Monday, June 22, 2009
A few questions/thoughts before heading off tomorrow to Montreal:
-In order to continue being different from everyone else, in order to be myself... do I need to push other people away? Is there any way to keep them around, or is it too much for me to accept other people for their flaws, and for them to accept me as I am? If so, would I be able to cut myself away with no regrets? I don't think so.
-If you can, you can. If you can't, then don't. I have trouble (actually annoyed) relying on people who are non-assertive and indecisive.
-Why does it seem like most people at this stage in their lives (i.e. early 20's) act more like kids than senior high school students?
-Good parenting makes all the difference. Especially in high school and university years.
-Smoking. In all honesty, I still don't understand why. Then again, you can ask the same question for alcohol, except in small quantities, alcohol doesn't kill, or make you hack and cough like a dying patient. And do people do weed because they actually like it, or just because it's illegal?
-Am I the only one who thinks that nearly all luxury cars out there are ugly? Whatever happened to good taste?
-Why do most comments on deviantart consist of "EXCELLENT!", "very nice!", "FAVOURITE", etc., instead of actual feedback?
-I really want to play basketball and MTG again. Practice makes one better, but I'm itching to apply that to a real match.
-Maybe I'm just getting old, but music is getting really, really crappy this past year... worse than anything the 90's had to offer. It's almost surreal the kind of stuff they put on KISS 92.5. Where did all this Eurotrash/R&B music with horrible lyrics come from?
-Is The Stig really Schumy? Guess I'm finding out on Top Gear in the bus ride tomorrow
~Eastside
-In order to continue being different from everyone else, in order to be myself... do I need to push other people away? Is there any way to keep them around, or is it too much for me to accept other people for their flaws, and for them to accept me as I am? If so, would I be able to cut myself away with no regrets? I don't think so.
-If you can, you can. If you can't, then don't. I have trouble (actually annoyed) relying on people who are non-assertive and indecisive.
-Why does it seem like most people at this stage in their lives (i.e. early 20's) act more like kids than senior high school students?
-Good parenting makes all the difference. Especially in high school and university years.
-Smoking. In all honesty, I still don't understand why. Then again, you can ask the same question for alcohol, except in small quantities, alcohol doesn't kill, or make you hack and cough like a dying patient. And do people do weed because they actually like it, or just because it's illegal?
-Am I the only one who thinks that nearly all luxury cars out there are ugly? Whatever happened to good taste?
-Why do most comments on deviantart consist of "EXCELLENT!", "very nice!", "FAVOURITE", etc., instead of actual feedback?
-I really want to play basketball and MTG again. Practice makes one better, but I'm itching to apply that to a real match.
-Maybe I'm just getting old, but music is getting really, really crappy this past year... worse than anything the 90's had to offer. It's almost surreal the kind of stuff they put on KISS 92.5. Where did all this Eurotrash/R&B music with horrible lyrics come from?
-Is The Stig really Schumy? Guess I'm finding out on Top Gear in the bus ride tomorrow
~Eastside
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Reading week.
Montreal from Monday to Thursday.
Lately, it's occurred to me that all the fun in life is being taken out. Taking things too seriously, very little interaction with people, and most importantly, no more imagination. Think about it: In High School, we all had dreams, but they weren't attainable.
And (I'll be nerdy here and use a quote from FF7 Crisis Core) as Director Lazard said, "Unattainable dreams are the best kind".
Imagination was what made life fun. You always go out with the hope/feeling that something crazy is going to happen and you get pulled a random adventure. There were bouts of that in University, but it's not the same as back at MDHS, where every Friday Jacky, Robin and I would take the bus to FMP to play video games; or during the craziest summer of my life after grade 12 when I met Air Lai and a wonderful group of friends and we somehow got involved in a huge leadership volunteering group when my mom's Jimmy meant absolute freedom.
I just haven't had that kind of feeling for a while. The last time I did was -ironically- Montreal last year, and that was only a taste. And while I have gone on a few trips with Gloria, we haven't done anything that was genuinely exciting.
Until now, of course.
It should be a good trip =D
_________________________________________________________________
After that... well, Robin's Karen has a AE-1 that she's selling me (I really want that camera), and I have a couple of things to sell myself on eBay (like... $150 worth of photography gear... though I technically bought all that for about $70). I'm also trying to find a wideangle lens (Probably an Olympus OM 28mm) and perhaps a cheap, older EOS EF lens (that is better than my current kit lens... which I'm trying to sell). I'm thinking something in the 35-135mm range for travel.
Other menial tasks: Motorcycle maintenance, another review of my financial situation, and of course.. homework. Still, it's nice to have a week off from school to go on vacation and relax. My head hurts.
_________________________________________________________________
I posted a thread on VTEC.net about this article from Jalopnik about consumers. And you know what, I fully agree with this article.
Most mainstream consumers really are lemmings. If fuel prices go one way, they will head for hybrids and small cars; if fuel prices go the other way, they suddenly start buying trucks again, oblivious to the fact that it was only the previous summer when they've experienced record fuel prices.
And Ray Wert makes a really good point when he wrote:
"the moment gas prices spike again — whether through a recovering economy or a supply disruption — expect consumers to make a beeline to the Insight as though it were some kind of hybrid honey.
In the long term, if we want to get off this merry-go-round of lemming-like behavior, we need to recognize as a society that gas prices are the greatest single influence on American driving habits. But no politician has the political will to do the right thing to really change consumer driving habits — implementing a progressively and artificially increase to the price of gas. Instead we'll continue our fun game of mandating automakers kill off "fun cars" for us enthusiasts out of a desire to increase fuel economy — a feature American appliance-driving consumers apparently don't desire."
The other problem has to do with the government's handling of the situation... or rather, how poorly they are handling it. It is quite clear that fuels derived from crude oil won't last forever, and there is a growing sense of urgency in the need to preserve what we have left, until we are able to develop ways of using alternative forms of energy to get from place to place.
The problem is in the government's handling of the situation. Instead of solving the problem at the source by regulating fuel prices to encourage consumers to preserve fuel (by hitting them where it hurts most- their wallet), governments have decided that the best way to preserve fuel is to put the onus on automakers, by mandating rules like 35 mpg corporate average fuel economies.
This is a problem. For enthusiasts, it means that because automakers have to meet fuel economy standards, they have a dilemma. Trucks and plain-vanilla passenger cars sell extremely well, so what can they do? Well, since the mandate suggests a corporate average fuel economy, then corners have to be cut elsewhere. And that means that the first vehicles to go will be performance vehicles.
Look at the new, restructured GM. They actually haven't done much at all to reduce their load of fuel inefficient trucks. Instead, they have only managed to kill off all their SS performance vehicles, and the next generation Corvette is slated to be potentially be lower performance. You can even look at a company like Honda, who has the Civic Si as its best performing vehicle. Let's not even go into a company like Toyota.
Meanwhile, the best selling vehicles in the US last month were the Ford F-150 and the Chevy Silverado. Insight and Prius sales are projected to drop 33% and nearly 50%, respectively.
If the government had done the right thing and implemented a plan for regulating fuel prices, then consumers would still have choice, but they'd be more responsible. If you need a truck, an automaker can still offer you a truck, but then you'd also have a choice of a sports car or economy car because the automakers aren't regulated in what they can or cannot make.
A poster in the TOV thread made the argument about regulating fuel prices as screwing with a free market economy, but frankly, I don't see how mandating so many regulations on auto manufacturers constitutes a "free market". The "Free market" concept doesn't exist anymore when the US and Canadian governments decided to buy a majority stake in the restructured GM.
