New Car Recommendations?

[Jibralta]

Annoying!

 

Happened right before my very eyes, right after I got out of the car. smh...

[Starlight925]

I thought I'd be so cool with my new car & new backup camera, I'd back into my garage!

 

Scraped the entire passenger side, from the right front fender, both doors, and back fender, as each time I heard it scrape, I'd go forward, only to scrape it some more. I even ripped off this plastic running board piece. What an idiot.

[luminousone]

I thought I'd be so cool with my new car & new backup camera, I'd back into my garage!

 

Scraped the entire passenger side, from the right front fender, both doors, and back fender, as each time I heard it scrape, I'd go forward, only to scrape it some more. I even ripped off this plastic running board piece. What an idiot.

 

Oh no!!! I ruined my garage door a few years ago, by pulling out the truck with the canopy door open. So damage to the door, and I had to get a new canopy door.

 

Door got fixed and my ex bought the truck back. Last year I was pulling in with my new car. I waited until the garage door stopped going up before I pulled in. Unfortunately it had stopped partway, and my roof rack clipped the door panels. What a mess!

 

So I called the garage door company for, once again, repairs. They probably have my name up on a bulletin board as a frequent customer, lol.

 

In my defense on that one, I have now noticed that the door sometimes stops on the way up for no reason. I think it must be slightly out of whack from the mess 3 years ago. I just have to watch it closely.

[annie24]

Annie, do you know what side your gas tank is on??

 

 

Yes, I know there's that little arrow on my dashboard. :)

[annie24]

Update: I just got back from my first longish work trip: 150 miles round trip. I'm still learning how to drive, lol. I got honked at enough times - some because of things I did that were incorrect, and then some people are just impatient buttheads (I got honked at for stopping at a stop sign). I also got honked at when I was trying to make a left turn but there was oncoming traffic and I was waiting for them to pass before I took the turn. So, yeah... Other things, like when construction was making the street more narrow, I was trying to avoid the fencing, but got honked at a few times for I guess getting to close to the car next to me?? I'm trying to be careful but I still don't have a good sense of the distance on my right side.

 

On the way home, there was a lot of construction and I saw a guy change lanes and cut off someone at the last second (but seriously, we were all doing no more than 10 mph). The guy then followed him and got out of his car at a red light and walked up to the car that cut him off!! (what was he going to do, fight him in the middle of the street????) Then the light turned green and the car in front sped off. Like, wow, people are so aggressive.

[Lester]

The interior of a car gives it's user a false sense of empowerment.

 

To quickly improve your driving skills:

Find a merge on/off on a busy interstate that's within a mile or two of each other.

Early Sunday morning (If not a lot of traffic, Saturday can work also), practice merging on then off, circling and repeat.

 

As you get better, go later and later until it becomes second nature.

This will quickly build your confidence and skill level.

[Jibralta]

The interior of a car gives it's user a false sense of empowerment.

 

That's true. Walking down a crowded street, people are much more well behaved. Because if you're not, you can just get smacked down. There's no protective outer coating.

[DancingFool]

Update: I just got back from my first longish work trip: 150 miles round trip. I'm still learning how to drive, lol. I got honked at enough times - some because of things I did that were incorrect, and then some people are just impatient buttheads (I got honked at for stopping at a stop sign). I also got honked at when I was trying to make a left turn but there was oncoming traffic and I was waiting for them to pass before I took the turn. So, yeah... Other things, like when construction was making the street more narrow, I was trying to avoid the fencing, but got honked at a few times for I guess getting to close to the car next to me?? I'm trying to be careful but I still don't have a good sense of the distance on my right side.

 

On the way home, there was a lot of construction and I saw a guy change lanes and cut off someone at the last second (but seriously, we were all doing no more than 10 mph). The guy then followed him and got out of his car at a red light and walked up to the car that cut him off!! (what was he going to do, fight him in the middle of the street????) Then the light turned green and the car in front sped off. Like, wow, people are so aggressive.

 

Only way you are going to learn the size of your car is practice. Take a bunch of empty cardboard boxes with you and go to some empty parking lot on a weekend. Put down the boxes and do some exercises with your car. How close you can get your nose to the box without hitting the box. How close you can get your car on one side or the other without swiping the box. Park your car. Put the boxes tightly around it. Like within one inch front and sides. Back out and pull back in without touching a single box. First to do it straight out and back in, after turn into that from various directions. If you make mistakes you won't hurt your car, but after putting in that kind of practice, you'll be super aware of what distance and space you have. In a bad situation, knowing to within an inch the dimensions of your car can save your life.

