What have you learned in your old age that you feel should be taught to high school students?

Yes... most interference engines specify a timing belt at 60K miles. The Metro is non-interference... still a pain to do a road-side timing belt job. I've done it at least once, if not twice however.

Consumer reports and the like has to have something to complain about. If they gave props to the cheapest car, I guess they think that no one would take them seriously. As long as you don't get yourself into an accident in one, I say they are the best car that you can have. The 3 speed automatic ones are miserable. I only own 5-speed ones.

I'm on my third and like them. The first, a 2007, died an untimely death at the hands of a kid with a 4WD mounted snow plow in 201. I was only a mile and a half from home and could drive it back but it was totalled.

When I took the 2011 in for an airbag replacement after a year or two of nagging in 2020 I saw a leftover 2018 hatch. That was the last year for that configuration and the price was right so I bought it. The Yaris sedans that year were actually Mazda2's and the hatch was scheduled to become a Mazda3 5 door. That's at least two more doors than I need.

The rural roads in Montana are 70 or 80 mph and it handles them well. I may have to drop a gear for some passes but it climbs them at the limit. I see them as the heir of the original Minis, a little econobox with heart, unlike the new Mini Coopers which aren't econoboxes. by any stretch. I got to play around with a Mini on Hwy 1 down through Big Sur. Miraculously there wasn't any traffic so we could play. There's a reason they use them for club racing in Japan.

I was sniffing around when I ran into the 2018 and the Challenger was on the short list. Like I said, I don't need a lot of doors. Of the three it's got the most cargo area. Besides, I've owned a Mustang and a Camaro.

The Toyota dealer had an 86 but I thought that would be just a little too old age crazy. Nice car though.

Both my rear seats were folded down the day I drove the car home. The headrests are in the shed. I can't remember the last time I carried a passenger.

I thought they were stupid but the rear view camera can be useful if for nothing else than making sure the cat isn't sleeping in the driveway. The problem is hatchbacks are grime magnets and that includes the camera lens.

My vacuum controlled climate on the '89 Oldsmobile has been stuck on defroster since I bought it. Makes for cold feet in the wintertime. I couldn't find the vacuum leak, but maybe I didn't search hard enough.

Good idea. If there is one periodic maintenance thing that never happens it's lubing the swingarm pivot pin. Driving them out is a 5 pound hammer and brass drift procedure. I don't know why they all don't have Zerks.

I've got one for the F150 but I bought it when I bought the truck in '86. I didn't realize they didn't do cars anymore. When I bought the Sportster manual it was a real book so I was disappointed when I bought the DR650 manual and it was a shrink wrapped pile of loose pages, bring your own binder. It wasn't cheap either.

Given that, I found the V-Strom manual online as a free download that may or may not have been in violation of something.

Ah, beam wipers. That's my favorite comedy routine. Walk into a parts store and ask for a wiper for a 2018 Yaris hatchback. After consulting the book the clerk asks 'Which one?' and I answer 'There's only one.' 'No, there are two!' 'The damn car is out in front. Want to count them?'

CostCo just had a sale on Michelin wipers so I bought 2 28" blades. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be so limp when you lift them off the windshield but it does work.

To defend the parts guy, Yaris's before 2018 had two wipers.

it's slowly getting better but in Montana off the I90 or I15 corridor you can use your cell phone to play Angry Birds while you wait for somebody to wander along.

I do my own coverage mapping. Play Jango on the radio via bluetooth; when the music stops, so did the cell phone network.

If you keep a car long enough ALL the vacuum lines will rot out.

I can't remember why I took it apart. I wouldn't have done it just to add the Zerk.

I'll never tell, and neither will the Pirates. I've downloaded some free manuals from Toyota, but nothing too technical. OTOH, I'm not willing to do anything complicated any more so the do-it-yourself

68-page thing is probably good enough. At least it tells you where to position the floor jack...

I was really happy with some Tripl-Edge wipers a long time ago. Now you have to mail-order them and they're pretty expensive. I just bought whatever Walmart had last year -- either Rain-X or Michelin, I can't remember.

