Do You Live In Car-Enthusiast Hell? Tell Me!

[Kylehnat]

I live in a driving-enthusiast's Hell. It's taken me three years to fully realize this, but it's happened, and it makes me depressed. I think I was just in denial, but yesterday it hit me: Olympia is a black hole for car enthusiasts. In fact, it may be the least driving-friendly place in the United States. Why? Here we go...

1)Wusses. I'd like to use a stronger word there, but this is a family site. Olympia drivers make Seattle drivers look like Los Angeles drivers. If you've never been to any of these cities, just know this: what I just said is a massive insult to the folks of Los Angeles. Defensive driving was meant to keep timid drivers out of trouble, but Olympians take this to a very dangerous and annoying limit. The speed limit is viewed as a forbidden land where only the brave dare to tread. Some of this is due to reason #2...

2)Cops. The State Patrol is headquartered here, and they make their presence known. Using the 5-over rule is dangerous, because everyone else is driving 5-under, and 63 in a 60-zone is a ticketable offense. Crime here is minor and infrequent, so the city cops of Olympia, Tumwater, and Lacey join in the speeding-ticket fun. Ever seen a 3-lane, one-way thoroughfare with a 25 mph speed limit? It's in Olympia, and it's enforced.

3)Priuses. Lots of Priuses...and lots of people who think that a Prius is the only car that anyone should ever buy. The Prius will save the earth, you know. The commercial told me so, and why would Toyota's marketing department lie?

4)Beaters. Lots of beaters. Olympia is home to the kinds of people who will spend $4000 to replace the transmission in their 1983 Dodge Aries...twice.

5)No Good Cars. People here consider a brand-spankin'-new Hyundai Accent a luxury car. I'm not kidding. It's rare to see anything more grand than a BMW 3-Series or Mercedes C-Class, and even those are an infrequent spot. I saw a new Aston Martin DB9 recently, but it immediately turned onto the freeway and headed back towards Seattle. Clearly not a resident.

6)No Car Scene. There aren't enough people here who enjoy cars to form clubs. I tag along with a Mazda club based in the Seattle area, an hour away.

7)Car Un-Enthusiasts. While sitting in the Nissan service department, a fellow patron saw my car outside, and commented that it was ugly and impractical. Thank you, sir. Your wife is a fat, ugly, bucktoothed slut. Another person called it a hatchback. I rest my case.

The only saving grace to this quagmire of automotive disdain is that there are several twisty, deserted, unpatrolled roads that serve as playgrounds to the very few car and bike enthusiasts here who actually like to have fun behind the wheel. Other than that, this place is a car 🤬-hole.

Think your city is worse? Prove it ! Let me know that I am not alone in my misery!

 

[Philly]

7)Car Un-Enthusiasts. While sitting in the Nissan service department, a fellow patron saw my car outside, and commented that it was ugly and impractical. Thank you, sir. Your wife is a fat, ugly, bucktoothed slut. Another person called it a hatchback. I rest my case.

The only saving grace to this quagmire of automotive disdain is that there are several twisty, deserted, unpatrolled roads that serve as playgrounds to the very few car and bike enthusiasts here who actually like to have fun behind the wheel. Other than that, this place is a car 🤬-hole.

Think your city is worse? Prove it ! Let me know that I am not alone in my misery!

#7 is pretty bad, I'll give you that.

Car life has pretty much sucked here at college. It might be worse that until now, my car has been 2200 miles away from me, getting neglected by my parents. And when it does come to Holland, the cops are apparently really strict about speeding. And I haven't found any good twisty roads yet.

 

[JCE]

I live in a driving-enthusiast's Hell. It's taken me three years to fully realize this, but it's happened, and it makes me depressed. I think I was just in denial, but yesterday it hit me: Olympia is a black hole for car enthusiasts. In fact, it may be the least driving-friendly place in the United States. Why? Here we go...

1)Wusses. I'd like to use a stronger word there, but this is a family site. Olympia drivers make Seattle drivers look like Los Angeles drivers. If you've never been to any of these cities, just know this: what I just said is a massive insult to the folks of Los Angeles. Defensive driving was meant to keep timid drivers out of trouble, but Olympians take this to a very dangerous and annoying limit. The speed limit is viewed as a forbidden land where only the brave dare to tread. Some of this is due to reason #2...

