Car Repair Skills Everyone Should Have

[Ed Anger]

In the old days, we tossed kids into the back of the pickup truck. Now you gotta protect them. Pfft.

[Monoriu]

I can't imagine trying to corral a kid who is walking (but not yet knowlegable enough to be totally obedient) through the crowded steets and subways of a place like downtown London or New York. That would be a serious ordeal.

Taxi.

Difficult with young children here. By law, you are supposed to be using installed child carriers for toddlers, and taxis don't come with them. It takes a while to install your own and adjust it properly.

Not a problem in HK.  There are no such laws.

[11B4V]

In the old days, we tossed kids into the back of the pickup truck. Now you gotta protect them. Pfft.

True statement. I recall those days. Freeway and back of the truck.

[Grey Fox]

You are going to need a car regardless of your job status or income.

It depends.  In places like HK or Tokyo, it really isn't necessary to have a car.

His post was specific to raising a family.

Raising a family in the middle of a huge city where having a car isn't all that practical unless you are wealthy would I think be very tough. Doable of course, but not easy.

One thing non-parents don't realize is how often young children create emergencies requiring rapid transport - Have more than one kid, and your difficulties would more than double, I think.

I can't imagine trying to corral a kid who is walking (but not yet knowlegable enough to be totally obedient) through the crowded steets and subways of a place like downtown London or New York. That would be a serious ordeal.

Forget the need for rapid transport. Every kid comes with a bag.

[Malthus]

In the old days, we tossed kids into the back of the pickup truck. Now you gotta protect them. Pfft.

True statement. I recall those days. Freeway and back of the truck.

Heh, me as well. 

I preferred it, when my mom was along - she was a smoker (since quit), and another thing parents did in the '70s, was chain-smoke in the cab with the kids.  In the small Ford pick-up cab, that was suffocating - she hated having the window open when she smoked.

[Ed Anger]

In the old days, we tossed kids into the back of the pickup truck. Now you gotta protect them. Pfft.

True statement. I recall those days. Freeway and back of the truck.

I remember the beer run from Dry Harlan to the wet town in the next county. I rode in the back of an old Chevy pickup with my friends.

*banjo music*

[Monoriu]

In the old days, we tossed kids into the back of the pickup truck. Now you gotta protect them. Pfft.

Yeah, I was very surprised when I saw a child's seat for the first time in Vancouver.  It was a totally new concept to me. 

[Admiral Yi]

Yeah, I was very surprised when I saw a child's seat for the first time in Vancouver.  It was a totally new concept to me.

Much like the knee.

[derspiess]

Not a problem in HK.  There are no such laws.

Argentina does, and everyone I know who has kids does own a car set.  But nobody actually uses the car seat and the law is ignored.  You frequently see idiots in the front passenger seat holding a baby.  And the way people drive down there...

[Brazen]

It's pretty hott when a chick knows how to drive stick and parallel park.

Yes. Yes it is. Though the first is par for the course in the UK and the second is pretty much compulsory for parking in London.

[11B4V]

I thought of a new skilll...not really a repair skill, and not one that is strictly needed, but it would be good for everyone to know how to drive a manual transmission.

All my vehicles are manual transmission. I wont own an auto.

Why do you like inefficiency?

How is it inefficient?

[Zanza]

It's probably the stop-start system.  When I test drove a Mercedes C300, I found that system on it to be very stupidly behaving.  When I was parking it, the moment I came to a stop after a maneuver, it shut off.  Then I press the gas and nothing happens for a while, until it does.  Not very reassuring, though I imagine I would get used to it.

Buy a car with park assist then.

[DGuller]

It's probably the stop-start system.  When I test drove a Mercedes C300, I found that system on it to be very stupidly behaving.  When I was parking it, the moment I came to a stop after a maneuver, it shut off.  Then I press the gas and nothing happens for a while, until it does.  Not very reassuring, though I imagine I would get used to it.

Buy a car with park assist then.

That's certainly the German way: get a second gadget to cancel out the side effects of the first gadget.

[Zanza]

The extra gadgets have much higher margins than the standard car.

[DGuller]

The extra gadgets have much higher margins than the standard car.