Octopus Overlords

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am The thing is that if I look at any other brand it's either one of two things. Too expensive... Or too boring. Every time I look at a Honda the damn way they build their cars just appeals to me so much even though I had so much trouble with the CRV and the Civic. I think the CRV mayyyy have bit our fault of waiting too long on oil changes. The Civic just seemed to be a lemon. Who knows it may have had no more problems for a ton of miles, but we'll never know.

The funny thing is the current civic is so ridiculously over-styled it is kind of an embarrassment. I mean it certainly can't be called boring!

coopasonic wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:55 am

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am The thing is that if I look at any other brand it's either one of two things. Too expensive... Or too boring. Every time I look at a Honda the damn way they build their cars just appeals to me so much even though I had so much trouble with the CRV and the Civic. I think the CRV mayyyy have bit our fault of waiting too long on oil changes. The Civic just seemed to be a lemon. Who knows it may have had no more problems for a ton of miles, but we'll never know.

The funny thing is the current civic is so ridiculously over-styled it is kind of an embarrassment. I mean it certainly can't be called boring!

LOL it's certainly a polarizing car. I see a ton of people that say they hate the way it looks, but I really like it. I did see a Mazda 3 all tricked out and the inside is amazing. I had a first gen Mazda 3 and that thing was a death trap with it's blind spots. From the reviews I've see it's not really much better. You just could not see cars back left. Pulling onto the highway was terrifying.

I really hope I don't regret it, but payment wise it's really almost a wash, but obviously in the end I'm spending a ton more money. Assuming the car didn't keep on having things break. That last AC repair would have been 2k if it happened 3 months later. Thank god it was still hot out.

This is what I looks like... Not my car just random pictures from the internet. That's the same color as my old car. I never had a blue car before, but I just love that blue.

Are we talking about old cars?

First car, Pontiac T1000 (aka Pontiac badged Chevette), and a hand-me-down from my mom. Total joke of a car. Being conned by a local shop into 2000 bucks of repairs (back in like... 1990!) didn't help.

Dumped that and bought a Mercury Topaz from a local used dealer. Lucked out as it had the extended warranty on it and was able to transfer to my name. Drove it for years until I moved to California.

In California, mostly commuted on public transit, until I picked up a cheap Taurus, until it basically gave up one day, Transmission hose broke and it's not really even worth it to tow it to a shop by that point.

My uncle gave me his Olds Cutlass. Engine already has a weird knocking noise. Did not last very long.

Bought a Ford Contour and drove it until it developed a transmission leak. It was a great little car.

Bought my mechanic's Volvo, immaculately maintained. Drove it into the ground after X years. Donated it when the transmission gave out AGAIN. (lost reverse, already replaced once)

Been carless ever since (about 3 years now).

You can't live in my area without a car. Everything is so far away and there's barely any mass transit. I guess if I lived in a more busy area it would be possible, but my town? Not a chance. It would be nice to have one less thing to worry about, but when people aren't pissing me off I quite enjoy driving. The pandemic has made the commute a breeze. It's September and there's still barely any traffic.

my dad was really into the Honda Civic Type R when they were announced and said my brother should get one to replace his Mazda 3, so that is now his current vehicle (and dad is now living vicariously through that purchase. dad would have gotten one, but kept insisting he was 'too old' for it and got the Subaru Outback instead.)

The type r is like 37 grand. I doubt I will ever touch a car in that price range, but they are really cool looking.

And I'm way too lazy to drive a stick shift now. It's fun until you get stuck in traffic on a gigantic hill.

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:01 pm The type r is like 37 grand. I doubt I will ever touch a car in that price range,

If you didn't have a car payment for a few years and could save up a down payment...


Sorry, couldn't resist. I am weak...

Octavious wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 8:29 pm The lane centering thing is really weird and I turned it off right away. I guess on a long drive on the highway it would be cool, but having the car mess with my steering is weird

HUGE assumption on my part but..... if you use your signals to indicate lane changes the car won't try to keep you in your current lane.

