#econobox

[kply-industries]

The liberty of a convertible geo metro!

[randowrites]

Econobox Philosophy

The disposition of the common econobox owner is one of responsibility and frugality. They are likely to minimize activities such as their water use and to follow new technology they could leverage to both decrease their carbon footprint by the pound and their overhead costs attributed to survival. It may seem trivial to some, but pound for pound, some day it will be worth it. By continuing to track  their progress and assess their activities impacts on the surrounding environment, their efforts will compound. In the short term, these efforts may seem excessive, however their preferences over the long term can contribute to formative change.

Thank you randomwordgenerator.com

[seat-safety-switch]

Some cars have a very loyal following. Mustangs, for example, are owned by people who really like Mustangs. You might not think that this kind of loyalty is unusual if you also own a Mustang. Consider the following: does Aunt Ethel get super frothy on the internet about her Hyundai Elantra?

You can find groups of folks for any car, thanks to the almighty oddball-collecting power of the internet. Only something special will produce the real perverts. Real perverts like my neighbour, who only drives Saturns. Hold on, my phone is ringing.

"Not just any Saturns," he wants me to add, because he has somehow sensed that I am talking about His Brand and wishes for me not to impugn his reputation with the Saturn fanboy squad, "only the real ones. No Ions."

In case you are unfamiliar, Saturn was a sub-brand created by GM to take the fight to the imports. Rather than make their existing cars better, they instead spent billions of dollars producing an entirely new series of cars that then competed with those cars. They were made out of beige plastic, had zingy four-banger engines, didn't immediately fall apart, and were therefore just different enough to give their owners a superiority complex. Uniqueness plus smugness: a winning combination for conspicuous consumption. If you own one Saturn, statistically you actually have seventeen. People got rid of their first Saturn, went back to the dealership, and bought an identical car when it was time to upgrade.

So what happened to Saturn? Well, they got boring. General Motors came back and demanded that they instead build the same car as everyone else, but with a different logo and fenders on it. Save costs by using all the same cheap-ass parts. Perhaps you are familiar with this technique from all the other cars that GM failed to defeat the import menace with. As soon as this happened, all the uniqueness came right out of the brand, and the frothing-at-the-mouth loyalists instead hoarded even more Golden Age econoboxes.

"Stop typing about the Ion so loudly," now barks Ted, who I think worked for the government at some point. He then went into a tirade about how it was actually the sub-prime housing crisis that destroyed Saturn, and how if only everyone would only use Saturns as currency, this could all have been avoided, but conveniently that model of economic theory would make Ted the Saturn Guy the new king of the world, so I hung up. I'd heard this theory presented many times on CNBC and I recommend you not give it any credence, either. Still, to be on the safe side, I think I should probably buy two or three SC2s.

[identifying-cars-in-posts]

What would you say is a great starting car for someone who just got their license

toyota corolla, hands down. you really can’t go wrong with a corolla, cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, forgiving, reliable. even the “bad” years of corolla are leagues ahead of most of the rest of what’s out there

the same honestly applies to the toyota camry, honda civic, and honda accord. if you just need a basic point to point first car that’s what you should keep an eye out for

if you need something with more space, check out honda crvs and toyota rav4s. toyota tacomas, chevy s10s, and ford f150s are good if you need a truck. if you want something sporty get a mazda miata, acura integra/rsx, or maybe a toyota celica

i’m basing all this on how cheap they are, how cheap they are to maintain, how easy they are to get parts for, and how reliable they are. im also based in the US so that’s the market im familiar with. obviously individuals of any of these models might have issues, a car is only as reliable as it’s been well maintained, but all the above generally can take enough abuse to where even slightly neglected ones can still go for really high mileage

when in doubt though, toyota will rarely let you down, especially their econoboxes. corolla, tercel, echo, yaris, all great little cars that’ll go forever and cost next to nothing

[hileynoteson]

Going 110 on the freeway blaring caramelldansen on max volume in my econobox with the windows down and the engine going VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE as it struggles to keep going this speed like god intended

[ned7-what-now]

early 2000s japanese econoboxes my beloved

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

Rated PG-13 for strong violent content and disturbing material

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2023/11/review-hunger-games-ballad-of-songbirds.html>

