November 30, 2009

Yesterday I wrote about cars or at least about my car stories. Today I will write more about cars.

It's a good subject, we all have cars and we all drive.

But now, I want to address the size of cars here in the US.

Last Summer when we were on vacation we rented a Hyundai Accent. The car was perfect for our purposes: to drive around the island, to go shopping, sight seeing and restaurants. Even our luggage fitted perfectly. It was a small car but it never seemed too small for us.

Yesterday we were driving here on a parkway and there was a Hyundai Accent front of us. I have to tell you that was one small car! I told my wife I never realized how small that car was. Maybe it didn't seem that way at the time we rented one because most of the other cars were small.

Just like with our 42" TV. In the showroom next to all the others it didn't appear large at all. But at home...

OK back to the cars. That little Hyundai goes a million miles with a tank of gas. It's economical for sure. All smaller cars are economical. In Europe we saw so many different brands, all nice and small and not gas guzzlers.

So, why we are not happy to drive these smaller cars here when we could save a bundle on gas?

For two reasons.

One for status. People have the tendency to look down on a person who drives a small car. Like a Ford Focus or a Hyundai Accent or any other brand. Except maybe a Ferrari, but then there are not too many of those around here.

The other reason is safety. You drive on the highway with all these 18 wheelers going 70-80 miles per hour bearing down on anybody in their way, their draft practically blowing any smaller car off the road. It doesn't give you the safe feeling it should.

I drive an SUV. A few years ago I was driving home on the New York State Thruway in very heavy traffic. It was stop and go for a long while. At one point someone stopped dead front of me so I also had to step on the brake.

Well, the car behind me hit me in the rear fairly strongly. You can imagine in the middle of the Thruway this was not a very comfortable situation. We both got out of our respective cars and surveyed the damages. The other car was a small Subaru, mine was a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The result of the survey was that my car didn't have a scratch however, the other car's front rolled up like a sardine can. He couldn't drive it because the engine was also damaged.

This story was just to underline the fact why larger cars are or at least give you the feeling of safety.

This is a huge country. People drive enormous distances. While in Europe one travels through six countries and languages and cultures, here doing the same distance we are still in the same state.

We all want to be in a car that we feel will protect us in case of danger. I firmly believe cars have souls. If one is good to his car it will protect its owner in return.

That's why I always say "good morning" to my car so it wouldn't get a hissy fit later.

November 29, 2009

I love to drive. I have been driving for over 40 years and still love it. When we had our first car we used to go out on weekends and just drive around. I told this to a friend of mine who already had a car. He was smiling. He said give it a few years and you would be fed up with it. But I still enjoy it.

Here are a few funny occurrences that involved cars.

In the 1960s we were in Europe. While there we rented a car. The car happened to be a Renault sedan. While driving it started to rain. Naturally, I turned on the windshield wipers. The wipers made one swoop then stopped. Later made another swoop and stopped again. It kept doing this the entire time while it rained.

I had no clue why it was doing this. I was convinced I got a car with a broken windshield wiper. At that time I never heard of intermittent wipers. At least I didn't have it on my car in the US. Fortunately it did not rain again so I never had to deal with those "broken" wipers.

Another time I rented an Opel at a European airport. The car was cool, all equipped and I really liked it. The trouble was I didn't know how to open the trunk (or boot). I tried everything with no success. I asked a nearby taxi driver thinking he might know. Had no clue. Jiggled the key back and forth and eventually it opened. Days later I read the manual and found out how easy it was.

Another time I rented a similar car. This car was with manual transmission which I really like. The funny thing with manual transmission is that Reverse is in different positions with different cars. Fortunately with this car we didn't have to go reverse because I couldn't find the correct position. Well, eventually I did find it on my own and we were able to park easily.

A few years ago on vacation we rented a small Toyota. Got to the hotel and found that I didn't know how to lock the car doors. They were not electronically lockable. I tried everything with no success. That night the car remained open.

Next day we went back to the rental place and sheepishly asked to be shown how to lock the doors. Once it was shown I realized I wasn't stupid. The way it worked couldn't be figured out by anybody who never drove a Toyota.

I used to drive cars equipped with manual transmission. I liked them. Heavy traffic never bothered me. It's interesting that in Europe a rental car with automatic transmission cost more than standard shift. Here in the US one has to look through a magnifying glass to find a car with standard shift.

Forget about renting one but even buying one is difficult. They charge extra for the automatic transmission but if you want the standard shift they look at you like you are having two heads.

There is nothing more embarrassing than stalling a car on the road for incorrect shifting and right behind is a little old lady blowing the horn impatiently.