Hacker News Reader

Comment by _yb2s | Hacker News Reader

I honestly never quite understood this perspective or why it's so popular... in general I try to always find ways to do normal life things a little weird, or make it a little more challenging, fun, and memorable- and try to break up the routine drudgery. Even just getting groceries can be a fun adventure with my kid if we put the top down on the Porsche, play some music we love, and maybe go to a weird store that targets a different culture, or has weird surplus/unsold items.

Doing things 'weird' usually makes them cheaper and less crowded/faster as well- as a result of less demand.

View on HN

A significant chunk of the crowd here is very anti-car (to varying degrees), so I wouldn’t expect much sympathy if you’re the type of person that enjoys driving. I’d cut your losses in trying to argue your point…and go enjoy driving your car!

As somewhat of an old timer (turning 43), I remember the techie population seemed to overlap a lot with the car enthusiast population a long time ago. Nearly everyone at my first job (small startup) was a car nerd. A lot of engineering and tech goes into cars after all.

Somewhere along the way a lot of techies became very anti-car.

Cars have a lot of unpriced externalities. I see them as a necessary evil. I'd rather future generations had less pollution and more natural resources to enjoy.

There are plenty of other things to tinker with.

I feel the same as you about the awful externalities, but doing it anyway and refusing to enjoy it as 'penance' just isn't how I would want to deal with that. I really love driving, love the freedom of exploring things in cars, and love working on and fixing them. Instead, I work on sustainable biofuel tech- and even as a hobby use and test it out in my own vehicles.

Props to you for exploring some ways of mitigating the damage of your hobbies. I prefer EVs despite their increased road wear (at least compared to vehicles that haven't been super sized).

Having driven a lot in my youth, it's just not something I enjoy regardless. I'd rather spend the time and resources on other things. Even taking a longer bike ride to the store is preferred because it's exercise, almost everyone on the trail nods or waves back, and I know my choice is better for everyone in the community.

I also love cycling and engineless sailing- and see cycling as more practical transport around town, and cars for long distance recreational trips. In my lifetime I have put far more miles on bicycles than cars, as I’ve almost always had a daily bicycle commute to work. Sadly I no longer have a situation where bicycle commuting is possible, and miss it.

Yeah, I am about your age, and it is taboo in my work and social circle to even drive a sports car- I can tell most people I know see it as ostentatious, which I am annoyed by since I bought it for less than 1/10th the price of what most of them drive, and I find it fun, I don't care to impress anyone.

What if you have another kid and a wife?

At a certain level of utility/space, cars just stop being that fun. Well, until you get to the vans, those are fun in their own weird way.

I do have a wife, not planning on more kids. I'm a bit of a car nerd and have a bunch of older cars I maintain myself- including several that fit the whole family- all of them together costing less than a newer economy car. There are plenty of large cars that are still fun to drive. A Porsche Cayenne/VW Touareg/Audi Q7 can tow as much as a full sized truck, seat 5 in comfort, offroad as well as almost anything, and post sports car worthy track lap times- and you can get a nice one for 5-10 grand on Craigslist nowadays.

There are some fun weird vans. I've always loved the Toyota HiAce, Mitsubishi Delica, and other strange Japanese minvans with weird features like built in karaoke machines, beverage coolers, tiny diesel engines, and real truck 4x4 systems. Also love the old VW vanagons.

They used to run (tongue in cheek) ads for the Boxster with the slogan "The more kids you have, the more practical it becomes" and that it fits "Two child seats. Up front." There's some truth to that- if you have a large family you will likely have multiple cars, it can still make sense for one of them to just take two people for 1 on 1 activities.

I tow with my mk4 tdi all the time, it’s incredibly handy. A lot of towing is bulky stuff that’s not necessarily heavy. There’s still a time and place for a truck, or a full-size truck, but not for everyone.

Haha... weirdly, I've also done a ton of towing with MKIV ALH TDIs. They're absolutely excellent vehicles for towing, and hardly use any fuel while doing so. Sometimes it gets a lot of unwanted attention - especially at a boat ramp, because Americans don't expect cars to be able to tow like that.

When I was in Ireland for work, I saw that a huge fraction of the farmers use MKIV TDIs for their farm work vehicles- they're all over the place pulling huge trailers full of livestock and hay, and still using half the fuel of most cars that are unloaded.

I'll take the bait, what part of what you wrote makes it funnier in a Boxster than a Prius?

Funnier? I assume you mean fun?

I assure you there is no bait- it’s an example of things that would make an everyday chore fun to me, and needs no justification. I would suggest you do what would make it fun to you.

Yeah, as I'm boggled down in traffic on 30/50 kmh roads and sitting idle every two meters in Italy I would see no difference.

So I'd rather get the prius-like ergonomics and comfort.

I’m an outlier here but I especially prefer to drive a manual transmission sports car with good handling and lots of driver/road feedback in heavy traffic- as it’s a lot more engaging and easier to stay focused and not bored. I’ve heard the same from others with ADHD. The visibility and maneuverability is also helpful for avoiding potholes and other drivers mistakes. I’d still have a ton of fun driving even a Prius on a real track- but if driving through a crowded city I especially want a convertible sports car.

Not the OP. At the end of the day it’s just taste, right?

I use Linux, EMacs with vim keybindings and a dark color palette. Coding this way makes me feel good, I like the aesthetics. If they tried to force me to use Windows, and an IDE with a light color palette, I’d seriously consider quitting. It’s totally irrational, but it is what it is :D

Definitely a matter of taste- your dev environment sounds downright VILE to me ;-)

Haha!! Fair enough :D

You assume entire planet lives in Italy?

Of course cars suck in cities, but they are great in rural areas.

Where do you put the groceries in a Porsche?

The Boxster is mid-engined so there is no back seat, but a usable trunk at each end. The front trunk is takes up the entire space of a normal engine bay, and is surprisingly massive for how small the car is, because it is very deep.

Overall the Boxster is a surprisingly practical car- it was very cheap (cheaper than an old Prius of the same age) but now appreciating in value with age, can use a 3+ carpool lane with 2 people, is tiny so easy to park anywhere, and it is actually very reliable and low maintenance.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com