Score: 3 out of 5

The Hunger Games was my jam in my college years. Even being just a bit older than its target demographic of teenagers, it was a series of books that I readily embraced as an antidote to the big young-adult literary sensation of my own high school years, Twilight. No sparkly vampires or Mormon abstinence messages here, no, these books were dark satires about teenagers forced to kill each other, like an American version of Battle Royale or a post-apocalyptic version of The Running Man, and what's more, they were actually shockingly well-written. Even if you were the kind of guy who'd never otherwise pick up a YA novel, there's no denying the appeal of that basic premise. And then came the film adaptations, which ranged from good to damn close to classic, even if splitting the last movie into two parts was kind of a dumb idea, and all the commercialism that got attached to the series was quite ironic given the messages in the books. It's those messages that are the big reason why I'm still nostalgic for the series today, long after the YA dystopia boom has passed us by. Suzanne Collins may not have been a subtle writer, but she was a smart one, and her books, for all their pulpy sci-fi flair, were fundamentally about how difficult it is to organize a revolution against even the most obviously unjust system, and how people you think of as allies may in fact have very different goals that stand opposed to your own -- a lesson that a lot of young people raised on the series and other teen-lit wastelands had to learn themselves as they organized against real-world injustices later in the decade.

Naturally, with the 15th anniversary of the original novel having recently passed us by, somebody decided that the time was right to revisit it. Three years ago, Collins, after having held off for years, wrote a prequel novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (a title evocative of the trend of epic fantasy novels that took over YA literature after the sci-fi dystopia boom), about the main villain of the series that explored his youth, the early years of the titular Games, and how they intersected to turn him into the bastard he became. I haven't yet read the book, but if the movie is any indication, I want to. It's a big and bloated movie that I thought could've stood to be trimmed down in some places and padded out in others, but it's one that boasts a star-making performance from Rachel Zegler as its heroine, an interesting new twist on its series' setting, and the same thoughtfulness that elevated the original trilogy above its peers. It had my attention from start to finish despite its length, and I'm not at all disappointed by my return to the world of Panem after all these years.

Set about 64 years before the events of the first book/movie, this one is set around the time of the 10th annual Hunger Games -- which is to say, ten years after the "Dark Days", the brutal war between the Capitol and the Districts for control of Panem, the post-apocalyptic wasteland formerly known as North America. The Capitol won the war, but ten years on, the scars are still visible. The film's retro-period setting was designed to evoke the 1950s with the technology and aesthetics on display, and in practice, it specifically evokes '50s Europe on both sides of the Iron Curtain, a time when the British were still winding down their wartime rationing, the cars were tiny econoboxes, the soldiers carried G3 rifles and traveled in Unimog trucks, the new construction replacing the bombed-out ruins was mostly shit-ugly brutalist monoliths, the old elite sought to maintain an appearance of propriety by dusting off old prewar fashions, and the scars of the war were still fresh in the minds of the younger generations. It's how I imagine a post-apocalyptic world that hasn't completely forgotten 21st century science would actually look once it had the time to start rebuilding itself, retaining some elements of modern technology (color TVs, certain plot-relevant biological weapons) but lacking the means to rebuild past a mid-20th-century level of technology, infrastructure, and industry; that would have to wait for later.

It was a creative choice that highlighted not only that this film is a prequel, but also the continuity between Panem's history and what it had become in the original trilogy -- because if "modern" Panem is an exaggerated parody of 21st century Western society, then it stands to reason that "historical" Panem might resemble a similarly grotesque version of what that society looked like seventy years ago. The world of Panem has always been part of the appeal of The Hunger Games, and this film did a lot to flesh that world out, showing us not only what it once looked like but also, more importantly, how it came up with the sick idea of the Games in the first place and how it might have possibly thought it a good idea. Watching the prologue set during the war, it took no time to realize the deprivation that the citizens of the Capitol experienced, and how pissed off they probably were when they finally won their hard-earned victory and peace, the future consequences of such be damned. The Capitol looks down on the Districts the way that Europeans at the time looked down on their colonies, or the Soviets looked down on their "fellow workers' states" in the Warsaw Pact (above all else the German "Democratic" Republic).

