My wife and I have only vaguely assigned vehicles. There’s whatever she wants to drive and what I normally drive to work.
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We have a 2-car garage and both cars fit side-by-side. We both prefer driving the smaller car, so that gets the majority of the usage. We used to have a singe car, but since I took a job too far away to bike to, we had to get a second car.
So for me, I think it’s weird to have cars specific to an individual, I have always seen cars as a tool that you use when you need it, and you pick the best tool for the current job. I would love to drop back down to a single car, but I’m not ready to leave my job yet.
We have two electric cars, a big one and a small one. The small one is “mine” and the big one is “his.” However, we both work from home so the only commute anymore is taking the kids to school. So, whenever possible, we take the little one because it’s more efficient by far. He doesn’t mind and thankfully it saves seat profiles, even if we always have to adjust the mirror.
The day when they make that adjust to the profiles! In mine we found kind of a sweet spot for seating position with the mirror adjusted the same for both of us. Heights are close through.
Wouldn’t that be great? I think some fancy cars do it, but not ours. To be fair, it’s a small price to pay for giving gas companies and PG&E less money.
If you’re talking about adjustable rear view mirrors then I think one of the last and only cars to do it was the 90s Mercedes Benz S class. They had it memory linked with steering and seating. It was weird and cool.
Also, if you’re charging your car in a PG&E area you’re technically giving them more money since the gas they provide is natural gas and not petroleum gas. You’d be sticking it to BP or Cheveron (or standard oil if you want to go old school).
I’m seeing cars with the rear view mirror is just a screen. At that point you shouldn’t have to adjust it
Mine has that too. Its cool and not so cool. Camera gets dirty, but I can spray to clean it. Driving in rain you just see water kicked up from the tires so it’s all you see. Its also harder to gauge distance IMO. On the plus side, if you have the back window blocked by heads in the back seat / recently purchased a big object like a TV, it’s a great backup so you can see out the back. Also, mine at least seems too use a wide angle camera, this is pretty nice since you can see blind spots and more lanes when on 3+ lane highway.
Same, but with a hybrid and a minivan. We use the hybrid whenever possible (~2x the gas efficiency, cheaper repairs, etc). It’s not a big deal, and our adjusting process is completely manual (adjust seatbelt, seat, and mirrors) since we’re very different heights.
I haven’t done the math, but I imagine it saves hundreds every year on gas alone. We put something like 15k miles on the small car, and 5-10k miles on the big car.
We do the same, but opposite. We have a minivan and a smaller EV. The minivan is technically hers and the EV is mine, but it’s really more what it’s used for. If one of us is taking the kids somewhere (school, birthday parties, fun) we take the van. If we’re running to the store, normal errands or just taking a single kid we’ll use the EV.
It doesn’t make sense for her to take the minivan to run to the store to pick up something small and it doesn’t make sense for me to take the smaller car to bring the kids somewhere.
is that a thing?
I could never do this, my car is one the few sacred places that can be truly my own. I’m not even sure I can let someone else sit in the driver’s seat
That’s so foreign to me. For me, car is a tool to get from A to B, and I prefer to spend as little time in it as I can. I have a dedicated space at home (my home office, my desk, etc), and I protect that, but I don’t care at all about my car.
It’s so interesting to me how differently people see the same thing.
For me an office is so foreign, lol. Maybe it’s partly because my car has functionally been my home multiple times in my life. But there is also something so comfortably isolating about being able to lock myself in the car with some music where nobody can talk to me and the chaos of the world can be left in the rear view mirror for a bit.
I think everyone needs a space like that just for themselves, and needs to create it for sanity purposes. You’ve chosen your office and I the shitty little Civic Si sitting in the drive, and both are simultaneously boring tools and personal sanctuaries.
Yup, agreed. My “home office” is just the guest bedroom, and when we have guests, I move my desk to my bedroom (really quick since I have everything mounted to the desk). So if I need a moment to myself, I go in that room and lock the door. But most of the time, I just go to my bed and put my headphones on (big, sound-isolating cans), since if I’m in my “office,” I often think of work stuff.
When I’m at work and need some time, I don’t go to my car, I go for a short walk outside my building and find someplace secluded.
And that’s honestly always how I’ve been. When I got my first car, I didn’t have a cell phone, so sitting in my car was incredibly boring and I’d prefer to be almost anywhere else. I’d occasionally bring a book to read if I thought I’d be delayed or something, but even then, I’d usually prefer to sit on a bench or something outside. I have just never seen my car as a place I’d ever want to be, it’s just the thing I take to get somewhere I want or need to be.
I wonder if I’m just weird, or if it’s a younger generation thing, because I do see people hanging out in their cars somewhat often.
I don’t get it, what’s so special about this?
It’s just a reckless way to live and is frankly plunging our entire society into unabated chaos
The amount of cars: yes.
My wife and I each have our own cars, but they’re both in her name so she can drive whatever the fuck she wants.
So if they were both in your name she couldn’t?
I know that is not probably not what you are saying, but that is the implication of this argumentation
Not hard to put both vehicles in both names. I don’t think they are “arguing” anything, just stating a legal fact about marital property.
what’s next? joint bank accounts?