[Coily]

Only way you are going to learn the size of your car is practice. Take a bunch of empty cardboard boxes with you and go to some empty parking lot on a weekend. Put down the boxes and do some exercises with your car. How close you can get your nose to the box without hitting the box. How close you can get your car on one side or the other without swiping the box. Park your car. Put the boxes tightly around it. Like within one inch front and sides. Back out and pull back in without touching a single box. First to do it straight out and back in, after turn into that from various directions. If you make mistakes you won't hurt your car, but after putting in that kind of practice, you'll be super aware of what distance and space you have. In a bad situation, knowing to within an inch the dimensions of your car can save your life.

 

Brilliant exercises, also do these practices with any driver aids turned off! I cannot say enough how harmful I think driving aids are to the average driver, and getting to know your car inside and out is the best way to be safer while driving.

[annie24]

Brilliant exercises, also do these practices with any driver aids turned off! I cannot say enough how harmful I think driving aids are to the average driver, and getting to know your car inside and out is the best way to be safer while driving.

 

So I don't have driver's blind spot assistance (boo!). I only have a rear-view camera. I'll have to do the box thing soon. I have a space in a parking lot now, I can practice with boxes sometime.

[j.man]

Heard the Ford Fiesta's a beast.

[annie24]

I felt guilty for buying an SUV being single and living in a city. Now I see the potholes everywhere that are unavoidable and I am glad I got an suv! I need it! My friend said in her neighborhood, there is a giant pothole that spans almost the whole street width . After a bad storm, it filled up with water, so someone put toy boats in there and a sign that said “canal”. Lol!!!!

[annie24]

Heard the Ford Fiesta's a beast.

 

the ford guys were not too nice to me at their dealership. So I didn’t go back. Nissan guy called me almost daily. I joked he was my new boyfriend.

[Susan89]

And I'm into Hondas. At the moment I drive Accord and I absolutely love the way it drives!

[Minikimini]

Mini Cooper (hence my screen name)

 

I love my little Popette. I pay no more than $35 to fill up my tank on premium.

[annie24]

I'm driving a lot more for work these days. I've been sent to farther away sites. Longest drive in 1 day has been 140 miles for me. Some drives are easier than others. I'm finding that what's challenging is that I'm sent to a lot of unfamiliar places, and I am so thankful for Waze and Google Maps. I can't imagine doing this job without a navigation system!! But I'm surely infuriating other drivers around me, who drive the same routes every day and know every twist and turn. I drive at the speed limit, and frequently have people zooming past me, or if it's a 1-lane road, honking for me to pull over. I try to do that if there's a safe space to do so, but c'mon. Sigh.

 

Today I came to a complicated major intersection at about 5:30 PM, was turning left and there was a specific turn signal. I was second in line. By the time the first driver went, it already turned yellow and I didn't feel confident enough to just gun it because I had never been at this intersection before. So I waited and the middle aged woman behind me honked at me. It took about 2 minutes until it was finally my turn to go, so I make the turn, the woman behind me is laying on the horn while I'm making the left turn, drives up next to me, opens her window and screams something, I have no idea what because the radio was on. But seriously, why are people so ragey? Maybe she had a bad day at work and was hangry. I would expect this behavior from a young man, not a late 40s woman?? what the heck.

[annie24]

One of my most frustrating experiences was actually this week, when I had to go to a military base. However, being that it's a military base, the road signs for exits on the freeway are not well marked and google maps doesn't have clear driving directions except to the main gate. I went to two wrong gates and they wouldn't let me drive through base to get to the right building. My coworker sent me a map, even tried to talk me through it on the phone, but it was so frustrating, and I kept getting turned around, I finally just parked in the visitor parking lot until my coworker (who was already onsite) could come and get me so we could drive together to the right gate.

[Coily]

Hang in there Annie!

 

First of all thanks for thinking about pulling over on a two lane, so few don't have the awareness to even think of other drivers.

 

I will say that some of the most rude, angry, and dangerous drivers I have run across are middle aged women. There is a level of self importance that I read off of the bumper stickers or vehicle type that seems a common thread of the driver who will slam on their breaks swerve in front of me to exit the interstate. Part of it I blame on the over coddling tech in the modern car, but the rest is all crappy attitude.

 

Two more tips: Never trust a Lexus Driver, and never trust a car with Maryland plates! Haha

[annie24]

Thanks Coily! I sometimes think about getting a "new driver" sign on my rear bumper, but maybe I'm not so new anymore. I like to think I'm learning and getting a little better. I know people who are very nice in real life but then admit to being ragey in the car. It's funny how people can change when they are in the glass and metal bubble.