what kind of car do you drive? - Page 3

everso, as long as he doesn't put the M5 logos, it's ok. My boyfriend smoked a S5 once with his Subaru Forester and when they stopped my boyfriend told the other dude that if it would have been a real M5, the situation would have been different(the idiot had the M5 logos on the wrong side of the car too).

He did what?! I have no idea what you're saying or what S5 is, but it sounds so funny I just can't stop laughing!

I recently saw someone here in Los Angeles driving a black 997-series Porsche 911 Carrera coupe to which he had affixed a script "S" to indicate the higher horsepower version. The "Carrera" emblem was painted black and centered in the middle of the back of the car. The script "S" he had placed next to it was unpainted silver and he didn't even move the "Carrera" emblem to the left in order to properly center the pair.

This is what happens when people are more concerned about appearances than about what the car can really do. Buying the "S" emblem is obviously less expensive than dropping the extra $10,600 on the extra horsepower, but you'd think he'd go the extra mile and pay a little more for a really convincing deception.

That's just sad. I thought this only happens with kids sticking "GTI" to their VW Golfs, and that you actually know better than to do this if you own a Porsche. Apparently I was mistaken.

People who do this kind of crap have no idea about cars and probably don't give a damn about the car itself. They're just losers trying to impress other losers or silly girls.

I like to have a large collection of:
- CDs and DVDs
-Books
-Ties
-Shirts,blazers and trousers
-Perfumes

I don't mind investing a lot of money on these things. But I would NEVER, ever invest a lot of money in a car. Even if I had 5 million bucks on my bank account, I would still be quite happy with a Toyota Yaris.

I know this is difficult to understand, but that is how I am.
.

Lucius, you're not difficult to understand, really. I have a great passion for cars, however, my boyfriend is exactly like you. He prefers using the subway everyday and spending money on books, CDs, travelling and other stuff. He'd never 'waste' his money on a car.
And Toyota Yaris is ok, not very expensive and suitable for a big city. A friend of mine is very happy owing one, but she's a woman and she fears driving anything bigger than that. lol

2005 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon

Living in a large country like Canada almost demands owning a car. I'll become "environmentally green" when a subway can cover half of my country... or be within walking distance of my home.
Not everyone lives in a large city, and that's a good thing.

Just as the train opened up the west, so the car opened up the country for the middle class. Some people who have never been to North America can't understand the size and distance. You can drive for 10 hours or more without seeing much more than trees and prairie.

For years a car was a symbol of freedom - then Al Gore came along.

A car can reveal a persons' personality but it almost always reveals that persons' wallet.

All that said, I drive a 1999 Nissan Maxima and love it.

There's balance in life, though. Guys who buys expensive cars to impress people often end up reaping exactly what they sow. Especially here in Los Angeles, all the golddiggers crawl out of the woodwork and get chummy with them. They never really know whether they are truly on someone's A-list, or if the person just wants to rub the silver "S" on the ass end of their Porsche 911. It's really sad when they don't even care one way or the other.

This is also true, and even sadder than the previous cathegory.

I picked up my silver/grey 2009 PriusI Touring Hatchback two weeks ago. It had 7 miles on it when I did and now has close to 400 miles logged in. Miles per gallon is holding steady at 45.4, a far cry from the low 20s average in my Toyota Tundra pickup truck.

The Prius is surprisingly roomy inside, has very good pickup when needed, handles like a sports car (good suspension I guess) and I am still on my first tank of 11.9 gallons of gasoline. All in all a very comfortable and fuel efficient means of transportation.

waving at you:wave: from my ruby red prius, baby! loving mine, too!

Wow! Who knew buying a Prius would place me into such beautiful and intelligent company?

Astaroth, I don't get how dumb you have to be as a dude full of money to spend on some undercover prostitute(my term for gold digger that I took from a friend). I mean, have sex and never call again. The world is full of stupid women who think they'll get something if they put out.

darkdreams, a S5 is a BMW 5xx car. A 5 series. M is for motorsport. This is something you learn at car shows too.

Here's a funny fact about cars in my country:
The most basic BMW 116i costs 200 thousand pounds here. That's about $35 grands.
How much should the 130i cost then? "Not a LOT much," you say... But you, sir, are mistaken. It costs 1,250,000 pounds. A million two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. That's about US $225 grands. Yes, you would actually pay nearly a quarter of a million dollars for a hot hatch. Sigh..