Yeah, the automotive industry is in some deep shit. But after GM and Chrysler's culling, I think the next few years will see some stabilization and growth. Frankly though, I think that automotive landscape has changed again (just like the malaise era in the late 70's/early 80's).
_________________________________________________________________
For the first time in a long time, something electronic has captured my imagination.
The Olympus EP-1
I am genuinely excited about this product, and I think it could be the start of a revolution.
Now, you may find this strange (what's the big deal, isn't it like any other camera?), but as always, I'll explain.
Back in the 1960's, a few years after Nikon revolutionized the photography industry with the introduction of the Nikon F, the first really practical professional SLR camera, Olympus came out with the Pen-F. This camera was another revolution for photography enthusiasts. It was portable, extremely small, yet offered high image quality. It was the world's smallest SLR camera with an interchangeable lens system, rivaling the Leica rangefinders for compactness. It even shot pictures differently: It was a "half frame" camera, meaning that in a single 4X6" print from 35mm film, there are two pictures. Each film roll that normally gets you 24 exposures will get you 48 in the Pen-F. It was remarkable, and is today, a highly sought after collector's item.
And that's no exaggeration: You should see the prices of the camera bodies and lens on eBay. The coolest thing about the Pen-F really is the form factor. It was handsome, with a highly stylized "F" logo, that really encouraged you to pick it up and go outside to shoot pictures. It made picture taking fun.
A revolution.
This camera started a trend that wouldn't die out until the mid 80's.
Separately, the thing about today's modern DSLRs is that they still have recognizable roots to their film predecessors. The biggest advantage that electronic devices have over purely mechanical ones is, well, size right? Electronic devices are far simpler than their mechanical counterparts could ever be. Yet today's DSLRs are actually heavier and chunkier than the Canon Rebel G film camera I have (which isn't even really compact). In addition to the electronic processors, sensor, etc., modern DSLRs still retain their roots to the old film days because they have things like a traditional viewfinder, focus screen, flip-up mirror, etc. I mean, why are these things necessary? Can't these be electronificied or sumthin? In the end, even something like a Nikon D40 weighs a ton in comparison to compact point and shoot cameras.
Olympus and Panasonic then made a pact to support a new Micro 4/3 shooting format. Olympus is already quite different because their 4/3 cameras uses a sensor that is smaller than full frame, and has a 4:3 aspect ratio that allows for fairly compact DSLRs(learn more here, but with micro 4/3, Olympus and Panasonic were looking to make things even more compact with a new design and smaller lenses.
Panasonic came out with their first micro 4/3 camera, the G1, but even that camera was sort of clunky. It used an electronic viewfinder instead of the traditional mirror viewfinder, but perhaps seeking to be conservative, Panasonic decided to keep the traditional SLR form factor. The result is a "really really small" DSLR, but not something that you can truly call portable and fit in a jacket pocket.
And now, enter the Olympus EP-1. Here we have a form factor that with current technology, finally takes full advantage of the fact that it's electronic. No viewfinder, a nice compact design, yet with a sensor that is much larger than a regular point and shoot. It may not offer the ultimate image quality and resolution of a DSLR, but the fact that you can toss it into a coat pocket or a handbag, and that it's an interchangeable lens system with high quality lenses is simply amazing.
12.3 megapixels, ISO 6400, extraodinarily low levels of noise, versatile lens system, and a handsome metal body that feels like a tank. A camera that you actually want to carry with you and take candid pictures. A camera that stays true to the Pen-F philosophy.
Though honestly, considering that practical DSLRs have been around for a full decade, why in the world did it take so long to get to this level of compactness?
In any case, this is why I'm excited. Just as the Pen-F offered something classic for photog fanatics, this new EP-1 can potentially start a whole new trend of compact cameras with near DSLR quality. It's not perfect, but it's a start.
~Eastside
Montreal from Monday to Thursday.
Lately, it's occurred to me that all the fun in life is being taken out. Taking things too seriously, very little interaction with people, and most importantly, no more imagination. Think about it: In High School, we all had dreams, but they weren't attainable.
And (I'll be nerdy here and use a quote from FF7 Crisis Core) as Director Lazard said, "Unattainable dreams are the best kind".
Imagination was what made life fun. You always go out with the hope/feeling that something crazy is going to happen and you get pulled a random adventure. There were bouts of that in University, but it's not the same as back at MDHS, where every Friday Jacky, Robin and I would take the bus to FMP to play video games; or during the craziest summer of my life after grade 12 when I met Air Lai and a wonderful group of friends and we somehow got involved in a huge leadership volunteering group when my mom's Jimmy meant absolute freedom.
I just haven't had that kind of feeling for a while. The last time I did was -ironically- Montreal last year, and that was only a taste. And while I have gone on a few trips with Gloria, we haven't done anything that was genuinely exciting.
Until now, of course.
It should be a good trip =D
_________________________________________________________________
After that... well, Robin's Karen has a AE-1 that she's selling me (I really want that camera), and I have a couple of things to sell myself on eBay (like... $150 worth of photography gear... though I technically bought all that for about $70). I'm also trying to find a wideangle lens (Probably an Olympus OM 28mm) and perhaps a cheap, older EOS EF lens (that is better than my current kit lens... which I'm trying to sell). I'm thinking something in the 35-135mm range for travel.
Other menial tasks: Motorcycle maintenance, another review of my financial situation, and of course.. homework. Still, it's nice to have a week off from school to go on vacation and relax. My head hurts.
_________________________________________________________________
I posted a thread on VTEC.net about this article from Jalopnik about consumers. And you know what, I fully agree with this article.
Most mainstream consumers really are lemmings. If fuel prices go one way, they will head for hybrids and small cars; if fuel prices go the other way, they suddenly start buying trucks again, oblivious to the fact that it was only the previous summer when they've experienced record fuel prices.
And Ray Wert makes a really good point when he wrote:
"the moment gas prices spike again — whether through a recovering economy or a supply disruption — expect consumers to make a beeline to the Insight as though it were some kind of hybrid honey.
In the long term, if we want to get off this merry-go-round of lemming-like behavior, we need to recognize as a society that gas prices are the greatest single influence on American driving habits. But no politician has the political will to do the right thing to really change consumer driving habits — implementing a progressively and artificially increase to the price of gas. Instead we'll continue our fun game of mandating automakers kill off "fun cars" for us enthusiasts out of a desire to increase fuel economy — a feature American appliance-driving consumers apparently don't desire."
The other problem has to do with the government's handling of the situation... or rather, how poorly they are handling it. It is quite clear that fuels derived from crude oil won't last forever, and there is a growing sense of urgency in the need to preserve what we have left, until we are able to develop ways of using alternative forms of energy to get from place to place.
The problem is in the government's handling of the situation. Instead of solving the problem at the source by regulating fuel prices to encourage consumers to preserve fuel (by hitting them where it hurts most- their wallet), governments have decided that the best way to preserve fuel is to put the onus on automakers, by mandating rules like 35 mpg corporate average fuel economies.
This is a problem. For enthusiasts, it means that because automakers have to meet fuel economy standards, they have a dilemma. Trucks and plain-vanilla passenger cars sell extremely well, so what can they do? Well, since the mandate suggests a corporate average fuel economy, then corners have to be cut elsewhere. And that means that the first vehicles to go will be performance vehicles.
Look at the new, restructured GM. They actually haven't done much at all to reduce their load of fuel inefficient trucks. Instead, they have only managed to kill off all their SS performance vehicles, and the next generation Corvette is slated to be potentially be lower performance. You can even look at a company like Honda, who has the Civic Si as its best performing vehicle. Let's not even go into a company like Toyota.
Meanwhile, the best selling vehicles in the US last month were the Ford F-150 and the Chevy Silverado. Insight and Prius sales are projected to drop 33% and nearly 50%, respectively.
