Ask HN: What cars do you drive?
Title says it all. What does your car say about you? BMW i4. I never thought I would buy a BMW, and I don't think I would have dared if it wasn't an EV (due to maintenance costs). I was expecting a lot more of this and model 3's in the comments of this post. I honestly don't know a lot about newer BMWs but I see these a lot in central florida Model 3s and Ys are super popular here in Seattle, but my wife didn't like the design/build quality. There aren't so many BMWs in comparison, but I see a few around. Yeah they are everywhere here. I thought they were cool but everyone who drives one is a pickme so that killed it for me. Also how elitist tesla drivers can be. I found out the hard way that BMW drivers are seen as elitist also. Honestly, I wish Acura made a decent sedan EV. Everyone is mostly just doing crossovers, which I don’t like. So not a lot of choices for sedans. We're a Honda household. I daily a 2007 Civic Si 6-speed. My wife drives a 2014 CR-V. We have the old 2007 Pilot in reserve for hauling stuff and driving in the snow. My choice of car says I'm frugal and practical. (With the Civic being an Si model I guess maybe a bit impractical too. I didn't seek out the Si, though. I got it cheap and we both love driving manual transmission cars.) How many miles are on the SI? That's the coolest SI year the USA ever got (in my opinion.) There's nothing wrong with being frugal and practical. I would not call a car that gets 30+mpg impractical. I'm sure your insurance might be a bit higher depending on where you are because a lot of people rice them out and race/wreck them. I don't really think honda has sold an impractical car in the USA since the s2000. The Si has almost 200,000 miles. What's odd about the 2007 model? I'm not steeped in Honda lore, so for me it's mainly "just a car". I do really enjoy the 6-speed transmission. I wish they still made the S2000 (or that used S2000's were attainable). My wife had family with an S2000 and she got to drive it some. She assures me I'd enjoy it very much. Honda makes a nice car. 2013 Honda Accord LX. Just bought it last week, 80,000 miles on it. Plan on driving it only on the weekends, to do errands and take a dog to the park. Keeping it under a car cover during the week to prevent paint peeling as long as I can. 60-month loan, will likely spend more for my monthly coffee budget than on my car payment. Looked for a car that would be low-stress and that wouldn't give me heartburn if it got scratched up, and I feel like that's what I got. EDIT- would have loved to buy a classic Ford F150 6th gen, but sadly my parking space and lot are too small to maneuver such a car easily. The only people who will respond is those who want to claim some status by saying they drive a reliable old car or some rare version of Porsche or Saab. Nobody who drives the most recent bme x3 or Audi a8 or Nissan kicks is gonna respond. I drive a Hyundai Ioniq5 Why do they need to drive a practical car? Some people have the $$$ to not worry about that and I'm not going to shit on them for that. These are really cool and have more cargo room than they look like they have due to its long wheel base. Hyundai/kia went from diet coke civic to cool kid on the block. Was looking to buy one of these becuase im in the market for an EV but Im probably gonna get a used polestar 3 because I like volvo and they are a steal right now with low miles. I'll shit on them for that. Cars, like guns, are tools, not toys. To use them like toys is harmful and disrespectful to the environment. There are healthier ways to feel powerful. To use cars as profligately as we do now is immensely harmful. For background, I grew up poor and in farming country. I used to ride along with my neighbor when he hayed our field with equipment that a blacksmith, a wheelwright, a leatherworker, and a carpenter could make, pulled by a brace of draught horses. I didn't get my driving license until I was in my 20s, and finally did in the interest of designated driving for drunk friends.