I have owned and driven several muscle cars from the 1960s, two european sports cars, turbocharged pickup trucks, crotch rockets and family station wagons. I figure my opinion of what 'handles like a sports car' and has 'very good pickup when I need it' comes from and is based on what most experienced drivers would consider a broad range of valid driving experience.


Sorry your Prius doesn't perform as well as most others mate. Mine does. Maybe it is psychological? .

Oh..my bad. I thought you were dissing your own Prius performance.

Gone are the days when my tripower, lake-piped 1966 GTO , rated 360 hp at 5200 rpm and 424 ft.-lb. of torque at 3600 rpm, and head snapping acceleration was all I would settle for. It regularly embarrassed stock Chrysler Hemi, Vette, and Chevy lovers both on the street and on the 1/4 mile track (mid 13s ET) . It actually was faster in the 0-60 than my previous love, a 1955 BelAir Chevy customed with a GMC clutch assembly and a 1958 2-4bbl Corvette engine.

My 110 hp Prius is supposed to do 0-60 in about 10 seconds and the 1/4 mile in about 17 seconds or so @ around 79 mph. I have yet to attempt that myself. I find the acceleration aided by the CV drive more than sufficient to enter and cruise Interstates at a reasonable speed and keep up with local traffic.

As for handling, once used to the rather non-informing Electric Steering, I find it turns very, very easily and with minimal roll at just about any safe speed and holds the road quite well on turns. I did place an aftermarket body stabilizing plate replacing the flimsy factory strut. It bolts on cross-frame, and has made a noticable difference in road stability and handling, although it wasn't at all bad before I did that.

As for gas consumption, hehe..no contest

Good to know!
I was actually stuck on the image of the boyfriend smoking the other car.

Most of us [straight] men are somewhat dumb when it comes to women, so it actually takes an act of will to fight against it. Experience is a pretty harsh taskmaster, luckily. If you live long enough, you learn.


Statistically, they are correct, especially here in Los Angeles. My neighborhood is full of trophy wives who do not work and just drive their SL-series convertibles into Beverly Hills to go shopping every day. It's hard to argue with "success" like that, if that's all you're looking for.

I wouldn't waste my time with a woman who only had casual sex to offer, not too mention that it's not that healthy a habit to acquire in modern times. I have a friend from college who will attest to this fact, he having contracted Hepatitis C frequenting the sex clubs in Hong Kong. Not worth it.

My girlfriend grew up in a tough East LA neighborhood, works hard at her job, is smart as hell, and she's a great catch. I didn't spend serious cash on her for the full first year we dated, and she never complained about it. She'd have no reason to complain anyway, since I told her it would be that way up front, and that she should move on to another guy if it bothered her. I spent that whole year scrutinizing her behavior carefully. If you're patient, wait long enough, and don't allow your feelings to control you, you can eventually get what you want.

That's nuts. $225K can buy you a 1- or 2-year-old Ferrari F430 Spider or two Ferrari 360 Modenas over here in the United States.
You must have insane import duties in Egypt.

Insane indeed, and they go up with the engine size. The 116i has a 1.6 liter engine, you pay nearly an extra 40% of the care's value. A 1.8 liter engine puts you in the category where you pay an extra 100% of the car's original value Now the 130i has a 3.0 liter engine. I'm not sure how much percentage of the car's value you pay for that category, but with that price, it's definitely much more than 100%. This is one of the reasons I can't buy anything with more than a 1.6 liter engine. I'd be paying much, much more than the actual car value.

I drive my car...it doesn't drive me.

everso, I say that a BMW is S5 as Series 5 because I'm lazy and I don't usually specify a certain model in a series, so...

And I know what A, S and RS are from Audi. I had one.

Astaroth, there's a saying that a successful man is a man who makes more money than his wife can spend, while a successful woman is a woman who found such a man. I'm getting bored of 18-20 yrs old girls in my city that drive Audi Q7s and other SUVs or luxurious cars too. I saw one driving a Bentley. Sometimes I curse my days for having morals and not putting out for things. :P

I really can't understand how those girls, who barely know how to drive and have so little experience, have the courage to get such cars. When I was 18, I was really afraid of big cars, I felt like I couldn't control them properly. But being a snob probably justifies it all.

Can spend or will spend? My girlfriend could spend every dime I make, if I asked her too.