If the government had done the right thing and implemented a plan for regulating fuel prices, then consumers would still have choice, but they'd be more responsible. If you need a truck, an automaker can still offer you a truck, but then you'd also have a choice of a sports car or economy car because the automakers aren't regulated in what they can or cannot make.
A poster in the TOV thread made the argument about regulating fuel prices as screwing with a free market economy, but frankly, I don't see how mandating so many regulations on auto manufacturers constitutes a "free market". The "Free market" concept doesn't exist anymore when the US and Canadian governments decided to buy a majority stake in the restructured GM.
Yeah, the automotive industry is in some deep shit. But after GM and Chrysler's culling, I think the next few years will see some stabilization and growth. Frankly though, I think that automotive landscape has changed again (just like the malaise era in the late 70's/early 80's).
_________________________________________________________________
For the first time in a long time, something electronic has captured my imagination.
The Olympus EP-1
I am genuinely excited about this product, and I think it could be the start of a revolution.
Now, you may find this strange (what's the big deal, isn't it like any other camera?), but as always, I'll explain.
Back in the 1960's, a few years after Nikon revolutionized the photography industry with the introduction of the Nikon F, the first really practical professional SLR camera, Olympus came out with the Pen-F. This camera was another revolution for photography enthusiasts. It was portable, extremely small, yet offered high image quality. It was the world's smallest SLR camera with an interchangeable lens system, rivaling the Leica rangefinders for compactness. It even shot pictures differently: It was a "half frame" camera, meaning that in a single 4X6" print from 35mm film, there are two pictures. Each film roll that normally gets you 24 exposures will get you 48 in the Pen-F. It was remarkable, and is today, a highly sought after collector's item.
And that's no exaggeration: You should see the prices of the camera bodies and lens on eBay. The coolest thing about the Pen-F really is the form factor. It was handsome, with a highly stylized "F" logo, that really encouraged you to pick it up and go outside to shoot pictures. It made picture taking fun.
A revolution.
This camera started a trend that wouldn't die out until the mid 80's.
Separately, the thing about today's modern DSLRs is that they still have recognizable roots to their film predecessors. The biggest advantage that electronic devices have over purely mechanical ones is, well, size right? Electronic devices are far simpler than their mechanical counterparts could ever be. Yet today's DSLRs are actually heavier and chunkier than the Canon Rebel G film camera I have (which isn't even really compact). In addition to the electronic processors, sensor, etc., modern DSLRs still retain their roots to the old film days because they have things like a traditional viewfinder, focus screen, flip-up mirror, etc. I mean, why are these things necessary? Can't these be electronificied or sumthin? In the end, even something like a Nikon D40 weighs a ton in comparison to compact point and shoot cameras.
Olympus and Panasonic then made a pact to support a new Micro 4/3 shooting format. Olympus is already quite different because their 4/3 cameras uses a sensor that is smaller than full frame, and has a 4:3 aspect ratio that allows for fairly compact DSLRs(learn more here, but with micro 4/3, Olympus and Panasonic were looking to make things even more compact with a new design and smaller lenses.
Panasonic came out with their first micro 4/3 camera, the G1, but even that camera was sort of clunky. It used an electronic viewfinder instead of the traditional mirror viewfinder, but perhaps seeking to be conservative, Panasonic decided to keep the traditional SLR form factor. The result is a "really really small" DSLR, but not something that you can truly call portable and fit in a jacket pocket.
And now, enter the Olympus EP-1. Here we have a form factor that with current technology, finally takes full advantage of the fact that it's electronic. No viewfinder, a nice compact design, yet with a sensor that is much larger than a regular point and shoot. It may not offer the ultimate image quality and resolution of a DSLR, but the fact that you can toss it into a coat pocket or a handbag, and that it's an interchangeable lens system with high quality lenses is simply amazing.
12.3 megapixels, ISO 6400, extraodinarily low levels of noise, versatile lens system, and a handsome metal body that feels like a tank. A camera that you actually want to carry with you and take candid pictures. A camera that stays true to the Pen-F philosophy.
Though honestly, considering that practical DSLRs have been around for a full decade, why in the world did it take so long to get to this level of compactness?
In any case, this is why I'm excited. Just as the Pen-F offered something classic for photog fanatics, this new EP-1 can potentially start a whole new trend of compact cameras with near DSLR quality. It's not perfect, but it's a start.
~Eastside
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
At times...
Sometimes I wonder if I've taken the right path at all. If all the things I've done, were done right. If all the choices I made, were made right. If all the situations I was put into, I've handled right.
Things just seem so impossible to overcome at times. At times I can feel despair to the point where my chest feels heavy and I can only... well, facepalm.
But I'm driven to do so because I'm pushed deeper and deeper into a corner, and I have no choice but to fight back tooth and nail. It just seems so easy to give up. I think I would have, just a little while ago.
But cheesy as it sounds, you've given me a good reason to continue going.
There are far loftier goals than the monumental one I already have before me. Goals at this point, that I need to reach, for some sense of redemption and vindication. I have to dig in, and I'm hungry for it.
~Eastside
Things just seem so impossible to overcome at times. At times I can feel despair to the point where my chest feels heavy and I can only... well, facepalm.
But I'm driven to do so because I'm pushed deeper and deeper into a corner, and I have no choice but to fight back tooth and nail. It just seems so easy to give up. I think I would have, just a little while ago.
But cheesy as it sounds, you've given me a good reason to continue going.
There are far loftier goals than the monumental one I already have before me. Goals at this point, that I need to reach, for some sense of redemption and vindication. I have to dig in, and I'm hungry for it.
~Eastside
Friday, June 12, 2009
Like everyone else, you just had to warm up to me =)
It works both ways you know: You had my heart in knots.
When I first said that, I knew it was true.
I'd do anything for you. I love you.
It works both ways you know: You had my heart in knots.
When I first said that, I knew it was true.
I'd do anything for you. I love you.
I should technically be doing work, except I'm on schedule and I suppose I have 30 minutes to spare. At the very least, I have a ton to blog about.
First things first: UP! This is a phenomenal movie, in terms of emotion. The animation was smooth, and to see a ton of those balloons lifting the house up for the first time was definitely a "whoa" moment. But you know what? This isn't a computer animated movie that happens to have a storyline- rather, Pixar's story telling has become SO GOOD that they are making movies with great stories that happen to be animated.
I'm not sure about best movie I've ever seen or ever will see, but certainly the best of the year (and I don't even think Transformers can top it)
Let's face it- movies that focused exclusively on computer animation never turn out to be memorable hits. The original Final Fantasy was bad (and actually, I think FF7 AC was pretty horrible too), and Polar Express had a sort of Uncanny Valley to it that made it unpopular. But UP! was completely different.
It was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Not in an action sense, not in an animation sense, and actually, the plot was very simple. What made is special was how Pixar told the story. I won't give any spoilers, but the opening scene, almost totally devoid of any words, was touching and tragic. It made me feel for the characters, and immediately gave you a compelling reason to enjoy the rest of the movie. As Gloria would say (and I paraphrase), the unspoken word is the most powerful. We've seen this in Wall-E, but UP! took it to another level entirely.
This movie made me cry. Throughout the movie, I cried about 3 more times. And in between, the movie managed to make me laugh, make me think seriously, and make me go "whoa". There were scenes in the story that were so powerful that I can vividly remember them now (the first sighting of the Spirit of Adventure, and the silhouette of the house floating in the air against a red sunset). It was by far the most touching movie I have ever seen. And when it ended and I left the theater, I had a feeling that I never had before (and no, I'm not exaggerating). I felt like I was going to explode, and I had to control myself or else I wasn't sure HOW I was going to explode.. crying? Laughing? A bit of both?