Roman wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:30 pm

Octavious wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 8:29 pm The lane centering thing is really weird and I turned it off right away. I guess on a long drive on the highway it would be cool, but having the car mess with my steering is weird

HUGE assumption on my part but..... if you use your signals to indicate lane changes the car won't try to keep you in your current lane.

This is actually a correct assumption. If you have any sort of lane keeping assist or lane departure stuff turned on on a Honda, it gets mad if you try to change lanes without a turn signal on. Using a turn signal deactivates the lane keeping/departure settings until it senses you're all the way in your new lane.

I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

stessier wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:15 pm

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:01 pm The type r is like 37 grand. I doubt I will ever touch a car in that price range,

If you didn't have a car payment for a few years and could save up a down payment...


Sorry, couldn't resist. I am weak...

I had actually planned on driving that previous car for a long time, but really soured me that the whole AC had to be replaced so soon. Even if I saved up money I wouldn't want to drop that kind of money on a car. Right now we live very far under our means, so while this might not have been the smartest financial move in the universe I think it was the right move for now.

The first brand new car either one of us ever bought was Wife's 1978 Civic Hondamatic. She didn't buy it until 'she got her first professional job in '79, so she got a great deal on last year's model. It looked like this, except silver.



Honda was still primarily a motorcycle company, and the 1200 cc engine in that car wasn't much bigger than their biggest bike. People ridiculed it as a toy car, but compared to the used beaters any of us had owned up to that point, it seemed the height of luxury.

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:38 pm I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

I turned off lane assist on my 2017 Honda Accord - it seemed to get confused too easily and was too quick to grab my steering for my taste. I left the proximity sensors on though. I really like the feature even though it freaks out any time I park near a shrub. I'm still bummed Honda abandoned Lane Watch and I dread replacing this car and losing it.

Exodor wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 6:47 pm

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:38 pm I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

I turned off lane assist on my 2017 Honda Accord - it seemed to get confused too easily and was too quick to grab my steering for my taste. I left the proximity sensors on though. I really like the feature even though it freaks out any time I park near a shrub. I'm still bummed Honda abandoned Lane Watch and I dread replacing this car and losing it.

Ya this one still has lanewatch I and love it too. I have to remember to change the settings so that it doesn't turn on itself when I'm turning. That's not fun when you are trying to follow the GPS.

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am The thing is that if I look at any other brand it's either one of two things. Too expensive... Or too boring. Every time I look at a Honda the damn way they build their cars just appeals to me so much even though I had so much trouble with the CRV and the Civic.

I might be biased, but after driving my father's Accord I thought it was the vanilla pudding of cars. Perfectly serviceable, but probably the most boring car I've ever driven. I hope your experience is better!

Accord is way different than a Civic. There's a reason why there's a huge culture around modding civics.

And I missed a freaking deer by two feet this morning. Now I remember why new cars kind of suck. The fear factor of it getting dinged.

Octavious wrote:I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

My current car (2018 Audi Q7) has all of these features...auto high-beams, rain-sensitive wipers, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control...and you get totally spoiled by them after a while. It's awesome never having to touch your wiper controls...come on automatically when the rain starts, adjust themselves to the amount of rain, and go off when it stops. Headlights are the same way...hit the high-beams and they automatically dim when another car is coming or I'm following someone.

Adaptive cruise and lane keeping take a little more adjustment time though. After owning my car for three years, I almost totally trust the cruise system. I can set it to 80 on the highway, and it adjusts to the traffic in front of me, all the way down to 'stop & go' during rush hour traffic, and back to full speed when the road is clear. It was a little unusual feeling the lane-keeping move the steering wheel at first, but I use it all the time now. Not only do I think that it can keep mistakes from happening, but it also goes a long way to decreasing fatigue on long trips. Sweeping turns on the highway are made by the car with me loosely holding the wheel (let go for more than 10 seconds and it shuts off). In slow bumper-to-bumper traffic, my car locks on to the car in front and follows it down the road without me doing a thing, adjusting speed and steering completely on its own. I still have to pay attention to driving, but knowing that the car can manage some of the driving helps me to relax and can prevent accidents if I have a lapse in attention. I'm spoiled enough by the safety benefits and convenience of these features that I probably won't go by to a car without them, and it's good to see them trickier down to less expensive cars.

