I swear to god when my mom had our 2003 caravan once we went over a speed bump and I smashed my head on the roof.
The only redeeming features about ours were the rear captains chairs and the 7 inch TV. Splitscreen with a PS2 on a 7 inch is hard.
It's a minivan, It's only purpose in life is to ride like a cloud while having 13 children inside of it. It also might be worth mentioning that I work with a guy who owns three late 90's to early 2000's Dodge minivans. They all have 300,000 miles and look like crap, but he swears by them.
Well, I just found out one massive disappointment about what kind of car I'll have to get, because of living in California it seems like I'm pretty much forced to get a 2000s+ car because of smog tests and such and the cost and age the pre-smog vehicles, and that means that I wouldn't be able to get ANY of the cars I'd want, either they would look like blobs, and or would be out of my budget as well as being full of things I dont trust and wouldn't want like electronic assists, front wheel drive, tons of plastic, and they would tend to have a higher power to weight ratio which I definitely wouldn't want and I just wouldn't trust them to last...
California sucks. Their draconian emissions laws are really over the top. You can't get any JDM engines thru emissions so right off the bat I couldnt register mine.
Alternatively you could buy a car that is 25+ years old and smog exempt, or you could move to America and stop living in the Land of Illusion. I know, using your brain is hard.
I WAS planning on getting a car that was 25+ years old, but they aren't smog exempt unless they are diesel and even then im not sure about that, for a car to be smog exempt in CA they need to be from 1976 or older... although now that I think about it an old Mercedes from the 80's might actually be a sensible idea... but of course being a Mercedes if something had to be replaced it would be expensive and Mercedes are known for being money pits, however I've heard that you can at least still get parts for them relatively easy(although not cheaply). But moving isn't really an option, because I still live with my family, dont have money, and am pretty much unable to do much for myself.
For those in far away places who might not be aware, There are 49 free states in the US, and Then there's California, the land of eco-nazi's, bullet buttons, and where fun is banned. Stay away from it.
They would love me. I get just about half the milage a stock economy car weighing 2500 pounds should get with a 1.6. You guys with trucks have an excuse your hauling major steel frames, Im just living the life.
I like the way you think. In all likelihood its really between a bad tune and the 4.7 final drive with the short fifth. Cruising at 70 I'm already turning just over 4k rpm. Let's not forget the fact that like most of you, I don't Sunday drive my car everywhere like a civilian commuter.
Over here if you are cruising at 70 you are already 10 to 15 miles per hour over driving like a civilian commuter nothing like driving through hundreds of miles of straight flat highway with nothing around at speeds where semi-trucks would be passing you in most states.
and yet your speed limits are still probably higher than ours. And not to mention that in the southern parts its pretty much dry all year round.
Fun fact: this is why the Toyota AE88 exists. The only difference between an AE86 and an AE88 (other than LHD and U.S. gauges) is the detuned engine. Toyota didn't want to bother federalizing two different versions of the same engine, so everyone got the detuned Failifornia version.
It's kinda funny, I finally found a model of car that I love the look of, is cheap, reliable, relatively easy to get parts for, and loved by most of their owners... and then I found out that some of the parts that would be needed for it aren't available even in the after market :\ and I assume it would be the same for most other cars I'd be interested in leaving me stuck with some kind of modern blob with more power and less displacement than it should have.