If this movie could make a cynical, sadistic and mean-spirited bastard like me cry, I don't think anyone that doesn't have ADD has a chance. I went into the movie thinking that perhaps it was a Monsters, Inc. kind of movie, made for kids. But in reality, the storyline was such that I think that only adults can enjoy the subtleties of the movie. The movie is THAT GOOD, and you have to see it.
________________________________________
Gloria and I took a short road trip down to Hamilton last weekend, to visit Webster's Falls. It was pretty good, because I haven't done actual, "real" hiking for a long time. It was also a good chance to experiment with pictures, and I *think* I got a couple of great ones. We'll see once I develop them =D
That weekend also involved a lot of driving. I was kind of astounded because the rental car I had, a Dodge Caliber, had done 1,300 km by the time I returned it. Obviously, travelling the equivalent of the entire length of the 401, plus another couple of hundred KM going back and forth from Hamilton was going to have that kind of effect. And of course, driving for 1300 km gave me a lot of time to think.
The first thought, of course, was about my life in general was going, my goals for the near term and foreseeable future, and then my thoughts shifted to my beautiful girlfriend. After that, my focus shifted to the car on hand, the Dodge Caliber I rented.
And my conclusion is thus: It sucks. It is products like this that are the reason Chrysler fell into bankruptcy and now requires the assistance of FIAT to get out of it. If I could only use one word to describe the Caliber, it would be: Plastic. I have never seen so much plastic in a car. In fact, I have seen far less plastic in most Korean cars nowadays. Looking outside of the car, most of the exterior trim pieces were plastic. The stupid roof spoiler was plastic. The B and C pillars were plastic. The door handles were plastic. The trim around the windows were plastic. And the interior... was all plastic. Now granted, most other vehicles have these pieces in plastic too... but the difference is that most automakers spend some time to paint those pieces, and use better plastic than the hard, scratchy stuff that the Caliber had. I thought I was back in the mid 90's.
The interior was so bad that I felt I was sitting in a rubbermaid box. The center console was lifted out of a commercial van (I'm not kidding, I've seen that same cluster before in the company van when I worked at Co-Ex-Tec), the air vents were poorly designed and bent when you adjusted them (I was afraid I was going to snap them), the headliner shade felt cheap and was fitted on the wrong way, and perhaps the only trim that looked good was on the shift knob. The gauges were huge and looked like they came out of a Fisher Price toy, with seemingly glazed and waxed plastic. And the build quality was horrendous, as the plastic trim pieces couldn't even fit together without leaving huge gaps. My steering wheel had two holes on the side that Chrysler couldn't at least foresee putting a plastic cap to plug in. The result was I was left at times, staring at the innards of the steering wheel.
A study of contrasts: cheap plastic all around, but a few nice touches makes this a conflicted car
There were a few positives though. Surprisingly, fuel efficiency is one of them. I was quite surprised to learn that the Caliber actually had a CVT transmission. The 4 cylinder engine was quite similar to the PT cruiser, except that the PT cruiser only had a 4 speed automatic. What this meant was that every time I came back home from University, the car buzzed (or rather, it groaned) at 3.5K RPM all the way home, and I had to actually fill the car up before I got home (it takes about 1.25 tank fulls). Now, with the Caliber, the CVT meant that the engine ran at a relatively non-frenetic pace of 2.5K RPM at around 125 km/h, and when I got home I still had a quarter of a tank left. Saving half a tank of gas through 400 km is rather impressive. Styling wise, the Caliber had some pretty cool two-tone seat covers with comfortable material (a big plus that actually puts it over many of Toyota's low end offerings) that was perhaps a bit wide to compensate for fat North American asses, and a nice fat grippy steering wheel. At night, there are lights in areas like the cupholder, which helps a lot when you're trying to aim your Ice Cappuccino into it after a long drive. However, the lights surrounding the instrument clusters were laughable... basically you're getting a 80's style green glow behind the white plastic of the gauges, which had to be the worst idea I've ever seen. The Caliber also had some features I liked, such as the big passenger side storage box on top of the dash, a gigantic glovebox that had space for drink bottles, loads of room for luggage and rear passenger legs, and even a 120v AC outlet so you can just plug whatever device you have into it without needing a travel adapter. These are things that I think should come in every car!
A nice neat touch was the lights in the cupholders
This was a good idea, it keeps your drinks cool too
The Caliber had a little pocket to hold an iPod player... however, flipping it up means you can't use the arm rest anymore, and it felt cheap and plasticky. I was bored at points in my trip and resorted to peeling bits of flash off
At times, I could even imagine myself liking the car. Then the bad points hit again with an enormous bump. Speaking of bumps, the suspension is horrible. Every time it went over a bump in the road, it doesn't give a soft "thump", it crashes. The steering was numb. It's not particularly sporty, but it was comfortable enough on the highway, and through on ramps, the chassis was stiff enough to stay in firm control with controlled body roll (faint praise, but still better than the majority of SUVs I've driven). That engine, while being very fuel efficient, is extremely gutless. In the PT cruiser I never had a problem accelerating fast (despite the fact that the Cruiser was basically an aerodynamic brick), but maybe it's the CVT, but when I put my foot down the Caliber was better at converting fuel into noise than it was at actually going at any decent pace. It actually felt weaker than the aforementioned Matrix XR, which has about 120 or so horsepower (and this car is rated at 148 horsepower). If you buy the car with this transmission, you're doing it for fuel economy, and nothing else. The interesting thing is that the noise the engine makes is hardly soul stirring. My dad's Camry sounds like a vacuum cleaner, but it sounds better than this car, which simply sounds like a old man snoring loudly (and no, I'm not exaggerating).
And the worst knock against it? It's ugly. Just look at it:
As a rental car, I'm fine with it. But buying it new, for myself? No way in hell.
In a way, the Caliber embodies the characteristics of the entire Chrysler brand. The car seems to have decent specs, and certainly has many good ideas. Certainly it is quite inexpensive too. However, the execution and attention to detail is severely lacking, and this is where Chrysler loses to everyone else. While the powertrain and the ideas were sound, the car was put together poorly. Use of poor quality materials, poor fit and finish, horrendous styling and poor suspension tuning just destroys what could have actually been a rather good car.
And that is why Chrysler is in the position it is today, because this applies to every single one of their vehicles.
________________________________________
Speaking of the rental, I once again went through Enterprise, and this was where another thought came into my head during my long drive. The thing is, to take the Greyhound back and forth between my home and University costs $91, and it still takes something like 5 hours to get back and forth. You know how much it costs me to rent the Caliber for a three day weekend (rent Friday, return Monday)? Barely $60. Enterprise has great weekend rates where you can rent cars for as low as $16 a day for three days, though because the Caliber was larger (and including taxes), it came out to about $60.
But think about that: $60 to rent a car. And since I only had to fill up 1 1/2 times, fuel costs came out to about $60. In total, it cost me barely more than $120 for my own private car, which can get me home in under 4 hours and is exceedingly more comfortable than sitting next to a fat smelly man will ever be. And it gets even better: Most weekends, I can rent the car and pay for gas, free.
It's quite simple really: just run a carpool. There are thousands of people in town who have come to the conclusion that Greyhound was making enormous amounts of profit off each full bus they run, and by offering each seat in my car for $40 for a two way trip (or $25 for a one way trip), I pick people up, drop them off along the 401, and I usually end up almost breaking even, or even better, making a small profit.
