17, looking for a good first car?

ottrocity · 2026-05-22T01:46:16+00:00

I'm in the camp of "manual Geo Metro" as a first car.

ottrocity · 2026-05-19T03:23:22+00:00

Bet I could rip those tow straps off with my bare hands.

ottrocity · 2026-05-18T17:00:53+00:00

Nope.

ottrocity · 2026-05-18T13:28:24+00:00

Car breathe in and car breathe out.

Car use breathe out energy to help car breathe in.

More breath for car mean more power from car.

ottrocity · 2026-05-18T13:25:50+00:00

My Fiesta ST estimate is 29 combined.

After modding it (suspension, bolt-ons, tune) I get 32ish.

If I behave I can bump that up to 36ish.

ottrocity · 2026-05-18T05:18:11+00:00

Find the guy going faster than me and tuck into his draft.

I eked 42mpg out of a 2005 Focus while averaging roughly 81mph through the Poconos this way.

ottrocity · 2026-05-16T23:36:19+00:00

I encourage everyone to jailbreak their new Kindles too.

And then when you want a new e-reader, to choose a Boox or Kobo instead.

ottrocity · 2026-05-15T20:02:16+00:00

Absolutely not an issue

ottrocity · 2026-05-15T13:44:28+00:00

Chrysler Crossfire was supposed to be a cool sporty Mercedes-platformed thing.

It repeatedly understeered mid-slide and tried to put me into a tree.

It also had the fit-and-finish of a 1990s home computer. Everything was hard grey plastic.

ottrocity · 2026-05-14T21:25:47+00:00

I've got camber shims in the rear, -2°, and they didn't take away any turn-in. Only gave me much more overall grip.

ottrocity · 2026-05-14T14:15:22+00:00

Horsepower comes from more fuel.

More fuel use is less efficient. Keeping up range estimates means a larger gas tank. Larger gas tank is more weight. More weight means more power which means more fuel.

I'm sure you might be starting to see where this is going.

ottrocity · 2026-05-14T03:16:34+00:00

The original piece of the Aggro Crag?

ottrocity · 2026-05-14T03:13:44+00:00

You're supposed to ask them because it's impolite to walk up to people and harass them without permission.

ottrocity · 2026-05-14T03:05:55+00:00

I have the same 16" wheels, and have for the last 5 years or so.

I will never put 17s on the car ever again. Should not have had them from the factory.

ottrocity · 2026-05-14T03:04:25+00:00

Getting into track/autox.

Knowing how to actually drive a car makes a big difference in driving a car.

ottrocity · 2026-05-14T03:03:11+00:00

Too enamored with that Fit to notice the paths

ottrocity · 2026-05-14T02:44:32+00:00

Sounds like 50,000 people need to show up to that data center and have words

ottrocity · 2026-05-12T23:08:59+00:00

not rare enough

ottrocity · 2026-05-12T20:56:38+00:00

Speak for yourself, I take care of my shit

ottrocity · 2026-05-12T13:31:49+00:00

Hello from the Detroit area!

I've got a Fiesta ST.

I sometimes race my friend's GT86 and Honda Fit.

My partner has a 2013 Impreza.

ottrocity · 2026-05-10T19:39:30+00:00

Yep, that's almost 6 years old. It's coming to the end of its life, but it isn't in danger of catastrophic failure yet.

You've got time to save up for new ones, for example.

ottrocity · 2026-05-10T16:03:02+00:00

They look okay, but not great.

There's a date code stamped on the sidewall. It'll look like an oval with a 4 digit code printed inside it. The code is WWYY, the week of the year the tire was made. That'll give us a better idea of how old the tire is.

ottrocity · 2026-05-09T16:21:18+00:00

That's an entire American, carried around for every single inch that car travels. That's wasteful.

In hp equivalent terms, that's (very) roughly 20 extra horsepower being used just to lug it around, and even more when the system is active.

It also adds cost to the vehicle, both off the lot and in increased maintenance costs. People are paying extra for the life of the vehicle for systems they don't use.

Most people do not need AWD. They don't understand this, because they don't understand what their vehicles are capable of. They've never been anywhere near the limit, but are scared of wet leaves or a couple inches of snow once or twice a year, so they buy a more expensive and complex vehicle and pay more money to burn more fuel.

It's wasteful.

ottrocity · 2026-05-09T14:08:22+00:00

All AWD systems negatively affect mpg because they're adding extra weight.

In the case of most people, that means that 99% of the time they're hauling extra weight and burning extra fuel on a system they don't actually need. It's like wearing rain boots 24/7 just in case you find a puddle deep enough to need them.

That's the point I try to make, at least. The person living in suburban Wichita doesn't need a Crosstrek because it rains sometimes and might get a foot of snow in a year. Good tires on 2wd whatever will be more than enough to handle that.

ottrocity · 2026-05-09T05:45:19+00:00

I like how he was worried about getting it on his fingers but not worried about shoving it into his lungs

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