My How You Have Grown

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Xist

I thought the Ka was some kind of an SUV.

Are you serious?

It was also the only car that I drove where you needed to pull on the shifter to enter reverse. There have been times I have accidentally shifted automatics into reverse because it went right past neutral. That has only happened with shifters on the steering column.

The only cars that I had to pull on the shifter to enter reverse were some of the Opel rebadges that used to be sold here as Chevy, and local models based on their mechanicals such as the Chevrolet Celta (my mom used to have one from 2007 to 2014), and IIRC this feature had also been included in some Fiats. But it's not unusual for European-designed cars to have an interlock to prevent accidental shifting into reverse. Remember the Beetle that required the lever to be pulled down to enter reverse?

The Ka was fun because, not knowing how to enter reverse, I put it in neutral, and pushed the SUV out of its parking spot.

LOL I guess it's gonna be quite easier to do so in the trike I'm willing to build, in case I don't even bother to add a reverse. But anyway, IIRC the first prototypes of the Citroën 2CV didn't have reverse.

[Xist]

Eh. Close enough.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Xist

Eh. Close enough.

So you meant this, the Ford Kuga. Though it hasn't ever been available in Brazil, once in a while I see some with Argentinian plates.

[Xist]

Yes, it was a Kuga, but I only vaguely remembered the name. It was weird when I went to rent a car in Germany and they told me it was the Kuga in the parking lot.

The what?

This one? Is this my car? Hmm... reverse does not seem to work...

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Xist

Hmm... reverse does not seem to work...

What was wrong with the reverse on that?

[Xist]

I did not realize I needed to pull on the shifter to enter reverse, which was fun, right after needing to find a car that was some kind of Ford, but I did not have any idea what kind!

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by niky

Older Civics, well, you'd have to look at Honda's overseas products, like the Brio... but those don't quite meet NHTSA or NCAP crash standards like the Fit does.



Mirage. What some of us here are driving now.

Of course, it's nowhere near as good to drive as an old Civic... the pogoing on the racetrack is insane, and the MIVEC variable valve timing is nowhere near as entertaining as the VTEC on an old Civic Si... but five star (NCAP) crash safety and even decent small overlap crash safety... plus incredible mpg... what more could you ask for?

Unlike the majority of the motoring press, I actually secretly admire the Mirage. It's the rare honest car out there which makes no claims it's not actually trying to back up. It just works. It's not pretty, but it doesn't have to be. When I was car shopping early this year, the Mirage was one of the first searches I did: I'd hoped resale had dropped these things into my microscopic budget. I'd like to try driving a triple, anyway.

My '97 Civic though, despite some things I'm still not a fan of, has really shown me why I shouldn't have let the bespoilered and bestickered Fast & Furious crowd lead me to hate these cars. It's neither fast nor exactly sporty, yet it's fun, light, and engaging in a way which reveals far more engineering than an inexpensive car of the era deserved. And we're all the better for it.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Xist

I did not realize I needed to pull on the shifter to enter reverse, which was fun, right after needing to find a car that was some kind of Ford, but I did not have any idea what kind!

Was it manual, right?

[Xist]

I think so. I only remember renting three times and once they gave me a Mercedes.

There were a couple of times that I had tire damage on rentals in the United States and it was included in the rental, but a tire blew on that Mercedes, I put on the spare, and after I left the Army and returned to Arizona, Sixt started sending me bills for hundreds of euros.

Is anyone going to argue that I should have paid that?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by jcp123

My '97 Civic... reveals far more engineering than an inexpensive car of the era deserved.

Not when you think about it, though. The cost of that engineering could be spread over millions of vehicles sold each year, where the more expensive exotics have to recoup their engineering costs from a few percent of the sales volume.