Since my username is apparently the name of one of the Crowned Princes of Hell, please allow me to be the first in line to express appropriate disappointment by proxy at your strong moral fiber. We put in long hours down here, and we'd like to think our efforts are not in vain.

Well, if you have a bigger car, if you get in a car crash, you'll get injured less.

Astaroth, I'm sure there's a spot for all the trophy wives there.

You also get injured less if you don't text message, wear high heels and dark sunglasses, snort cocaine, or search for $900 Manolo Blahnik shoes on eBay with your iPhone while driving ... not that this happens, of course.


There actually isn't. Ol' Splithoof doesn't want his lesser imps being distracted from their duties, so he leaves the trophy wives buried in Palm Springs and focuses more attention on their meth-addicted heirs in Hollywood.

I know, but I'm sure they don't think like that when they get a big car. Although, the chances that some girls get involved in accidents are huge. lol

Astaroth, you forgot about putting make-up in traffic. And dark sunglasses don't impair driving. lol

Lady. M, I was driving on Calea Floreasca once and this chick in a BMW 335i Coupe(I drove one for a while so I know the exact model :P) got in my lane and stopped to check for traffic. I was about to hit her, but avoided her by a hair by pulling left and going by her.

Another time I wanted to turn left and I was on the closest lane to the center of the road and this stupid stupid guy goes past me on the wrong way and turns right, cutting my way. I thought men are good drivers. :P


And since I'm ranting, who the fuck will work 40 hours a week for 150-250USD? Sad thing, there were 6 applications on it.

I have a friend who works 8 hours a day, and sometimes even more, and gets paid only 200$. So...
The funniest thing that happened to me while in traffic was when driving on a single lane street and suddenly a red Yaris popped out coming from the opposite direction. No need to mention that I barely managed to avoid it... But the amusing part is that a hysterical woman got out of the car yelling at me. I didn't manage to make her shut up in order to explain that it was a one way street. lol

Yes, Delia, you are right. It is really sad that people have to work for such low wages.
To answer your question: some years ago, when we graduated from college, I and many of my classmates worked for even less than that. And some of those people were actually smart and hard working. We are doing a little better these days but that is where most of us started, unfortunately.
But now seriously, imagine you were not pretty enough to become a model or you were not the one picked to become a dancer. I am sure there are many girls out there who are as talented and pretty as you are, and still cannot make a living from modeling or dance.
What do you think you would be doing today and for how much money? Or what your job would have been a few years ago when you just got out of high school and had very little to offer?
Please, do not understand that I support low wages!

$200 you say? A medical school student in Egypt, upon completing her 7-year study, gets paid nearly 200 pounds a month in a government hospital. That's just a bit more than a $1 per day. And a doctor's "day" could be much more than 8 hours.

I would seriously consider organizing a military coupe (I'm not off-topic after all) if I studied medicine for 7 years to end up like this.

You have a very good point...however I think this whole job business here depends mostly on luck and whether you know somebody that can help you get a decent wage. People who are smart and hard working are far from being appreciated in most of the cases, but not all. I'm neither a model, nor a dancer, but i had the luck to be at the right place on the right time. Though, I know I'm among the few who got a chance in life. Most of my friends, intelligent and capable people, started from a very low wage in order to be able to pay their bills while studying, so I'm perfectly aware of what you are saying. Consequently, i don't blame anybody who chooses a better life outside Romania.

I completely agree. That was my point, too. Probably to become a dancer or model you depend even more on luck or conections. I was just trying to answer Delia' s question. Who would work for such a low wage? Well, there are people who have to!
And the question itself is surprising. Delia herself was saying that she had to work in bars for next to nothing. Oh well...

darkdreams, if I'd get paid 200$ I'd go to work and chat all day on Yahoo or read forums. I wouldn't do any work and when they'd fire me, I could care the less because I'd have another 200$ a month job waiting for me. And if I wouldn't have been as pretty I would have went to Italy and become a waitress while in college there. Or become a webcam girl(I find it less humiliating than 200$ a month and you don't have to be that beautiful for it). I have a couple of acquaintances who do that and they make 2000-3000$ a month, without paying taxes and while working less than 40 hours a week. By the way, the average wage in Romania is 600$ right now, so that's the minimum wage(~200euros). And by the way, when I was 15, I worked 6-8 hours as a waitress for a few months for less than that amount, so I know how it is to work for nothing.