Ya I keep turned it on for a bit on the way in and while I doubt I would use it for my daily commute, I could see using it for a long drive. I'm really happy that this will be the first car my daughter drives. These extra features make me feel at least a little better. She can barely walk across a room without causing a disaster.

My new ride (Hyundai Kona) has many of these safety features also. I turn off the lane assist, will use it on long trips when I think I may grow tired. The lane change detection is really sensitive, sometimes it'll beep saying something is beside me when changing lanes but there will not be. That's annoying because I'm afraid I'll start ignoring it if there are so many false alarms. It most be picking up something on the side of the road...

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:38 pm I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

Heh, yeah, it is a little strange at first to feel the car try to keep you in the lane. I personally only turn it on rarely. I also turned off the always on lane departure warning because it would freak out any time I would drive through an area under construction and it would try to recognize lines that were no longer painted over as valid lane markers.

Also, I turned the auto high beams off. I live in an area where they aren't always needed, and when I did have them on, I typically worried that I'd blind an oncoming driver in a non-flat area if my car didn't sense the other car quickly enough. Because the high beams on the Accord I own are stupid powerful.

gbasden wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:09 pm

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am The thing is that if I look at any other brand it's either one of two things. Too expensive... Or too boring. Every time I look at a Honda the damn way they build their cars just appeals to me so much even though I had so much trouble with the CRV and the Civic.

I might be biased, but after driving my father's Accord I thought it was the vanilla pudding of cars. Perfectly serviceable, but probably the most boring car I've ever driven. I hope your experience is better!

The new Accords are all turobcharged and I don't find driving mine to be boring.

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:38 pm I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

I turn all those safety features off. I tell it, hey I have my wife next to me, she does a good job at telling me how to drive

naednek wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:10 pm

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:38 pm I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

I turn all those safety features off. I tell it, hey I have my wife next to me, she does a good job at telling me how to drive

We agreed early on that we wouldn't comment on each others driving. She's too slow and I'm too fast (she gets car sick). A couple of times she has broken the rule, but it was for the best. Asking me to pull over so she can get out and vomit is better than the alternative.

Octavious wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:38 pm I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

I have that lane keeping thing on my Crosstrek. I hate it, especially when an 18-wheeler is not good at keeping his lane next to me - I want to keep right, but the car wants me in the middle. No thanks.

The side mirrors have yellow lights that blink when there's someone in my blind spot. That, I like.

disarm wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 8:53 am

Octavious wrote:I wasn't trying to change a lane. I was just letting it try to keep me in my lane to see what it does. The tiny little movement is just so weird to me... I could see it being super useful on a long highway trip. It also has auto highbeams which is nice, but will take some getting used to.

My current car (2018 Audi Q7) has all of these features...auto high-beams, rain-sensitive wipers, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control...and you get totally spoiled by them after a while. It's awesome never having to touch your wiper controls...come on automatically when the rain starts, adjust themselves to the amount of rain, and go off when it stops. Headlights are the same way...hit the high-beams and they automatically dim when another car is coming or I'm following someone.

