"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
12/26/2014 at 20:11 • Filed to: Rants
2
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"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
12/26/2014 at 20:11 • Filed to: Rants | 2
| 14 |
I really hope this is just somebody's work van, but judging from the full compliment of seats in it, I'd say somebody is actually driving their kids around in this death trap. These vans had HORRIBLE crash ratings when they were new. All of the old GM minivans I see around here, have the rocker panels rusted away. So what little structure was in the unibody to begin with, is now completely compromised. This van, with the door already smashed on this side, will fold up like a can of beer in an accident. The rust on the other side was even worse. It makes me mad when I see kids being driven around in death traps like these.
Extra sad points were awarded to this driver, because they were parked outside of a video poker "salon".
dogisbadob
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 20:22 |
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nice Corolla
Steve in Manhattan
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 20:42 |
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It's astonishing what some major car brands still get away with ... if I had to buy a car now (a normal car, not a dream car) I'd want Saab/Volvo levels of safety. I don't even know anymore how well or poorly the Germans do, but I'm guessing the S-Class is still at the top of the heap regarding safety. Tried (and still trying) to get mom to dump her '98 Malibu and get a Civic or Corolla with side-curtain airbags (boring, but perfect grandma cars). She loves that Malibu though.
gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 20:43 |
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I drove a Venture at work the last three summers. It wasn't in great shape, but it still was better than the Caravan we also had. That said, the Venture got really spooky if you got it up past 70 mph, as though something wasn't quite connected in the rear suspension. I didn't dare take the Caravan up to highway speeds because the tires were so terrible.
Considering I worked for a government agency, those vans were shit. Actually, wait... they were driven by government employees who couldn't even figure out why their turn signals blinked faster in one direction than the other (0r that they could take it to the fleet's mechanics!!) until I came along. No wonder they're shit...
jkm7680
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 20:45 |
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There's so many of them where I live. Tons of shit Odyseeys, Caravans, Astros. Ew, they're horrid.
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shop-teacher
> Steve in Manhattan
12/26/2014 at 20:55 |
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I managed to pry my mother-in-law's '98 Malibu away from her a few years ago. She stopped driving (actually, now she's stopped leaving the house completely, but that's another story). It only had 40k miles on it, so I managed to get her $4k for it.
GM has gotten a LOT better about safety. My '11 Malibu was a lemon, but I've seen the crash test videos of them, and they are tanks.
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shop-teacher
> gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
12/26/2014 at 21:03 |
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At the last school district I worked in, once a year in the summer, I had to load 3-4 kids into a beat-down, never maintained '98 Venture, with original dry-rotted tires (this was '07-'09), and drive them 1200 miles round trip to a competition in Kansas City. It's nothing short of a miracle that we never broke down. The last year I did it, I refused to go until they put new tires on the vans. They put tires on ONE van.
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Steve in Manhattan
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 21:03 |
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Funny both moms had the same car. Was is forest green like my mom's? And yeah - she just turned 82 and keeps her driving to a minimum. And as for mom not leaving the house? I had pretty severe agoraphobia in 2006, which has been tamped down to minor agoraphobia today. I understand what mum-in-law is going through.
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shop-teacher
> Steve in Manhattan
12/26/2014 at 21:12 |
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Hers was brown.
She's not afraid to leave. She broke her hip almost two years ago, and refuses to do her physical therapy, so she can't stand or walk very well. It's gotten to the point that she can no longer get into her the father-in-law's Equinox.
I hope your agoraphobia continues to improve.
signintoburnerlol
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 21:13 |
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We have a '12 Chrysler town and country , we had an 'o5 one that was pretty scary. Front brakes went out on me during a exit ramp into a work zone, then into an intersection.
The only thing i can complain about the Town and Country is that the OEM Yokohama AVID R33's are a really mediocre handling tire. They aren't bad...but i just can't wait to get rid of them. Treadwear is pretty crap too.
ranwhenparked
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 21:20 |
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That looks like the crap you see in upstate New York. Some of the cars are really scary, like to the point where you can see the back of interior trim panels through the rust holes.
I doubt any pickup more than 10 years old still even has an intact bumper, as opposed to bits of iron oxide held together with a plastic trim piece.
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shop-teacher
> ranwhenparked
12/26/2014 at 21:45 |
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Yeah, I'm in the Chicago area, and it's pretty much the same. My 8-1/2 year old truck's bumper is still totally solid, tough!
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Steve in Manhattan
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 21:50 |
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It does, thank you.
My mom has kidney disease that's only getting worse. She finally got a port that worked on the third try, but now she's making excuses because once you start dialysis, you're there for the duration. She needs to start, but she presented her December excuses to us in November. We'll see what the new year brings.
HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> shop-teacher
12/26/2014 at 23:03 |
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maybe it's just driven by a weird old dude. When I was selling car I actually sold a rust ass Tran Sport to an older single guy, probably in his 70's. Who just wanted something to drive in to winter and something to haul shit, or his drinking buddies with. he actually said "Me and all my driniking buddies have either two door sports cars, or regular cab trucks, so if we want to go bar hoping we have to take three or four cars, now we'll all just hop in the van."
also his other car was a 2005ish Toyota Solara that he called his "little red hot rod" but I think he said that as a joke because he also told me that in his twenties he built and raced a MG MGA with a chevy 350 (or some American V8 i don't really remember) in it.
(not his car)
Also the only redeeming thing about those vans is that they are SUPER easy to see out the back off.
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shop-teacher
> HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
12/26/2014 at 23:07 |
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I truly hope that it was driven by some weird old guy!