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If that's too much insanity for you, you might want to go back to where you came from. Or maybe you think it's not insanity, but either way, beware. Alternative opinions against the status quo are generally the status quo here. Topics are broad and varied, often being complete cultural opposites. Yet your preconceptions and biases are welcome, preferably if they don't cloud your views. We seek one thing, the truth. We hope that you are after the same.
The Quest for a New Car
admin — Sun, 2010-01-17 13:22
Again, I've managed to wait ages before making another post. I'm back at it though, but with a question for all of you. A question, and a request, I guess.
I don't know if I've written about my Celica in this blog or the last blog, but I did write about it on the st162.net forums, here. Basically, things are looking like I'm going to need a car I can really trust soon. Now, my Celica is a great car overall in my mind, but it needs a good bit of work and love to really trust not breaking down on me when it's crucial. My dad is looking for work and might be moving out of state, so it matters a lot more being on my own.
Now I could just put the money spent on a new car into this one, but I want to know if it's worth sticking with. Frankly, for me, I don't think it is. It handles nicely, but it needs new shocks and struts. It's rusty and needs a new paint job. It's a coupe, when I'd rather have the hatchback model. It is reasonably fast though and fairly exciting in general. It is reliable overall, I believe the only time it broke down on me was because of (presumably) years of having a poorly fitting (and probably poorly functioning) fuel filter, due to a clogged injector (I know I can drive on 3 cylinders to where I need to go, but I didn't know as much then and it seemed like the ECU went a bit crazy when the one injector when out and took out 2 more; unfortunately I never reset the ECU).
I'm very familiar with my Celica now, but I think it's time we part paths. She needs a loving home willing to pay in USD for her. I'll do a more thorough (and more honest than I'd like) post for selling the Celica (named Celcia, but I rarely call her that) in a bit.
What I need here is to figure out what car to get next. It turns out, my budget is around $4,000 - $4,500 USD, so reasonable, but not huge.
I'm not super mechanically inclined, but I want to learn and do things myself. I'd like to avoid taking my car to other places as much as possible and do the work myself, so I'm willing to buy tools and what not. I've replaced injectors, drained the fuel tank, replaced engine oil, replaced lightbulbs, rewired injector harnesses, and cleaned spark plugs. Hopefully that gives you a bit of an idea as to how much I know and don't know.
Alright, so here is what I need.
Reluctantly, at the top of the list is reliability. But, this doesn't mean it has to survive 10 days of salt water, fire, and a crazy man with a sledge hammer. I just need it to be reliable in general. I will not trade in every last bit of performance for pure reliability by getting a Mercedes 240D. No way, just no. And since I'll be doing my own work, I want something that is easy to work on (for the most part) and is of a good design. I like simple, but I'm fine if it's not, as long as it's not stupid.
The next things are kind of "minimums" I'd like. I want something under 1,300kg, and about 4.4m long or shorter. I want something that can 0-100km/h (roughly 0-60mph) in 9 seconds at the most (Celica is a touch faster than that, at least is supposed to be). I want something that handles well and doesn't feel like a boat. I want to feel the road and have nice feedback in the steering. I'd like a gas pedal that isn't nothing or all out (that's you, Honda Fit). Based on what I know, I'd like to go RWD this time (Celica is FWD), or maybe AWD (I still consider FWD though). Fuel economy is also important (at 120 km/h or 75mph highway speeds, preferably 7.8l/100km or 30MPG, or better). I'm very interested in tuning a diesel, so that is up there for me. I want something sporty or diesel, but a diesel that could be made sporty (Volkswagen Jetta TDI, for example). Coupe or 3-door hatchback is preferable. I am fine if it's a bit loud and stiff, but I don't want it to break my back and puncture my ear drums. So verging on the uncomfortable side at worst, but not making it untolerable and uncomfortable for long trips.
Here are some other things for me: No traction control, no ABS or ABS that can easily be disabled, and pre-1996 if gasoline (so no OBD-II, and I don't have to do emissions testing in NC, USA).
Things that get bonus points: No power steering, no emissions stuff at all (but a car that old is probably going to be awful), looking decent, and a digital dash (that doesn't look like this).
Rarity is also something that would be nice, but it's a double edged sword. I don't want to look like everyone else, but at the same time, I want okay parts selection, at least. Going for a Toyota Corolla would be great for parts, even 20 years from now. I really want a car I can grow with and work on for a long time. This is a balance here.
And lastly, here are some cars I'm intested in (in no particular order):
Volkswagen:
Rabbit Diesel
Almost any TDI
Corrado
Honda:
Prelude
Del Sol
Toyota:
Corolla
Tercel
MR-2
Celica (maybe, just maybe another one. Would probably have to be a GT-S or GT-4 hatchback model)
Supra
BMW:
Almost any e30 series
Compact, maybe?
Acura:
NSX? :-) A little out of my price range though.
Integra
Nissan:
Sentra
Altima
Mitsubishi:
Starion (this one gets bonus, bonus points)
I'd really appreciate some suggestions or either cars in general, or even cars for sale that you know of. I live in Hendersonville, NC, USA, so cars within 150km (100 miles, rounded up) would be preferable (zip code is 28739).
Thanks for reading,
Teran
I don't know if I've written about my Celica in this blog or the last blog, but I did write about it on the st162.net forums, here. Basically, things are looking like I'm going to need a car I can really trust soon. Now, my Celica is a great car overall in my mind, but it needs a good bit of work and love to really trust not breaking down on me when it's crucial. My dad is looking for work and might be moving out of state, so it matters a lot more being on my own.
