JohnH wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2026 3:43 pm
As an ethical matter, one should choose a vehicle to minimise loss of life and injury to others. That may affect the choice of vehicle
You would probably be pleased to know I'm joining the ranks of Tesla FSD owners. Once my son repairs it (it was in an accident) I should be able to give a review of the self-driving features.
Wife: one has to know… Was it in self driving mode when the accident happened?
I have no way of knowing, because I bought it with a salvage title from Copart, which sells totaled vehicles for insurance companies, among other things. It has a giant hole in the glass roof, which could either have been caused by a meteorite, or a pumpkin, or more intriguingly, it may have a previously unknown ejection seat function (in the back seat), which is unlikely because all the glass appears to be inside the car. Plus various small dents and scratches on the exterior, maybe caused by the pumpkin bouncing around all over the place after damaging the roof (and taking out the charging port door). The nice part is that none of these apparently caused mechanical damage.
My son bought a salvage-titled Tesla recently, which doesn't have self-driving, and he was able to find the video of the accident that caused the damage. The driver ran into a parked car.
JohnH wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2026 3:43 pm
As an ethical matter, one should choose a vehicle to minimise loss of life and injury to others. That may affect the choice of vehicle
You would probably be pleased to know I'm joining the ranks of Tesla FSD owners. Once my son repairs it (it was in an accident) I should be able to give a review of the self-driving features.
I guess that depends on if the FSD hardware, etc. is still in working condition after the accident. Generally speaking as I understand it, Tesla often disables this if it's not been repaired up to their standards (i.e. they did them).
Soloist wrote: ↑Tue Sep 29, 2026 6:07 pm
Wife: Every mechanic I’ve spoken to says Toyota or Honda. they last forever unless they’re one of the bad years, the minivans are relatively safe, and they’re not that expensive to fix. You’d probably have to go early 2000s to avoid the computer, although I don’t know. I know we had a really nice 2000 Camry that I miss that didn’t seem to have any computerized stuff and was easy to access stuff in the engine. Sienna has a timing chain after a certain year in the 2000s although I don’t know what year are they get computerized.
I'm sure Honda loves this reputation, but it's almost entirely unearned at this point. Hondas aren't any different than a domestic car these days (and usually made domestically, too).
JohnH wrote: ↑Mon Sep 28, 2026 3:43 pm
As an ethical matter, one should choose a vehicle to minimise loss of life and injury to others. That may affect the choice of vehicle
You would probably be pleased to know I'm joining the ranks of Tesla FSD owners. Once my son repairs it (it was in an accident) I should be able to give a review of the self-driving features.
I guess that depends on if the FSD hardware, etc. is still in working condition after the accident. Generally speaking as I understand it, Tesla often disables this if it's not been repaired up to their standards (i.e. they did them).
I don’t know about the FSD, but Tesla turned off the ability for my son's car to charge at Tesla superchargers due to it having been in an accident. To get access again, he has to take it to a Tesla service center and get the batteries taken out and inspected, a job that is supposed to cost around $1500. Without access to those chargers, trips in a Tesla are more of a pain because you can only use other chargers. So he basically has to get that done at some point. He checked my car this morning and it did charge up successfully at a supercharger. Maybe this is determined by the severity of the accident.
I just did a little research, and my car has Autopilot, which is basically greatly enhanced cruise control for highway driving that does about everything for you except change lanes. My car has that. But full self driving is the more recent full featured experience that drives your car almost anywhere without your help, and it costs $99 per month. I’ll definitely try that out but don’t know yet if it’s worth paying for it on a regular basis or just when you take a trip where it would come in handy.
For a short daily commute to work, FSD at $99 may not be worth it. I would certainly pay for it. But I can see for some people, they may opt out of the monthly subscription after the novelty wore off if they were just commuting.
R7ehr wrote: ↑Tue Sep 29, 2026 9:38 pm
For a short daily commute to work, FSD at $99 may not be worth it. I would certainly pay for it. But I can see for some people, they may opt out of the monthly subscription after the novelty wore off if they were just commuting.
One thing to consider is that even for a short commute, $99 is probably cheaper than an accident with insurance rates etc. (such as avoiding parking lot accidents, which seem to be the most common kind I’ve been in).
Autopilot is neat but I would not make the safety claims about it that I’ve made about FSD. I used to really like Nissan’s equivalent back when I rented a lot.
You would probably be pleased to know I'm joining the ranks of Tesla FSD owners. Once my son repairs it (it was in an accident) I should be able to give a review of the self-driving features.
Wife: one has to know… Was it in self driving mode when the accident happened?
I have no way of knowing, because I bought it with a salvage title from Copart, which sells totaled vehicles for insurance companies, among other things. It has a giant hole in the glass roof, which could either have been caused by a meteorite, or a pumpkin, or more intriguingly, it may have a previously unknown ejection seat function (in the back seat), which is unlikely because all the glass appears to be inside the car. Plus various small dents and scratches on the exterior, maybe caused by the pumpkin bouncing around all over the place after damaging the roof (and taking out the charging port door). The nice part is that none of these apparently caused mechanical damage.
My son bought a salvage-titled Tesla recently, which doesn't have self-driving, and he was able to find the video of the accident that caused the damage. The driver ran into a parked car.
Wife: I was going to make all sorts of new jokes about it, except I realized your son’s vehicle was not self driving. I do sometimes think it gives people a false sense of invincibility, sort of like the guys who decide to try to use water mode on their Tesla and get stuck in a lake. I suppose cruise control did that as well.
Who knows why yours was salvage. Maybe somebody else was mad that they were driving a Tesla?
All joking aside, my preschooler loves to see “funny cars” and would probably really enjoy a ride in one. as of yet, they don’t have them for large families anyway.
ohio jones wrote: ↑Wed Sep 30, 2026 12:09 am
No, your FSD van from post #3.
Surprisingly, the Fords (including the SD) have generated the least amount of repairs.
The FSD gets better fuel economy than the Sienna, although we'll see if that changes with a full load of seats (all 3 benches) + a full load of people (admittedly such people are typically 40 lbs, not 240.)
