Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Meech17]

The Mazda5 is like that. The third row seats are pretty much only usable by small children but, when folded down, it makes for a pretty big storage area for a smallish car. I used those seats exactly once, in 9 years, and kept them folded down the rest of the time.

Not just the Mazda 5, but Minivans in general are amazing. It's a shame they have the "Lame Parent Stigma" attached to them. I tried to flip so many new families away from big gas-guzzling SUVs into more practical vans. You get the cargo space (If not more), better mileage. Vans are easier to drive.

And my favorite feature is the sliding doors. It's so much easier to get a kid in and out of a car seat with a sliding door vs. a regular door. Plus, once the kids are old enough that they're opening the doors themselves, you don't have to worry about them throwing a sliding door out and smashing into the car you're parked next to.

 

[Bedrockgames]

 

[Thomas Shey]

I gather there are lots of actual people in the world who aren't great at quickly adding up several numbers (even small ones) quickly in their heads. I wonder how many give up way before doing 20 sets of them...

I sometimes question some of the "click all the pictures with X in it" for people without the best eyesight...

 

[Thomas Shey]

For this ability, I have to thank the Champions RPG. When you're routinely rolling 10 or 12 d6 and adding them up, you can get really good at doing it fast.

Could even be more true of old-school Shadowrun.

 

[Scribe]

I don't know if it's a mental thing? Naturally parents worry for their kids' safety, and perhaps they feel that wrapping more car around the kid will make them safer?

This is my Mom, yes. She always wanted the biggest vehicle on the road so that if she was in an accident, it would be the other car feeling it.

 

[Umbran]

I've gotten custom motorcycle parts from Japan to Toronto in less time than that.

It is a long story. In short, the large battery a hybrid system uses, due to its chemical content, classifies as "hazardous materials". Both the truck and the driver need to be certified to transport, on each leg of the journey.

Spoiler: In long, spoilered for those who don't care, which is probably most of you...

A month and a half ago, on a really hot day, as we were leaving Jordan's furniture, the car threw all its warning lights, and an error "Hybrid system failure, pull over now or your car will explode" (or words to that effect).
Luckily, Jordan's has furniture to shop, air conditioning, an IMAX movie theater and a burger joint - as places to have to wait for a tow truck, it doesn't suck.

We get it towed, and it turns out the battery was overheating because the fan that cools it was clogged with dog hair - my wife is a veterinarian, she transports animals in that car, this is not strange. I've had to clear that fan once before myself.

But then, just over three weeks ago, on a Friday, as my wife is returning from a house call, about a block away from home, it throws the same warning. Luckily, she can pretty much just coast into the driveway.

I call the shop - they can't look at it until Tuesday. Fine, we go the weekend without a car. Monday morning, we pick pup a rental (a Chevy Bolt EV, which as fantastic), and I get the car towed to the shop.

Oh, wait, the shop can look at it that day. Awesome! They tell me the battery is now damaged, and will need replacing, which will take a few thousand dollars. Bummer! Well, fine, that's the way it goes sometimes. I tell them to move forward, and they ordered the part....

It went:
Toyota had changed the part number without saying anything, so they ordered the wrong part and didn't know for a couple of days.
The part was backordered - again, didn't learn that for a couple of days. Basically, a week lost there.
The shop escalates the order priority. Then does so again.
Then, they had to wait for the proper truck and driver and a full-enough load to go from CA to MA.
Then, the thing sat in a warehouse in Boston for about three days. During which time the shop tried shenanigans of trying to order that same battery twice, so that at least one order would go through.
But, again, they didn't have the truck and driver for local delivery of hazardous materials...

The shop, unfortunately, is crappy, and doesn't tell me anything about their difficulties. I don't learn the shipping saga until yesterday, when I showed up middle of the day, irate at being strung along for weeks.

The shop and I work it out, with me giving them some professional lessons on expectation management, and informing them that their system silos between the parts department, the service department, and the service reps who actually talk to people, so the guys on the phone don't know anything, are stupid. And that telling me the car will be ready, and then waiting for me to call them to tell me when it fails to be ready, is also stupid.

The battery appeared this morning. The car is under the wrench as I type. I may have it back this afternoon.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I remember a friend would drive these old GM beaters. He had a Buick that was so bad that the heat stopped working (a real bad thing in Minnesota) and I swear the frame was almost rusted away to dangerous proportions. When his wife got pregnant she made him get rid of it. He'd probably still be driving it today if it wasnt for his kids. Those old 3800 V6 engines were bullet proof. Keep changing the oil and they will run for hundreds of thousands of miles. Which, is of course, why GM stopped making them.

Other than air conditioning, older GMs notoriously rot from the outside in (that is to say, they'll still be functional when the outside looks like its been through the wars). Our backup car is still an '84 (yes, you're reading that right) Olds Cutless Supreme, and I had a Chevrolet Celebrity that just ran and ran.

(Of course not having AC in Southern California is almost as great an idea s not having heat in Minnesota, which is one reason its the backup car...)

 

[RealAlHazred]

@Snarf Zagyg I was reading an old issue of Dungeon (#98), and was impressed. How did you manage to get into a cartoon? Also, I was unaware that you were actually a Drow.

 

[Meech17]

This is my Mom, yes. She always wanted the biggest vehicle on the road so that if she was in an accident, it would be the other car feeling it.

It's an unfortunate arms race.

Small cars are perfectly safe.. They look horrific after accidents because of the way they are designed to crumple on impact and absorb energy from the crash. However with SUVs and Trucks getting so tall it's getting to be a problem. In my hatchback, when I'm sitting next to a truck or large SUV at a light or in a parking lot or something, my window is usually inline with their wheel well. If one of these vehicles was to T-bone me, it's not just the door, and side of my car taking the blow.. It's my window, and even roof line taking the hit.

I can understand wanting to lift yourself up to try and negate these fears.. But it only serves to perpetuate the problem. In another twenty years people will be dropping their kids off to soccer practice in monster trucks.

 

[Ryujin]

Not just the Mazda 5, but Minivans in general are amazing. It's a shame they have the "Lame Parent Stigma" attached to them. I tried to flip so many new families away from big gas-guzzling SUVs into more practical vans. You get the cargo space (If not more), better mileage. Vans are easier to drive.

And my favorite feature is the sliding doors. It's so much easier to get a kid in and out of a car seat with a sliding door vs. a regular door. Plus, once the kids are old enough that they're opening the doors themselves, you don't have to worry about them throwing a sliding door out and smashing into the car you're parked next to.

And, to top it off, the Mazda5 is build on the older Mazda3 platform and it drives like it. Obviously more body roll, as it carries the weight higher, but still a nimble car. It should have avoided the usual minivan stigma because of that, but the public just didn't seem to buy into it.