Adaptive cruise and lane keeping take a little more adjustment time though. After owning my car for three years, I almost totally trust the cruise system. I can set it to 80 on the highway, and it adjusts to the traffic in front of me, all the way down to 'stop & go' during rush hour traffic, and back to full speed when the road is clear. It was a little unusual feeling the lane-keeping move the steering wheel at first, but I use it all the time now. Not only do I think that it can keep mistakes from happening, but it also goes a long way to decreasing fatigue on long trips. Sweeping turns on the highway are made by the car with me loosely holding the wheel (let go for more than 10 seconds and it shuts off). In slow bumper-to-bumper traffic, my car locks on to the car in front and follows it down the road without me doing a thing, adjusting speed and steering completely on its own. I still have to pay attention to driving, but knowing that the car can manage some of the driving helps me to relax and can prevent accidents if I have a lapse in attention. I'm spoiled enough by the safety benefits and convenience of these features that I probably won't go by to a car without them, and it's good to see them trickier down to less expensive cars.

My Crosstrek has the adaptive cruise control too. Love it, especially in rush hour traffic. It allows me to pay more attention to someone who may be making a stupid lane change further ahead and be able to react sooner. Not sure I would like the "hold attention" systems that are going into the more expensive cars now. Thanks car, I know I'm not looking out the windshield at this very second...

Same with my Mustang. I'm not sure I can ever own a car without adaptive cruise control again.

It is a really neat technology. On the Honda it brakes pretty darn hard sometimes when the car slows down in front. And it just feels so weird to have the car steering, braking and accelerating for me. I'm pretty sure that's the car I'll drive down to DE for Christmas, so I'll certainly give it a long test when I hit the boring ass roads there.

So 35,500 miles on the new car. And the AC died. Same exact issue. I stupidly assumed they would have fixed it after years of complaints, but no I got issued the same warranty extension and it failed at almost the same mileage. Now I'll have to schedule dumping it off at a dealership and hopefully getting a loaner from them. It should be covered, but WTF. This is basic functionality that I have never had fail on a car. Especially with this much mileage. And even after they fix it I don't trust it won't break again.

I won't trade it in for a new one again.

Broken compressor. Would not have been covered once I hit 36000 which would have been next week. That failed on both cars... I don't get how they cocked up a system that bad. It will get fixed for free, but certainly doesn't give me confidence for the future.

And 2 months later it's broken again. Seriously do not buy a 2016-2020 Civic. Hot garbage. Only blows cold air on the right side until like 20 minutes. Which is usually low coolant. Which means I have a new leak, or they missed a leak the first time. I'm not under warranty anymore except if it's the recalled part. If car prices weren't so horrible I would just get rid of it. I really shouldn't have to bring a car in every couple of months for the same thing.

Well, if you're not under warranty, maybe you can find a good local mechanic who can actually fix things.

Ya well I'm bringing it on Friday to see what they say. It could be the other part that will be covered so would be unwise to not have them look again. If it is leaking I want to get it in ASAP before the compressor nukes itself again. What a piece of crap. Everything else is fine, but this is like 1,500-2,000 to repair if it's not covered. And I've heard horror stories of people going through 4-5 compressors. How is this a thing?

Actually I'm seeing people being quoted up to 3800. No way in hell I will pay that. Fingers crossed. Maybe they fix it and this time it at least lasts two months...

I had a 2000-2002(?) Honda Civic and I believe it was pretty close to car of the year.
Just an anecdotal example tho. It was too damn small for me.

I actually have my money on the blend doors at this point. Which I'll totally have to pay for, but wouldn't be 3800.

So they know how bad it is that they have now extended the warranty on the compressor AND condenser to 10 years. So assuming it's one of those two things I'm fine. But damn man they really fucked up with this car.

Condenser this time. So I guess I just have to come in for free repairs every couple of months? On the plus side they do wash it.

Octavious wrote: ↑Fri Jun 02, 2023 8:33 am Condenser this time. So I guess I just have to come in for free repairs every couple of months? On the plus side they do wash it.

When I had my '96 Del Sol I had a year where I never had to wash it - it kept getting either hit or broken into and the dealer would wash it when they were done fixing it.

Not worth it.

I'd love to sell it and get a cx5 but it would be nice not to have car payments the rest of my life. I don't trust this POS car at all though.