2)Cops. The State Patrol is headquartered here, and they make their presence known. Using the 5-over rule is dangerous, because everyone else is driving 5-under, and 63 in a 60-zone is a ticketable offense. Crime here is minor and infrequent, so the city cops of Olympia, Tumwater, and Lacey join in the speeding-ticket fun. Ever seen a 3-lane, one-way thoroughfare with a 25 mph speed limit? It's in Olympia, and it's enforced.

3)Priuses. Lots of Priuses...and lots of people who think that a Prius is the only car that anyone should ever buy. The Prius will save the earth, you know. The commercial told me so, and why would Toyota's marketing department lie?

4)Beaters. Lots of beaters. Olympia is home to the kinds of people who will spend $4000 to replace the transmission in their 1983 Dodge Aries...twice.

5)No Good Cars. People here consider a brand-spankin'-new Hyundai Accent a luxury car. I'm not kidding. It's rare to see anything more grand than a BMW 3-Series or Mercedes C-Class, and even those are an infrequent spot. I saw a new Aston Martin DB9 recently, but it immediately turned onto the freeway and headed back towards Seattle. Clearly not a resident.

6)No Car Scene. There aren't enough people here who enjoy cars to form clubs. I tag along with a Mazda club based in the Seattle area, an hour away.

7)Car Un-Enthusiasts. While sitting in the Nissan service department, a fellow patron saw my car outside, and commented that it was ugly and impractical. Thank you, sir. Your wife is a fat, ugly, bucktoothed slut. Another person called it a hatchback. I rest my case.

The only saving grace to this quagmire of automotive disdain is that there are several twisty, deserted, unpatrolled roads that serve as playgrounds to the very few car and bike enthusiasts here who actually like to have fun behind the wheel. Other than that, this place is a car 🤬-hole.

Think your city is worse? Prove it ! Let me know that I am not alone in my misery!

That sucks dude. Possible solution..? Move?

 

[Rykon Zero]

Snip

I live in Woodinville. Here, I've got soccer moms, old people, ricers, rednecks and morons. Everyone drives terrible, my brother's been cut off too many times to count, and everyone drives too slow.

Luckily I live not far from a street with a bunch of rich folks, so I see a Bentley Flying Spur daily, A Lamborghini Gallardo and a Lotus Elise weekly, an a bright red Countach monthly. But that's it.

 

[YSSMAN]

And when it does come to Holland, the cops are apparently really strict about speeding. And I haven't found any good twisty roads yet.

The police are going to vary depending on where you are, but generally speaking, the ones in Allegan County are mega douchebags about stuff that would easily be passed on here in Kent County. As far as decent driving roads go, well, you're in the wrong part of West Michigan to see anything cool. If you stick to the areas near the rivers in Kent and Ionia county, there are some interesting places to run. Head waaaay up north, things get twisty as well. Otherwise, when the entire state is built on the grid patter regardless of the natural things that were in the way... Yeah, "twisties" aren't too common.




RE: Car Hell

I'd vote "NO" on that here in Grand Rapids, MI. After all, Michigan is the car state (well, besides California), so there is going to be halfway decent stuff no matter where you are. Mostly. We have this issue of liking American cars, so if you're into that, then by-golly we've got your bases covered. Looking more for European exotics and other specialties? Unless you're in Detroit or the more wealthy areas of Grand Rapids, you aren't going to see much.

One oddity around here, though, is the obscene number of special edition vehicles. Or cars that are so stupidly rare, that only a handful of people know about them. This is probably the only place in America where GM was actually able to sell Cadillac Allantes, where Ford had pushed the Merkurs out to a decent number of people, and the only place where there are enough gearheads to keep the old Dodge Daytona Turbos alive. Want a rare European or Japanese car? Unless it had a VW badge on the hood, it didn't exist. We do 'Murican and Dubya junk, son.

Generally speaking, people drive pretty well in Michigan. The only time we ever have a real hiccup is when people from Ohio (the worst) and Indiana (second worst) decide to venture into our territory and do the speed limit (gasp!) in the left lane. But, Michigan people are all car-crazy anyway. So we're going 90,000 MPH wherever we can, regardless of the weather, no matter what kind of vehicle we may be driving. Those that aren't exactly enthusiasts are likely just as ignorant as the people in most other places, perhaps with the one exception that I trust them to know how to drive (for the most part) properly.

