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One thing I feel like we discuss rarely here is cars.
I drive a late 90s/early 00s German sedan. When I made less money, I spent a good amount of time wrenching on it. I wanted to have some minimal competence and understanding of the car, and it was a great way to save money.
It still would be a great way to save money - I won't kid myself there - but the stress of preparing for a maintenance job, buying the specialized tools/parts, and working in my extremely cramped garage has lost some magic. I still feel accomplished doing little things but when I'm constantly under pressure to be doing work or parenting, there's less magic in DIY. Bike maintenance provides a similar dopamine hit with far less commitment.
That said, I just picked it up from the mechanic this week after a month-long absence and some significant work being done. I truly do not understand how people put up with newer cars.
This thing is absolutely sublime. It strikes a perfect balance between the precision and feedback from all of its systems while driving and what you'd define as "luxury" and comfort. I splurged on an aftermarket exhaust that fades into the background on the highway and absolutely rips when I'm driving like I stole it late at night on more empty roads.
Not to mention how it looks. Of course, any car you see as a teenager is what you base everything else on, but the slightly angular design language of this period right before everything turned into aero blobs for fuel efficiency and crash standards just really gets me going. I absolutely still look back at it when walking into the office and find myself getting excited when I step back into it after a long day.
Whenever I'm on the road watching hundreds of drones driving dirty shitboxes without using their turn signals or trying to drive efficiently, I fall into such a superiority complex. How could you care so little about something you do so much? For a country supposedly in love with its cars, it would be tough for Americans to give less of a shit about how driving feels and how they perform at it. For all I'm made fun of about the time and money I've invested in an older car, when I spread that out over the time I've used it and the joy I derive from it it seems like an obvious trade.
I fall in a weird zone on how much I give a shit about cars/driving.
Doing so, minimizes traffic and maximizes safety.
So you can understand how frsutrated I feel when driving, because a 100IQ average is simply not enough to expect the above to be the norm. But its mostly ignorance as well. Germany seems to pull it off.
I also don't care about what car I own. Speed limits ensure that I can't drive a fast car fast anyways... So might as well get the cheapest shitbox that gets me from point A to point B. The only reason I would get a good car is to not scare away the hoes.
I do love driving though. Not parking, not sitting in traffic, but driving. Fortunately for me I have a friend with a bunch of sports cars that I can borrow, so I get my fix for enjoyable driving when I really want to.
In short, I do love driving good cars, but don;t own one because I won't be able to use it the way its meant to be used for 99% of the time anyways.
Sometimes it is a line.
Here is an example. In this case, it got so bad that the city had to paint solid lines to prevent people from merging from all lanes, but imagine they were dotted instead to suit the example. The basic problem is: the bridge gets backed up - sometimes 30 minutes of traffic on either side to merge onto it. The right two lanes are "the line" for the bridge. The left lane is where you drive if you aren't getting on the bridge.
If everyone cooperates, you can have a clear left lane for the people who want to go straight, and traffic jammed right lanes for those that want to get on the bridge. However, if some of the bridge traffic defects and takes the left lane too to "not leave any part of the road unused", then merge right at the end, that screws over everyone who just wanted to go straight.
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My thing is the coordination problem with lights turning green. Granted the issue is generally people on their phones, but even before that, I was really irritated by how long it takes a line of cars to start moving once the light changes. When it changes we could all start accelerating slightly and be on our way very quickly. Instead it's not uncommon for the last car in line to not even start moving before the light has turned red again, because each person waits for the person in front of them to get moving before they get around to it themselves.
Also reaction times in general.
And obliviousness to other traffic. Though that's at least as much of a problem in Costco. Why wouldn't you park your cart there? It's not like anyone else is in the store.
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