If the film's aesthetics look backwards, however, then its themes look forward, specifically to the life experiences that a lot of the books' readers in the years after their publication. Coriolanus Snow was, in his youth, a student at an elite academy competing with 23 of his classmates for a university scholarship, with the recipient of the scholarship decided by having the students each mentor a tribute in the Hunger Games, the winner being the one who puts on the best show for the citizens of the Capitol. Again, Collins wasn't subtle, and neither is this movie. The students' struggles may not be as life-or-death as those of the tributes, but direct and obvious parallels are drawn from the start, highlighting how the Capitol's system grinds down even the children of its own elites and turns them into the worst possible versions of themselves as they compete for favor and stab each other in the back. We see Snow, initially motivated by a desire to provide for a family that lost everything in the war, slowly but surely shed his morals as he comes up with a number of what would become the Games' signature concepts (particularly making the tributes into celebrities) and develop a star-crossed romance with his mediagenic, hot-headed tribute, District 12's Lucy Gray Baird. I liked Tom Blyth as Snow, watching him transform from a naive but well-intentioned rich kid into somebody who's willing to throw everybody and everything around him under the bus to advance his own interests, such that, by the time he finally, triumphantly returns to the Capitol at the end (not really a spoiler in a prequel telling the villain's origin story), even his own dear cousin Tigris barely recognizes what he's become.

The real MVP in the cast, though, was Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray. Implied to have been thrust into the Games thanks to a corrupt mayor in District 12 and her getting on the wrong side of a love triangle involving said mayor's daughter, from the moment she made her grand "screw you" entrance I was immediately rooting for her. Zegler gave the kind of "star in the making" performance that Jennifer Lawrence had for Katniss Everdeen, albeit playing a very different sort of character who has to learn the opposite things that Katniss later would. If Katniss was an outdoorsy survivalist who the Capitol turned into a glamorous romantic figure, then Lucy Gray is a theater kid (specifically, part of a group of traveling musicians known as the Covey) who has to learn how to fight, but one whose charisma and presence become an asset, especially once Snow realizes their potential to sway the audience to her side. Zegler carried a lot of this movie on her shoulders, from her multiple musical performances (putting her background in musical theater to great use) to her being the one who initially forces Snow to confront the ethics of the Games, with the breakdown of their relationship marking the last straw in his descent into villainy. Mark my words, Zegler is going places.

The supporting cast, too, was filled with standouts. Viola Davis devoured the scenery as the loopy scientist Dr. Volumnia Gaul who helps design some of the Capitol's bioweapons, Hunter Schafer had a small but memorable presence as Snow's cousin Tigris who watches his transformation, Jason Schwartzman played the Games' host Lucky Heavensbee like a snappy yet flippant '50s game show host, Ashley Liao made Snow's rival Clemencia such an obnoxious and cocky jackass, and Peter Dinklage playing Snow's dean at the academy as basically Tyrion Lannister as a bitter prep school headmaster, but I'll forgive it because there aren't a lot of people who play "I drink and I know things" better than him. Josh Andrés Rivera in particular got a lot to do as Snow's friend Sejanus, somebody with roots in District 2 who, even after his family got rich enough to become citizens, never forgot where he came from and voices the loudest objections to the morality of the Games. When it came to the tributes in the arena, the film sadly didn't take a lot of time to flesh out the ones not named Lucy Gray, but there were still highlights like the butch District 4 combatant Coral, Lucy Gray's District 12 partner Jessup, and the District 11 guy Reaper whose scary name turns out to be not at all indicative of his personality. The action was up to par with some of the best scenes from Catching Fire, director Francis Lawrence having lost none of his touch since the last time he worked on these films, with the bloodbath that opens the Games in particular being a hell of a one-take action scene shot largely from Lucy Gray's perspective.

Where this film ultimately let me down was its structure. It is a big movie, and there eventually comes a point where it rapidly shifts gears into something completely different, pulling Snow out of the confines of the Capitol and out into District 12. And if I'm being honest, it felt like a completely different movie from the one I'd been watching until then. It was still a good movie and an interesting story, but it felt like a whole new chapter of Snow's life where the problems he'd encountered in the first two acts, while still there, got pushed into the background as new characters and problems were introduced and Snow got sucked into the personal drama of District 12's inhabitants. I would've liked to see another scene of him interacting with his friends and family back home and keeping tabs on what's going on in the Capitol, as well as, more importantly, an scene or two in the first half of the film establishing some more of the people in Lucy Gray's life before she's chosen as tribute instead of throwing all of them at us in act three, especially given how it's all but stated that some of this drama was why she wound up in the arena in the first place. It would've been a minor change that likely would've added only a few minutes to the admittedly long runtime, but it would've alleviated a big problem I had with the third act of this movie, suddenly being asked to care about people I'd only just met knowing that there isn't a whole lot of movie left and there isn't much time to flesh them out.

