Reading Lewin’s saga of simultaneous BMW and Mercedes-Benz woes, I couldn’t help but feel bad. Sure, some may argue that owning two heavily depreciated German sedans is a form of masochism, but it’s not fun when both of your cars are down, especially if you’re forced to wrench in sub-optimal conditions.
Likewise, I probably am not the smartest cookie in the pack for owning two older German cars. However, god forbid both decide to act up at the same time, I can always hop the subway, hail a taxi, or break out the 24-inch BMX. One of these is fast, one of these is cheap and effortless, and one gets the blood pumping. Options, am I right?
Thinking about our own situations, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this Comment of the Day comes from Captain Muppet, who’s seemingly had to rely on a rather unusual Plan C after two stereotypically reliable rides decided to flout conceptions.
Last year after a lot of unpleasantness, and with more on the horizon, I got rid of my beloved E86 Z4.
No more German unreliability for me.
Then when I had the front off my Toyota fixing the AC, my Honda decided to piss fuel out, but only when the engine was running.
This is why you should always have an emergency back-up third vehicle. I never though the Lotus would be the last one working.
Having to drive a Lotus because your Toyota and Honda aren’t working certainly doesn’t sound like the worst thing in the world, but it’s definitely amusing when a British sports car is your knight in shining armor. In any case, let’s here it for Plan C transportation, the vehicles that are there for us should Plan A and Plan B don’t quite go right. Fingers crossed you don’t have to use it soon, but it’s nice to have one in your back pocket just in case.
Yay! I got a COTD!
I’m printing this out and sticking it on the fridge.
I hope you have a backup printer.
I work in an office, I’ve not owned a printer for twenty years.
I used to get heavily into a certain make & model. When you’re buying absolute beater shitboxes, it’s handy to have 2 titled & legal—and another ‘round back’ that you could slap a plate on in an emergency. Only did that once to get to work Monday with one Subaru in the middle of a clutch replacement, and an ill-advised off-road adventure culminating in a shattered windshield Saturday night
I had a three car situation where my main reliable modern car was getting a recall done when my second 20 year older main car had the distributor fail so I was stuck driving my 30 year old Volkswagen with no roof (which only ever let me down once and with a bad relay added for the engine swap) for a week while I waited for the replacement distributor to arrive.
‘Got a S211 4-matic for camping, an A6 C6 Avant for the rest. Mostly I walk and pedal- drive a bit less than 7k a year. Had both for around 7 yrs.- paid just under $6.5k for the Audi, $3.5k for the Merc. Maintenence for both has averaged about $2.5k a year, with insurance being the most dear. I use moly every 5k and flush the trans, diffs, and torque converter every 5 years. So, I’ve enjoyed teutonic touring all over the nortwest for a good, long time, for less than $35k net.That’s about the price for a new penalty box. It ain’t the heaven on earth of 3 bgt’s, 2 dry suspension coooper ‘s and a moke in the back yard of my youth, but it’s hardly automotive self abuse. Please, don’t let those euro wagons die alone. And I always have some left over for a,…creamy,…fookin,…pint.
I can sort of relate, back in 2020 my recently purchased truck spent a month immobile in the driveway after its 5.4 Triton V8 became a V7. fortunately the “one good car” was available along with my son’s beater Suburban. Worst case we have motorcycles and bicycles and I have actually tossed network gear in the saddle bags of my BMW for a client site visit.
My son has generally kept two out of three operational at all times, although commuting in a Suburban while his Corolla was dismembered was expensive. This beats his friend who generally has one out of three running.
This is exactly why I buy cheap cars and expensive boots. My bipedal nature has yet to fail me.
Ah, the old Sam Vimes “Boots” theory of socioeconomic unfairness…
Well, I tried to work it in there and instead just settled for some type of free association.
I bought Hot Wheels from a guy in a local car club and he went “can you believe it, the JDM Honda Odyssey is the only working car here?” And, as it was a house of people in the local car club, I could believe it.
There’s no such thing as a reliable car, only your neighbor’s car and your previous car, which look reliable from where you’re laying, on the wet concrete, under your curent car’s hot exhaust, with rust flakes in your eyes and your right elbow next to your left ear.
That’s beautiful.
Seems like an odd place to be caught in flagrante delicto, but to each there own!
I prefer to only lay in my bed.
“Hot exhaust” is optimistic, as it implies that the vehicle at which you’re currently cursing has been running within the past hour or so.
I often wish it was just optimism as I lay there, pulling my hand back like a Mongoose dodging a cobra and going through the entire interlude vocalizations of “Billy Jean (live)” by Michael Jackson.
Who will dance on the floor in the round?
Ah hee hee hee!
Ooh! Ooh, aah, eeh! Ah, Ooh! … Hee hee! (imagine each sound is muffled under the car and accompanied by a sizzle)
What was the comment that made COTD? What are the rules? I didn’t see anything that was a comment. I make a pithy comment about DT and what he can say to his cars but not his girlfriend. A new humor approach in today’s society but no honorable mention. In the future I suggest nomination and votes for COTD because this is ludicrous.
Um, the giant block of text in the middle of the page?
You know this is all just for fun right? They just post stuff that amuses them in the moment, rigorous rules and metrics would really ruin the fun, and if you are only posting trying to win a COTD, then you might be missing the point of this community.
But… if you really need a Participation Award ribbon or something in order to feel special, then I made you a Certificate:
—————————————–
Good job on your _comment_!
__Mr. Sarcastic__
Congratulations!
Keep up the good work.
signed: __jb996__
—————————————–
Helpful?
Yes thanks I appreciate it more than you know
My rule of thumb is one more than the number of licensed drivers in the house. So, 3, soon to be 4.
I like that idea.
Cases like Lewin’s is why I do try to have a minimum of two, if not three or more operable cars around here at all times. Department of redundancy department, and all that.
Only twice have I had two for two down at the same time. Last time was 2016. It’s always better when you’ve got one still rolling hey!
Two is One…
And One is None… 😉
The Z4 ain’t that bad, come on!
It was a lovely car, in many ways the dest I’ve ever had, but having just fixed all the coolant leaks I was facing having to replace the rusted-out oil pan to fix the oil leak. That was going to be a big job with expensive parts, with the potential added grief of undoing a load of single-use aluminium fasteners into the magnesium block.
I realised my running costs were higher than when I had my Elise, which was a project I’d bough as scrap, so I thought “sod the heated seats and gigantic hatchback, if I’m paying Lotus maintenance I might as well have another Lotus”.
The only thing I didn’t love about the Z4 is that it had terrible steering feel. Everything else was great, and the 3.0 engine is perfect.
I understand, when maintenance is going to bleed your savings this can be the right move.
The steering is indeed sucky, but you can make it better with non-runflat tires and some upgrades suspension. It won’t be good, but it’s less bad.
Good COTD win.
Bad COTD post editing:
“let’s here it for” => “let’s hear it for”
How can you even type “here” in that context?
Brains fart in mysterious ways.