Where are the harshest places to own a car?

"cuts_off_prius" (cutsoffprius) 08/06/2015 at 14:10 • Filed to: None

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I mean places where you actually own a car and pay registration, insurance, etc., so Antarctica and Mars don’t count.

Personally, I would evaluate places by the following:

-amount and intensity of sunlight

-temperature differentials

-use of caustic chemicals (ie - NaCl rock salt)

-quality of roads

I personally think that the Midwest and Eastern parts of the US have some of the harshest conditions for owning a car. We get a decent amount of sunlight during the summer, less than the Southern US, but still more than Europe and parts of Asia get in general (well, at least here near Chicago). That can lead to fading of paint and other components, increased aging, etc. Not to mention the crazy humidity levels during the summer.

But that’s the minor stuff. The Midwest and Eastern US see the heaviest use of road salt, which we all know often leads to rust in cars that are older than, say, 8 years. Michigan and Ontario, Canada are notorious for heaps driving around with their undercarriages and fender wells completely rusted out, largely due to the additional snow resulting from the great lakes during winter (lake effect) which requires more snow plowing and use of rock salt. The Eastern US also gets a lot of precipitation and uses a crap load of road salt every winter. The Southern US, on the other hand, has a lot of cars free of any visible rust, but the cars in general have more fading of their paint due to the more intense sun (due to being closer to the equator).

The temperature differential. Places that are in the middle of a continent experience the greatest swings in temperature ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) and therefore have almost unpredictable weather. You can be sitting in a lawn chair soaking in the sun one day and the next day you have to shovel snow (true story). This translates to hotter summers and colder winters, which I’m sure can have an effect on a car, aesthetically and mechanically. On the flip side, the Pacific Northwest of the US and Europe experience consistent and moderate temperatures and lower amounts of sunlight and a lot of old cars in those places look like they came out of a museum.

Finally, the road quality. The Midwestern and Eastern US have some of the worst roads in the nation. Potholes galore. The freezing and thawing of the roads during the winter, combined with the use of rock salt and snow plowing really takes a toll on the roads. Bad roads lead to increased wear and tear on tires, suspension components, and basically anything that flexes.

This is why I think a lot of cars from the 90s still driving around in this region look like complete rubbish.

What say you?

Captain of the Enterprise > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:13

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Michigan

AM > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:14

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ON-FUCKING-TARIO!!!!!! Seriously, we have not so great highways, excess use of salt in the winter, temperatures that range from fuck-this-shit-cold to I’m-melting-hot, and some days experience a seriously intense sun.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:16

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I owned a car while living in Fairbanks, Alaska. Not easy at all! So, the Arctic most certainly counts!

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:16

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San Francisco, probably. It’s full of upper-middle class self-loathing communistical hippies, and the ones who aren’t flip cars for fun .

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:19

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Going the opposite way, I was surprised about a year ago to realize that Iceland is really pretty okay for cars. Not too terribly humid, limited salt use, moderate precip, temperatures that tend cold but not crazy, low sun intensity, and not much in the way of wild temperature swings.

Grindintosecond > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:22

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Buffalo NY eats cars. Not saying it’s the worst but I had a 97 S-10 in cherry shape that in seven years had to be replaced while there was still some value in it. The salt was ready to explode it’s guts out.

AfromanGTO > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:26

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South Beach on Miami Beach. The roads suck to say the least. I need a trophy truck to drive down the streets here, or weave like a drunk. While avoiding the drunk and/or high rich trust fund baby in a Lambo or G wagon. Plus they will tow your car if you even think about parking it near a business.

scoob > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:31

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All of the northeast.

Brian, The Life of > Captain of the Enterprise 08/06/2015 at 14:32

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Welp, we’re done here!

crowmolly > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:32

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See, you are sticking to force-of-nature stuff.

I’d submit Hoboken NJ purely due to human induced damage:

djmt1 > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:33

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Middle England. This is why Land Rover make sure all of their cars are great at wading through water. Have to be prepared for the annual floodings.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:41

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pretty much the entire great lakes region and the north east are hell on cars

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Captain of the Enterprise 08/06/2015 at 14:48

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More specifically Detroit or Wayne County

MultiplaOrgasms > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 14:57

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Aside from rust, the american northeast doesn’t seem that extreme to me. Not massively different from my region. How about a region where the temperatures are so low that the cars barely start in the first place? Where there is almost no infrastructure or road network whatsoever?

Alex from Toronto > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 15:11

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Ontario. Too much salt in the winter, potholes that never get fixed properly, and roads that are falling apart.

cuts_off_prius > AM 08/06/2015 at 15:31

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When I visited Toronto one summer I was outside all day doing touristy stuff downtown and it was like 85-90 degrees F (30-33 C) outside and really sunny and humid. I got so tan, I was actually surprised.

Tapas > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 15:57

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Singapore.

They will rape your pocketbook till you have nothing left.

AM > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 16:52

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The sun has been very intense here the last few years, you can catch quite a tan if you’re outside. It seems it gets hotter and more intense every year. The Toronto area literally has only 2 seasons now, winter and summer. I think the average temp for the July had to have been like 40 C with the humidity.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > cuts_off_prius 08/06/2015 at 17:50

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Here
(North-Eastern US, South-Eastern Canada.)

911e46z06 > cuts_off_prius 08/07/2015 at 18:52

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Southern Baja. No doubt. A million degrees, dry as hell, always within a few miles of an ocean, impossible to get parts and supplies. I wish I had a picture of the old Blazer my dad used to keep down there. It had a billion rust holes in it that my dad filled with foam-in-a-can. Pretty excellent.