 

[McLaren]

That sucks dude. Possible solution..? Move?

Move here. Several shows, several cars, good city, better driving roads.

 

[CodeRedR51]

My town isn't too bad. Lots of good driving roads in a fairly close distance, but I will admit that the car scene is crap. Other than the track days we have every six weeks (that are put on my some one I work with) everything else has gone to hell. I remember 4-5 years ago when 20+ cars would cruise up and down the main drag here, even in the dead of winter. Now there's nobody, and I do mean nobody that cruises on the weekends.

My town consists mainly of Mustangs, diesel pickups that think they are fast, and Honda's (not mine, I'm not in their "group") that think they are god. Most of the normal people around here belong to the 5-under the speed limit crowd and get really annoying, really fast. I especially hate when they take their sweet time pulling away from stop lights that makes rolling away in a manual transmission car difficult.

But, the roads make up for it all. If I want to get away from here on the weekends, there's plenty of places to do so.

 

[Stiggy]

Where I live is not exactly a car enthusiast's heaven, but it is not exactly hell either.

The Good - there is a Speedway that holds race meetings regularly, fairly good car shows two or three times per year, hillclimb track that usually holds a round of the NSW Hillclimb Championship each year.

The Bad - Too many badly modified cars (usually Hyundai Excels, Nissan Pulsars, Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons), Porsche Boxsters are considered as rare cars, most roads around town are boring, only ever see rare cars if they are at a petrol station.

The Ugly - There are two Ssangyong Stavics that I sometimes see driving around town.

 

[opladener]

Nope, see my location. Spa-Franchorchamps isn't very far either. Also, Porsches are something you see everyday on the streets, with the odd R8 or Lamborghini thrown in.
Lots of idiot drivers though, especially when you're riding a bike.

 

[Jondot]

7)Car Un-Enthusiasts. While sitting in the Nissan service department, a fellow patron saw my car outside, and commented that it was ugly and impractical. [...] Another person called it a hatchback. I rest my case.

Sorry but that made me laugh

As for where I live... ehhh. Leeds drivers seem to behave pretty much like London ones with slightly less urgency I'd say. But then I've only driven through Ealing and that was about the same. Plenty of nice cars, and a good percentage going over the limit. Plus there seems to be some sort of inherent shame if you don't move away from the lights immediately and with your foot nearly buried in the carpet. Or if you stop for a yellow - I've been up there 6 months and I think I've only had to do that twice.

Where I come from is totally different - a small town with mostly old women doing 28mph everywhere. The city nearby isn't much better in all honesty - totally different to the mini-London I now seem to have got used to.

 

[skynyrd]

Surprisingly, North Alabama isn't that bad. I live out in the middle of nowhere, but when it's time to visit one of the cities (Huntsville, Madison, Birmingham, though that's actually mid-Alabama...) I see all sorts of interesting cars. The small town of Ardmore has a large classic car (50s, early 60s mostly) population and seems to be some sort of gathering spot for them. For some bizarre reason.

Also, there are a large number of people who use even older cars as daily drivers. I never got into the stuff much older than the 60s so I couldn't ID many (or any) of them, but I know one woman used to daily drive some sort of '30s ford that looked as if it had come straight out of that old Bonnie and Clyde movie.

There's also a GT40 lurking around somewhere that I've seen a few times, the occasional Ferrari, and Jaguars and Boxsters of all years are a dime a dozen here, along with quite a few 924s and similar. Recently, I've begun seeing a few Aston Martins around, and that's always nice. I've seen Cobras and Caterhams as well, and pretty much any old guy with a hundred acres has a shed with a fairly rare old European car somewhere on his property. The older Japanese cars have a presence as well, though I don't recall seeing anything older than 1970.

As for the tuner crowd, the hatchback and Mustangs from the 80s seem incredibly popular, and probably have the most visible mods of any particular car type that I've noticed thus far, though the Saturn SC2 seems popular as well; I'll let you guess why ;p Then you have the '90s caprice rolling on 30s crowd; they're all over the place too. Of course we have the raised, loud pickup trucks too; it's the south, some people feel they're obligated

All of this, and we have one drag strip that I know of.