Granted, I have to actually drive, so I'm technically working for it. But to get a free trip back and forth? Hell yeah, homie. I'd do that anytime. Enterprise, as I talked about in the past, also offers some of the best customer service I have ever encountered, so I would wholeheartedly recommend them even if you had to pay full price for a rental. They are just so pleasant dealing with, and I would think that works quite well with the people who rent cars because their own cars are either broken down or crashed.
________________________________________
Lakers Vs. Magic. Um... I was about to say that I had a feeling that the Magic would make it a series, but apparently I was wrong. A few hours ago I saw Jameer Nelson beaten in the 4th quarter by Derek Fischer, and then AGAIN in overtime. I also saw Dwight Howard bonk two critical free throws, which would have put the game out of reach. Instead of making it 2-2, Orlando is now down a 3-1 hole, and I certainly don't see them winning.
Magic's 15 missed free throws were too costly. Add to that Dwight Howard's bonked free throws at the last 11 seconds of regulation, which instead of putting the game out of reach, meant the Magic were only up three. And then Derek Fischer schooled Jameer Nelson with a clutch three, sending the game to overtime.
Which resulted in things like this:
SUPER BEST FRIENDS!
There's only one picture that can describe the Magic at this point:
Courtesy of Basketbawful
The tragedy isn't that Kobe will finally get a championship ring or an MVP trophy, it's that all the people who cheered for the Lakers will have something to gloat about. And that is unfortunate, because I really dislike the laker fans (not that I like the Magic any better).
________________________________________
Brief note for all who follow Formula 1: WOOT BRAWN GP! After the team has seen so much shit over the last few years (peaking with the uber "oh shit we're screwed" when Honda left F1), to see Jenson Button at the very top after 9 tough years is a just reward. Never say never, but I certainly hope that Brawn GP captures the constructor's championship and JB becomes champion. It's only fitting after all the crap they've endured.
BrawnGP: Out of the darkness they fly, like a bat out of hell
Something that peeved me was when one of my friends, who knows very little about cars, nevermind F1, went "oh my gawd it's Ferrari! Ferrari Ferrari! Go Ferrari" (now imagine that in a sickening small school girl tone). Ever since that day, I wanted Ferrari to lose. Actually, I didn't like Ferrari very much before that (and if you want to know why, one -made up- word: FIArrari). It's great to see Kimi Raikkonen panicking and crashing out. Massa? Well, he never really was a Schumacher.
________________________________________
Actually, when I posted my carpool ride advertisement on Kijiji, a lady had asked me to pick up some chinese newspapers downtown to bring back, for the princely sum of $15. This actually didn't strike me as odd, because I have seen many ads on Kijiji asking for odd favours, from needing to borrow tools to sharing rides to Vancouver to delivering pets from one house to another. What this made me realize is that Kijiji is much like an RPG town hall, where people buy and sell, trade and barter, and offer services.
________________________________________
I used to love Wal-Mart, because it had everything at cheap prices. Now, I love Dollarama even more.
Not only is the store based in Quebec (making it a Canadian owned chain), but the savings are stupendous. Some asshole decided to steal my cutlery and utensils when I had my stuff stored away for the mid-term break, but I went out to Dollarama, purchased several knives, forks, spoons, kitchen knives, etc. for under $10. That replaced almost $50 worth of stuff! I found a headlight for my bicycle for $1.50, and I found an exact same replica with CCM branding at Crappy Tire that costed $15! I found film to take pictures with that were a dollar each, and I had even found cleaning and medical supplies and a non-stick mini frying pan there. I did some rough calculations, and to date, I have saved over $120 by shopping at Dollarama.
Frankly, I'm not even sure how they make a profit, especially since so many of things they sell there are actually useful and can replace more expensive things on a dime. A few days ago I saw them selling a fishing rod for $2, and a reel for another $2...
Anyways, that's enough ranting for today. Unfortunately, I have to go back to studying. This year is going to busy with me nearly constantly in school, but next year I have a minimal number of courses to take. One term I'm only taking 3 courses (and I'm probably going to do them at University of Toronto), the summer I have a full course load, and I'm completely off for the other term. Just the thought of that makes me happy, but I have oh-so-much work to do right now =/
~Eastside
First things first: UP! This is a phenomenal movie, in terms of emotion. The animation was smooth, and to see a ton of those balloons lifting the house up for the first time was definitely a "whoa" moment. But you know what? This isn't a computer animated movie that happens to have a storyline- rather, Pixar's story telling has become SO GOOD that they are making movies with great stories that happen to be animated.
I'm not sure about best movie I've ever seen or ever will see, but certainly the best of the year (and I don't even think Transformers can top it)
Let's face it- movies that focused exclusively on computer animation never turn out to be memorable hits. The original Final Fantasy was bad (and actually, I think FF7 AC was pretty horrible too), and Polar Express had a sort of Uncanny Valley to it that made it unpopular. But UP! was completely different.
It was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Not in an action sense, not in an animation sense, and actually, the plot was very simple. What made is special was how Pixar told the story. I won't give any spoilers, but the opening scene, almost totally devoid of any words, was touching and tragic. It made me feel for the characters, and immediately gave you a compelling reason to enjoy the rest of the movie. As Gloria would say (and I paraphrase), the unspoken word is the most powerful. We've seen this in Wall-E, but UP! took it to another level entirely.
This movie made me cry. Throughout the movie, I cried about 3 more times. And in between, the movie managed to make me laugh, make me think seriously, and make me go "whoa". There were scenes in the story that were so powerful that I can vividly remember them now (the first sighting of the Spirit of Adventure, and the silhouette of the house floating in the air against a red sunset). It was by far the most touching movie I have ever seen. And when it ended and I left the theater, I had a feeling that I never had before (and no, I'm not exaggerating). I felt like I was going to explode, and I had to control myself or else I wasn't sure HOW I was going to explode.. crying? Laughing? A bit of both?
If this movie could make a cynical, sadistic and mean-spirited bastard like me cry, I don't think anyone that doesn't have ADD has a chance. I went into the movie thinking that perhaps it was a Monsters, Inc. kind of movie, made for kids. But in reality, the storyline was such that I think that only adults can enjoy the subtleties of the movie. The movie is THAT GOOD, and you have to see it.
________________________________________
Gloria and I took a short road trip down to Hamilton last weekend, to visit Webster's Falls. It was pretty good, because I haven't done actual, "real" hiking for a long time. It was also a good chance to experiment with pictures, and I *think* I got a couple of great ones. We'll see once I develop them =D
That weekend also involved a lot of driving. I was kind of astounded because the rental car I had, a Dodge Caliber, had done 1,300 km by the time I returned it. Obviously, travelling the equivalent of the entire length of the 401, plus another couple of hundred KM going back and forth from Hamilton was going to have that kind of effect. And of course, driving for 1300 km gave me a lot of time to think.
The first thought, of course, was about my life in general was going, my goals for the near term and foreseeable future, and then my thoughts shifted to my beautiful girlfriend. After that, my focus shifted to the car on hand, the Dodge Caliber I rented.
And my conclusion is thus: It sucks. It is products like this that are the reason Chrysler fell into bankruptcy and now requires the assistance of FIAT to get out of it. If I could only use one word to describe the Caliber, it would be: Plastic. I have never seen so much plastic in a car. In fact, I have seen far less plastic in most Korean cars nowadays. Looking outside of the car, most of the exterior trim pieces were plastic. The stupid roof spoiler was plastic. The B and C pillars were plastic. The door handles were plastic. The trim around the windows were plastic. And the interior... was all plastic. Now granted, most other vehicles have these pieces in plastic too... but the difference is that most automakers spend some time to paint those pieces, and use better plastic than the hard, scratchy stuff that the Caliber had. I thought I was back in the mid 90's.