Now I could just put the money spent on a new car into this one, but I want to know if it's worth sticking with. Frankly, for me, I don't think it is. It handles nicely, but it needs new shocks and struts. It's rusty and needs a new paint job. It's a coupe, when I'd rather have the hatchback model. It is reasonably fast though and fairly exciting in general. It is reliable overall, I believe the only time it broke down on me was because of (presumably) years of having a poorly fitting (and probably poorly functioning) fuel filter, due to a clogged injector (I know I can drive on 3 cylinders to where I need to go, but I didn't know as much then and it seemed like the ECU went a bit crazy when the one injector when out and took out 2 more; unfortunately I never reset the ECU).
I'm very familiar with my Celica now, but I think it's time we part paths. She needs a loving home willing to pay in USD for her. I'll do a more thorough (and more honest than I'd like) post for selling the Celica (named Celcia, but I rarely call her that) in a bit.
What I need here is to figure out what car to get next. It turns out, my budget is around $4,000 - $4,500 USD, so reasonable, but not huge.
I'm not super mechanically inclined, but I want to learn and do things myself. I'd like to avoid taking my car to other places as much as possible and do the work myself, so I'm willing to buy tools and what not. I've replaced injectors, drained the fuel tank, replaced engine oil, replaced lightbulbs, rewired injector harnesses, and cleaned spark plugs. Hopefully that gives you a bit of an idea as to how much I know and don't know.
Alright, so here is what I need.
Reluctantly, at the top of the list is reliability. But, this doesn't mean it has to survive 10 days of salt water, fire, and a crazy man with a sledge hammer. I just need it to be reliable in general. I will not trade in every last bit of performance for pure reliability by getting a Mercedes 240D. No way, just no. And since I'll be doing my own work, I want something that is easy to work on (for the most part) and is of a good design. I like simple, but I'm fine if it's not, as long as it's not stupid.
The next things are kind of "minimums" I'd like. I want something under 1,300kg, and about 4.4m long or shorter. I want something that can 0-100km/h (roughly 0-60mph) in 9 seconds at the most (Celica is a touch faster than that, at least is supposed to be). I want something that handles well and doesn't feel like a boat. I want to feel the road and have nice feedback in the steering. I'd like a gas pedal that isn't nothing or all out (that's you, Honda Fit). Based on what I know, I'd like to go RWD this time (Celica is FWD), or maybe AWD (I still consider FWD though). Fuel economy is also important (at 120 km/h or 75mph highway speeds, preferably 7.8l/100km or 30MPG, or better). I'm very interested in tuning a diesel, so that is up there for me. I want something sporty or diesel, but a diesel that could be made sporty (Volkswagen Jetta TDI, for example). Coupe or 3-door hatchback is preferable. I am fine if it's a bit loud and stiff, but I don't want it to break my back and puncture my ear drums. So verging on the uncomfortable side at worst, but not making it untolerable and uncomfortable for long trips.
Here are some other things for me: No traction control, no ABS or ABS that can easily be disabled, and pre-1996 if gasoline (so no OBD-II, and I don't have to do emissions testing in NC, USA).
Things that get bonus points: No power steering, no emissions stuff at all (but a car that old is probably going to be awful), looking decent, and a digital dash (that doesn't look like this).
Rarity is also something that would be nice, but it's a double edged sword. I don't want to look like everyone else, but at the same time, I want okay parts selection, at least. Going for a Toyota Corolla would be great for parts, even 20 years from now. I really want a car I can grow with and work on for a long time. This is a balance here.
And lastly, here are some cars I'm intested in (in no particular order):
Volkswagen:
Rabbit Diesel
Almost any TDI
Corrado
Honda:
Prelude
Del Sol
Toyota:
Corolla
Tercel
MR-2
Celica (maybe, just maybe another one. Would probably have to be a GT-S or GT-4 hatchback model)
Supra
BMW:
Almost any e30 series
Compact, maybe?
Acura:
NSX? :-) A little out of my price range though.
Integra
Nissan:
Sentra
Altima
Mitsubishi:
Starion (this one gets bonus, bonus points)
I'd really appreciate some suggestions or either cars in general, or even cars for sale that you know of. I live in Hendersonville, NC, USA, so cars within 150km (100 miles, rounded up) would be preferable (zip code is 28739).
Thanks for reading,
Teran
Console Time Tracker
admin — Sun, 2009-10-25 03:18
Hey,
I had been needing a time tracker for my new job (haven't told you about that, have I ;-) ), so I wrote one In Bash shell script.
If you understand the phrase "/bin/bash ~/ctimetracker-0.0.1/ctimetracker", then this might be understandable to you, and more than that, it *could* be useful.
So, checkout the public domain code, all on it's very own, special page. It took a whole day to write that (almost) mess :-(. Have fun with it!
One of these days I'll work on the menu and layout so ctimetracker isn't so prominent but is still findable. We'll see though.
Console Time Tracker
Off to bed. Thanks for reading :-).
--Teran (sega01)
I had been needing a time tracker for my new job (haven't told you about that, have I ;-) ), so I wrote one In Bash shell script.
If you understand the phrase "/bin/bash ~/ctimetracker-0.0.1/ctimetracker", then this might be understandable to you, and more than that, it *could* be useful.
So, checkout the public domain code, all on it's very own, special page. It took a whole day to write that (almost) mess :-(. Have fun with it!
One of these days I'll work on the menu and layout so ctimetracker isn't so prominent but is still findable. We'll see though.
Console Time Tracker
Off to bed. Thanks for reading :-).
--Teran (sega01)