Then again, we've got South Tennessee, one of the hilliest, twistiest places you'll find for hundreds of miles.

Basically, there's something for just about everyone except track enthusiasts in North Alabama. According to an article I saw recently, we also have one of the highest speeding averages in the country, probably due to the long straight stretches of nicely deserted interstate. Speed on the normal highways though, and you'll be in trouble.

As for driving skill? Well...it's hit or miss. As far as I'm concerned, Huntsville has some of the worst drivers I've ever seen. Bumper to bumper at high speeds, darting in and out of traffic without signals, people revving up high and darting forward only to slam on their brakes to avoid smashing into the car in front of them...I've been to Atlanta and Birmingham and all the way to New Mexico, and Huntsville was the worst I've come across ;p Not that all of them are that bad, of course.

 

[TheBook]

Full of rednecks that drive rusted-out pickup trucks, old people who drive Buicks, soccer moms who drive minivans (and their husband drives a Prius), and Hispanics with riced-out anythings. (I know someone who owns a riced Ford Probe, FFS.) There is only one "good" driving road anywhere around here, and it consists of six corners in quick succession. The closest road course is hours away, as is any sort of autocross event. About the only good thing is that everyone does 5 over, and you don't usually get in trouble until you hit 10 over.

[/rant]

 

[Paulie]

Nah, where I live is generally pretty good. Race track and quarter mile a stone's throw away, lots of excessively nice, excessively fast cars, lots of quiet country roads (although they are in crappy condition). That's not to say everyone drives nice cars here though (is there any real place in the world where everyone drives nice cars?), it's still the country-side so there's also lots of junky fourbies around and old beaters. Everyone seems to have forgotten the road rules, or consider they are above them as well. Not me though.

 

[Joey D]

Brad summed it up pretty good.

I live in southeast Michigan, all we know is cars and everything is surrounded around car culture. I mean Detroit is called the Motor City (along with the Murder Capital, but that's another story).

Our cops are really low key, it's pretty hard to get knicked for speeding although cops will write you for racing, squealing the tires, and stuff like that. But pretty much everyone drives at least 10mph over the speed limit and on the highways it's not uncommon to see people over 90 passing cops shooting radar. They just don't care that much, which is nice. The only way you'll get done in for speeding is if you are going faster than the flow of traffic and driving like an idiot.

Most people know how to drive around here too, sure you get the old people that fail or the young drivers but pretty much everyone 21-65 who has their license can drive somewhat decently. The out of towners are what you need to watch out for, around here it's the morons from Ohio that fail to realise that our cops aren't little Napoleons that will ticket you for 2-3mph over the limit. People from Indiana and Illinois are worse, don't hang out in the left lane doing 55 when everyone else is doing 90. What's even worse is that they fail to understand what flashing bright lights mean, if I flash you, move to the right.

We have a lot of car meets, pretty much Woodward Ave. is packed every Friday and Saturday night from the first nice weekend in March to the last nice weekend in November. Throughout the summer there are several car shows all over the place and typically throughout the week you can go to a car show every night at a restaurant, shopping centre or any other large parking lot. I know of 3 weekly shows within 5 miles from my house and they are always packed.

The only thing I do not like about our car culture is that it's dominated by classic car guys, and nothing bores me more then classic car guys...that is is they aren't complete toolboxes. A vast majority of the classic car guys around here hate anyone under the age of 40 because we can't appreciate a good car, hate anyone that drive a foreign car, and really hate anyone that doesn't have a V8 under the hood. I can't stand to be around the people since they call me everything under the sun for driving a small, British, 4 cylinder car. Muscle car guys are even worse and I refuse to even associate with them because they are such d-bags. You want to know what I hate muscle cars, this is the reason.

Our sport compact scene is getting better but it's mostly frat boys with Cobalt SS's or SRT-4's that their daddy bought for them with there GM or Chrysler discounts. These dudes irks me too because they think they are God's gift to the automotive world and all they do is run into lamp posts and close down sections of road that I need to travel on.

