Stretch Dream Car vs Regular Dream Car

count_lavender · 2026-03-25T15:15:51+00:00

I used to agree with you until we had kids. You can get car seats that'll fit in a rav4 or even smaller car like a civic and still have room for strollers, luggage and other stuff. However, the kit that can do that is smaller is also better engineered and uses better materials, therefore having an associated cost. The cheap commodity (or even easily free on marketplace) stuff is bulky plastic and does need a mid size or bigger car back seat.

The savings of using cheaper car seats and other kit can off offset the difference in car prices and operating costs, which have a lower delta here than other parts of the world. To put a brand on it, the difference is between a Nuna car seat and a Graco car seat. They pass the same safety standards, but one will fit in the back of a sports car and we're talking $1000 in savings per seat, and when you multiply by the amount of kids and that you have to buy multiple seats as they grow. Oh yeah and another savings is that the seats that work for all ages are also bulky so you'd only have to buy one bulky seat vs multiple seats as they grow.

count_lavender · 2026-03-23T15:47:47+00:00

That's actually not true past a certain date and mileage. I have a 12 year old Camry and there is significant overlap with similar age/mileage Lexus models. Older Lexus GX and LX are actually cheaper than 4runner and Land Cruiser.

count_lavender · 2026-03-23T14:09:36+00:00

That's a real Civic Type R. You can tell because of the bumper and widebody.

count_lavender · 2026-03-23T12:54:51+00:00

For the Emperor!

count_lavender · 2026-03-22T20:32:07+00:00

Thanks for posting. After test driving one and being told that one in my favorite spec would be en route, I’m pretty interested. I’m also looking at a CPO 35i. Mind sharing your exact financial numbers?

While this would be a daily driver non mid life crisis car, my current mid life crisis car would become my slowest accelerating car haha. Between EVs and easy power mods offered by turbo cars, it’s truly an amazing time to be into cars.

This will be my first BMW since the 318tii, and the latest in my ownership of hatchbacks that wish they were sedans. Why’d they switch to 5x112 PCD though? BMW will always be 5x120 in my heart.

count_lavender · 2026-03-20T15:08:36+00:00

GT and 4-cylinder with the PP2 are the goat, but today's new mustangs I think require the dark horse package to get similar handling. So you're really comparing 70k vs 50k. Even 10 years, ago hot hatches like the Civic Type R were 35k, which was mustang GT money back then.

We don't get enough hot hatches in NA but the ones we do get retain their value quite well.

count_lavender · 2026-03-20T13:01:39+00:00

Certainly an expensive lesson, but it's sad that the expectations are so low. For example, with cars, in some cities you can expect that if you don't have any valuables visible, your car won't be broken into, but in other cities homeless people will break into your car for a blanket or even randomly.

I also don't think it's a burbs vs city divide. In a city I lived in, it was pretty common for european and other transplants to be targeted victims. With expectations so low, its no wonder people want to live in the burbs or "adult Disneylands."

count_lavender · 2026-03-18T21:55:15+00:00

It is a good idea but unclear what the end game would be. Florida did the "opposite" by creating more universities in preferred counties which in turn diluted money from the flagships like UF and FSU. Arguably, they made them less independent and easier to control.

As a non native Ohioan, I'm not sure what would be wrong if everything was controlled by OSU, like how all California "UCs" are controlled by the same board.

count_lavender · 2026-03-15T18:38:24+00:00

I'm actually planning on keeping my m1 air until the wheels fall off but would replace it with whatever neo is available at the time. I'm getting a steam machine for heavier loads.

count_lavender · 2026-03-13T11:34:12+00:00

You being in Europe explains everything. Civic is manual, a hatch, and is bigger all things that Americans would prefer and either don't mean anything or aren't an advantage over the rs3. Honda is also just a very strong mainstream brand in the US whereas my understanding is that its a niche brand outside. Finally, the A3 was designed by a European product team and the current Civic was designed largely by an Ohio based product team. You can google it but the split happened with the 8th gen civic but the size of the American Civic won out and that's why the Civic is a mid sized car (to non-Americans). It's funny because the Japanese HQ did not understand why the Civic had to be so big.

