That is such a great story the man had about bringing his vehicle! He sounds very funny, too; lol. And yes; about the gas in Europe = it is HUGELY expensive there; and so much higher Octane than we have in the U.S. Our highest here is 89%; and in Europe the lowest I saw was 98%. My car and truck loved it; and ran faster and stronger than they ever had in their lives; but when I returned to the U.S. with them and they had to use the lower Octane gas again = they could barely run on it. I think they had become spoiled; lol.

What actually happened: The U.S. uses cheap gaskets that don't last; and the higher Octane gas just ate right through them. So when we returned; we had to rebuild both engines entirely = all new gaskets.




















That is so funny!!!

That is so funny about getting stuck between the buildings! I've seen the Escalade; it is an enormous monster-sized vehicle! It should be an RV by its size; it looks like a house on wheels, lol. I actually rode in one a few months ago when a friend took me for a ride in his. It was unbelievably comfortable; and when it got cold later the seat heated up = really nice! (but wouldn't want to pay the gas bill for driving it; not even here in the U.S. where the price of gas is so cheap! I am sure it doesn't even get 12 miles per gallon; maybe not even 9 mpg! )

I had to look up the Lincoln Navigator; had never seen one before! Dodge Ram Trucks though = very familiar with their Diesels! That is not a small truck either!

Actually I was wrong before, Dodge and Chrysler were here available in 90s completely normally, no need for import or anything. That's why I still see plenty of old Chrysler Voyagers, occasionally also Grand Voyagers, and rare Dodge cars like Journey and Durango - rare for our parts, that means. My neighbor was driving Chrysler Le Baron - that car was so awesome to look at, it was bright red. I remember that his now late wife got dementia very early, and he loved her so much, that he took her from the nursing home whenever he could, and was driving her around in this car with the sunroof lowered.



Subaru cars here are very rare, and if they are, they're mostly older models. Kia is very popular, there are quite some Volvos, but mostly older, if they're newer, it's SUVs. I remember when I was in Sweden around 15 years ago, we were staying in a town called Hörby, and in front of almost every house Volvo was parked.

Here the most popular are German cars - VWs, BMWs, Audis alongside French brands (Renault, Peugeot, Citroen) are by far the most common. Oh, and Škoda, although Škoda is actually VW from the Czech Republic. Every "third" car on our streets is VW Passat and that's a good enough reason for me not ever own one.

The only official US brand, which cars can be bought here without paying extra costs of importing, is Jeep. Well and Ford, but Ford Europe isn't exactly the same as Ford US, if I get it right. While Fords are common, Jeeps are very uncommon and also fuel-thirsty. A lot of Jeeps are converted to diesel by default, but even then they're thirsty.



OMG, what the hell is this?! Wait, it's made by Volvo?



I believe you - I always drive behind for a while if seeing some rare car and if I have a chance to talk to the owner, I do it. Once I saw an Oldsmobile in Croatia and I also talked to the owner, but I think that Oldsmobile no longer exists.

Your car look(ed) great, mALX, which brand was it?

No, that's a modification of a Volvo Duett or PV. It's what our youth can drive by the age of 15 without a driver's license and it's restricted with regards to speed.


Correction; it's supposed to be restricted...

Yeah, they're supposed to be restricted.

At least here, most of them are, which infuriates us. Especially on the motorway, where they're not supposed to be because of the speed limiter!

Argh! *shakes fist*

And if you ask anyone I know, gas isn't cheap in the US. Some states are on par with some European countries. I remember paying 70 cents a gallon in the 80s and early 90s.

Aw, I am so very sorry for your friend and his wife going through that. That Chrysler Le Baron was a gorgeous car; but very much trouble to maintain. The engine was sideways = an experiment by the motor company that didn't work out. They needed a full overhaul every two years.



Jeeps are VERY thirsty gas hogs. I think it is their shape = no aerodynamics at all; they butt heads with the wind in every way.



That was the Mitsubishi concept car called Mitsubishi Conquest TSI = mine was made by Mitsubishi in Japan and imported to the U.S.. The concept of this car was sold to the U.S. and became a "Dodge Conquest" when sold here. The Dodge one was a terrible imitation of the Japanese version. Dodge took all the stuff that made it great out of it just to give it a cheaper price so they could mass market it.

