u/mk7gteye

Ignore the time stamp on my cam, my camera thinks it's 3am tomorrow.

Driving to HEB when I see a massive cloud, I assumed something was on fire. Turns out, it's just debris, loose rocks and dirt from the construction sites........ When I went into the cloud it sounded like my car was in a hail storm as all the rocks started pinging against the car.

In my opinion this shouldn't happen with 13mph gusts and is an avoidable hazard. I also noticed they always close lanes regardless even when they don't need to causing traffic to back up.

Is this normal?

Did anybody else drive through this today?

I asked for travel recommendations for cities in East Asia and it recommended I go to the Kyushu Island, Japan. For those who don’t know, Japan just had a massive Earthquake.

Recently sold my Audi S3 for a 2025 Jetta Sport and finally had a chance to test eco mode yesterday. In not so perfect conditions, this car returns an impressive mid 40s mpg! For comparison, the S3 in the same situation typically returned 26.2 on premium fuel. Of course the Audi was substantially faster, but that’s not always important.

Conditions:
-Over 100 degrees, A/C on blast
-10% city, 15% stop and go, 75% highway
-Did not use ACC

Well done VW, the 2025 Jetta Sport is a solid car

Edit: 1.5t*

Hello,

I’m looking at buying a used car, mainly an older VW golf. I already know the cost of the car (around 170,000ntd) but I’m looking for monthly costs.

I’d be living in Taichung in the area south west of Taichung Station (South or Dali District). What are the typical costs for insurance, parking and fuel assuming 1,200km per month for an expat?

I understand Taiwan has a reciprocal agreement with the US for driver’s licenses, so I wouldn’t have to do much to drive a car vs getting a scooter license. Additionally I have a large dog so I’m leaning towards a car anyways.

P.S- the car would be mainly for the dog, I’d use youbike for close trips or walk mostly hence the low km per month usage

Any insurance recommendations?

Thank you!

Long story short, I recently bought an M4 Air to replace my aging m2 mini base & 2020 M1 pro base (both had 8gb ram). I predict needing mobility over the next few years, but wanted the capability to play basic games at least such as cities skylines.

Well, I gave the air a shot & decided even though it was a good deal (right before apple hiked ram prices, same air goes for 250$ more now), I needed to replace it since it gets scorching hot after 20 mins of simulation even with external fans cranking & low settings.

I ended up ordering a 16” M1 pro 10c/16c with 32gb ram / 512ssd for 270$ cheaper (paid low 700$s, 1yr warranty refurb). It arrived today in better than anticipated condition, & yes, I will be returning the air 😅.

So far, the M1 pro side by side is a significantly better laptop even though it’s a 2021. The screen, build quality, specs, the ports & price point made it worth the money. The M4 is a better chip, but not for it to cost 20% more for an air, 80% more for a pro version vs the M1 equivalent.

Anyhow, looking forward to playing cyberpunk hopefully at 45fps. Also this thing will get me through a masters degree, cheers folks!

2 years ago I bought a 2017 Audi S3, it had just 18,000 miles and a single owner.

Since then the car has stretched its legs and has put on some miles, but was always well taken care of.

But there comes a time in life where you become practical….. and the Audi made no sense since I don’t use it to its full capability. So I replaced it with a 25’ Jetta sport 😅. Dirt cheap, good enough, never have to worry about people dinging my door, a paint chip, a swirl mark, expensive maintenance……. 40mpg on regular…..

Overall, I was extremely disappointed with Audi’s dealerships. Throughout my ownership, I’ve been to 6 dealership locations in different states and all of them were terrible.

For some reason, either the showroom was being remodeled or the service area is being remodeled…… literally at all of the dealerships I visited over the last 2 years. They don’t offer shuttles and they don’t have waiting areas, yet take 4+ hrs for an oil change even when you have an appointment.

To put this in perspective at one point I owned a Hyundai……… and their service department was a thousand times better…..

So long Audi! You will……… not be missed

Edit: Just to clarify, I didn’t sell the Audi because of the poor dealership xp, that’s more of an observation that I expected a luxury brand to be better.

The operating costs of a 2017 Audi S3 with 55K miles greatly exceeds that of a 2025 Jetta if you consider- realistic mpg, maintenance, wear and tear, insurance costs & payment. Additionally the Jetta resale value being still in warranty and less than 2 years old means I can walk away after a year in the green (bought the car 4 grand under book, no accidents, 1 owner)

I love the having the cup holders, 45mpg highway, a sleek style & modern tech.

Cheers

I was pondering upgrading my M2 mac mini base & my M1 macbook pro 13’ for a while since they both had 8gb ram. The setup was okay and still worked fine, but the M4 upgrade and some more ram were why I was looking to buy.

I was trying for a mac mini pro, but I didn’t want to wait for the lead time & snagging a refurb was harder than you think. Then I came across this, a refurb macbook air M4 w/ upgrade ram & ssd for $914, in excellent condition from backmarket. I’ve dealt with backmarket before and their products are in good condition & have a 1yr warranty. So I pulled the trigger on 6/23 as it was too good to pass up.

After trading in the mac mini, the m1 macbook pro & selling my monitor, the upgrade cost $24………… but now I have 24gb ram & future product support.

A few days later- Apple increases product pricing, the same computer refurbished is now $1,150-$1,200

Very happy I didn’t wait, looking forward to keeping this thing for the next 5 years!