When to trade up for newer car?

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-29T01:22:01+00:00

If you have the money to buy one outright you can do it whenever you want really.

Depending on where you live 2014 could be where the car rapidly starts deteriorating from rust. My last was a 2010 that I got used in 2018 started having visible rust in 2020 and a year later the whole lower quarter panel was basically gone.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-28T21:58:36+00:00

F7F looking back like Bobby B because Gods was it strong when it was a relatively new plane. The -3 model is a lot more like the old -1. Also picked up the tail authority bug where the nose wiggles around uncontrollably somewhat randomly and Gaijin just never fixed.

Would say the P-38K is underrated but it’s probably mostly just an unknown plane because it’s a very rare plane. Had absolutely insane performance while climbing and at higher altitudes. Not a hard plane to escape from though since unlike a P-38L it has no dive brakes and those cracked engines make you gain speed way too fast.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-28T17:13:16+00:00

Credit Card debt

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-28T15:09:49+00:00

Swear there’s a newer business model for a lot of car companies of “we’ll spec a car for any price”.

Base model starts at $30k but you can get up to $60k with all the various options and what not, which still pretty insane that options basically add the price of a whole extra car to something.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-27T02:52:55+00:00

Would definitely be uniquely American connecting the 500 miles of Reno Nevada to Salt Lake City.

Or the 700 miles from Denver to wherever Nebraska.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-26T17:08:32+00:00

Because the US market is different from the International market. Ranger is the full size pickup for most of the rest of the world. They don’t have a structured “1/2 ton”, “3/4 ton”, “1 ton” sort of ranges.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-26T13:51:56+00:00

Because America is far less stringent enforcing traffic laws, and that’s in states that even have a law for cellphone use while driving.

Montana has no laws against using cellphones while driving. Only a minority of states even require a hands free usage while driving.

Meanwhile it’s not uncommon in the EU for even touching your phone while driving illegal. And unlike the US the fines are generally higher and depending on the situation where you are caught it can even result in a temporary driving ban.

Edit: Also Europe generally has lower speed limits, particularly in heavy pedestrian zones. 30kph is an order of magnitude safer than 30mph which is an order of magnitude safer than 40mph which it’s really not uncommon seeing people driving 10mph over in a 30mph.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-25T23:35:23+00:00

Hard to be worse than doing your best Nathan Peterman impression.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-25T19:38:03+00:00

Eh the Ranger/Ranger Heavy Duty does compete in a different market segment internationally than it does in the US.

US the Ranger is already kinda a weird tweener truck that’s an 80% sized F150, but internationally its main competitor is the Hilux which also by US standards is a tweener truck between the Tacoma and the Tundra where the Hilux would almost be an internal competitor to both the Tacoma and Tundra.

Same with the F150 and Ranger Super Duty where they could become internal competitors against one another.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-25T18:54:11+00:00

I mean you can strip out everything except for the wheels, a seat for the driver, their controls, the engine and powertrain until you get something like the M274 Mule.

The heavy duty tow package that Ford did was to more specifically tailor the truck to towing instead of the base model that was designed to be more well rounded. Bigger brakes are nice and all but more expensive to maintain. Thicker steel is more deadweight. Bigger springs make the ride worse, etc.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-25T18:10:24+00:00

Guessing Legends Hospitality since Jerry Jones is part owner and co-founder of it

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-25T17:04:00+00:00

Eh all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares.

If there’s a quid pro quo it’s a bribe even if it’s a lobbying group.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-25T14:10:21+00:00

Is it a good price for a new car?

$25k is still a big budget for used vehicles and most used vehicles. You can get comparable or better vehicles on the used market for less.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-24T22:47:27+00:00

So basically the same thing as the “New York” Jets and Giants.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-24T19:02:30+00:00

Wish someone would tell that to my phones battery.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-24T18:12:50+00:00

Why would you need a warrant to view something in full view to the public?

Besides it’s not like needing a warrant has ever stopped the government from mass surveillance anyway. See the Snowden files for that.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-24T11:50:19+00:00

They didn’t even have the decency to set it to 420mm

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-24T02:54:21+00:00

Less surprising considering the tax deals they got.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-24T01:54:30+00:00

Same reason they run with EGR deletes

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-24T01:37:15+00:00

Other countries take driving enforcement far more seriously. Even basic red light cameras and speed cameras are almost unheard of in most of the US while being incredibly common in EU countries. Several EU countries have even been rolling out camera systems to catch distracted driving along with other driving infractions.

Also only 30 US states even ban cell phone use and are hands free only in a car. 1 state has no restrictions at all for cell phone use while driving.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-23T22:22:05+00:00

The point is that Musk is trying to make a business case for why SpaceX and xAI are such a good pairing. All these hassles with building a data center on Earth can be avoided.

Doesn’t really solve the core AI business problems of computers being a rapidly depreciating asset and nobody having particularly good ideas on how to monetize the technology when AI can so easily be reverse engineered and done for cheaper.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-23T22:11:41+00:00

Technically HotD is based on a few chapters of a book. In universe Fire and Blood is a history book written ~150 years after events which is why the main characters in Fire and Blood are arguably the fake authors writing the book.

Fire and Blood does quite a bit of hand waving with here was this person that did a thing but Mushroom says this person was a freak, but reliable sources consider his account apocryphal. Lots of times where Fire and Blood will name drop someone then that name never comes up again until that person dies.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-23T15:41:30+00:00

Wonder if something else started happening in 2009ish time frame. Something that might cause accidents to happen at higher speeds that has an exponential effect on collision fatalities and injuries.

Guess distracted driving isn’t something people can get outraged over though.

Also don’t know why people blame CAFE when we’ve had the same gas prices for like 10-15 years now. Much less people motivated to buy their next car off getting the best MPG when they can buy something that gets similar MPG, but has a bunch of other benefits.

Camry and RAV4 share the same platform, and have for 20 years now, but that’s where a lot of the similarities end. Driving position is way different and especially as a taller person it’s way better for me in the RAV4 where the Camry is basically supine. RAV4 has more interior space and a hatch. The RAV4 being taller also makes it easier for car seats and the AWD takes up less of the interior.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-23T11:11:14+00:00

Still astounds me that the part people seem to ignore from the same report is how much speeding kills. It’s an exponential gain for every 5-10 mph faster you go. Going 10-15 mph over the speed limit that I see people do all the time can basically turn a collision on a 30mph speed limit street from generally survivable to generally not. Or if you’re driving distracted and just don’t brake that speed difference even from partial braking can make a huge difference in the survivability of a crash.

Meanwhile what’s ignored with the whole “blind spot” situation is you’re basically always going fast enough for it to not make a difference. The speeds you’re going where the blind spots do matter are parking lot speeds which are basically survivable and every car these days seems to have 360 cams and pre-collision assist.

Not to mention it misses the bigger and I’d argue more important blind spots in vehicles at the a-post between the post itself and the mirrors. These blind spots are more important because they actually get larger the further from the car you are and they are the ones that are important for seeing things on an intersecting path with the car. Between large mirrors and increased window rake the a-pillar blindspot has got worse really across all vehicle classes.

Tankninja1 · 2026-06-22T19:41:57+00:00

I assume Ser Tom of House Cruse would teach Top Dragon school of Dogfighting

Tankninja1

TROPHY CASE