That car was amazing! I bought it used from the man who imported it to the U.S. He traded it in and I bought it eighteen minutes later = I fell in love with it immediately on seeing it; and cried when I eventually traded it ten years later. It was the best and most fun car to drive that I ever owned or drove. It never lost traction no matter how fast you drove or how tight the corners you took at those high speeds. It easily went to 180 on the Autobahn; and just cruised at 150 with the pedal only halfway down. I loved that car!

I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's a lot bigger than your 'standard' Jeep, but I believe it has the same engine and transmission. I get 20 miles per gallon, 22 if I am careful in how I drive. That is just a few less than I got with my Chevy Cobalt, which got 25 miles per gallon. The new 3.7 liter engines they have today, and the 8 speed transmissions, are really good.

My brother once had one of the older Jeeps from the 70s or 80s. The regular CJ7 style, that you automatically think of when you hear the word Jeep. That one got terrible mileage. I think he got 12 - 18 miles per gallon, depending on how he drove it.

Lol on the Tractor car!!!

On the gas = people in the U.S. who complain about the price of gas have never been to Europe. They don't realize how good we have it here on the cost of gas. Mostly it is because here they dilute the gas with Ethanol; so the cost is lowered; and even when it was pure we have always used really low Octane here (which lowers the price).


When I left the U.S. for Germany the gas here was running between 3.50 to over 5.00 U.S. Dollars per gallon depending on which State you were in.

The gas in Europe the whole time I was there was running over 5. U.S. Dollars PER LITER = so around 20.00 U.S. Dollars per gallon. The gas in France was even higher than Germany's; and the gas in Switzerland was off the charts higher.

@mALX - I asked about Mitsu, because it looks familiar to me. Some googling revealed me, that this model was also available in Europe, as a proper Mitsubishi, not as Dodge. And which one is the other car - the SUV?

@SubRosa - that's a great mileage for a car of such size. Your car looks great! I've only seen one or two Jeep GC so far, standard Cherokees are more common, but the most common is Renegade. I remember a photo of your Chevy Cobalt on some snowy road as you went to visit your relatives (brother, I think).

Your Brother's Jeep is exactly what I was imaging, lol. Yeah; their gas mileage was terrible! But your Grand Cherokee's is amazing for those big boxy things! My (newly discovered to be late) husband had a Isuzu Rodeo that was smaller and trimmer than the Grand Cherokee; but at best we got 15 mpg! (possibly 17 if it was over 90 degrees out and it had a recent tire rotation/oil change/tuneup, lol)








The SUV was a Nissan Pathfinder. That truck (SUV) was a total blast!

Oh, I didn't recognize it, we have Pathfinders here too, but all models are old by now, not sure if they're still being made, if they are, we're not getting them to Europe.

I think that Nissan Pathfinder was a 1987 model. We did a body lift and a suspension lift on it; used over-sized "mudder" tires and put a black "bra" on the front of it. Everyone loved it at the car show we entered it in; and the German men went crazy over it!

Well, after a Google search, gas prices here in Sweden on average are a tiny bit over what I was paying in California, at about 5.80 per gallon in Stockholm.

I was paying 5 per in my neck of Cali before I moved. It's cheaper now only because of the lockdown.

That must have been this pic, from one of my visits to my father's place Up North.

This is my Grand Cherokee. It has a lot of room, which is why I bought it. I got tired of having to borrow my mother's pick up every time I bought something big, like a mattress or TV set. Or when I had to move or help someone else move. Plus it is really good in the snow.

SubRosa, I remember when you got that beautiful jeep. D'ya think it's better than a nuclear powered Geo Metro?

That Jeep GC is beautiful! That poor Chevy Cobalt doesn't look very happy in that snow, lol. Chevy's don't like the cold; did you have trouble starting it in that freezing weather? Lol.

I think I would take the Geo, for the cold fusion reactor. Though having that reactor in the Jeep would be even nicer.


