My sedan has an interesting feature where when the trunk is popped, the lid opens all the way if parked on a level surface. It’s hard to explain it, but it accomplishes this by two tension rods that act as a stretched out spring to rotate the hinge upwards. Most newer sedans don’t have trunks that pop up by itself (or if they do it’s an expensive option as it’s motorized and can also close by itself). On a lot of new cars, the lid only pops up an inch or two and it won’t open fully without someone lifting it. It’s so lame! Closing the lid is also lame. You have to guide the lid down softly (because of the strut not liking sudden motions) and then pushing on the lid to latch. If you do it wrong you’re not sure if it latched all the way or not because it doesn’t show the sign of it popping up. On my car, you give it one swift throw and it slams shut. If you didn’t do it right and it doesn’t latch, the lid just opens back up to show you that you did it wrong. You don’t need to check if it latched of not because it will tell you! Sometimes I admire the simplicity and character of old engineering methods.
Leave a gap!
I’ve been thinking it would be so beneficial if people left a gap to let on-coming traffic onto the freeway during rush hour. It’s not like anyone is going anywhere and with how dense traffic is, it certainly doesn’t hurt. But that would require people to play nice and when you’re in a car, that ain’t kosher. With the gap between cars, traffic could mesh together like the teeth on gears and it would be a very fluid motion. This would force people to get up to traffic speed on approach. I swear some people cannot understand that you do not come to a stop at the end of an on-ramp. If you can’t get up to the 25 MPH crawl on the freeway during rush hour, then GTFO. The exit lane that you’re on is pretty long if you’re crawling at 25 MPH and if you just cruise it, you’ll be able to slip in at some point. That is where the gap would come in handy. But, alas, this ideal situation is just a pipe dream that I can lust about while sitting on the mobile parking lot known as the rush hour freeway.
A Shelby Mustang is not a Ford Escort
Ceci n'est pas une Ford Escort
So I encountered a Shelby Mustang in the wild the other day. I can’t tell if it’s rare since all Mustangs look alike, but I knew for sure it was a Shelby Mustang. I was behind him in a yield lane and he sure waited a long time to merge even though there were several opportunities that even I could have taken in my sensible sedan. As soon as there was a big enough break in traffic for the Queen Elizabeth, the guy took it and then accelerated so slowly that my hair was turning gray as I puttered behind him. Dude, you have a fkn Shelby Mustang, not a economy hatchback! You have plenty of horsepower to safely yield into traffic in a timely manner. Use the force! That car is going to live a sad sheltered life.
Don’t stop in a yield lane!
Don't stop... oh sheeeetttttt
On my way home from work there is a right-hand turn where the right lane becomes a dedicated turn/yield lane onto the cross-street where it becomes the right-hand lane of the cross-street and merging is not allowed until farther down as indicated by a solid white lane. There is a tall Jersey barrier on the right-hand side and it sits on an incline so it’s a essentially a blind curve which is probably why it was designed this way.
Well, I normally take this corner at 30 MPH without stopping. On this particular day I was zooming up like usual and right as I entered the curve I saw someone STOPPED at the exit of the curve trying to merge left. I hopped on my brakes and with the squeal of my tires I stopped within INCHES of giving this guy a surprise colonoscopy. What the fk?! You aren’t suppose to stop there, especially since it’s a blind curve! As soon as you got through the turn, it is fkn obvious that the merging is not legal until farther down the road so you don’t need to stop and wait! Pay attention next time moron! He’s lucky that I was paying attention.
The dark cloud means nothing!
Are you for reals?
While there has been the teasing of rain, it hasn’t actually rained hard in quite some time. During the last week, mother nature has teased us by having black clouds appear. This apparently has everyone’s panties in a bunch and it was full on panic mode on the roads. The highways and streets were clogged with people “taking it easy” because of the impending doom. Let’s get this straight: it didn’t rain and the roads were dry so basically it was nighttime with daylight. I’m surprised everyone was able to put on their pants in the morning judging by how poorly they handled driving on an overcast day. I swear, I passed five emergency vehicles on the side of the highway on my way home from work. You know it’s bad when you spot tow trucks parked out on the sides of the highway in the morning like vultures stalking their prey. Get real, people! Just drive normally and turn on your headlights!
But Fonda ain’t got a motor in the back of her Honda
Is it me or are the trunks of sedans getting shorter and shorter? It’s almost gotten to the point where the trunk is non-existent. I mean, the trunk is still there, but the classic sedan shape is gone. We now have a short height opening with a very short horizontal opening. It makes the trunk very deep, but shallow. With the death of the Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car we now do not have any car with a ginormous trunk. What will gangsters drive? You cant fit a body into the trunk opening of a modern car, you’d have to make the body smaller to fit. And you can’t get to anything deep inside the trunk without taking out whatever’s closest to the opening first. It’s very dumb since most people don’t plan what to put in the trunk. They just put stuff in without thinking. It’s very sad that the classic sedan shape is dying. It’s practical and handsome. I shall miss the classic sedan.
Don’t tailgate pickups or SUVs
This is why I hate pickups and SUVs clogging the roadways. Like you need that ginormous pickup or SUV to drive to your cushy downtown job and transport your two obnoxious kids to soccer practice. I’ve already heard of something similar happening which ended with four fatalities because the car swerved to avoid a piece of furniture (that was hidden by an SUV swerving at the last minute) on the highway and then pop over the center median barrier and catapulted into oncoming traffic. Anyways, avoid being around SUVs and pickups because they’re driven by people who used to drive Civics and think they’re still driving Civics.
Green lights are a finite resource
I don’t understand why traffic takes off so slowly when the light turns green. The light stays green for a short amount of time, get your butts through the intersection should be your first priority! It ticks me off that people just mozy through as if it’ll stay green forever. What they need is a countdown timer to show how short the light cycle is. Sure we all want to be cautious, but if you’re paying attention, there is a 1 to 2 second overlap of the red lights to ensure the intersection is clear before proceeding. If someone decides to run the red light, well tough luck. They weren’t going to stop anyways. Everyone gogogogogogo!!!
Rental Car Hates the French
It’s because it’s a Chrysler product. Not the best engineering or quality control in the world.