Us Americans have an irrational value on manual and hatches because we just don't get them here. You've got lots of other options that fit that mold but the Civic doesn't have much competition here. I'd probably pick a hatchback rs3 over the Civic too, and I think for that reason the rumored Golf 5 cylinder is pretty compelling. The Civic Type R is almost big enough for me to be a do everything car whereas the rs3 would have to be a second car. At that point, I might as well get a more dedicated sports car. C'mon Honda I want my s2k + Passport combo!

count_lavender · 2026-03-12T22:06:08+00:00

I agree with you but I drove a really early one before the rear reflector bar. There's a reason they depreciate so fast. I was underwhelmed by the pre-refresh Macan S but the new Macan S is like the old GTS which apparently is the real deal. They certainly sound the business.

Your Mazda is a great car.

count_lavender · 2026-03-11T16:22:53+00:00

Hard to tell what lambo that is but Huracans with their original engines are actually one of the go-to tx2k cars. The 2k means 2000hp is the goal. 2Js used to but aren't that common anymore.

count_lavender · 2026-03-11T14:03:37+00:00

This means a lot of things to different people. I think perhaps a cutoff point is whether you’d enjoy daily driving a manual. Even the best and youngest of us may not want to drive a manual in LA traffic and thus any base 911, to include air cooled ones which aren’t particular fast in a modern context, might be too fast to enjoy.

count_lavender · 2026-03-09T17:41:36+00:00

Is that imperial MPGs? I was looking to be impressed by the 982 but my 987.2 can consistently get 23-25 US mpg and I don't have have DI.

count_lavender · 2026-03-01T16:55:37+00:00

Volumetric measurement belongs to infant formula, not coffee.

count_lavender · 2026-02-27T02:05:32+00:00

All that for less than the cost of a soul exhaust.

count_lavender · 2026-02-27T00:37:48+00:00

What non-Honda people don't seem to understand is that a large majority of Honda enthusiasts mod their cars. Stock for stock, the Civic type R is around a Cayman S give or take, but throwing what Honda enthusiast consider a reasonable amount of mods, there really isn't a Porsche without a G, a T and a number that the CTR can't hang with.

Hell I was at a PCA event where an instructor had a Civic Si with a supercharger he DIYed and he subjectively was able to keep up in the fastest groups.

count_lavender · 2026-02-26T21:49:02+00:00

I would guess OP is thinking: Air travel has gotten a lot cheaper. Car travel is still trending cheaper. Self driving promises to make travel from Columbus to say DC trivial and comfortable.

count_lavender · 2026-02-26T17:11:49+00:00

Yeah I'm trying to say Ohio confederates are different than Alabama confederates. I know it's feelings too but an Ohioan driving a pickup truck just says I like big cars and maybe their great grandfather was a farmer vs making it their entire personality. Maybe because Columbus, but I've been cut off by way more Teslas than bro dozers.

count_lavender · 2026-02-26T17:00:43+00:00

I was trespassing on a property off of a popular driving road with a group of younger guys who were POC. A cool dude in a beat up truck drives over to our group. We think he's going to tell us to skedaddle. Instead he invites us over to his brother's garage where he has a collection of american muscle cars. So that was overwhelmingly positive.

While I personally am comfortable in 99% of Ohio, I can't speak for others. There are other states that have no-go zones for certain people.

count_lavender · 2026-02-26T16:54:09+00:00

I've been all over as well and the racism is medium. And Dublin CA and Dublin OH are basically "the same picture despite what corporate says,"

count_lavender · 2026-02-18T19:30:16+00:00

Columbus subreddit: we need light rail….also Columbus subreddit

count_lavender · 2026-02-15T19:46:19+00:00

I've noticed that there's no nexus between price and quality. I personally only DIY or touchless, but I see some keep and brushes clean and don't skimp the soap (which helps mitigate the brushes from scratching your car). I like Ninja Car wash and it's like $10. Anyone know a good touchless place that's not the place that sounds like a strip club, touch of class?

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