I never had any problem with the Cobalt because of the cold. But it was terrible driving in the snow. It would slide all over the place. Once I slid through an intersection with it, and I was only doing 20 mph. Thankfully it was Up North, so there weren't any other cars for miles.

my family had chevys for many years, and my first car was a chevy - never failed to start no matter how cold it got (and that was in MN!). As for handling, it was so so, I went off the highway into the median strip one time. granted that was black ice, anything would have gone off the road when that cold western blast hit it!

The best car I ever drove? It comes down to two, both Saturns. My current car is an '08 Saturn Aura that handles bad winter roads very easily - it's big and heavy and wheels set wide. V6, though so it's a bit of a gas guzzler by Saturn standards. The most fun one was the '07 Sky convertible I had for four years - that car was so much fun to drive, and got so much attention everywhere I went with it. It was the car I wanted for myself since I was three years old, so reminiscent of the old style Corvettes I grew up with. I still miss that car.

Ryo from the Stormcrow fic drives a 2007 Saturn Sky convertible. Blue though.

That is really scary!








Ooh yeah; like one of those old MG's!

Dated a guy with a Geo Metro once. The gas mileage on it was *fabulous*.

I personally can't drive so I don't have a car. Neither does husband. His parents drive us around in their Legacy.

I'm still driving this after 15 years. Why would I want anything else?

ghastly, that is very pretty. Is it a Lotus? If so, perhaps an Elan model?

Lotus, yes, but it's the US version of the Elise, which is no longer made. The only Lotus you can get here now is the somewhat larger Evora. The federally mandated "safety" stuff adds up the weight to make cars this small just about impossible.

When I bought it, Proton owned Lotus, but now Geely do (so now it's a sister brand to Volvo). They were previously owned by GM for a while, too.

Ha! I knew it was the Elise!

Really nice car, ghastley. I take it you bought it from the proceeds of your Gweden farm mod...?

That is hot! Awesome ride, Ghastley!

Looks great! I've seen Lotus cars very rarely.

I've seen them every summer at the gathering of old cars, bikes and sportscars. The're like gocarts when you stand next to them

Best car I ever drove was a Porsche.

My boss at the time asked if I'd be willing to go grab his laptop from Best Buy. I didn't have a car so he asked if I knew how to drive stick. Then he tossed me his keys and said it was the black Porsche in the back. 😳 It had been awhile since I had driven stick, so it took a moment to get the rhythm right. But omg. That was great.

Second place goes to the Mustang my dad rented a couple weeks ago.

Don't tell me your teeth didn't hurt from that drive! Man they can rattle your teeth their suspension is so tight;

Oh geez. I'd have been terrified of that thing. Just the value of it...

But yeah. Over here stick is what you get. If you take the test in an automatic though you're only allowed to drive automatic. And they're apparently not as common in normal cars. Taxis and cop cars and the like tend to be automatic, but I don't know anyone that has a normal car that isn't a stick.

I like to think of it in the US as an anti theft device. haha

No U.S. bashing please.

I suspect the comment about the US was simply a humorous reflection on the comparative rarity of manual transmission cars. Rare enough that I suspect many folks (including car thieves) don't know how to drive them.

Precisely.

It was a joke about how most people in the US, particularly the younger generation, simply do not know how to drive a stick.

Long time gag of mine, usually gets a chuckle.

With the sheer number of automatic vehicles there, there's really no need to learn one unless you're planning on driving a big truck. They used to cost more. Now it's the other way around.

haha.

Do note that includes myself. I was taught how to drive a stick, but to heck if I remember. Only one person in my entire family, including extended family back in the US, drives a stick, and that's my dad. It's just not common.

Wasn't trying to offend anyone. ><

I'll see myself out again. ><

I often joke to Dad about getting a carburator car as an anti-theft thing since no one longer knows how to manually operate a choke!

This site is a tight knit community of friends from all different countries/religions/races/genders = in order for all of us to stay close we have to make sure we respect each other and respect what the other person might consider offensive or hurtful. This is not the kind of place anyone should be made the butt of jokes in.