The Bottom Line

This movie has a lot of, well, movie to cram in, and I'm not sure it entirely stuck the landing, but overall, it's a welcome return for a series I love, elevated by an outstanding lead performance by Rachel Zegler. Whether you're a diehard Hunger Games fan who was one of the first to snatch up the book this was based on the day it came out or a total newbie to the series who only knows it from memes, I recommend this movie.

[powerrcp-g3]

After the Bandito has been banned from purchasing Japanese and European cars by the Gran Turismo Council for his aggressive driving behaviour and cheating tactics, he decided to buy an American car to start out the game with. The idea is based on How to Win Races in Gran Turismo 3 with only American Cars and I wanted to expand the idea further in Gran Turismo 2 by trying to beat the game by only using American cars. I will start out by racing in a econobox and then working my way up to the bigger and more powerful muscle cars. What kind of muscle car would I get in the 2nd part? Tune in to find out!

[cars4starters]

Forward-looking Ford scratches Puma News that Ford has decided to ditch its Puma SUV, or at least the petrol version — is hardly surprising. We can’t remember seeing a single, solitary advertisement for this car, let alone driving one of the tiddlers, which suggests Ford Australia and its dealers had little appetite for the econobox. Launched here in 2020, Puma was a replacement for the small EcoSport SUV (which we did drive). “The fun-to-drive Puma is a new-generation compact SUV created for Australians looking […] https://cars4starters.com.au/forward-looking-ford-scratches-puma/?feed_id=30534&_unique_id=65c55e80de7cb

[cherycarchronicles]

A Review Of The Chery Tiggo 8 Pro SUV

An auto reviewer spent a week with the crème de la crème of the Tiggo SUVs - the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro.

