Stop reading this there's nothing interesting here
I am now the proud 2nd owner of a manual Rav4. They took my offer of $6k. Thing is mint, feels like a new car. I don't know if it'll be a forever car for me but it's what I need right now and it's a hell of a lot cooler than the alternatives.
Can't take it home yet, as I couldn't find anyone to go with me today, but I'll pick it up sometime this weekend.
Stupid tire shops, trying to upsell you on unnecessary bullshit. Don't they know your tires get rotated thousands of times a day for absolutely free?
No humor, no hyperbole. It's been two hours and I'm still having adrenaline jitters. The events are just a blur and I'm not sure I'll ever know exactly what went down.
It happened fast, right at the ragged edge of what my headlights could see. There was a cloud of dust and suddenly a car was veering across both lanes. The semi between me and them had to yank the wheel. Hard. There were tires in the air. The trailer started to go over, right into my lane.
I don't remember reacting. I remember feeling the ABS and then I was stopped halfway onto the grass. Another driver didn't brake in time and barreled clear through the scene, swerving inches from my door at full speed. The trailer righted itself and the driver got it safely stopped further down the road.
The car that lost control was on its side in the median. The occupants were out, standing, and miraculously free of major injury. By this time several other cars had stopped to lend aid. There was enough of a buffer of slowed traffic that further pileup wouldn't happen.
I stayed until I knew emergency services had been called. I know should have stuck around and at least given my account. If I had stayed long enough to come down off the panic response I'd have done the right thing. Everyone seemed okay and help was on the way, and that was good enough for whatever autopilot had taken hold of me.
My planned overnight stop wasn't far away but the ride was harrowing. Every flicker of headlight through the guardrail, every piece of rubbish blowing across the road, every iota of motion in my peripheral vision made my heart skip a beat. I had to leave the highway and finish the drive to the hotel on surface streets. What should have been a thirty minute drive took me over an hour.
As I sit here writing this I can't help but think what would have happened had I been just a little more tired, or a little closer to that truck.
I'm going to try to sleep now. Don't know if I can.
New (to me) 5spd Rav4 made the two hour drive home without a hitch. Real pics to come tomorrow maybe.
@Mr-Hawk I can't tell if you're 14 or 74
9 o'clock at night, 200 miles from home, and I locked my key in the car. Oop.
Ended up being the fasted AAA call ever though. Instead of the typical 3 hour wait it was barely 20 minutes between submitting the request and the dude having my door open. Needless to say he got a generous tip.
The most bizarre thing just happened. I popped into the local grocer, and there was an elderly couple sitting in the car next to where I'm parked. While I'm at the entrance grabbing a cart, I see the woman get out and start circling my car, inspecting it. I keep watching as she pulls her husband out of the car to also come look at it.
I brushed it off as just she's never seen a plug-in hybrid and was confused when I plugged it into the public EV charger, or maybe she was familiar with Fusions but didn't know there was a PHEV version.
BUT...
About five minutes later she approaches me in the store and very timidly approaches me and asks
"Excuse me, is your car really fusion powered?"
We got an emergency service call today, someone saying their water had stopped flowing. Our tech goes down into their basement and finds this. That mineral tank is fiberglass and quite strong and should not be caved in like that. The pressure tank (blue boi in the corner) is also slightly dented in. How does this happen? Well, let me explain:
They were lucky these easily replaceable tanks were the weak points and nothing ruptured in the walls.
@nkato did they ignore the sturgeon general warning?
At 14:20 he claims the Neon had no rear seat cupholder but IN FACT it does. The center console lid/armrest flips backwards 180° to reveal a cupholder on the underside. And also a little tissue dispenser.
So yeah, your backseat passengers can have a single cupholder. To share. That you have to give up an armrest for. Someone should shoot this little factoid over to him so he can publish a formal retraction for this now two-year-old video.
This bit of automotive pedantry brought to you by Too Much Free Time
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@awesomeaustinv alternately, left hand buckets need replacing more often and are thus always out of stock.
@Wrong-Wheel-Drive Fake meat has come a long way lately, although I still prefer alternative burgers that aren't trying to be meat, like a gardenburger or a black bean patty.
Been eating a lot of fake burgers lately, a whole plant based burger with cheese and bun is less fat and about the same calories as just a beef patty so it's a bit of a no-brainer when trying to eat healthy.
@fhrblig I've got no advice. Mine comes in curly and can't be shaped so I gotta keep it short.
ETA: try Pinaud Clubman. Their aftershave smells amazing and I assume their beard oil is the same scent.
@gettingoldercarguy SDI - Seafoam Direct Injection
@Britishvillaininatl I highly recommend a manual E39, just not that particular one 
@davesaddiction Is this just state-to-state migration, or total population change including international?
@SilentbutnotreallyDeadly unlike my Craftsman set, the logo is only on the lid side and not the base so one could go by that too.