I swear, wipers used to clear the windows a LOT better 20 years ago.

I was surprised to find that I like it. I'd certainly pay to replace its little battery since I probably already have one. Unless the guy who made the keys replaced my battery without telling me (unlikely) it's been working happily since June 2016.

My friend has a Lexus -- it opens up when you approach the car. You have to push something to lock it, though, so you still have to find the key in your purse. Only half the nuisance.

Ah, I'm just not used to the new car features. I'm not sure that I've owned another car with a button remote unlock; used to the key. I've noticed that it you hit the auto door locks, and the driver's door is open (but the key is in the ignition), the door locks immediately pop back unlocked. That's a smart idea. Also, if you use the key to unlock the passenger door, it unlocks all of the doors at once.

Haha, that's the next guy's problem. I've had it for 2 years, and that's a long time for me to own a car. It'll be moving on soon.

I used to read Consumer Reports at the library for stuff I know nothing about like digital cameras. Then I noticed if they were reviewing a car in the same price range as a Civic, they recommended a Civic. For a less expensive car they would recommend a used Civic. For luxury cars they would recommend 2 Civics. I concluded Civics were the same bet and all CR was concerned about was middle of the road, plain vanilla, safe bets.

There's something to be said for climate control systems with two push-pull cables, one going to a valve in the heater hose, and one going to a deflector.

Back in the infancy of the 'automatic' chokes there were kits to replace them with a manual choke that I used a couple of times.

Bastard.

Yeah, but not 70 years ago :) I had a '51 Chevy with vacuum powered wipers. The heart of Troy NY lies along the Hudson at sea level, but the rest of it is on the slope of a steep escarpment leading up to the surrounding plateau. If it was raining or snowing you were flying blind until you got up the hill.

The Toyota does that unlock thing if the key is still in the ignition. Nice feature. Unlocking the hatch if you twist twice is nice too. Hatchbacks collect grime and I've had problems with the lock getting sticky.

The only remote entry car I've driven was a rental. The car got pissed off when I used the key to unlock the door so there I was trying to figure out how to shut it up. I really don't like walking through a parking lot and have some random car blow its horn to greet its owner.

I hate that all the doors lock as soon as I start the engine with the door closed -- I have to hit the unlock button again to let hubby into the car. OTOH, I might need that "safety" feature some day, although it seems unlikely. The manual shows how to defeat it...

Mine just makes a little civilized beep and flashes the lights. Not good enough if you've forgotten where you parked. No antenna to tie surveyor's tape to either. I've thought of getting some orange plastic "racing stripes" to make it easier. Hey, it's the 'Sport' model with a spoiler, I'm entitled!

Worst was when I parked a rental car in the Vegas Costco lot and couldn't remember where I'd parked it or what it looked like. No, wait, the REAL worst was finding my daughter's forest-green Expedition (like

75% of the damn things) in the LA County Fair parking lot. Climbed light poles, etc. Ultimately we got lucky, but it took a LONG time.

The thing is, a good scanner gives you the tools to figure out why. You can see all the input and output signals, you can watch exactly what is going on in realtime. (This on top of all the direct information that you could get before, by feeling and smelling and so forth... you don't lose any of that information in the new era.)

The code is really the least useful part of the scanner, and the Fisher-Price style scanners which really just display the OBD-II codes and do nothing else do more harm than good as far as helping people fix cars.

This is likely true, but unfortunately that is an awful lot of people.

--scott

My car doesn't have that feature.

This is the land of large pickups. I have an old F150 and it looks like a Ranger compared to the current F150 iterations. Anyway, a subcompact Toyota can hide easily. The bikes are just as bad. I always try to park so I'm not backing out of the space, but I'm still blind as I gently ease the nose out. The bikes are actually better. I'm high enough that I can see over pickup beds or peek through SUV windows.

Been there, done that with a multi-level lot under a hotel. At least the plate number was on the key as I humped my suitcase up and down. I'll admit to not being exactly sober when I parked the thing so I wasn't taking notes.

I try to use the same three or four slots at CostCo. They're the farthest from the door so at least one is usually open. Nothing around here has acres of parking, which helps.