As Mircou pointed out = could have just said "most people these days," and it would have had the same message but without cutting down anybody.

@mALX - Saki is actually an American. From California, I think.

What bird said. I'm originally from the Pittsburgh area but lived my last several years in the States in California.

I spent 36 years there, I know the US pretty well. As I mentioned before, I did not intend to offend anyone.

Going to see myself out now. I don't feel very welcome today. And I'm legit upset about it.

I learned to drive a stick shift when I was young, and ground up some gears in the process. I think it was my brother's Omni that I learned on. It was a crappy car anyway, so it was no big deal. I believe that one had a hole in the floor that he covered up with a piece of wall paneling. He eventually wrecked it.

I later owned a Ford Escort with a stick shift. I really liked that car, and got pretty good driving a stick in it. Decelerating is the hardest part I think. I would put it in neutral when I slowed down, then tried to put it back in whatever gear I thought was appropriate when I started accelerating again. If I did not come to a full stop of course. Stopping on a hill was the worst thing.

I have not driven a stick shift since. I cannot say I miss it. If you are a real high performance person and love speed, then yeah, don't drive a sportscar without one. But for me, a vehicle is just a way to get back and forth to work or the grocery store.

My Cherokee has these little pedals on the steering wheel that let you manually shift gears. I have never used them, at least not intentionally! I doubt I could drive a stick shift very well these days. I'd probably stall it a few times trying to get into gear.

Automatics are great for driving in the city. But out in the boons, where I live, I prefer a stick. Mainly though because I'm used to it I reckon.

Khajiit never learned to drive stick and knows himself well enough to know that is probably for the best.

Agreed. Both of my cars pictured above are sticks; but they are both gone now. I have been driving an automatic for almost a decade now = it took a while to get to like it; but now I think they have made me lazy; lol.

The down side is that you can't "pop the clutch" if the automatic won't start, lol.

Automatics are becoming here more and more popular. My brother-in-law bought a used Mercedes SUV and it's his first car with an automatic gearbox, he said that he's never going back to driving a stick. My father-in-law also bought an automatic one.




My dad owned Ford Escort years ago, he said that it was one of his best cars. It was this model.

Yesterday I was driving Toyota Land Cruiser y. 2008, the model that's been made for the US market but 12 years ago some Slovenian businessman imported it to Slovenia. Gosh, that care is huge, especially from outside! It towered next to Mercedes GLS and this Mercedes is one of the biggest European cars. Inside it's spacious as well, but not as I expected, it's a bit cramped. It was fun driving it but I needed to be careful because of its width. The car is for sale in Slovenia if anyone wants it. It's been for sale about 5 months, but there's no interest, not just because of the too high price but also because a registration for one year costs around 600€. If I had more money, I'd buy it as a car for hobby / weekend driving.

A few years ago I showed a group of high school seniors how to do that when their '57 Chevy wouldn't start (they had left the radio on for a graduation party). The boys thought it was the most amazing thing they'd ever seen.

Mine was one of the first generation, with the really boxy, angled look. I cannot remember if it was a 2 door or a 4 door, but I know it had a hatchback. Like this. I got sandwiched in the middle of a 3 car accident that bent the frame, and that was the end of that car.

You were lucky, it sounds! A guy I know got sandwiched too and he ended up with both legs shattered. I do think they patched him back together but I don't know his current condition.

Wow, you are so lucky to have survived that! Those type accidents are a gas tank explosion waiting to happen! WHEW!!!

That image reminds me of the several Ford Escorts I had as company cars, when I had a traveling support job in the UK. One of them had 5 accidents in two years - all with my car stationary. I was rear-ended twice, backed into twice, and once it was hit from the side. Three of them when it was parked, the other two at stop lights. They never did find the magnet that attracted other cars.

The European "Escort with a trunk", rather than a hatchback, was called an Orion, so I only think of Escorts as hatchbacks. I think the Escort name covered both for the US market.

A friend in the UK had one of the limited edition "Mexico" Escorts with a 300hp Cosworth race engine.

Maybe you were the magnet!

I remember that in 90s Ford Escorts and Orions were main cars used by Croatian police. Here's an example of one.