The interior was so bad that I felt I was sitting in a rubbermaid box. The center console was lifted out of a commercial van (I'm not kidding, I've seen that same cluster before in the company van when I worked at Co-Ex-Tec), the air vents were poorly designed and bent when you adjusted them (I was afraid I was going to snap them), the headliner shade felt cheap and was fitted on the wrong way, and perhaps the only trim that looked good was on the shift knob. The gauges were huge and looked like they came out of a Fisher Price toy, with seemingly glazed and waxed plastic. And the build quality was horrendous, as the plastic trim pieces couldn't even fit together without leaving huge gaps. My steering wheel had two holes on the side that Chrysler couldn't at least foresee putting a plastic cap to plug in. The result was I was left at times, staring at the innards of the steering wheel.
A study of contrasts: cheap plastic all around, but a few nice touches makes this a conflicted car
There were a few positives though. Surprisingly, fuel efficiency is one of them. I was quite surprised to learn that the Caliber actually had a CVT transmission. The 4 cylinder engine was quite similar to the PT cruiser, except that the PT cruiser only had a 4 speed automatic. What this meant was that every time I came back home from University, the car buzzed (or rather, it groaned) at 3.5K RPM all the way home, and I had to actually fill the car up before I got home (it takes about 1.25 tank fulls). Now, with the Caliber, the CVT meant that the engine ran at a relatively non-frenetic pace of 2.5K RPM at around 125 km/h, and when I got home I still had a quarter of a tank left. Saving half a tank of gas through 400 km is rather impressive. Styling wise, the Caliber had some pretty cool two-tone seat covers with comfortable material (a big plus that actually puts it over many of Toyota's low end offerings) that was perhaps a bit wide to compensate for fat North American asses, and a nice fat grippy steering wheel. At night, there are lights in areas like the cupholder, which helps a lot when you're trying to aim your Ice Cappuccino into it after a long drive. However, the lights surrounding the instrument clusters were laughable... basically you're getting a 80's style green glow behind the white plastic of the gauges, which had to be the worst idea I've ever seen. The Caliber also had some features I liked, such as the big passenger side storage box on top of the dash, a gigantic glovebox that had space for drink bottles, loads of room for luggage and rear passenger legs, and even a 120v AC outlet so you can just plug whatever device you have into it without needing a travel adapter. These are things that I think should come in every car!
A nice neat touch was the lights in the cupholders
This was a good idea, it keeps your drinks cool too
The Caliber had a little pocket to hold an iPod player... however, flipping it up means you can't use the arm rest anymore, and it felt cheap and plasticky. I was bored at points in my trip and resorted to peeling bits of flash off
At times, I could even imagine myself liking the car. Then the bad points hit again with an enormous bump. Speaking of bumps, the suspension is horrible. Every time it went over a bump in the road, it doesn't give a soft "thump", it crashes. The steering was numb. It's not particularly sporty, but it was comfortable enough on the highway, and through on ramps, the chassis was stiff enough to stay in firm control with controlled body roll (faint praise, but still better than the majority of SUVs I've driven). That engine, while being very fuel efficient, is extremely gutless. In the PT cruiser I never had a problem accelerating fast (despite the fact that the Cruiser was basically an aerodynamic brick), but maybe it's the CVT, but when I put my foot down the Caliber was better at converting fuel into noise than it was at actually going at any decent pace. It actually felt weaker than the aforementioned Matrix XR, which has about 120 or so horsepower (and this car is rated at 148 horsepower). If you buy the car with this transmission, you're doing it for fuel economy, and nothing else. The interesting thing is that the noise the engine makes is hardly soul stirring. My dad's Camry sounds like a vacuum cleaner, but it sounds better than this car, which simply sounds like a old man snoring loudly (and no, I'm not exaggerating).
And the worst knock against it? It's ugly. Just look at it:
As a rental car, I'm fine with it. But buying it new, for myself? No way in hell.
In a way, the Caliber embodies the characteristics of the entire Chrysler brand. The car seems to have decent specs, and certainly has many good ideas. Certainly it is quite inexpensive too. However, the execution and attention to detail is severely lacking, and this is where Chrysler loses to everyone else. While the powertrain and the ideas were sound, the car was put together poorly. Use of poor quality materials, poor fit and finish, horrendous styling and poor suspension tuning just destroys what could have actually been a rather good car.
And that is why Chrysler is in the position it is today, because this applies to every single one of their vehicles.
________________________________________
Speaking of the rental, I once again went through Enterprise, and this was where another thought came into my head during my long drive. The thing is, to take the Greyhound back and forth between my home and University costs $91, and it still takes something like 5 hours to get back and forth. You know how much it costs me to rent the Caliber for a three day weekend (rent Friday, return Monday)? Barely $60. Enterprise has great weekend rates where you can rent cars for as low as $16 a day for three days, though because the Caliber was larger (and including taxes), it came out to about $60.
But think about that: $60 to rent a car. And since I only had to fill up 1 1/2 times, fuel costs came out to about $60. In total, it cost me barely more than $120 for my own private car, which can get me home in under 4 hours and is exceedingly more comfortable than sitting next to a fat smelly man will ever be. And it gets even better: Most weekends, I can rent the car and pay for gas, free.
It's quite simple really: just run a carpool. There are thousands of people in town who have come to the conclusion that Greyhound was making enormous amounts of profit off each full bus they run, and by offering each seat in my car for $40 for a two way trip (or $25 for a one way trip), I pick people up, drop them off along the 401, and I usually end up almost breaking even, or even better, making a small profit.
Granted, I have to actually drive, so I'm technically working for it. But to get a free trip back and forth? Hell yeah, homie. I'd do that anytime. Enterprise, as I talked about in the past, also offers some of the best customer service I have ever encountered, so I would wholeheartedly recommend them even if you had to pay full price for a rental. They are just so pleasant dealing with, and I would think that works quite well with the people who rent cars because their own cars are either broken down or crashed.
________________________________________
Lakers Vs. Magic. Um... I was about to say that I had a feeling that the Magic would make it a series, but apparently I was wrong. A few hours ago I saw Jameer Nelson beaten in the 4th quarter by Derek Fischer, and then AGAIN in overtime. I also saw Dwight Howard bonk two critical free throws, which would have put the game out of reach. Instead of making it 2-2, Orlando is now down a 3-1 hole, and I certainly don't see them winning.
Magic's 15 missed free throws were too costly. Add to that Dwight Howard's bonked free throws at the last 11 seconds of regulation, which instead of putting the game out of reach, meant the Magic were only up three. And then Derek Fischer schooled Jameer Nelson with a clutch three, sending the game to overtime.
Which resulted in things like this:
SUPER BEST FRIENDS!
There's only one picture that can describe the Magic at this point:
Courtesy of Basketbawful
The tragedy isn't that Kobe will finally get a championship ring or an MVP trophy, it's that all the people who cheered for the Lakers will have something to gloat about. And that is unfortunate, because I really dislike the laker fans (not that I like the Magic any better).
________________________________________
Brief note for all who follow Formula 1: WOOT BRAWN GP! After the team has seen so much shit over the last few years (peaking with the uber "oh shit we're screwed" when Honda left F1), to see Jenson Button at the very top after 9 tough years is a just reward. Never say never, but I certainly hope that Brawn GP captures the constructor's championship and JB becomes champion. It's only fitting after all the crap they've endured.
BrawnGP: Out of the darkness they fly, like a bat out of hell
Something that peeved me was when one of my friends, who knows very little about cars, nevermind F1, went "oh my gawd it's Ferrari! Ferrari Ferrari! Go Ferrari" (now imagine that in a sickening small school girl tone). Ever since that day, I wanted Ferrari to lose. Actually, I didn't like Ferrari very much before that (and if you want to know why, one -made up- word: FIArrari). It's great to see Kimi Raikkonen panicking and crashing out. Massa? Well, he never really was a Schumacher.