And dance is mostly about how much work you put into it. Same as having a nice body.


Some women are this stupid? lol

I know people who chat on YM and read forums all day and get paid more than 600 euros per month! lol
Ok, let's not argue here, we can't generalize. Each of us is right up to a certain point, but we must keep in mind that every case has its own particularities. We can't have a general discussion on wages in Romania. What I can say is that value is not appreciated, the rest depends form case to case.

Delia, that is SO funny.

People do whatever they need to do in order to get by. The minimum legal wage in California currently is $8.00 per hour, which works out to $320 per week, less after taxes. Typical rents for 1-bedroom apartments in Los Angeles' non-crack-infested neighborhoods are just over $1000 per month, which means people here earning minimum wage need to have roommates if they are going to be able to afford food, utilities, and car costs (fuel, maintenance, insurance). You also have to pay for your own medical insurance out here. It's no picnic out here for people with little or no job skills.

You know, I drove like 4-5 different cars(more or less mine since I started driving 3 yrs ago) constantly and test drove or drove my friends cars quite a lot and I didn't have problems with not knowing what buttons do.

Astaroth, here rent for a 1 bed room apartment is around 300euros. This means that who has that wage, will pay 1.5 month wage on rent. lol

Where to start, Delia?
If you don't do your job, you get fired and between jobs you don't have money. Plus, it gets harder to get a job if you got fired previously. Yes, I know these days 200$ is minimum wage. When we graduated from college it wasn't the minimum but it was still very little. And I did not mention, but we were not working as secretaries.
About being a webcam girl...what can I say? First, I don't agree with tax evasion but I am sure you will have a different opinion here. And second...well, I do find it kind of humiliating and I would much rather do dignified work for little money. Just my point of view. And everyone is free to do whatever they think is right. You say you despise women that have sex just to get stuff. Where do you draw the line, really?
I am sure dance depends a lot on how much you work on it. My point was that certainly other girls work as much, are as pretty and talented, do everything you did but end up giving lap dances or work for 200$.
And yes, some women and probably some men as well are that stupid. What does it prove?

Don't worry! Nobody is suspecting you of not knowing what the buttons do!

Wages always need to be looked at in terms of the local cost of living, however. I have software engineers working for me who send $250 per month home to their families in India, and effectively double their available incomes. Those same engineers routinely blow the same amount of money per weekend clubbing in Downtown L.A. and Hollywood. It's all relative.


It goes without saying that people earning a wage like that need to either take a roommate or live with their parents while working that job. There is also a much more substantial public support system in Europe than here in the United States, and that's also part of the reason wages are lower. The bottom line is that the marketplace rules. If you don't like what you are being paid, make sure you can offer something that people will pay more for.

There are lots of jobs for full time 200$ here nowadays. And you don't have to tell your next employer that you got fired and you can quit before they fire you.

About tax evasion, considering taxes are more or less legal theft out of your work, I don't care about it(why would I pay more for the same services, that I don't get to use in the first place? and why would I pay taxes when they just give them to welfare?). And webcam girls don't really sell sex. They just move around in front of a webcam. Plus, I don't mind prostitutes. It's up front with them and they don't have the holier than thou attitude and so on. What I hate is women who use sex to get in front or women who use marriage to sustain a living and act like they don't earn a living by moaning while they're on their backs.

darkdreams, dance isn't about luck. Getting where I am is luck, but winning contests and so on, isn't luck. I won the contests that I won because I was the one coming first to practice and leaving last. This is why I think all kids should do sports. It teaches you certain things. And if they work for 200$, they're stupid. Move to Italy and be a waitress, babysitter or whatever and you'll make more. This is what I despise about Romanians. They care about how their position sounds.

It's not about caring how your position 'sounds', but caring about how your position really is. And, trust me, it's rather frustrating to have two faculties (and I'm not talking about Spiru Haret, but real faculties), to be capable, to be an intellectual (no matter how cheesy that sounds) and work as a babysitter in Italy just because your family would starve otherwise. It's about dignity, a scale of values that should exist...but maybe I'm too idealistic for this world.

But, to pot the whole issue in a more cynical light..it's just like dancing, if you know exactly what you want and if you work hard enough, nothing is impossible, unless you're born with a unstoppable bad luck. And, in the end I believe that everybody gets what he/she deserves, one way or another. One must be really ignorant in order to be satisfied with less. The difference is that some work harder, while others get things easily due to certain subjective chances.