My partner and I have joint financial accounts, but it still would be weird to us to take whatever car.
Why? Is it weird to use whatever plate or fork? What about couch cushions? Umbrellas?
I see cars as tools, so there’s not “my car” and “their car,” but “the small car” (hybrid w/ great gas mileage) and “the big car” (minivan). Before we had kids, we only had one car, and if we needed to be in different places, I would ride my bike, walk, or take the bus. That almost never happened, and it wasn’t a big deal when it did.
Plates, forks, cushions, and umbrellas are not typically as personalized as a car.
And my argument is that cars should likewise not be personalized. They’re tools.
No.
Okay, but you started with “why?”, that’s the question I was answering.
That’s just your opinion. To me, clothes are tools and there’s no reason to personalize - just wear black everything, that’s what I do. Other people don’t seem to share my opinion and that’s fine too.
You just like spend whatever dollars you find in there?!
Not in my country!
(Seriously, though, Japan doesn’t do joint bank accounts).
Women voting?
Dogs and cats, living together!
Mass hysteria!
Cool video concept.
Delicious. (I’m in Ohio.)
Who wants.to adjust the seat and mirrors every time they drive?
My wife and I happen to use the same seat position and wheel position, so we just have to adjust the rear view mirror and during the time of year when it’s really hot/cold maybe adjust the vents to how we each like. Takes like 5 seconds to adjust
They must be similar sizes.
That’s not a thing in modern cars.
Power seats and mirrors with multiple memory is still a luxury car feature and not mainstream like power windows.
I wouldn’t call it a luxury car feature. In the US basically every car >30k has that. And most new cars cost >30k at this point. Basically every trim over base that’s like the first thing they add.
I had a Ford Focus rental car with power seats once.
When I bought a $50k US car in 2017, only the top trim had memory seats, and they penny pinched it off the top trim hybrid model so I couldn’t get them at any price.
The OP did not say what kind of cars they have. It is possible to have 2 cars with memory seats and mirrors. Now if only we could get memory rear view mirrors on the same cars as memory seats. Oh and seatbelt height adjustment memory.
Camera rear views allow this, common in a lot of trucks, they use the backup camera and feed it through a screen where the mirror is.
I just angle the back and slide the seat and i am good to go. It’s all analogue, quick and easy.
My car does this automatically depending on the key fob used, or the smart phone that’s closest to the driver seat depending on which you are carrying. Seat, and mirrors.
My wife and I are about the same height so we don’t have to adjust our seats.
I’m quite a bit taller than my partner, but she has a big bum and I don’t and it nets out to us having the same seat position, just different seat back angle to accommodate our different arms
Same with my wife and I. Seat doesn’t move, only adjust rear mirror. The side mirrors are set up for her since it’s minimal adjustment for me, it’s not worth it unless I’m doing a long drive like 3+ hours
It’s not a big deal. My SO and I are very different heights (like a foot/35cm), and it takes all of 10 seconds:
- slide seatbelt adjustor up/down
- move seat forward/backward
- adjust mirrors
We do it like 2-3x/week, and as the taller person, I’m totally capable of doing the adjustments while driving out of the neighborhood. It’s really a non-issue.
My wife and I are just the right height difference that the little flicky switch on the internal mirror will swap between the angles each of us need.
One day we got a car that has some auto light filtering for night driving and it doesn’t have the switch. Can’t wait to sell it.
You could just replace the mirror, it’s not normally that difficult to swap out
I don’t like the rest of the car either 😅
When I drive my girlfriend’s SUV, I have to stand outside of it and work the controls until I’ve got enough room to get in. It’s not awful, but does kind of suck on hot summer days when I just want to be in the air conditioning.
Our old (2006) minivan has an electronic adjustor, so I just hold that down while getting in (butt in seat, press button, swing legs). Our other car (2007 sedan) is even easier, since I just tap the adjustment bar under the seat and it slides back as I’m sitting on it (again, sideways). Then I adjust the shoulder seat-belt just before grabbing the belt to buckle, then I adjust the rear-view mirror while checking as I back up. It’s pretty smooth and routine.
Our AC takes a while to turn on anyway, so I don’t expect any AC until I’m at least a mile or so down the road. We park in the shade (garage at home and work), so I don’t need the AC anyway when setting out.
Maybe they just hit a button (1, 2)
Don’t even need to hit it sometimes - the profile often goes with the key fob too.
Yeah but if they’re just grabbing keys that wouldn’t work, but hopefully would let them pick the profile when car starts
I guess if you have one set, but there are usually two that come with most cars. Probably whoever grabbed theit preferred car key first means the other grabs their key for the second car?
I wish those worked for all the mirrors too. At least mine won’t do that anyway
As someone who used to work on other people’s cars, I think I’ve had my knees jammed into the dash way too many times to ever want this on one of my cars. Fuck that.
The absolute panic when you put the keys in the ignition and the seat starts moving forward. You try to move it back before your knee slam into the dash, but the controls arent exactly where you thought
I can relate to this so much lol. I’m very tall and I remember getting into the Mercedes of a little old lady. The seat started moving forward while the steering wheel extended towards me. Felt like I was about to be featured on the hydraulic press channel.