The automotive scene here is real cliquey though and most people keep with there own kind. I hang with sport compact guys, mostly the Euro trashed stance guys that build VW's with rusty hoods because it's about where I fit in.

Even though I don't like most of the car people around here we do have a really good scene and no matter what you drive you can find a group to chill with just about any night of the week or weekend.

 

[Glubags]

Another person called it a hatchback.

Er... the 370Z is a hatchback.

Nothing wrong with that. It just means you don't have a traditional boot out back, but a hatch... and you do have a hatch on the back... therefore it's a hatchback, much the same way my '97 Eclipse was a hatchback, and Supras are hatchbacks, and a number of other cars which aren't typically called "hatchbacks" are indeed hatchbacks.

 

[Joey D]

I think they classify the 370Z as a fastback.

 

[homeforsummer]

Can't complain about my city after reading the above. The worst I've had to contend with are chavs who think their car is the fastest on the road, and taxi drivers who think the road is theirs. Otherwise, it's pretty good. A decent number of flash cars, a race track about 30 mins away and we're a small country so even if nothing at all is going on here, I don't have to travel far to find some sort of car scene.

All I can really moan about is crappy weather...

 

[Worst_Driver]

Well my city is not that bad finally.

Lots of ricer, ever seen a GT3 sized spoiler on a Mazda Protege ?
The capital of the Dodge Ram, they're everywhere with F150 in second and Sierra/Silverado in third.
An improvised quarter mile 5 minutes from town.
We have the smallest Toyota dealer which is a very good thing.
If you're not 10 km/h faster than the limit you'll have a line of cars behind you.
Some rare cars, I see a detomaso Pantera sometimes and there is a clean '69 Charger in my neighborhood.
And if you want to get out of town your car may bottom out during the trip, thanks to our horrible winters and trucks. Ricers beware.

 

[Northstar]

If you like older muscle cars my area is perfect. During the summer there is a car show about 5 miles away every Saturday that normally has a good amount of people there. I normally see about 10 classics a day if it's nice enough.

We also have this, which as you can tell already has 3,400 entries. That isn't even counting all the people that bring out classic cars and don't enter them. We also are home to the Car Craft Summer Nationals which bring in a lot of people from around the country.

So inretrospect, if you like classic cars this state in general is great. If you are more into modern sports cars you will not have as much fun.


Edit: It also made me realize I really need to get a camera.

 

[Prostock26]

wow, suprised to see grand rapids, MI on here... Im not into the car scene much. (I drive just a boring sliverado). but I do get a laugh when I drive by the best buy after hours and see a much of cars parked with their neon lights on, and people just standing around. Some people may be into that, but I dont get it.

 

[a112]

There is only one Circuit track in Croatia that is really rarely opened for track days.
The nearest "forum type" car enthusiast is 60km from me,and there are maybe about 3 car enthusiast in my city that are not rednecks.
Roads are in bad condition mostly, and nearest meetings are 100km away in capitol - Zagreb.

 

[JimInPT]

My town is where old, beat-to-shiite Volvo wagons go to die. I think they're attracted by the decaying smell of decrepit old hippies, of which we have a lot.

We have the self-righteous Prius Pussies, of course, as well as electric-"car" douches who can't outrun my SUV parked. All of them are utterly useless in the snow. Since they're generally just heading to the overpriced Coop store for Vegan Turkey, I know their trails and avoid 'em. Reminds me of Palm Desert, where everyone drives golf carts on the public roads. Slowly.

When a Porsche comes to town (big-town tourist), it's an event and the kids gather like they did in Mayberry ("Mommy, were you ever not a hippie, like that hot lady in the convertible?").

There's a few VW microbuses, but they're so slow you never see them anywhere because they never get there. Lots of Subarus driven by buzz-cut "women" on their way to the Free Clinic to get treated for something or other.

Since it would be mortifying to be assumed a democRat lesbian, I drive an SUV (yes, it has kayak racks but I compensate with accessible firearms) and ride a fast Honda ST-1100 (good for interstate travel and day trips) and a slow Harley Fat Boy (good for sunny days spent looking at cows). The latter two are great on the twisty hill and mountain roads just out of town. All vehicles are equipped with stop-light reading material to keep the hippie behind me entertained in traffic. Our county, county, has 5 traffic lights.