No university in Romania is a real university. They're just degree manufacturers.

I'm not talking about the institution itself or about the system, which indeed is corrupted, I'm talking about each person's willingness and ability to take what is good and learn something, not just getting a degree. I know teachers that are really ok, who love what they do, and who have something to offer to those who are interested in receiving.

I was in Computer Science graduate school with a graduate of the Polytechnic University Bucharest, and he was one of the brighter students in our classes. I never heard him say that Romanian universities are merely "paper mills". In fact, his background in mathematics rivaled that of most American university graduates. He is now an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at a university here in the United States, which is no small accomplishment.

Well, there are records of your employment history and of how your job ended, so the employer can find out even if you don't tell him/her. Second, how do you know when they'll fire you so that you can quit before? There are costs associated with quitting and you should time it quite well. Anyway, this is getting too technical.
Also, you do use services provided by the government with money from taxes. Yes, I do know about the dead weight loss created by taxes. I learned about that in Econ 101 and at this point I had a lot higher level Econ classes than just that. Low taxes? I agree. But no economist in this world will tell you that a country can survive with no taxes whatsoever.
Some simple examples of such services: national defense, education, infrastructure. They are not at the right level? True, but that is a completely different issue. Welfare? Can you imagine what it would be like without any? When you get fired from that job you don't get anything until you find the next one. Something happens to a poor guy and he can't work anymore? He dies. I am not going to appeal to your humanity now, but imagine...No welfare... thousands of beggars in the streets, sick people, cripple people, old people, dying people, no free hospitals, no free education. How the hell are you going to drive the nice car in that world? Hey, think about it in terms of aesthetics at least. Yes, I know, you’ll tell me that people will have less incentive to not work and so on. It’s a fine balance. It’s difficult to find the perfect level of social welfare and people much smarter than you and I are still scratching their heads about it.
I don't mind webcam girls, prostitutes, either. I try to not mind anyone, in fact. I am saying that some people would not do it. And not because of sexual insecurity or whatever else goes through your mind right now. Just because they want more or just something different. And if that necessarily implies working for less money, so be it.

Oh, did I mention? All of the above is just my very humble opinion.

Delia is partly right, as there are universities here who only provide diplomas, and those who graduate have no clue about anything. The system is corrupted as it needs constant financial resources, and there is not better way for getting them than collecting taxex from students. More students, more money, and imagine that not all those students are really interested in becoming like that guy you knew, the majority just want a diploma in order to get a better job, that the stupid mentality that makes the law here. Consequently the level of demandings become lower and the universities just a degree manufacturers.
But, luckily there still are a few people who are not that superficial. That colleague of yours was one of them.

Astaroth, he is not the average student though. The average graduate of the Polytechnic Uni here becomes some IT worker who is clueless about everything(a friend left IBM and opened his own company here and he is amused by how many clueless people are graduating that university nowadays). Lots of students here who have dreams about leaving work extra hard to avoid that dreaded 200euros a month wage. :P

Lady. M, I know a few of those too and they're a breath of fresh air. I always attend their classes. In high-school I had a literature teacher that was super harsh, but her classes were really pleasant so I skipped only one of her classes in 4 yrs and I skipped it because I got late and she didn't want to let me in.

Exactly my point!

While I agree with Delia that some/many Romanian universities are a complete waste of time and money, let me vouch for the Polytechnic University, too. I know very well people that went to grad school in US and the background from there was good enough to get straight A's in all their Ph.D. courses.

darkdreams, 11.5% of Romania's GDP goes to welfare. I won't sponsor that. Period. I wouldn't mind paying 8$/gallon on gas if that money would go in nice roads, I wouldn't mind paying 19% VAT if that money would create something to protect consumers, I wouldn't mind paying import taxes if that money would go to helping local businesses, I wouldn't mind paying health tax if I'd get free aspirin when I need it... I can go on. I prefer saving money for when I'll be fired, having a private retirement fund and so on... I'm really done with the public crap. My only interest in moving to the US was this difference, but I guess that if Obama wins and USSA will become a reality, I won't have to move out of Europe because we have our Marx students here too. And no, I don't think that people wouldn't be webcam girls because of sexual insecurity. I'd rather have a normal job and make 500euros than be a cam girl, but 200 euros is a joke.