In terms of design and overall appeal, Chery is indeed very different from what I've initially become accustomed to. This is no longer a basic econobox, but a crossover with a lot of bells and whistles. The Tiggo 8 Pro is a follow-up to the Tiggo 8 from two years ago, but the significant changes outside made it look like it's a completely new model.At first glance, the Tiggo 8 Pro definitely has a more upscale look than the standard Tiggo 8. There's a lot less going on now with its front fascia, while it's earned its own bling-bling with the “Sunshine Galaxy” grille that has those shiny rectangular elements and the diamond mesh first seen in the Tiggo 7 Pro.At the back, the revised taillights give somewhat of a European vibe to it with its faux diffuser and its two neatly-shaped functional exhaust tips. Compared to Chery's other models, the Tiggo 8 Pro is the only crossover that has the word C H E R Y spelt on it instead of the usual badge. Perhaps this is the manufacturer's way of saying that this is indeed their flagship model.When you look at it from the side, the Tiggo 8 Pro has a body shape that accentuates the added passenger and cargo room from the B-pillar onwards, which somewhat reminds me of how Hyundai did it with the third-generation Grand Santa Fe. Being the higher-spec model, the Tiggo 8 Pro also sports a panoramic glass roof like the standard Tiggo 8.While I'm not a fan of chrome, I really like how the katana-shaped trim adds to the car's luxury appeal and how it blends into those stylish 18-inch wheels. It's not out of place compared to those you see in car accessory shops in Banawe or on your favourite online shopping app, so kudos to Chery for coming up with a well-thought-out design for its exterior.Once you press the unlock button and finish the ensuing LED light dance, the Tiggo 8 Pro welcomes you to an interior you'll normally see in vehicles with significantly higher price tags. The standard Tiggo 8 had black leather, but the Pro's got more flair with the brown upholstery. It's a major interior flex, to say the least, and you might not want to put on dark-coloured window films for this one.Getting in and out of the Tiggo 8 Pro is a relatively easy task thanks to the low ride height and large doors for the first two rows. There are plenty of premium amenities in front like power seats with heating/cooling and memory function on the driver side, plus butterfly headrests like those seen in Range Rovers.The dashboard follows a three-screen layout – one for the instrument cluster, the other for the infotainment system, and the third one for climate control settings. The 12.3-inch instrument cluster has digits instead of dials for the speedometer and tachometer and can be configured through the steering wheel controls to get vehicle information like maintenance alerts and fuel economy figures.Meanwhile, the touchscreen infotainment system has Apple CarPlay, but it doesn't have Android Auto. Android users can opt for the QD Link, or just connect via Bluetooth. Other than that, the infotainment screen displays the 360-degree camera that comes in really handy when parking the large crossover, plus the settings for the driver assistance systems.All three screens have crisp displays, albeit with some very minor nuances in the language of the interface. While it's good that it still has toggle switches to control the A/C settings, I wasn't particularly impressed with the choice of material on the piano's black centre console. The unit I drove only had about 5,000 km on it, but it does get scratched easily. Maybe Chery can come up with a screen protector for it, or you know, do it the typical Filipino car owner way – not removing the peel-off plastic.The same goes for the placing of the wireless charging pad underneath the centre console, which is not so convenient for the front passenger. Placing it just between the auto brake hold button and the armrests, at the expense of the cupholder, could have made more sense, ergonomically.The second-row seats get their own A/C vents plus a single USB charger, and the centre armrests are equipped with cupholders. The panoramic glass roof extends all the way there and helps heighten the ambience. There's no driveshaft bulge in the middle as the Tiggo 8 Pro is front-wheel-drive, and there's plenty of headroom and legroom for my 5'9” frame.While the first two rows feel like first and business class, the third-row seats, like any other crossover in this segment, feel like economy class due to their limited head and legroom. Provided it has nice headrests and A/C vents on the side, the third-row seats are best left for children or smaller adults.With the third-row seats folded flat, the Tiggo 8 Pro easily swallowed our luggage and camera gear when we used it for a weekend trip outside Metro Manila. Loading stuff at the back was made convenient by the power tailgate and the low floor.The Chery Tiggo 8 Pro uses a 1.6-litre T-GDI (Turbocharged Gasoline Direct Injection) engine that puts out 43 kW and 290 Nm of torque paired to a 7-speed wet-type dual-clutch transmission. Our last review of the standard Tiggo 8 with the 1.5-litre turbo had adequate power for its size – now this one's more powerful. But it's not just about the power we're after, but how it drives.So how did it feel behind the wheel of the Tiggo 8 Pro?For starters, the Tiggo 8 Pro is a relatively big crossover, so don't expect a hatchback or a subcompact crossover-like agility with this one. Power is available on tap, but it's more of a smooth cruiser that's great for a relaxing and comfortable highway drive. Chery tuned the suspension more on the comfort side while remaining stable and composed towards bumps and road imperfections even at highway speeds. There's a very minimal effort with the steering wheel with how light it is, and the cabin is very quiet.I must admit I wasn't initially confident with the braking power of the Tiggo 8 Pro since it had a longer pedal journey compared to the cars I've driven before, but spending a few more days driving the crossover eventually got me used to it.The dual-clutch transmission feels smooth, though it could get jerky at times when you're trying to get going on an incline. A good hill hold function would fix that. I was also a bit surprised that there were only two driving modes – Eco and Sport, which leaves me wanting a middle ground between the two. Eco mode is great for saving fuel as it always wants to go to the highest gear possible and minimize revs, but at the expense of responsiveness when you need to kick down a gear when overtaking. On the other hand, the Sport mode really holds the gears to maximize power, but of course, that means you're sipping more fuel than normal.Speaking of fuel economy, the Tiggo 8 Pro's figures are what you would expect from a typical large crossover. I did 8.3 km/l in the city and 13 km/l on the highway. But with its fuel tank capacity only limited to 51 litres, you'll see the gas gauge going down faster than what the numbers suggest. Perhaps Chery could have fitted a larger fuel tank for the Tiggo 8 Pro, as the crossover really felt great to drive on long-distance trips.When it comes to its advanced driver assist features like autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and motorcycle alert, it's been configured to keep you very safe, but perhaps perform too sensitively. The car would turn its hazard lights on for every passing motorcycle which is good, but it can get bothersome at times. Not to mention, the lane-keep assist could use a bit more refinement. A software tweak or update could probably address these.Chery's return to the Philippine market has been nothing short of a success as the entire initial inventory of the Tiggo 8 Pro has already sold out. It's a product of all the years Chery worked on their cars to step out of the shadows of their not-so-stellar past.With better consumer brand awareness, the warranty only sweetens the deal on the already attractive price tag considering the luxury amenities the crossover is packing. The Chery Tiggo 8 Pro is at the price point of base variant Japanese PPV-SUVs and within the range of B and C-segment 5-seater Japanese crossovers. And given its relatively minor nuances, the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro has all the makings of being a top contender in the compact or even midsize SUV segment.....Review compiled by https://www.autoindustriya.com/car-reviews/

