I'm being somewhat sarcastic. My costs a year are around 800$, but thats for an extremely good plan (probably too much coverage honestly) that allows me to be the primary driver on my CRV and allows me to drive our other two cars (one of which is a '10 subaru impreza outback). Now, I'm not sure if you guys have places like this, but there are a few companies that get you "state min. coverage" (the lowest legal coverage), and from what I know, those companies only look at the age of the vehicle as I've got a friend with a 1978 305 Chevy Nova who pays sub 300 a year, and he's had a few accidents and a traffic ticket.
there's my 05 ion...2.2L ecotec ...5 speed....slow yes i know...will be going back to my V6 roots in spring (supercharged 3.3L grand am)....sorry no recent pictures...it's kinda buried in a montreal snowbank ATM.
no i didn't actually (though i do agree it does look like it)...it's been lowered 2.5" ( cheep ebay springs...that i regret buying...two of them have since broke)
Dunno if ive got any reason to complain really, sweden is so good on areas other contry´s fail @.
Insurance is mighty high... if you choose a fast car... a crap car like a opel astra 1.6 cost on me around 800euro... and thats not so bad if you compare to UK, but still to much for a car that costs around 600(if you can find 1 they rust like hell here)
Dont think we have toll roads either, if we have i sure never seen one.
There are a few cameras.. but not like the UK... but then again the UK is a bad comparison cause its a "nazy germany" for motorists.
There are som bad sides though! they are salting the roads during winter! and this salt wich is supposed to "make snow melt fast" is useless and it eats up the cars! As a result there is almost only volvo´s left from the 80´s and early 90´s since they are the only cars constructed for this type of abuse... and even they rust!
The roads really are a joke... bumpy, pot holes, cracks, big "ditches" where the tires have run... this is the standard swedish road, now there are exeptions ofcourse but the local highway are so badly maintained that the "tracks/ditches" created over time due to heavy traffick are really deep... and during rain you have get "waterskid" if you drive in them...
Also gas price is high... 12-13euro for 1 litre. And for diesel its almost the same, with insane taxes on dieselcars aswell...
We also have MOT once a year... wich is a bummer altough an accepted one since its safety related...
Bad thing is you have lots of trouble if you want to tune your car, or modify it. There are strict regulations for this... wich results in 99% of the tuned/custom cars to be illegal.
You can tell its a photoshop... No shadowing on the tires from the arches, the arches are jagged and flat in areas, and also half the front tire is missing
It's just a name game, same car. Had an Impreza driver stop me while having some fun in a parkinglot tonight. (still getting lots of snow!) Said that I was "really tearing it up", (did a doubletake that it was a Miata), and that my exhaust, (Borla catback), sounded "badass". Made me . Wish I had some pics but I usually only play at night, when there are less cops. They frown on winter play, even in empty lots, heh.
Ofcourse yo guys are right... i mixed it up a bit.. its 12-13 sek and thats about 1,2-1,3 liters. I guess its not super high... but for what a car costs both on insurance and in tax and the insane tax on gas, the standard should be top knotch! but the roads are so badly maintained that it sometimes even get dangerous.
The key issue, and this represents America perfectly, is that its doesnt have the alloy wheels, and its a manual. Americans like shiny things and they dont like shifting. There was one at a local garage that (surprisingly almost exactly like mine, only a 2000) went from 7000 to 6500$, and I heard that it sold for around 5k.
It is indeed what we're used to, so it's only when I read tales of woe on forums like this one that I realise what I'm taking for granted (mostly the natural environment). I don't feel any kind of nationalistic pride about 'my country' as I don't feel it has any political 'identity'.
In the interest of balance:
The roads here are kinda nasty and bumpy, although occasionally you happen on one that's been built properly and then hardly used (hooning ensues). You can learn to love the vast 'empty' landscape, or you can find it depressing - I'm somewhere in between.
There are lots of other things I don't like that much about Australia, like the baking heat in summer (doesn't apply to Tasmania) and deadly snakes and spiders in your bed, your car, under rocks and bark and in the water. There's also a general lack of taste (holdens), culture (the footy show), inspiration and progressive politics that makes it pretty frustrating to look at the interesting stuff that seems to be going on elsewhere.
I'm also secretly (not so secretly?) dreaming of a white Christmas
ps - for the record, I have been to England a long time ago and I liked lots of it - the Isle of Wight, the bit of Scotland I saw (that's still England right?) and the funny accents in different parts. The housing situation was a bit of a shock though.
Ahhhh... I can't imagine a place to live that has WORSE vehicles, personally.
I don't want to come across as really rude, but it's going to anyway. I go through this thread and everyone is driving front wheel drive plastic econoboxes, that's half the reason I don't check in here very often, it's all so monotonous and uninteresting. You guys get Caterhams, that's awesome - we don't get them, and you get a lot of unattainable super cars (which I don't have a huge interest in, but if you consider that if you did, you would have exorbitant costs of keeping them running on the road - europe seems to have silly car prices, insurance prices and petrol prices, so it's not really something I'm missing anyway).
The other day I saw a Sunbeam Tiger over here. We still get all the classic MGs, Triumphs etc, they aren't really my kinda thing but I can appreciate any decent vehicle. We get crap cars over here like Saabs and Citroens too, but we just leave them for the people with no taste or brains.
Do you actually know of what exists that isn't available where you are from?
Unlike clippit, I'm not from a rural area so I don't have to put up with heaps of shit roads etc (even our good roads have nothing on NZ though - every road over there is a tarmac rally stage :P), but mate you don't need to do the whole "in the interest of balance" thing lol. In Australia, the grass is greener.
Hahaha, yes Europe has nothing but shitty cars. Before you say that you really should ask yourself....
... because there are a LOT of good cars available in the UK and europe, a lot of good trackday cars, sports cars, and even a whole bunch of saloons and hatches that are proper drivers cars. Basically you're talking bollocks.
Haha somebody get this guy a badge for living in the best country! Maybe some gold star stickers as well!