Anyone hear the BMW 2002 question on Car Talk/NPR radio?

[Guest Anonymous]

Greetings,

Apparently a seventeen year old male somewhere in California was hoping to negotiate with his parents to replace the family hand-me-down Ford Windstar with a BMW 2002. He telephoned in the hope of identifying a strategy whereby his parents could be converted to the cause and won over with proof (however feeble) of the intelligence of such a strategy. Alas, 'Click' and 'Clack' had a few complimentary words for '02's, but nixed the idea of a seventeen year old rushing about in a 30+ year old sports sedan restoration project sans airbag. Oh well, let's hope when college is complete that his enthusiasm will remain. Should the tale develop as it ought, our fold will be expanded by precisely one. Anyhow, best regards...

Mike K.

[skipsfcr]

Bo Black and I both had our radios tuned to NPR enroute to breakfast during "The True Friends of Alex Von Falkenhausen" scenic drive last Saturday morning. (At least that was when it aired here) We both laughed about the irony of heading out to do some serious road carving in 2002's while Ray & Tom were yelling young Eric to stay away from 2002's. At least they didn't seem to sway his opinion!

[skipsfcr]

By the way he was in Petaluma, CA and relegated to driving an ugly purple Ford Windstar minivan. He said the van is a "chick deterrent and bird-doo magnet!"

[jgerry2002]

Yea not surprised they'd recommend against it. I hate that "needs an airbag" mentality, but I guess if you are on a national radio program you probably need to push what the insurance industry considers a lower risk. They are useless with a seatbelt anyway and even more useless if you have a set of 3 or 4 point Scroth street harnesses (which I've always had). I hate the thought of driving around with an explosive so close to my face, though at least the newer (post 2000) airbags are smarter with lower deployment speeds and differences based on weight of the person in the seat.

Anyway an '02 would probably teach the kid how a car works too. Not a lot of horsepower which should keep tickets to a minimum, and he would likely not drive around with 25 of his friends piled in the back like a windstar. Most accidents with teens happen when there are bunch of kids in the car for obvious distracting reasons.

[AndyS]

Skip, you and Bo have radios? Wow. I need to get one, hehe.

[Biscuit3]

Airbags are for morons who forget the difference between the brake and the gas pedal. When my dad does his weekly "sell that car!" speech to me, he always claims along with not having an airbag, Karl doesn't possess:

1) Anti-lock brakes

2) Power steering

3) Air con

4) Cruise control

Oh well. My guess is some people prefer to drive cars that do everything for them! So I remind him that even though his Toyota Landcruiser 100 Series has all these things, what it doesn't have is:

1) 31 years of life

2) Personality

3) Something to give other motorist to talk about

4) A gas tank that holds a maximum of 46 liters and lasts for a week!

[TobyB]

but ABS is a good idea in a street car.

As a CCA instructor, I get stuck in the braking excercise at least once a year.

It really does work. Especially in the wet. Not only can you stop faster,

but you get to try to avoid whatever it is that made you stand on it in the first place.

Airbags really do help in the 20- to 50- mph differential accidents- you know, when someone runs a red light right in front of you.

Traction control in its various guises means that 500 horsepower engines don't (immediately) kill 40% of the people who buy them. This is really only a good thing for the other people who would get killed.

Now, don't get me wrong-

I'd take an alert, sober, trained driver doing 75 mph in a Model A

over an ijit in a modern car any day. The electro-nannies are no substitute for brains and some ability.

But they DO help in stupid situations. And when you find yourself to be a passenger.

Also, driving a car with no nannies, ya gotta realize that the luxo- Merc that you're tailgaiting CAN outbrake the piss out of you... and that you probably won't dent his bumper cover until you push your waterpump into it...

t

[DavinSF]

(nt)

[BarryA]

02 web site, drive his purple van to an event and become permanently fixated................

[SteveJ]

I can agree there. You can never have enough brake. And those CCA braking exercises are humbling. Glad I only have to teach them.

All the new car stuff does make them safer, but as the commercial says, "everything except the driver". How many moron-moves did you see just this morning? Having a car that can move when it needs to is more important.

And it wasn't a Merc. It was a Chevy Avalanche. And the 3 row radiator takes up most of the impact when you shove his bumper into your hood, thus sparing the waterpump.

[cowlum]

You should also quietly remind him that half the reason people are so concerned with airbags is because of vehicles like his.

[cowlum]

errr sorry. sensitive topic for me....

[RandyMolson]

Click and Clack have no business trying to rob the kid like that. Me thinks its been too long since they drove a real car or attracted any chicks.

[Biscuit3]

You should also quietly remind him that half the reason people are so concerned with airbags is because of vehicles like his.

I agree. People today forget what it is to "drive", they are too busy relying on dumbass reverse sensoring because they are too lazy to turn around and look for themselves. I've only been driving for three years, and I tell you what, with having a car like Karl for the entire time I've been driving, I dare you to put me up against another female thirty years older than me. I'll bet you anything that she'll be driving a mini van with reverse sensoring, ABS, power steering, air conditioning, and a baby strapped in the back seat. But you know something, if she drove a thirty year old car, she'd shit her pants. My stepmom had a brand new BMW M3 that my dad bought in 2002. She was such a moron that she couldn't handle shifting the gears so he had to buy her an automatic. She would complain that she would feel tired after driving it. WTF? Women drivers piss me off, good thing I'm not one of them.

[Harv]

Maybe we should bombard Click and Clack with o2 facts like, Price of parts, outward visibility, safety (well compared to anything else that age and maybe a little newer) Coolness factor, and that an o2 will teach proper auto mechanics and suffering.

An o2 is though to beat.

John