[nahaskit]

Nfs shift 2 cdkey

#NFS SHIFT 2 CDKEY DRIVER#

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#NFS SHIFT 2 CDKEY DRIVER#

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[seat-safety-switch]

Earlier today, I witnessed a miracle. No, water didn’t turn into wine. Nobody walked on water. The bakery didn’t even start to smell like fresh-caught fish, which would be pretty gross if you think about it even medium hard. What happened to me was: I saw a Mazda MX-3 V6. Running, on the highway.

You might not think that this is remarkable. Those of you equipped with especially fast internet connections are probably opening up another tab to look at a picture of it right now. Any confusion you may express is understandable, as this car basically looks like any other early-90s front-wheel-drive sporty cough drop, such as the ST180 Celica (praise be upon it) or Ford Probe. What is interesting about this car are those last few alphanumerical digits: V6.

Generally, a V6 is a bigger engine. It’s got six cylinders, of course, and those cylinders take up a lot of room. In North America, it’s really rare for one of these suckers to be less than three litres in displacement, and as a result they’re super lazy, low-revving engines in the pursuit of smoothness. The old joke is that V6s combine the fuel economy of a V8 with the power of an inline four, and that’s not incorrect. V6s are a terrible, immoral engine. Mazda, however... Mazda has problems. Mazda, either because of legislative reasons or because of engineering bravado, decided to make the smallest V6 they could: just 1.8L. The pistons are smaller than a can of Coke, and I suspect the lowercase-c version of that concoction was imbibed of thoroughly during this engine’s development.

Now, this isn’t the smallest V6 on the planet. Mitsubishi went even more nuts and put a 1.6L into a Mitsubishi Mirage after this, just to prove that they could. It’s just the smallest V6 I’ve ever seen, and to hear its wasplike thrum at highway speeds, nearly thirty years after this little econobox hit the streets, was inspirational to me. I began to tear up as I watched him recklessly swerve across multiple lanes, his right turn signal hyperflashing the entire time as the shitty old Mazda daytime-running-lights module attempted to turn itself into ozone. They should have sent a poet.

[identifying-cars-in-posts]

Thoughts on Miatas? c:

there’s a reason they’re a go to for first enthusiast car. fantastic little cars! simple, fun to drive, great power to weight ratio! i’ve never driven one but i would love to, and i’ve had my eye on them while shopping for a new cheap car. i hate how expensive they’ve started to get though, drift tax is hitting them hard. i think they’re gonna be the next nissan s-chassis in terms of sporty econoboxes made expensive by the enthusiast market, wouldn’t be shocked to see beater miatas selling for like $10k within the next two years

[casebutt007]

Car trouble

So I had this car that I absolutely love literally besides my family my boyfriend my pets this car was me as a car It was so perfect It got good gas mileage It had enough room for a little econobox It was perfect

Until... It had been having electrical issues two batteries nothing wrong with them suddenly died and were reading as bad batteries Also I had a touch screen in the car and it would go white and my radio would turn off for a few seconds and then it would come back up like nothing was wrong sometimes my radio would reset I would have to change the time back to normal It was obnoxious but it didn't happen very often

So then my backup camera starts to go out It gets flipped over like a mirror and then it just doesn't work so my boyfriend and his dad took it apart they had to solder it open because it was in a sealed box nothing wrong with it put it back in it works perfectly fine so what the hell we didn't check the connector because we're smart.... And it worked sometimes and then sometimes it wouldn't work we thought maybe it was because I listen to my music too loud and the connector was finally starting to come loose because it's right next to the stock subwoofer in the back because my car came with a premium sound system with surround sound

Well that was a few months ago fast forward to last week and my gauge on my dashboard lost power That's not good thankfully it was not my speedometer because I would have been too scared to drive my car but thankfully later that night it regained the power and it was fine but that was the last straw my dad was like this car is unsafe this electrical gremlin in the engine is affecting bigger systems and that's not safe for you to drive

