Ladas and Yugos

[lance_s]

Walt wrote:

"Honda's are nice, too. But my 2005 Honda and my 2016 Camry look amazingly alike. Well over 50% of cars, to me, look like everything else. I"ve mentioned before that, up until around the 1970's, cars were different and it was easy to tell. Then, I remember a Ford commercial. "Our new Ford Foxtrak" looks just like a Mercedes." Now, why the hell would you want to make a car that looked like someone else's. Yes, I understand the thinking, "Gee, my car looks just like that Mercedes over there." But I personally would like my car to be unique. I'd like people to say, "Gee, look at that cool Chevy," than "Gee, that's a weird car. I wonder what it is?"

We all like different cars, for different reasons. You pretty much couldn't give me a Ford, lol. I grew up a Chevy lover, but have owned mostly Pontiacs. I didn't really start with foreign cars until I got my mother's 1998 Camry. I even had a 2008 Impala which was quite reliable. Too bad I had to rear-end that guy, lol."
---------------------------

Cars all look the same because of spline approximations.

I've owned more Fords than GMs and been happy with them, by and large. A friend of mine had 3 successive Cadillacs and had no end of problems with them.

When I lived in Africa, the most common cars were VW, Peugeot, and Opel, with a few Hillmans, Austins and Vauxhalls. MB if you were high end. Taxis were Datsun Bluebirds. The few American "boats" were rare and exotic. I remember drooling over the glossy car ads in the monthly National Geographic, wishing we could have one of those. Now I could probably get pretty much any car made by the North American car companies and wish I could go back to a Peugeot!

[mrwheels]

i don't drive a car but my inner alpha male like the detroit muscle cars of the 60's and 70's :)

[PeterL22]

Do you remember the Lada jokes?

How do you double the value of a Lada?
Fill it with petrol.

What do you call a convertible Lada?
A skip (dumpster)

Why do Ladas have heated rear windows?
To keep your hands warm whilst you are pushing.


etc,etc,etc!

[lance_s]

i don't drive a car but my inner alpha male like the detroit muscle cars of the 60's and 70's :)

I've never driven any of them. There is a lot of glitz and glamour to them, but my understanding (and I could be totally wrong on this) is that they did not handle very well. Very fast in a straight line but not good if you had to zig-zag.

[stickyvicky]

No one mentioned tata motors? They are hugely popular in other parts of the world?

[WalterB]

OK, Vicky, TheOldFool will bite. What is "tata motors?"

[WalterB]

Muscle cars are/were really cool. There IS a learning curve with something with massive power that relies on 4 rubber tires to keep it grounded.

[lance_s]

OK, Vicky, TheOldFool will bite. What is "tata motors?"

Tata is an Indian conglomerate. In India they are into just about everything - textiles, food, chemicals, iron and steel, computers, motor vehicles.

They own Land Rover and Jaguar.

Tata is the family surname.

[stickyvicky]

This story is fascinating, as is the man. I find it so inspirational. It's amazing most Americans have never heard of the company, but it's one of the biggest companies in the world.

[lance_s]

This story is fascinating, as is the man. I find it so inspirational. It's amazing most Americans have never heard of the company, but it's one of the biggest companies in the world.

If you want to learn more about the company's background and corporate philosophy, watch this:

[mrwheels]

is it ok if i just think of them as titty motors...its really close to motorboating

oh man i just realized i am in dire need of a lap dance when im thinking motorboating lol

[lance_s]

Seriously??!!

A search of car rental sites Wednesday showed a Kia Rio, a sub-compact car, going for $300 a day in Orlando, next week. On Maui, Hawaii, the only rental available next week is a Yukon for $500 a day.

[stickyvicky]

You must be kidding that's insane? What's going on? I even checked tampa and in low season here you can usually rent a car for $125 a week but right now it's 125 a day?!

[WalterB]

Where did you look? I checked 3 travel sites and cities. Then I went to Avis direct. In Tampa, the Camry was $300/day. In El Paso, it was $200/day. My travel sites weren't even showing Avis or Hertz. Only two unheard of companies. I saw a note on one site regarding Tampa that said my dates were sold out when I selected this week. When I selected next week, it said demand was High.

Same note for El Paso, but even $200/day? And I have no clue what might be going on here over April 5th - 9th. Are they giving them all to the illegals so they can get around? True HIGHWAY robbery.


.

[WalterB]

I went back to both sites later and both rates now showed from $50 - maybe $125. I have no clue what is going on.

[lance_s]

Where did you look? I checked 3 travel sites and cities. Then I went to Avis direct. In Tampa, the Camry was $300/day. In El Paso, it was $200/day. My travel sites weren't even showing Avis or Hertz. Only two unheard of companies. I saw a note on one site regarding Tampa that said my dates were sold out when I selected this week. When I selected next week, it said demand was High.

Same note for El Paso, but even $200/day? And I have no clue what might be going on here over April 5th - 9th. Are they giving them all to the illegals so they can get around? True HIGHWAY robbery.

Sorry, I should have said I was quoting CNN. I don't have any travel plans, so I wasn't actually looking myself.

But the thought did cross my mind that at those prices, its probably more economical to go to a used car dealer and make an arrangement to buy a car, and return it for so much within a week.

[stickyvicky]

Or just make your life easy and Uber everywhere you need to go.

[WalterB]

Sorry, Lance, I was commenting about Vicky's $125, when I looked and found $300 PER DAY! But, thanks for the info.

Vicky, that's the first thought I had. You won't catch me tossing out $300 a DAY for a car. I'd even take a taxi before that. But I have heard Uber rates have gone up, too. I would check first. I just checked again this morning for a car next week. TPA (Tampa Airport) was still showing $300, but El Paso (ELP) was normal ($50 - $100.)

[lance_s]

Or just make your life easy and Uber everywhere you need to go.

But remember - Uber pricing is demand based too. I've heard of people here being quoted $ 300 by uber to get home from downtown on new year's day.

I don't know ho much more uber drivers get paid when the rate goes up.

[lance_s]

Sorry, Lance, I was commenting about Vicky's $125, when I looked and found $300 PER DAY! But, thanks for the info.

Vicky, that's the first thought I had. You won't catch me tossing out $300 a DAY for a car. I'd even take a taxi before that. But I have heard Uber rates have gone up, too. I would check first. I just checked again this morning for a car next week. TPA (Tampa Airport) was still showing $300, but El Paso (ELP) was normal ($50 - $100.)

This has come about because when covid started the rental companies sold off fleets to reduce their inventory (and costs).

Now, (a) they don't want to invest too much in new fleets too soon, because the travel future is still not clear and (b) because of chip shortages, cars are just harder to buy.