What grinds your gears?

[Learjet45]

I hate this too, but this is everywhere man. Though I admit, CO has some of the worst drivers I've ever seen. I think it's because CO has so many people come here from other states...like CA and TX...which are especially bad I learned to drive in TX and my driving instructor even said it was alright to do this...

My driving instructor said not to feel pressured into doing it. He said it doesn't matter if they are 1cm away from your bumper and honking like there's no tomorrow, you are under no obligation to enter the intersection and wait. If you have time while the light is green, you will have time. If not, deal with it and wait for the arrow.

You (in this case, you does not mean you personally ranger, but just you anyone in general) may like to do that, but I hate doing it, and I will not enter the intersection and wait.

[erod550]

My grandpa never entered the intersection either when he still had his license.

[SecondGenPAt]

My driving instructor said not to feel pressured into doing it. He said it doesn't matter if they are 1cm away from your bumper and honking like there's no tomorrow, you are under no obligation to enter the intersection and wait. If you have time while the light is green, you will have time. If not, deal with it and wait for the arrow.

Curiosity has gotten the better of me..

Did your driving "instructor" (as we'll refer to them) teach you:
-Hand over hand when turning?
This is incorrect, you should never have your arms crossed

-10 and 2? Try 9 and 3 if you want more control

-did they show you how to adjust your mirrors correctly?
If you can see your car from your side mirrors while in the driver's seat, they are not adjusted correctly

-did they stress the importance of look where you want to go, or do you still drive over the bonnet?

-They taught you to turn into the first lane when making turns right?
not go wide into the 2nd, or 3rd lane...

-you know how to control a FWD, AWD, and RWD in adverse conditions and how each one reacts to driver inputs right?
Think i hear crickets..

-Your instructor taught you to check tire pressures before you drive somewhere right? Oh, and where to look for the correct pressures?
......................

Now, this was not in anyway an attack against you John, but a rant of how pitiful and useless driving "instructors" are in this country. They can barely control their Camry and yet their responsible for teaching new drivers.....

I'll go ahead and make this offer to you:
Come winter driving with me this year in my F-150 and your Boulder Camry so you can learn some basic car control skills to be an actual safe driver.
If I have my 3 series operable by winter we'll do some winter driving in a stickshift RWD

[erod550]

I'm looking forward to some winter driving in a stickshift RWD (the Miata, the Mustang will stay snuggled in the garage). Thankfully I don't have to commute to Denver this winter. And I like to turn off the Traction/Stability control in my wife's Impreza (Boulder Corolla?) and go do some snow drifting. Even though it's way underpowered it's still a lot of fun.

[erod550]

When you're watching a show and the people making the show have absolutely no idea whatsoever about cars. I was just watching a show where the main character got a 10 year old V6 Mustang convertible which can be had for less than 7 grand. And then everyone was fawning over it and he was all "Let's see what this baby can do." It can do nothing, absolutely nothing. It's slower than a new base model Taurus FFS. Even the V8 Mustangs from the 99-04 generation were slow, but the V6s were pathetic, yet TV shows still treat them like the muscle cars they wish they were.

[SecondGenPAt]

2:25 a.m. Dude! go to bed.

[chickenwafer]

When you're watching a show and the people making the show have absolutely no idea whatsoever about cars. I was just watching a show where the main character got a 10 year old V6 Mustang convertible which can be had for less than 7 grand. And then everyone was fawning over it and he was all "Let's see what this baby can do." It can do nothing, absolutely nothing. It's slower than a new base model Taurus FFS. Even the V8 Mustangs from the 99-04 generation were slow, but the V6s were pathetic, yet TV shows still treat them like the muscle cars they wish they were.

+1 to this! What show was this?

I saw some show on SPEED when I was bored the other day during daytime TV and it was about who has the "coolest car" or some BS. I always hate these shows because "cool" is highly subjective and that's why we have muscle cars, imports/tuners, 4x4 off roaders, lowriders, hydraulics, sound competition cars, etc.