And I'm thinking oh great you want me to get rid of this car that I have had for 3 years It has been in two wrecks and I owe more on it than the tax value...GREAT!!!! So this past weekend I went to some dealerships and as expected they did not want to offer me anything near what I owe and in my head I'm like fuck I'm going to be paying $400 a month on a not new car and that's ridiculous or I can continue to pay 200 on a very not new car and possibly crash in the middle of the highway involving multiple other people and other vehicles and die a really painful death.... One guy actually even insulted my car I think he knew from the look on my face he was not going to be able to sell me a car that day

Also you have to know my extremely patient boyfriend with letting me drag him around to dealerships and listening to sales people all day and there's only so far that everyone's patients can go and he hates inconveniencing people so when I said hey let's try one more dealership he looks at the clock and he says hun they close in half an hour and I said no babe that clock is wrong they close in 20 minutes thankfully most of the time no matter how hair brained my schemes are he will go with me

So we walk into this dealership 15 minutes before they close probably closer to 13 but who's counting this come to find out amazingly desperate guy and his manager stay with me until about 10:30 to give me this holy crap deal on this basically new car... Come to find out they needed this sale to make their quota for the day so it worked out for me they gave me about 200 under what I owed and they dropped off a few thousand on the car so that I could qualify for a loan for this car now let me tell you if you crunch the numbers and go by what my car was valued because of the parts that had been replaced from the two wrecks it had been in and the value of this 1-year-old car with a few thousand miles on it they cut out about 5,000 or more dollars out of their side of the deal!!!!! Now I know this happens a lot on new cars because that's not really where dealerships make their money most of the time because they can give you really good deals on new cars but they really make a lot of money on used cars cuz they can buy them for so cheap But man did they bend over backwards and help me buy this car and I'm so grateful because I'm not driving a possible death trap anymore I am driving a nice sleek Phantom Midnight <3

And yes it has been extremely stressful getting rid of my baby but she was not safe and I'm learning to like my new car it's not my dream car by any means but it is the car that I need right now and yes my payments are going to be higher than the nice little 200 I was really comfortable paying But this car is still basically new and I can refinance next year and right now I have the budget to pay more than my monthly payments so that also helps

[tregomountainear]

More on Yugos

As I started getting the old Yugo back on line, I developed an interest in the Zastava lines (Yugos in their home country).  When I bought the little car, I paid $999 for a little car with 18,000 miles, and I classified it as a disposable car.  As it passed 60,000 miles with no significant problems – nothing ever broke that I couldn’t fix in a parking lot – I realized that the Yugo wasn’t nearly…

[izzyspussy]

tagged by @fearofahumanplanet to find the given words in my WIP(s). its words for me are student, lump, hospital, make, and econobox (hello?).

student

Turns out he's a college student who has been dating Jay's niece - who lives with Jay over the summers - for the last three months since the spring semester ended. A secular too, just like Fred had posited at breakfast, who likely would have no idea that the diamond in question is more than just a very expensive rock. He lives to the west from here, and from the diamond's home, in Little Italy.

from Curse The Messenger draft 1.3, currently 12k Kind of a boring paragraph, but this is literally the only instance of 'student' I have in any of the four WIPs I'm searching today.

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lump

hospital Can't believe I have not one but two IT fics in this search pile and neither of them has anything about hospitals. I also tried searching just 'hospi' to see if I had hospitality/hospitable/hospice or anything similar, and no dice.

make

"I'm sorry, Sands, man, that sucks so hard," Richie says, because there's not much else to say. He feels half guilty and half terrified. He should care more, he thinks, be more affected, more empathetic, more heartbroken. But all he can really feel is the distant, theoretical fear of what his life would have been like if he'd never gotten to meet her. He wonders if he should say that, that he's glad she's still here, that she makes his life better, makes him better, but it seems so self-centered he keeps it to himself.

from the idle wilds (IT fic), currently 4k

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econobox For this one I knew obviously I wouldn't find it exactly, so I searched just ' eco' to find anything that started with that. Turns out I don't have any of those either.

Oh, and for the record: econobox - noun; a small economical automobile with few amenities; a small or unassuming automobile.

I tag @silvertalonwritblr @lockejhaven @hauntedramblings @magic-is-something-we-create and @ellierenae. My words for y'all are using, high, trip, drug, and baby.