________________________________________
Actually, when I posted my carpool ride advertisement on Kijiji, a lady had asked me to pick up some chinese newspapers downtown to bring back, for the princely sum of $15. This actually didn't strike me as odd, because I have seen many ads on Kijiji asking for odd favours, from needing to borrow tools to sharing rides to Vancouver to delivering pets from one house to another. What this made me realize is that Kijiji is much like an RPG town hall, where people buy and sell, trade and barter, and offer services.
________________________________________
I used to love Wal-Mart, because it had everything at cheap prices. Now, I love Dollarama even more.
Not only is the store based in Quebec (making it a Canadian owned chain), but the savings are stupendous. Some asshole decided to steal my cutlery and utensils when I had my stuff stored away for the mid-term break, but I went out to Dollarama, purchased several knives, forks, spoons, kitchen knives, etc. for under $10. That replaced almost $50 worth of stuff! I found a headlight for my bicycle for $1.50, and I found an exact same replica with CCM branding at Crappy Tire that costed $15! I found film to take pictures with that were a dollar each, and I had even found cleaning and medical supplies and a non-stick mini frying pan there. I did some rough calculations, and to date, I have saved over $120 by shopping at Dollarama.
Frankly, I'm not even sure how they make a profit, especially since so many of things they sell there are actually useful and can replace more expensive things on a dime. A few days ago I saw them selling a fishing rod for $2, and a reel for another $2...
Anyways, that's enough ranting for today. Unfortunately, I have to go back to studying. This year is going to busy with me nearly constantly in school, but next year I have a minimal number of courses to take. One term I'm only taking 3 courses (and I'm probably going to do them at University of Toronto), the summer I have a full course load, and I'm completely off for the other term. Just the thought of that makes me happy, but I have oh-so-much work to do right now =/
~Eastside
Thursday, June 04, 2009
I can't wait to come home this Friday. I'm so excited I can nearly poop my pants. Nearly.
It's too bad that I have to go through a midterm, lab, a quiz, and assignments to get there (seriously, wtf?).
It gets even better on June 22nd, as I have that entire week off and going on a trip =)
~Eastside
It's too bad that I have to go through a midterm, lab, a quiz, and assignments to get there (seriously, wtf?).
It gets even better on June 22nd, as I have that entire week off and going on a trip =)
~Eastside
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Never Buy a New Car
Just a quick public service announcement: Never Buy a New Car.
This thought occurred to me while I was talking with some people about used motorcycle prices, and also because over the last couple of years as a university student, I've learned to take better care of my money.
It might seem very obvious to the more money savvy amongst us, not so much for most people, but buying a new car is one of the worst investments you can make.
Obvious reason? Depreciation.
Consider that in one year, a Toyota Camry will depreciate to just 55% of it's value, average as per Kelly Blue Book. That means that in one year, you have just lost 45% of the car's value. The most commonly bought trim, the LE I4 with automatic transmission, standard features and no options, retails at $24,900 MSRP, before taxes and delivery and financing interest. 45% of that is $11,205 that you've just lost in a year.
And that is before things such as sales taxes, financing and PDI/freight.
It gets even worse when you buy an expensive German vehicle. For example, a Mercedes C63 AMG, can depreciate about 60% in the first year. At a base price of $63.5K, before options (which you'll want) and taxes, you will have managed to lose $38,100 in the first year.
This is why investing in new cars is the worst thing you can do.
Obviously, buying used is the smart way to buy a car. Depreciation for something like a Camry drops out gradually after the first year:
Vehicle Value Vs. Year- Camry LE, I4 AT
*taken from Kelly Blue Book*
In other words, between your 2nd and 5th years of ownership (a four year span), you would suffer about 20% depreciation. Simplifying matters, if you have bought your Camry from some dude (who would be very stupid to do this) after the first year for a theoretical value of $13,695 (MSRP X 55% after depreciation), after four years of ownership you can sell it for $10,956, meaning that you've only lost about $2,739.
Of course, this is all very simplistic. Nobody ever sells their Camry after the first year (unless they love losing money), and it will take some bargaining to get the price you are looking for. But even so, you can easily see how much money you are losing just by buying a new vehicle.
The above chart has other implications. As you can see, there comes a point where the car's depreciation rate starts to bottoms out, and so in real world terms, you can buy a 3-4 year old car and sell it when it's 7 to 8 years old, for minimal depreciation losses. Taking it to the extreme, buying a 7 to 8 year old car and then selling it when it's 10-12 years old means almost minimal depreciation losses, although practically speaking, it's probably better if you drive it until it dies at that point. You also have to keep inflation in mind, though the effect is usually very small.
The point of all this? It's possible that you may think that your neighbour next door is a rich bastard, since he has two Mercedes Benz's on his driveway and his daughter drives a BMW. In reality however, if he bought them used, it is likely that he spent way less than you did when you bought that brand-spanking new Accord and Fusion.
Corollary: You don't have to spend a lot of money to drive nice cars. In fact, older Mercedes Benzs are often better drives and are far more reliable than their modern counterparts, because they were built with better quality and care back before they absorbed Chrysler. With used cars, you can either buy a car because it's cheap, or you can buy a better car than the new one you're looking at, at a similar or lower price. Even if you have to make more repairs to a used car (and pay for it out of your own pocket since you don't have a warranty), it's not likely you will shell out $7K for a car unless it's a lemon and/or you are stupid and got screwed over buying a bad car.
Not everybody is able to deal with used cars though, and it's the fear that used car sellers are unscrupulous bastards that drives the new vehicle market (along with the clueless idiots who love to show off their brand new vanilla Camry to their neighbours). Used cars often don't come with warranties, and unless you bought it from the dealership, they often aren't fully inspected beyond the regular "safety inspection" (which is easy to pass). Unless you are a car enthusiast and know exactly what to look for, used car buying isn't for everyone.
Corollary 2: There are some cars that even as car enthusiasts who know how the ins and outs of vehicles will not touch. For example, a twin-turbo BMW is just a disaster waiting to happen, as these vehicles tend to explode right after they're off warranty. There are stories of people with grenading engines and having to spend over $10K to fix these cars. It obviously pays to do your research beforehand to avoid buying cars that can kill the bank. A used Civic's D16 or D17 engine will run you $300-$500 to replace entirely, and hence are good bets for used cars as they are not likely to break in the first place, and if they do, parts are cheap.
For the buyers who don't want to dirty their hands in such shit, there's the other option, which is leasing. I would wager that most luxury vehicles you see rolling down the road are actually leased cars. And in reality, leasing makes a whole lot of sense. With leasing, you're essentially renting a car, paying monthly payments equivalent to what the car's "projected" depreciation. So for our Camry example, if you get a 3 year lease, you will be paying about 50% of the car's cost over the 3 year lease period, which is about $12.5K. This the same as suffering the 50% depreciation, except for the fact that you're also driving a brand spanking new car, AND you have a warranty.
This fact becomes extremely attractive when you're looking at luxury cars. Companies like BMW, for example, provide a 4 year warranty with included maintenance, so if you get a 4 year lease, it's conceivable that you will only ever have to worry about gas, as the maintenance and warranty means everything else is taken care of.