Anyways, the show pits 4 people with "modified" cars against each other and they all check out each others cars and then give them scores and whoever has the highest wins. Some of the cars are downright hilarious.

In the particular episode I watched, there was this girl who had a Pontiac Solstice GXP (factory turbo). She wouldn't shut up about how fast her car was...um, not really. And then she bragged about the turbo like she installed it herself, and it was a factory option! The only performance upgrades she had (using the word performance loosely here) was a BOV and an air filter. Then she had some cheap Discount Tire brand wheels and a pink "swoosh" decal down the side of her car, and that's it.

How is that car "modified"? My daily beater '90 Protege is more "modified" with it's Enkei wheels, Falken tires, Mazdaspeed struts and PedoBear sticker. Come on people.

In the end, I have come to the conclusion that I hate nearly every car show there is, except for Top Gear UK. I suspect I would enjoy the Australian version but I haven't seen much. Top Gear USA is growing on me but I still don't like it much (mostly because I hate....no loathe....Tanner Foust and how he reminds me of prepubescent little girl, and Adam Ferrara is a wannabe car-guy), so in conclusion, most shows about cars do in fact suck.

[erod550]

It was on the HBO original series Hung.

I also have a Facebook friend that I knew in high school who has a 2005-ish V6 Mustang with Lambo doors, fake hoodpins, louvers everywhere. When I got my Mustang he tried to act like we were together in some club or something. I didn't want to be an ### so I just let it go, lol. He's very proud of his car and who am I to take that away from him. We all have different tastes.

[kingtut]

(updates Tanner Foust FB Fan Page...)

What? What?

[erod550]

Expanding on the bad driver theme from the last page or two, people who stop in right turn yield lanes, like all up and down Powers. You have a merge lane that's 1/4 mile long, plenty of time to get up to speed before trying to merge, yet so many people will stop like they just pulled up to a stop sign or a red light and wait until no cars are coming at all, even if it's just one car in the far left lane.

Could just be expanded to people who don't know how to merge in general. Pain in the ###.

[SecondGenPAt]

^^^ this must be a Colorado thing. I have not seen those types of right turn lanes anywhere else I've lived. I'm still getting use to them, so don't honk at me too long

[Learjet45]

Curiosity has gotten the better of me..

Did your driving "instructor" (as we'll refer to them) teach you:
-Hand over hand when turning?
This is incorrect, you should never have your arms crossed

I was taught by my driving instructor during my behind the wheel training to never ever cross your arms while driving. They take a point off on the license test if you do this. I was told to slide your hands back if you need to turn the wheel more.

Curiosity has gotten the better of me..
-10 and 2? Try 9 and 3 if you want more control

I was taught to use 9-3, and I drive with my hands at 9-3.

Curiosity has gotten the better of me..
-did they show you how to adjust your mirrors correctly?
If you can see your car from your side mirrors while in the driver's seat, they are not adjusted correctly

Yes, they did. The first drive. I cannot see the sides of my car in my mirrors while in a normal seated position. I can see the lane next to me.

Curiosity has gotten the better of me..
-did they stress the importance of look where you want to go, or do you still drive over the bonnet?

I was told to pay attention to where you are going and keep an eye on all the traffic around you. Which I do. I don't just look at the front of my car, I look way beyond it.

Curiosity has gotten the better of me..
-They taught you to turn into the first lane when making turns right?
not go wide into the 2nd, or 3rd lane...

I was told to always turn into the corresponding lane, which is a better way to phrase it for double turns. Not necessarily the first lane (i.e. first lane is a turn lane, generally you turn into the first continuous lane).

Curiosity has gotten the better of me..
-you know how to control a FWD, AWD, and RWD in adverse conditions and how each one reacts to driver inputs right?
Think i hear crickets..

I did behind the wheel training in the middle of June and early July. There aren't many adverse conditions to test out then. They do offer a separate training course for such events though.

-Your instructor taught you to check tire pressures before you drive somewhere right? Oh, and where to look for the correct pressures?
......................

