Ask HN: What type of relationship do you have with your car? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What type of relationship do you have with your car?

1 pointjessehorne3 comments

If you have a car, truck, motorcycle, or helicopter then, chances are, you use it to get around. I have a 2002 Impala which I purchased for $500. For me, reliable transportation was a necessity. Some people need a vehicle to commute to work and take care of other necessities, including entertainment.

Does your car run great? Have you ever modified or considering modifying it in any way? Do you maintain it properly? Do you change your own oil?

If I was hip enough, I'd call myself a "maker". I love tinkering with things, learning how they work and figuring out how to make things better and more efficient. I wanted better sound, so I learned how to install speakers, head units and amplifiers. Running wires can be painful! I wanted to improve performance, and have spent many many hours tinkering and reading. For me, my vehicle is a big project that keeps me learning and entertained, as well as "on time"!

What type of relationship do you have with your vehicle?

I have 3, to have different sizes, and I hate them all. I couldn't find anything good for sale. This is partly because I don't want a car that overrides me and collects data on me and ruins my night vision with a useless back-up screen, and it is partly because I have a 6'9" (206 cm) family member who limits my choices. Also I want my cars in bright yellow retroreflective paint, but that has never been an option. All mine are white.

5-seat Fiat 500L: It has headroom and can maneuver. On the other hand, it is slow to shift into gear when I hit the gas while stopped, so turning onto a larger busy road is difficult. I can't get by with a plain metal key; instead I have a pocket-filling blob that randomly deploys the key in my pocket.

8-seat Subaru Ascent: Every time I turn it on, I have to mess with the settings to ensure it won't randomly disobey my steering input. The dumb thing gets false alarms and then tries to crash me into something else. It would ram me into traffic in order to save me from a ghost. I do like the AWD, and there is decent power. I'd love to disconnect the antennas in this thing, and have seriously considered messing with the head unit to investigate that. I wish maintenance manuals were still widely available.

15-seat Ford E350 van with extended body: This holds 15 people, which is enough for my 12 kids. It is probably about 9 MPG. Parking is nearly impossible. The rear axle is way too far forward and on leaf springs, giving the vehicle terrible dynamic behavior.

My god, man! This was hilarious to read. It can be difficult to find the information you need, sometimes, for sure. I learned this when snipping off the harness that plugged into the factory radio on my Impala. I couldn't find out what the tiny pink wire was for even if my life depended on it. I ended up ruining an "accessory wire" through all this and couldn't figure out how to fix that, so I had to run another wire from the front all the way to the back. Lately I've been wanting to get into OB2/ECU stuff and see what sorts of neat things I can do with that.Do you really have 12 kids? Holy cow!

I have 12.

Nothing stops the people at Subaru from knowing this. They can use the cameras in the car to peer over my fence into my backyard. The car has a cellular network connection. I hate cars.

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