you don't mind making everyone behind you want to kill you. Kind of like how Prius drivers do when they're trying to play "video game" with the thing.
Should be mandatory - under 20 can only drive older diesels. They'd learn to plan ahead.
Other than a little clutch burning, my fifteen, and then sixteen year old son didn't do any damage to the car; once he turned seventeen it was a different story. First he drove my car over to a friend's house where he parked at the top of their driveway (have I mentioned it's hilly here in southern New Hampshire?). He put the car in neutral, set the parking brake, and headed inside; a half of an hour later he went out to the car to fetch something and then back into their house.
Ten minutes later as they were eating dinner they all saw my car roll down the driveway, across their neighbor's lawn, across the street, and down the lawn of the neighbor over there. My car finally came to a halt as it attempted to crest a wall made up of largish granite rocks a foot to a foot in a half in diameter. The front wheels were both off the ground, the lower center section of the bumper cover, the A/C condenser, the radiator, and the oil filter mount all yielded to the granite before the car managed to prop itself up on the top rock with the cast-aluminum oil pan serving as the prop-point.
Not two days after getting my car back from being repaired he was sitting at a stop light when a Ford F-150 decided leave a rather sizable imprint on the rear bumper. :sick:
I'm thinking by the time my second teenager is done cutting her teeth in the driving department, my Mazda3 will probably be done as well. :P
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/10/audi-discontinues-manual-gearbox-for-s4-and-s- 5-in-europe-u-s-m/
With that experience under their belt, not only will they appreciate the refinement of any other vehicle (including my C20), but they'll be better drivers for it as well.
Under no circumstances will they be taking either of those vehicles solo, though.
When you send your little girl off to college far from home, you tend not to think that she'd become so familiar with traffic court...
Total vehicle property damage alone (5 cars) for 2 semesters is at about $23-24K as far as we know.
IMO, she needs to learn how to take the bus.
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That was just while she was in high school. Been another 13 over the last 35 years, at least.
Totaled a few, but never got hurt or hurt anyone.
She hit the neighbor's truck twice before he figured out that he best not park across from our driveway. His third passenger door didn't match and he didn't bother to paint that one.
It was just a couple of years ago I visited her house, and rented a minivan at Dulles instead of having her pick me up. So I get to her house and she specifically directs me to the out of the way spot where she wanted me to park.
A couple of hours later she roars out of her driveway, in reverse as usual, and smashes the front end to the tune of $4,000 or so.
I got more. :sick:
Take the keys.
Your sister and my daughter must be the intended buyers for these new accident avoidance systems that use radar and activate the braking system before the driver can crash into the car ahead of them. They can't get these things into lower priced cars soon enough.
I'm not in that high technology car features market. I've always tried to keep things simple & basic. Even today, if they were not standard equipment, I would not pay extra for power windows or even a heater. I was thrilled to find a 2011 suzuki sx-4 that didn't have cruise control standard. But your sister and my daughter might be perfect for some of that new crash avoidance technology.
I worry constantly that she will hurt herself and others. The body shops in Knoxville are still busy with the incredibly damaging hail storm they got in May, so they are backed up. I'm not rushing the body shop.
Just last week my sister called to let me know her ABS brakes work (her light has been going on and off randomly). She was following too close (spacing out no doubt or fumbling for something) and left skid marks yet managed not to ram the cars stopped on the 4 lane she was cruising on back in VA.
I don't know how she gets insurance. Guess that stuff rolls off one's record every few years.
Clearly you don't live too far north; when the temperatures around here start dipping down to or below zero, a car can be a very uncomfortable place to be even though you’re bundled up and shielded from the wind.
Of course I'm one of those that wants their cars with three pedals under the dash and almost all of the other goodies on the order sheet checked off. I can skip auto-cruise control, nav, collision avoidance, and auto headlights, but gimme everything else.
I started car-pooling recently with a very conservative driving young woman in my office. While stopped at a light, she was hit from behind by a woman in a rental car - who explained to us that she was in a rental because her car was in the shop after she drove into someone else :surprise:
Its a good idea to keep a spare car today!
Totally agree about the 3 pedals. And that low body temp needs the A/C!
Maybe manuals should be mandatory, might weed out some of the incompetents.
My sister isn't quite as frugal as me, but usually she drives manuals traveling in England since the rent is usually cheaper. And she owned a few MTs here. Can't say she's very coordinated though. At least she quit smoking long ago, and she no longer taps the accelerator pedal in time with the music.
No way that I'm sending him down there to help out one of those Volunteers!
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Long story short, I don't use the heat all too often here in New Hampshire, and I use the A/C maybe a couple of times per year (except for defogging duty on hot rainy summer days) but I'd never willingly own a car without them.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Then again, they could get hurt while learning. :sick:
It's the difference between theoretical physics (which is all she studied) and real world physics where a pound of bricks DOES hurt more than a pound of feathers!!