The local Anti-Destination League hates me. Good.

 

[nevertell]

I've been to the states, I've seen enough. You must never squeal about driving there, because you actually have roads instead of little bits of asphalt between the potholes. Where I live, the snow melts along with the road.

 

[chepu]

Im not in USA, but where i live is a HELL.

Also i would like to you Fellow GTP Users, read it, it took me plenty of time to write all of this and at the end of the post most of you will realize how bad is this Car Enthusiast Hell I live in. Also it might be intesresting

The Good: Car mods are not a prohibited thing, so that lets you put whatever you want in your car.

Cheap Gas: the Gallon of Gas cost less than 1$

The Bad: Car mods are not a prohibited thing, meaning that ricers and tacky people have freedom, if you come here youll see EVERY car with a kit of Chinese HID xenon lights, and i must say those are annoying, they just blind the hell out of you.

Bad Roads: actually, I can count how many roads are in Good shape, which is about 4 big roads, nothing more, there are lots of bad located speedbumps, holes...really big holes, theres one where a hyundai Tucson actually went in, completely.

Amost no Rules: Its possible to Pass a red light, turn where is prohibited, do speeding insanely, like going in a 60 MPH freeway at 90 MPH and cops wont say NOTHING!

Car Theft: Thats a Huge problem, here is almost impossible to live with a car, if you have an Old rusty beater car, it'll be stolen because the thieves think its your only mode of transportation and they will blackmail you for paying them to return you the car. almost everyone in this situation pays because old cars (pre 1995) arent insured here, and in most cases is people with low resources that cant afford a new car.

If its a normal car( which is a car from 1996-2007 here) they will steal the car to sell its parts or they will ask you to pay them for returning the car to you. In case its Insured, they will blackmail you saying that they know where you/your wife works/live, and know where your sons study so in case you dont pay they will threaten you and your family.

If its an expensive/newer car they will just kidnap the owner, so they can blackmail the family to pay a huge amount of money, just because they assume that if you have an expensive car, you must be rich.

Now theres also in the car theft problem, something called vaccine/medicine. here thieves will offer you to pay them monthly and put up a sticker in your car, literally that means that you are paying for not getting your car stolen, which is something that just get on my nerves because why in the bloody hell do I have to pay the thieves for not stealing my car? (and if you ask about Police, about 50% of the gangs are made by cops, so we dont have protection).

Lack of Parts/Products for car maintenance: As some may know, here things are bad, so car maintenance products are really expensive( think of 50$ for a freaking ArmorAll tire cleaner) because they are imported in an illegal way, because government dont allow the people to do business outside the country because of dictatorship reasons that i wont explain.

Also car parts are hard to find, because of problems on importation money, for example, if you want a new headlight for your camry, you have to order it from the dealer, then the dealer will start the procedure about permission on money for imports, so they can get you that new headlight...leading to a 6-8 month wait just for a new headlight.

FUGLY Taste on Cars: Car culture here is pretty effed up, people here think a 2007 Kia Sportage is a Luxury Vehicle , that an Impala is a High grade luxury Car, they see the Coupe Civic 1.8 as a Sport High class Car, and the 350Z is a Supercar.

Also, most people here think that a 2.4 Four pot with 160 HP, is Sporty, and that the Old Cavvy 2.2 Engine is Fast.

Ricers here have cars you people may never have heard of, like old opels, renaults, fords and crappy cars.

Old, Bad quality Cars: THERE IS NOT A SINGLE CAR NEWER THAN 2008, the latest/newest car in here is the freaking last gen corolla , and is considered as a premium/luxury sedan. here you wont see a car newer than that, we even have the old generation lancer FFS.

Chinese car are sold Here, I dont believe i have to say anything else about that.

Car makers such as Ford, Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, Toyota, etc, sell Old cars rebadged as new ones, insted of selling new models. heres a small list of cars that are still being sold as new:

-2002 Ford Fiesta
-1998 Ford Ka
-1992 Opel Corsa Rebadged as Chevrolet
-1992 Renault Twingo
-2001 Renault Clio
-1997 Renault Megane
-1998 Mitsubishi Lancer Rebadged as another model
-2004 Mitsubishi Lancer
-70's Toyota Land cruiser with a new front end
-90's Land Cruiser

And the list Goes on, as you can see a lot of cars here doesnt have ABS, ESP, Airbags...Stock.



