Baby’s first rocket
It would never have occurred to me to buy some hyperexpensive sled for either of my kids, largely because I’m not in a position to afford a hyperexpensive sled.
There are, of course, other reasons:
I once had a well intentioned mom buy a 1998 Audi A4 from me. The good news? It had over $8000 worth of records over a period of 120,000 miles. The bad news? Re-read the last sentence and add arrogant 16-year-old kid and clueless Mom into the equation. I explained to them the high costs and maintenance involved, referred them to a very good repair shop, and even showed them the owner’s manual stating the next service due. As you already figured out, it didn’t matter.
By the time we were filling out the paperwork, Junior was blasting the speaker system so loud that you could hear it from the inside of our building. Even with the Audi’s and building door closed. Mom blew my advice off quicker than a texting teen and less than 2 months later the turbocharger literally exploded into pieces. $2300 and several Italian style tongue lashings later, a humbled Junior was forced to ditch the German that cost uber-Deutsch Marks in maintenance for a “sensible” Corolla.
Not that I’d actually wish the crapmobiles they own on my children, but at least they can get them (partially) fixed once in a while.
fillyjonk »
28 January 2009 · 7:26 am
I’m trying to think of some funny and pithy way of saying “kid and mom got what they deserved” but coming up with nothing.
I drive a boring sensible car but (knock wood) save for a transmission problem (a common issue with some Fords, it seems), I have had very few problems with it. Then again, I don’t “cruise” every Saturday night and I most definitely do not play the sound system at deafening volumes. (Though I will admit to having been tempted, back when I had neighbors who were The Party Pad From Hell to popping in a tape of either opera arias or Edith Piaf and driving slowly past their house at 7 am with the volume set on 11.
CGHill »
28 January 2009 · 7:31 am
Playing the sound system at deafening volumes usually won’t cause other parts of the car to disintegrate.
Unfortunately.
fillyjonk »
28 January 2009 · 7:50 am
That’s surprising. Considering the volumes that some of the chaps here play their aftermarket systems, I’d expect some serious metal fatigue. Especially since it seems to be the fashion here to buy a late 70s boatmobile (like a Crown Victoria or the Buick equivalent) and fill all the empty space in the thing’s giant trunk with subwoofers and whatnot.
Sometimes those things drive by and the only thing I can hear is the vibration of the metal body plates.
McGehee »
28 January 2009 · 12:30 pm
Naw, those stadium speakers will cause the driver’s brains to disnitegrate long befoer the car does.
Sadly, this doesn’t cause the driver to, like, stop getting behind the wheel and turning the key…