I did not actually check the pressures of the tires on the car I did the training in. But my first behind the wheel training class consisted of doing a check of the car before actually starting the drive, including but not limited to checking the oil and spare tire, and that 99% of the time, the tire pressures are listed in the driver's door jamb. That's where they are on my Legacy, and I know they need to be 33psi in front and 32 in the rear for my 205/50r17 tires.

Now, this was not in anyway an attack against you John, but a rant of how pitiful and useless driving "instructors" are in this country. They can barely control their Camry and yet their responsible for teaching new drivers.....

I'll go ahead and make this offer to you:
Come winter driving with me this year in my F-150 and your Boulder Camry so you can learn some basic car control skills to be an actual safe driver.
If I have my 3 series operable by winter we'll do some winter driving in a stickshift RWD

It wasn't taken as one, and I understand where are you are coming from.
I'd be more than happy to take you up on that offer. My parents never really taught me how to control a car properly in the winter. The most I really know is that if you start sliding (ie to the left like I did when I hit a curb on ice), you steer the direction you are sliding to regain control.

[Colombia28]

I got one that I'm surprised no one (I think) has mentioned. My gears grind my "gears." I hate the transmission in the MS3. It doesn't grind, not once, but it is notchy as all hell and can't in it's life give me two good notchless gear changes in a row ever. 1st - 2nd = notch no matter what I do. 2 - 3 = 60% of the time a notch. 3 - 4 = 50% of the time. 4 -5 = 20% of the time. 5-6 = 30% of the time. Scientific figures I promise The only thing aside from the inherent FWD problems (track only) I have with the car. Love my MS3!

[erod550]

I got one that I'm surprised no one (I think) has mentioned. My gears grind my "gears." I hate the transmission in the MS3. It doesn't grind, not once, but it is notchy as all hell and can't in it's life give me two good notchless gear changes in a row ever. 1st - 2nd = notch no matter what I do. 2 - 3 = 60% of the time a notch. 3 - 4 = 50% of the time. 4 -5 = 20% of the time. 5-6 = 30% of the time. Scientific figures I promise The only thing aside from the inherent FWD problems (track only) I have with the car. Love my MS3!

Do you have a short shifter and rear motor mount? They made a world of difference on mine. Loved the way it shifted after that. My Mustang on the other hand, don't know if you've heard about the issues with the MT82 but it ain't pretty. Very, very notchy, 5th will grind if I try to shift quickly into it before it fully warms up, the clutch sticks to the floor on high rpm shifts from time to time, if I downshift hard before taking a turn, the clutch pedal will often stay on the floor until the RPMs drop enough if I didn't perfectly rev match. Fun times, heh. But is really is only a minor drawback on an awesome car. Most of the time it shifts fine. It's just finnicky sometimes.

[GR-8]

......
-did they show you how to adjust your mirrors correctly?
If you can see your car from your side mirrors while in the driver's seat, they are not adjusted correctly.......

I don't know about this one. This seems really, really off to me. You should be able to see your car in like 1/3 of the mirror. If you can't to me your mirror is way too far out and your looking at the lane, next to the lane, next to you. It does not make a blind spot any worse or better but does give you another reference point in letting you know where you are in relation to everything else around you. Maybe that's why people get into accidents a lot because they trust their mirrors too much. I nearly always turn my head to check my blind spots for sure before switching lanes.

I got one that I'm surprised no one (I think) has mentioned. My gears grind my "gears." I hate the transmission in the MS3. It doesn't grind, not once, but it is notchy as all hell and can't in it's life give me two good notchless gear changes in a row ever. 1st - 2nd = notch no matter what I do. 2 - 3 = 60% of the time a notch. 3 - 4 = 50% of the time. 4 -5 = 20% of the time. 5-6 = 30% of the time. Scientific figures I promise The only thing aside from the inherent FWD problems (track only) I have with the car. Love my MS3!

I think I mentioned that a few years ago. They still grind my gears.