The downside of leasing is that you're now technically the dealership's bitch. If they find scratches, dings, dents, or if you exceed a certain mileage, you can be hit with hefty extras once you return the car to the dealership. You are left with nothing at the end of the lease period, and you have to baby it or else you have to pay extra. If you like the car, you have the option to buy it for the agreed residual value, but in some cases (especially since dealerships love raping people of their money), you will end up paying more than if you just decided to buy the car in the first place. The upside is that when something bad happens to the economy, such as the current financiapocalypse, you end up a winner because the car will have depreciated much more during your period of ownership than was originally estimated, meaning you escape without suffering the huge depreciation drop while the dealership cries over the pile of lost money. This, in fact, is what happened with Chrysler in the early stages of the economic crisis.
There is one other option to avoid depreciation, and it's quite simple: Buy a car, and then drive it until it dies. When you do this, depreciation doesn't even come into the factor at all because you're not reselling it. If you do this though, you might as well buy a used car to begin with to save cash.
With all of this now in mind, it's quite simple that buying a new car is perhaps the most horrific investment you can make. Cars are, for most people, the 2nd most expensive thing they will ever buy, after a new home. Yet, a home's value appreciates in most cases, while a car's value will only depreciate (unless you somehow come across a Shelby Daytona or some other extremely rare case, but I digress). As a car enthusiast, new cars rarely ever interest me, because you can't fiddle around and modify them and have project cars without the dealership screaming at you and threatening to kill your warranty.
If you know what you're doing, buy a used car. And if you're absolutely clueless and/or want convenience and are only driving low miles, lease a car.
~Eastside
This thought occurred to me while I was talking with some people about used motorcycle prices, and also because over the last couple of years as a university student, I've learned to take better care of my money.
It might seem very obvious to the more money savvy amongst us, not so much for most people, but buying a new car is one of the worst investments you can make.
Obvious reason? Depreciation.
Consider that in one year, a Toyota Camry will depreciate to just 55% of it's value, average as per Kelly Blue Book. That means that in one year, you have just lost 45% of the car's value. The most commonly bought trim, the LE I4 with automatic transmission, standard features and no options, retails at $24,900 MSRP, before taxes and delivery and financing interest. 45% of that is $11,205 that you've just lost in a year.
And that is before things such as sales taxes, financing and PDI/freight.
It gets even worse when you buy an expensive German vehicle. For example, a Mercedes C63 AMG, can depreciate about 60% in the first year. At a base price of $63.5K, before options (which you'll want) and taxes, you will have managed to lose $38,100 in the first year.
This is why investing in new cars is the worst thing you can do.
Obviously, buying used is the smart way to buy a car. Depreciation for something like a Camry drops out gradually after the first year:
Vehicle Value Vs. Year- Camry LE, I4 AT
*taken from Kelly Blue Book*
In other words, between your 2nd and 5th years of ownership (a four year span), you would suffer about 20% depreciation. Simplifying matters, if you have bought your Camry from some dude (who would be very stupid to do this) after the first year for a theoretical value of $13,695 (MSRP X 55% after depreciation), after four years of ownership you can sell it for $10,956, meaning that you've only lost about $2,739.
Of course, this is all very simplistic. Nobody ever sells their Camry after the first year (unless they love losing money), and it will take some bargaining to get the price you are looking for. But even so, you can easily see how much money you are losing just by buying a new vehicle.
The above chart has other implications. As you can see, there comes a point where the car's depreciation rate starts to bottoms out, and so in real world terms, you can buy a 3-4 year old car and sell it when it's 7 to 8 years old, for minimal depreciation losses. Taking it to the extreme, buying a 7 to 8 year old car and then selling it when it's 10-12 years old means almost minimal depreciation losses, although practically speaking, it's probably better if you drive it until it dies at that point. You also have to keep inflation in mind, though the effect is usually very small.
The point of all this? It's possible that you may think that your neighbour next door is a rich bastard, since he has two Mercedes Benz's on his driveway and his daughter drives a BMW. In reality however, if he bought them used, it is likely that he spent way less than you did when you bought that brand-spanking new Accord and Fusion.
Corollary: You don't have to spend a lot of money to drive nice cars. In fact, older Mercedes Benzs are often better drives and are far more reliable than their modern counterparts, because they were built with better quality and care back before they absorbed Chrysler. With used cars, you can either buy a car because it's cheap, or you can buy a better car than the new one you're looking at, at a similar or lower price. Even if you have to make more repairs to a used car (and pay for it out of your own pocket since you don't have a warranty), it's not likely you will shell out $7K for a car unless it's a lemon and/or you are stupid and got screwed over buying a bad car.
Not everybody is able to deal with used cars though, and it's the fear that used car sellers are unscrupulous bastards that drives the new vehicle market (along with the clueless idiots who love to show off their brand new vanilla Camry to their neighbours). Used cars often don't come with warranties, and unless you bought it from the dealership, they often aren't fully inspected beyond the regular "safety inspection" (which is easy to pass). Unless you are a car enthusiast and know exactly what to look for, used car buying isn't for everyone.
Corollary 2: There are some cars that even as car enthusiasts who know how the ins and outs of vehicles will not touch. For example, a twin-turbo BMW is just a disaster waiting to happen, as these vehicles tend to explode right after they're off warranty. There are stories of people with grenading engines and having to spend over $10K to fix these cars. It obviously pays to do your research beforehand to avoid buying cars that can kill the bank. A used Civic's D16 or D17 engine will run you $300-$500 to replace entirely, and hence are good bets for used cars as they are not likely to break in the first place, and if they do, parts are cheap.
For the buyers who don't want to dirty their hands in such shit, there's the other option, which is leasing. I would wager that most luxury vehicles you see rolling down the road are actually leased cars. And in reality, leasing makes a whole lot of sense. With leasing, you're essentially renting a car, paying monthly payments equivalent to what the car's "projected" depreciation. So for our Camry example, if you get a 3 year lease, you will be paying about 50% of the car's cost over the 3 year lease period, which is about $12.5K. This the same as suffering the 50% depreciation, except for the fact that you're also driving a brand spanking new car, AND you have a warranty.
This fact becomes extremely attractive when you're looking at luxury cars. Companies like BMW, for example, provide a 4 year warranty with included maintenance, so if you get a 4 year lease, it's conceivable that you will only ever have to worry about gas, as the maintenance and warranty means everything else is taken care of.
The downside of leasing is that you're now technically the dealership's bitch. If they find scratches, dings, dents, or if you exceed a certain mileage, you can be hit with hefty extras once you return the car to the dealership. You are left with nothing at the end of the lease period, and you have to baby it or else you have to pay extra. If you like the car, you have the option to buy it for the agreed residual value, but in some cases (especially since dealerships love raping people of their money), you will end up paying more than if you just decided to buy the car in the first place. The upside is that when something bad happens to the economy, such as the current financiapocalypse, you end up a winner because the car will have depreciated much more during your period of ownership than was originally estimated, meaning you escape without suffering the huge depreciation drop while the dealership cries over the pile of lost money. This, in fact, is what happened with Chrysler in the early stages of the economic crisis.
There is one other option to avoid depreciation, and it's quite simple: Buy a car, and then drive it until it dies. When you do this, depreciation doesn't even come into the factor at all because you're not reselling it. If you do this though, you might as well buy a used car to begin with to save cash.
With all of this now in mind, it's quite simple that buying a new car is perhaps the most horrific investment you can make. Cars are, for most people, the 2nd most expensive thing they will ever buy, after a new home. Yet, a home's value appreciates in most cases, while a car's value will only depreciate (unless you somehow come across a Shelby Daytona or some other extremely rare case, but I digress). As a car enthusiast, new cars rarely ever interest me, because you can't fiddle around and modify them and have project cars without the dealership screaming at you and threatening to kill your warranty.
If you know what you're doing, buy a used car. And if you're absolutely clueless and/or want convenience and are only driving low miles, lease a car.
~Eastside
