Just need to vent...

I think most of the problems I relate have to do with individuals who heard about (or have been encouraged to attempt) more advanced techniques without ever having mastered the basics.

I just try to park far away from the pull-through crowd because it's 50/50 whether it's a professional driver following corporate policy or an unhinged idiot trying something they saw once in a cartoon.

--

I'm starting to think it's time for electric power doors for full-size pickups.

Each of our cars got a good sized ding in it this week from random people who lost control of their truck doors.

So I'm hoping that FordChevyRam come to their senses and add 3/4 horsepower electric power opener/closers complete with proximity sensors, computer vision assist and gesture-based control systems. I figure it wouldn't add more than $10-12k per truck, which is peanuts on those things.

 

With the worldwide inflation and, most likely, a recession in America, (and insane gasoline prices) I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of smart car makers bring back small 4-cylinder bare-bones AFFORDABLE vehicles! I, still, think Toyota made huge mistake in 2005 when they "upsized" the Tacoma. Who were they competing with, Tundra? They should've left the Tacoma a smaller, economical truck and just added a 3rd option, if they wanted a mid-size truck.
I remember being in the doctors office when I was a kid, in the 70's, and reading a Popular Mechanics' magazine. It in, there was a full-page add for a brand-new VW Bettle...$1,995!

 

Why? It would be easier to invent 120-month auto loans.

People are still going to get what they want, and you can get financing on ripe bananas if you try hard enough.

 

It's the reason there are a lot of small 3 and 4 cylinder cars here in Europe.
High gas prices and high prices for cars due to taxes makes even small cars hidiously expensive.
You do see that no-nonsense brands like Dacia are doing great.

Ford had the Mondeo (Fusion in the states) with the 1.0 Ecoboost 3 cylinder.
There are other examples of even BMW's with 3 cylinder engines (and I am not talking about the i8).

 

3-bangers have come a long way. I'm really impressed with the Chevrolet L3T as featured in the 2019-up Malibu. I've rented a few and they drive great.

I don't like GM overall, but that car was high on my list of possibilities last time we bought a family car- we got a 2020 Mazda 6 instead.

But sedans like that are disappearing in the USA. Ford's done, Stellantis has announced sunset for the Charger/Challenger/300, and I think this Malibu is the one and only left at GM.

Mazda has since discontinued the 6, Kia killed the Optima, and Mitsubishi got rid of everything but the Mirage.

Hyundai, Nissan & the German makers are about the only smaller/more economical family sedans left. Can't be long for the Legacy, right?

Admittedly SUVs and crossovers have made MPG gains over time, but only relative to older SUVs, not modern sedans.

 

Smaller cars make great eco sense. I'm down in PR right now and its Corollas Everywhere. Some trucks and SUV's. Saw 2 Prius. Both Gen 2's and one Tesla. But being an island it doesn't make sense to have a big car unless you haul around a lot. For a commute where your top speed is 60 mph. (5o MPH is the max speed limit) The high end family makes $24,000 a year...so buying a car is A Huge expense for locals. But nice to see many smaller older cars on the road.

 

Well, that makes a customer list of one, at least .....
.

 

When I bought mine, my sister asked whether it actually had turn signals. She said that in England she never sees BMW drivers using them....

 

I've always loved the inspirational/motivational joke:

"No matter how useless you feel, or how stupid your job seems... Just remember, Somewhere, somebody is designing turn signals for BMWs."

 

That is a mantra I shall always live by.

-----

One of the challenges of driving my car is that I am nice, and let people in at junctions, or where lanes merge, and stop to let people cross the road. In the Prius, I'd flash my lights and people would move in, and wave to thank me. In the BMW, people don't believe me when I flash my lights. They think I am probably flashing to alert them to the fact that I am coming through and I am important in my opinion and they must not get in my way. I have to use hand gestures to wave people in ahead of me.

 

Sorry - I think this is just me being foreign. What is "pull-through" parking?

 

It presupposes a parking lot designed for two ranks of cars to face each other, multiplied by n rows.

Further, these spaces are divided by nothing more than lines of paint on the pavement; no wheelstops, curbs/kerbs or stakes to block any type of movement across the entire field.

The good practitioner of "pull-through parking" turns perpendicular to proceed into the parking rank, and then makes another 90° turn to enter a parking space. Rather than stopping with the paint line at the head; driver proceeds until the car has "pulled through" the space into the one ahead to arrive at a nose-out position on the opposite travel lane.

When done correctly, the car is nicely centered in the parking space and pulled just far enough through to allow ordinary utilization of the space behind it.

In practice:


There is NO exaggeration in this claim.

And when I say there is none, I mean there is a certain amount.


Legalities from a Canadian viewpoint.
As if that mattered, eh?

 

Pull-through

 

This should be a watermark on every page on the Internet.

 

Ahhhh. Thank you! I don't think we have a word for that. It's just a thing people sometimes do.

But people very much park within the lines here. You would be a social pariah (or someone who drives a giant American pick-up truck, which is pretty much the same thing) if you were to do the sort of thing you've shown in that picture.

---

What I do find strange is that people in supermarkets and DIY stores and stuff often reverse into spaces rather than drive forward into them. Then when they've done their shopping, they can't get to the boot/trunk to put it in.

 

Right! my complaint is that many of my neighbors have become "pull-through enthusiasts" without ever having become "good drivers," probably because a youtube video advertised by someone with wildly contorted facial expressions told them it was important.

I do appreciate that they want to prevent pedestrian related accidents, I'm still just troubled that bad drivers are trying it at all to make up for other shortcomings.

 

I think most British and Australian readers would not think this had anything to do with driving. It sounds like a euphemism for something very rude and quite possibly illegal. I imagine this scene in a British pub.

"Hello, Clive. Good to see you. Pint?"

"Yes, please. An Old Speckled Hen. Where's Colin?"

"Oh, did you not hear? He's had a bit of a run-in with the Old Bill."

"Really? I had no idea. What did the Rozzers pick him up for?"

"You didn't know? Let's just say he's a bit of a pull-through enthusiast."

"Ooooohhh. Say no more: a nod's as good as a wink to a blind man. It's true: you can't tell just from looking at them, can you?"

It always just strikes me as a bit lazy. And that Canadian article you linked to made a good point: someone could be swinging into the empty space just as you "pull through". It does seem a bit dangerous from that point of view.

 

As an aside, I nearly always back into parking in "single lane" areas or in my garage. Was a firefighter in my younger years and habit stuck even though I no longer have to shave seconds in my "getaways."

 

Spaces here are generally pretty small. I do like a big parking space.