I didn't get an automobile until I was almost 30, and I really look forward to returning to a carfree lifestyle. "Public luxury, private sufficiency" is the way forward for us billions. The more integrated out bodies and minds to meet our needs, the better. 2024 Santa Fe Hybrid. Not the expensive calligraphy version. Fits everything I want it to, has two full size pull up seats in the rear when I need the extra, and gets me 40Mpg for all the travel I do. I see these everywhere now. They are really cool looking. I like boxy suv's that don't try to be a jeep wrangler at the same time. Saw one when I went to get my girlfriends 24 kona. Even their cheapest hyundai cars look like spaceships '22 Subaru Outback Touring XT. My choice of car says I (respectfully) don't particularly care about cars. That or I'm a happy lesbian. A wagon that pretends to be an suv. I cant stand new subaru infotainment, tech is kinda behind in the car and its way more expensive than it's competition > wagon that pretends to be an suv Yup. Perfect for light offroading without the SUV tax on maintenence or fuel economy. More importantly, there's a dealership in my town which means five minutes to servicing. > cant stand new subaru infotainment It's always on CarPlay, so couldn't care less. > tech is kinda behind in the car It's a car. It needs to drive. The only surprise is the lane-keeping, which can drive through near-whitehout conditions as long as there is someone ahead of me staying on the road. My main gripe is that it's so much more expensive than it's competition and offers less. Sound system is great though for it's class. I've driven a 23 outback limited > so much more expensive than it's competition and offers less I was going between Subaru's and Ford's offerings (again, starting and ending with who had dealerships in my small town, which also included Chevy but I can't remember why I ruled them out or if I explicitly did), and the maintenance chat on the newer Fords was pretty much one way while the Subarus were the other. Fine paying up for not having to randomly take the car into the shop. Still miss my '03 Jetta, if I'm honest, though I suppose there's no little-sister-untotalling it. (And it wouldn't handle in the snow like something higher up.) I'm driving an 8 year old Audi q5. It's been very reliable, but costly to maintain. I want my next car be a toyota. If youre fine with older cars look at a toyota avalon. The ones they made until like 2013ish. They are fantastic luxury cars and you get that toyota insurance cost. If you want something newer they JUST discontinued the newer gen avalon in place of the crown (there's also a crossover version of the crown) 1996 Toyota T100. Practical, sturdy, reliable. You'll probably die before the truck does
this truck is what the ford ranger wishes it was Ford Focus Estate 2007 with manual transmission. Love this thing that's worth about the same as my phone. It says I'm practically minded and cheap. Mk1 and mk2 focuses are the shit. Europe loves em Later focuses aren't that great? The usual shittification? :( they are notoriously one of fords worst modern cars. they got it right after 2017 but then they axed anything that wasn't an suv, truck or mustang in 2020 I want more :) Please upvote this person's post. What's your background? Cars are an obsessive hobby for me but I work in IT for home depot. 1987 Toyota Camry Wagon. Fills my needs and isn't bogged down with complexity making it easy enough to fix myself. I can't find any of these clean/in good condition and not slammed or rusted to shit. It's a wagon so by default it's cool. All the old basic cars like this that are in good running order are like 10k+ Tesla Model 3 i bought a used 2018 model last year with ~80k miles for $~12k after discounts and rebates. for me, this reflected the best value car i could buy at the time, especially given that i have free charging available to me. i also appreciated that i didn't need to worry about many common failure modes on used ICE vehicles, however it does have the expected battery degradation. I just finished replacing the battery pack heater on my 2018 Model S. I’m at ~130k miles, and it went the other day preconditioning before Supercharging. Tesla charges $800-$1000 in labor to do it, but I’m comfortable performing the high voltage isolation and swapping it myself for $200 in parts. Moral or the story is even if you get them cheap, be prepared to spend a bit if you can’t do the work yourself. The 3 and Y are more robust around thermal system reliability (heat pump conditions both battery pack and cabin, for example) but the complexity has a cost regardless. I would buy one of these but they have too many stupid problems BMW 135is convertible. It has a recognizable license plate and is located in Silicon Valley. I’ve considered other cars but it’s hard to find anything else that hits every mark that I want. I considered a boxster spyder but I didn’t like the fiddly roof. I use the roof every time I drive unless it’s 100+ or raining hard and I’m driving slow. A lot of other Porsches have engines that don’t sound appealing to me and that’s important. The insanely high gearing is also unappealing and I don’t like the idea of buying a brand new car then immediately ripping apart the transmission. If I could find a sb-100 Ariel Atom 500, I’d give up my car instantly. It’s been years since I’ve seen any street legal atom for sale in the bay. I’m sad I didn’t buy the last one I saw but I wasn’t in a good place for it. It’s hard. I like sporty convertibles that are smaller sized. Once you get to M4 convertible size, the car is too big for me. I want the option of backseats but I want you to be a bit uncomfortable. It’s tough. The car has everything I want - just wish it could rev higher and go a bit faster. 2005 Honda Element w/AWD. Carry anything with ease. I LOVE these. These are sick. I always find myself wanting one. 2023 MG4 Excite 51 I don't know much about MG because I'm in the USA but this thing looks cool. Looks like a Hyundai kona and chevy trax had a baby. Never thought of it that way, and I'm not sure if that's a pleasing image or a disturbing one :-) It was a choice between the MG4 and the BYD Dolphin. I chose the MG4 because, as an acquaintance said, it's an EV for the masses and not the classes. Also, it suits my needs.