Mercedes was the exact brand I was thinking of when I wrote that comment. For me it brings to mind the trash compactor scene from Star wars
You mean due to the risk of accidentally hitting a button that sets the seat to a short position while you drive?
Nope, I mean due to them being automatic when you start the car, and linked to the “driver comfort” profile stored in the key.
As soon as you start the car the seat starts cramming your knees into the dash if it happens to belong to a shorter person. And of course, there’s no sign in the car that the owner is short because the seat moves all the way back when you turn the car off.
/Rant (sorry, the real problem in my opinion is that there isn’t a resistance/safety sensor that stops the whole thing)
Uhh isn’t that why the keys, and some cars have a valet mode? Take the key out of the fob dude.
Yeah lemme just disassemble Karen’s custom leather key fob cover, lol.
all my lives
Are you a cat?
I’d assumed they believe in reincarnation (or the boring typo explanation), but I like your reason better.
Are you not?
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The kids are our deciding factor.
If one of us going somewhere with the little 'uns, then the “family car” with the nicer booster seats gets taken by whoever it is that has them. Whoever is getting the peace and quiet, drives the little runabout.
I usually take the little car, and it surprises me sometimes when I jump into the family car and I’ve got another 50bhp under my right foot.
That’s what we do too.
One of our cars is a manual, and I’m the only one who can drive stick.
I have been with my wife since 2009 and I have still never been able to convince her to learn how to a drive manual transmission.
My GF wants to learn stick, but I just replaced the clutch and don’t want her to shred it. Plus my car tends to flood if I stall it more than three times much so the sessions will be… short.
I’d love to find a manual transmission truck for her to practice on but those are getting fewer and fewer.
I learned to drive stick on a 15 year old clutch and it only gave out about a year after my parents sold it. YMMV.
I have a hard time accepting that everyone should have their own vehicle in the first place.
This entire post will age poorly if we ever transition out of this incredibly self-indulgent and wasteful period of human civilization.
We should have walkable neighborhoods, mass transit of gleaming efficiency, bike lanes as priority, we should be encouraging socializing and creating spaces for people to gather that aren’t profit-driven, but with plans to create comfort and recreation to better the people and foster a sense of belonging to a community. It’s absurd we all live in places with lots of people but have no sense of belonging to a community. This goes against literally millions of years of our own evolutionary history. We NEED community to function and have healthy minds.
I mean, it’s not likely to happen. But maybe when the next great apocalyptic event happens the survivors can try to remake things with a little more planning. After the whole period of darkness and cannibalism of course.
We should have walkable neighborhoods, mass transit of gleaming efficiency, bike lanes as priority, we should be encouraging socializing and creating spaces for people to gather that aren’t profit-driven, but with plans to create comfort and recreation to better the people and foster a sense of belonging to a community.
Not everyone wants to be packed like sardines. That’s the beauty of individualism. You might think this sounds like some sort of utopia, but to me this sounds like hell.
The suburban hellscape that is most residential coded zones is far, far more sardine-like than what I’m describing, which is an environment far more like many cities in Europe that evolved to be, and have been maintained as walkable cities. The reason you’re repulsed by the idea of urban environments is specifically because you’re used to American residential areas that are hard, brutal and packed next to busy highways and multi-lane avenues that are constantly packed with people trying to get to and from work, with huge parking lots that act like hot deserts in the sun, with sprawl and noise and pollution and no good reason to leave your sardine can because there’s nowhere to get to within 30 minutes of walking except more sardine cans.
If a neighborhood is designed to be walkable, you will have condos and apartments and medium to high-density living spaces, sure, but you will have an entirely different aesthetic and atmosphere around it so it feels more welcoming, and encourages community.
If you’re opposed to community entirely, that’s your prerogative, there are still vast, vast tracts of land across the world you can live in and be left alone, and that’s fine. My comment isn’t addressing that lifestyle, because for MOST people, cities represent opportunity, safety and essential services. We can’t look down at the vast bulk of humanity who want to live around other people just because you yourself are bothered by your own memories and experiences of city life.
Two cars? Two fucking cars!?
We had more vehicles than people for awhile at my place, more than we could drive at once
In this economy‽
No, not about the economy. But interesting seeing an interrobang in the wild.
I don’t think it’s that weird to have one car per working or otherwise functional adult.
It’s not weird to you probably because you’re used to terrible infrastructure. One car and multiple bicycles. Or just no car at all and multiple bicycles. And good public transport. Now those are reasonable things to have. Not two cars.
Here’s our situation:
- I work 25 miles (40km) away, and transit would take >2x as long as driving
- we like road trips
So, I have a commuter to get to/from work because transit takes too long. We have a family car for going on a yearly road trip. We used to have a single car (I used to bike to work), and the only thing keeping us to two cars is that commute, but I like the company and the team, so I stick with it. But maybe we’ll drop back down to one car when I change jobs and no longer need the commute.
To me, that’s pretty reasonable.
In other words; terrible fucking infrastructure. As u said earlier.
Localized entirely within your kitchen?
Can I see it?