As You guys can see, I live in a car Enthusiast Hell

P.D: Sorry for Huge Post, its just that i couldnt hold up all the Garbage i see on a Daily basis.

 

[JimInPT]

Im not in USA, but where i live is a HELL.

government dont allow the people to do business outside the country because of dictatorship reasons that i wont explain

My sympathies. I hope your fellow countrymen will be able to get rid of that clown before it's too late for Venezuela and I apologize that our clown is like-minded and won't do anything to help restore your liberties.

I think I'd go nuts in a place that made it so complicated to get a replacement headlight. Enemy of the State, for sure.

 

[chepu]

My sympathies. I hope your fellow countrymen will be able to get rid of that clown before it's too late for Venezuela and I apologize that our clown is like-minded and won't do anything to help restore your liberties.

I think I'd go nuts in a place that made it so complicated to get a replacement headlight. Enemy of the State, for sure.

Thanks for the sympathy, Sorry about knowing that you have a clown there too

And the Headlight thing, is just a small example...Pfft, my dad's 4Runner lasted 7 months stored in our garage just because we ordered a part that was necessary leading us to use my brother's car, a Freaking Hyundai Getz

 

[NotThePrez]

St. Pete's not that bad, but it's not that great either. Every now and again you see a high-performance car, like on my way back from school I saw a 911 GT3 RS, and in downtown there are some nice cars, but that's about it. There are some ghetto-ish areas where basically everything can be a donk. I once saw a Toyota Carolla with bright purple paint riding 20 inch DUBs. Also, there are no race tracks around as far as I know, and the best stuff only comes around during the Grand Prix.

It's not Car-Enthusiast Hell, but it could be a bit better.

 

[socomplayer2]

Were I am now I live in a car enthusiast void zone. It can be described as hell I guess. I have no one to shoot the s*** with about cars, which is all I do. My roommates couldn't care less and everyone has honda accords or mazda 3 or 6's. Its quite boring really with no car meets to go to every night or shops to chill at or people gathering to race. I've gotten used to it for the most part because there just isn't anything that has to do with cars going on.

However at home it is more like a heaven. All of my close/best friends and acquaintance are car people. I can't go 20 mins without going to a meet that night or go to the track or watch people street race. As many of you may know I am big into VW's so I know a wicked amount of people in the scene. I cant drive to the store with out flashing my highbeems at a fellow VW'er I know. Its really awesome at home. No matter were I go there will always be a few cars parked at the dozen dunkin donuts and 7/11s around my area. Almost every night any week of the year there is a decent car gtg going on somewhere with in 15 minutes of my house. For example this past weekend I....

-helped do motor mounts and put on a coilover suspension a '88 mr2
-went too a 300+ car meet and a smaller one the next night
-went to the track to watch a few friends get some times down
-drove a 11.5 second vr6t gti
-watched a few street races
-went on a all night drive around nj with a few cars guys to find good driving roads for future trips

This is a normal weekend and I never take it for granted because I know when I go back to school I wont have any of it.

I don't know whats in store for next weekend but I know sunday I am going to Spring VW show n go at raceway park (which is track from my house @ 25 mins and has a 1/4 mile, hosts autocross and has a road course)

Even better there isn't THAT much rice around. The people with ricey cars don't really go to meets or hang out because I think they aren't real car people because they just do it for looks and to bag chicks because there to fast and too furious .

 

[Rotary Junkie]

I live in enthusiast hell but I'm like 20 minutes from enthusiast heaven.

 

[Danoff]

I'm sure you guys assume that LA is a car-enthusiast heaven. Very few cops on the freeways, average speed is about 80 mph. Tons of canyon roads to have fun on, and lots of super-expensive cars everywhere. There's also a scene or club for just about any car you might be into.

Indeed, LA has a lot going for it. It also has a crapload of traffic, theft, accidents, and lots of roads that are in just horrific condition. I wouldn't say it counterbalances the good, but it definitely puts a damper on what would otherwise be a really awesome driving city.

I guess all I can say is... no place is perfect.